Luis Suarez: Is it all really the media's fault? (Part 1)

It’s been a good ten days since Luis Suarez’s comments on Uruguayan national radio regarding his desire to move to Real Madrid, and as expected, there’s been plenty of brouhaha both on the internet and off it. Social media is the water cooler of the on-line world because it is where people come to stop, take a break and speak to each other, much like many other places that exist in both the real and virtual worlds.

But why people have been sent into a tizzy over his comments is because of whom he is pointing fingers at: the British media. Before I take this any further, here is exactly what he said:

“I’m happy at Liverpool, I’m happy because of the fans. I made a mistake, I’m human, but they’ve talked about me in ways they shouldn’t have. My family have suffered and things got out of hand. My daughter and my wife have suffered. I’m not prepared to continue to put up with the English press”.
- Luis Suarez, Liverpool and Uruguay

Clearly then, the reason Suarez wants to leave Liverpool (I will not drum up speculation over where he is going) is because of the media, who he claims have been tarnishing his reputation.

But while he obviously does not agree with the way the media have portrayed him, is it really their fault?

The reason Suarez has found himself in hot water time and time again with the British press is because of his antics on the pitch. The ones that come to mind most clearly are namely:

His frequent diving on the pitch in an attempt to con the referee
His alleged racially-motivated argument with Patrice Evra that saw him receive an eight-match ban
His biting of Branislav Ivanovic which saw him slapped with a ten-match ban, which he is currently serving

In an era where footballers are supposed to be role models, would you see Thierry Henry ever insult Didier Drogba? Would you see Mesut Ozil crumple to the floor in a heap when little more than a faint breeze wafts past him? And as comically idiotic as this sounds, surely Gianluigi Buffon is not going to nibble on someone just to stop him from having a pop at goal.

The reason Suarez was sanctioned by the FA for his war of words with Evra is because there is a very strict anti-racism policy employed by England’s governing body. Every single footballer who engages in this sort of behaviour has to be made an example of. The colour of one’s skin provides no exception to the rule, irrespective of which end of that jibe you may be on.

Some might argue with me here, saying Suarez himself is Hispanic and a sympathetic view might be taken to him on account of his ethnic profiling.

That, however, is not true, as Suarez’s fellow Hispanic Luis Aragones found out in 2005 when he was coach of Spain. While taking training for a Spain versus France game, he tried to motivate Jose Antonio Reyes by telling him he was a better player than Thierry Henry, who was his team mate at Arsenal. His exact words were:

“Tell that black s**t that you are much better than him. Don’t hold back, tell him. Tell him from me. You have to believe in yourself, you’re better than that black s**t.”
- Luis Aragones in November 2004

Aragones was fined a little more than £2,000 for his remarks and the Royal Spanish Football Federation was forced to apologise for the comments he had made. Aragones’ defence was that his remarks were colloquial and a modus operandi for him to do his job. The same was said by Suarez when he was summoned before the FA, with the official statement saying that him calling Evra a negro was to be taken as ‘blackie’ and not ‘nigger’.

That might be the case in Uruguay, a place where Suarez does not play his football. In England, mutual respect is the norm. How is Evra supposed to know that Suarez wasn’t calling him a nigger but a blackie, which is apparently a conciliatory term in South America? A man who comes from France and has played football in Italy, both nations in which there is widespread racial abuse, is surely not going to know of Suarez’s cultural upbringing.

The press (or the nicer papers anyway) frown down upon racism with brows so furrowed you could draw them in tracing paper. That is always the right thing to do. John Terry may have won his court case but as he found out, karma is a b***ch, with his stand-off against Anton Ferdinand forcing him to abdicate from playing for his country.

“I never had a problem with the media, the media had a problem with me. That affects your family, your friends, it’s not easy. I know Luis, he is strong enough to play football despite all the rumours and all the talk but it’s not easy”.
- Fernando Torres, Chelsea and Spain

Footballers from England also believe about playing the sport the right way. This is the place where sportsmanship first developed and while they may not play the prettiest football, they believe in playing it with honour. A helping hand to someone who has fallen on the ground, putting the ball out in case of an injury to the opposition and the rapturous applause that a player receives when stretchered off are all hallmarks of the game that originated in England.

That explains their disdain towards diving, which is seen as – and truly is – an act of cowardice, which shows that you cannot face your opponent head on. And this looking down on diving isn’t just restricted to foreign players: the likes of Ashley Young and Jermaine Defoe are also criticised in the media when they do dive.

Diving is perceived to be a cheat’s act of desperation, a motion that shows you resorting to underhanded methods because you don’t have the nous to beat your opponent, a dirty trick that should be punished. How then does Suarez try to justify his falling to the ground when sneezed on by his opponents? Is it perhaps cultural in origin? Why then do you not see it week-in, week-out in Brazil, arguably the world’s best footballing nation?

“It’s worse than it was 10 years ago with the foreign influence of players coming from South America, Spain and Italy. When I was kid and I used to watch Italian football you would see a lot of simulation”.
- Ex-England forward Michael Owen on diving

Diving is unjustified and media calling him out on it time and time again is an attempt to get rid of that.

While some might blame the English media for all the diatribe they have heaped on Suarez, anything they say to defend him falls flat when you look at the Ivanovic incident. How, just how, can you justify biting someone? Can Suarez not see the thousands of people packed into Anfield, the video cameras placed at regular intervals, the millions of people watching the game live on TV and the press box filled with a plethora of journalists, eagerly scribbling down all the action that they see?

Those who defend Suarez will blame the English media for portraying him this way, but I disagree. That bite, as we all have found out with some incredulity, was his second. When he was with Ajax, he was handed a seven-game ban after biting Otman Bakkal of PSV Eindhoven. The local press called him the ‘Cannibal of Ajax’.

You don’t see all of this in the post-season DVDs and the promotional videos of Suarez at Ajax where he showcases his tricks and flicks or when he raises the bar while playing for his country, where controversy follows him. Remember Ghana in 2010? And if he thinks he will get away with this in another nation, he is sorely mistaken.

“It was not an English newspaper that racially abused Patrice Evra at Anfield on October 15, 2011. It was not an English newspaper that refused to shake Evra’s hand at Old Trafford on February 10, 2012. Nor was it an English newspaper that grabbed the arm of Branislav Ivanovic and bit it at Anfield on April 21 this year.
“Yes, Suarez was condemned for those incidents. That was because he deserved to be. Did he really expect his behaviour to be ignored? Does he really think that if he repeats those actions in Madrid, Munich or Rome, they will be excused?”
- Oliver Holt, Daily Mirror

The media are NOT to be blamed in this case.

What the English media has done is expose the shortfalls of Suarez, things he should have removed from his game a long time ago. This is something they do to every player. Those who argue that the press is a bunch of hacks are wrong here because they are trying to right his wrongs. Wrongs that cannot be allowed to plague the English game.

And this is something he has never faced before.

In Part 2, I’ll analyse the media’s responsibility in this scenario.