Is there a more repugnant character in world football than Luis Suarez?
I have found him particularly hard to stomach ever since he stopped a shot on the line by handling the ball during a World Cup quarter-final against Ghana. Then, to make matters worse, after being sent off he cheered ecstatically as Asamoah Gyan missed the ensuing penalty.
Now he has found another way to turn scores more fans against him. His blatant handball against Mansfield Town in the third round of the FA Cup as he scored the goal that ultimately knocked the Blue Square Bet Premier side out.
I am not sure that there is a decent bone in this man’s body. Cheating against sides that are of an equal stature is bad enough, but to cheat against a non-league side is totally disgraceful.
In many of these occasions he doesn’t just disgrace himself but he disgraces his managers and colleagues as well, as they choose to stand by him. Why did Kenny Dalglish and the rest of the Liverpool players think it wise to stand by someone who had been banned for using racist language? Why is Brendan Rodgers now choosing to stand by him saying “it’s not his job to own up.”
I firmly believe that this level of continual amoral behaviour in football is what is rotting the core of the game. Yes, the officials should have spotted it but there is a greater responsibility that falls on the shoulders of the individual involved. He could have stopped, he could have admitted he was cheating but instead he put the ball in the net.
Nothing in football will change until the footballers change themselves.
Peter Stickney
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