[mr_missile]

Extracts from some better known British newspapers on the Suarez verdict for racially abusing Evra :

What The Papers Say On The Suarez Verdict

The general feeling on Fleet Street is that the FA were right to throw the book at Luis Suarez after finding him guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra.

'The punishment handed down by the FA to Luis Suarez was not an attack on an individual, and it was certainly not an attack on a club. There is no vendetta here. This has not been a witch-hunt or an overdose of political correctness, as many have sought to claim. No, the FA decision to ban Suarez for eight matches was merely the upholding of the principle that any form of racial abuse is no longer acceptable in our game.

'It may be acceptable in Uruguay. It may be acceptable in Spain. But that does not mean that it must be acceptable here. Just because other parts of the world turn a blind eye to casual racism or punish it lightly does not mean that we must meekly fall in step. So once the panel investigating the incident between Suarez and Patrice Evra decided there was evidence Suarez had racially abused Evra, the FA had little choice.

'A three-game ban would have been an insufficient sanction because it would have made it appear the offence was no more serious than a sending-off. If the FA's anti-racism stance and the work of organisations like Kick It Out was to retain any credibility, the punishment needed to be more severe. That is why the FA got it absolutely right with their eight-game ban for Suarez' -

Oliver Holt in The Daily Mirror.


'Negro or negrito, it doesn't really matter now. Sometimes it's not what you say so much as how you say it, and how many times you do so and the effect it is plainly having in the hair-trigger atmosphere of a match between such ferocious rivals as Liverpool and Manchester United. That certainly was the conclusion of the independent regulatory panel of three which last night accepted the allegations of Patrice Evra and banned Luis Suarez for eight matches.

'As it did so it swept aside the sophistry of the brilliant Uruguayan's defence that he had done nothing worse than slip into a cultural divide, that what he said to an enraged opponent two months ago wouldn't have raised the eyebrow of a black compatriot back home in Montevideo.

'It is the kind of argument which can hold up a court for some time - as it did in this minefield of a case which represented such a huge challenge to the nerve and the working morality of the rulers of the game in this country - but had it been accepted the chances of success in similar prosecutions in the future would have slumped to around zero' -

James Lawton in The Independent.


'Rightly or wrongly, there was a feeling before the verdict was announced that if Luis Suárez was found guilty it was an opportunity for the Football Association to send out a powerful message. This was the governing body's chance to impose the sort of ban and fine that would make players up and down the country, as well as the game's key decision-makers, realise how seriously the FA views racism. Now the Uruguayan has been banned for eight matches and fined £40,000, the FA has done just that...

'Those complaining at the length of time the investigations have dragged on were ignoring the complexities of cases that were never going to be resolved in a matter of days or, as Blatter would like, with a handshake at the final whistle. Only this week the Crown Prosecution Service revealed that further evidence had been received in relation to the allegation that Terry racially abused Ferdinand during Chelsea's 1-0 defeat against Queens Park Rangers in October' -

Stuart James in The Guardian.


'What an undignified mess. But then it was always going to be. This dispute had been so tribal from the outset, with two sides deeply entrenched over the previous nine weeks, that the verdict was always going to infuriate at least one of the parties involved. When the news broke last night that Suárez had been banned for eight matches and fined £40,000 after being found guilty of racially abusing Evra, this case escalated into another dimension.

'Where will it end up? To judge from Liverpool's statement on their website, an appeal to the FA is certain. Even a trip to the Court of Arbitration for Sport cannot be ruled out. The club are in the deeply uncomfortable position of defending an employee who has been found guilty of racially abusing someone. But as shocking as that state of affairs might have sounded to their hierarchy before the events of October 15, their sense of conviction about Suárez's innocence has grown since the initial allegation' -

Oliver Kay in The Times.

'Liverpool's anger was unmistakeable. They are clearly convinced that Suárez was pre-judged, that there is some credence to the belief that the FA wants to demonstrate its toughness on racism to show up Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president whose recent comments on the topic offended so many. This will run and run. That is why the commission must release all evidence into the public domain...

'When the dust finally settles, the clubs must consider how to lessen the tension, urging supporters to maintain their rivalry without swimming in vitriol. Some judicious comments from Sir Alex Ferguson and Dalglish would help. A final word: fining millionaire footballers is pointless' -

Henry Winter in The Daily Telegraph.