Suarez biting someone is terrible, but the punishment he received is far inflated from anything else that has happened recently in football, and Uruguay can see this. For example, a few seasons ago Pepe of Real Madrid and Portugal kicked another player in anger whilst he was on the floor. At this World Cup Pepe head butted another player. Pepe's punishment was a one match regular red card ban. If previous behaviour is a grounds for Suarez to receive such a punishment, why is the same campaign for suspension not being launched by the English against Pepe? Is kicking someone on the floor and head butting someone not as bad as biting them? Of course, if Pepe had scored two goals to knock out England then head butted someone in the next game, it might have been...
Likewise, Pepe plays for Real Madrid, but no one is telling Madrid they should sell him because of his behaviour. But Real Madrid wouldn't do that anyway, because they're the biggest football club in the world, and they don't sell their players due to public pressure. Especially not pressure from fans of other teams and outside media.
As a Liverpool fan, it kills me to say this, but probably the second biggest football club in the world is Manchester United. Manchester United have had players who were victims of similar media campaigns as Luis Suarez. In the 2006 world cup, Cristiano Ronaldo got Rooney sent off and then winked. This wink, like Suarez bite, was given far more importance than it should have by the English media, and Ronaldo became the subject of a hate campaign with the English media blaming him for the country's exit from the competition. United were being told to sell Ronaldo, the press were reporting that Rooney and Ronaldo would never play together again. But did United buckle under this media pressure? No. Because they're one of the biggest clubs in the world and they don't sell their best players. United rode the storm and kept hold of Ronaldo, Rooney didn't have a problem with playing with him, and he went on to win a few league titles and the European cup with them before being sold for an £80mil record transfer fee.
This isn't the only time United have stuck by players who have brought controversy to the club. They stuck by Cantona when he was banned for karate kicking a fan, and went on to win the double with him. They stuck by Ferdinand when he had a nine month ban for missing a drugs test and he went on to win a fair few league titles and the European Cup with them. They stuck by David Beckham when he was blamed for England's World Cup exit in 1998 after kicking out at Diego Simeone and we all know how he turned out. The biggest clubs don't sell their best players.
Speaking of the David Beckham incident in 1998, this brings me on nicely to my next point. The English always need a scapegoat. However, at this World Cup, there's no one to blame for their terrible performance. There's no sly Portugese who got England's star man sent off, there's no young, stupid boy who got himself sent off in a moment of madness, there's no missed penalties or goalkeeping mistakes. And then what happens, the man who scored the two goals that knocked England out the tournament goes and bites someone. We haven't got a scapegoat so lets put all the attention on that.
The English love a villain. England is the only footballing country in the world that still considers Maradona a villain, and they will even turn on their own as in the case of David Beckham. The Suarez biting incident took place in a game didn't even effect England, yet they're the only ones who are outraged. Even the Italians aren't bothered, because like the Uruguayan's they view what Suarez did in the context of football. Getting Suarez to do what he did is the Italians speciality. In the 2006 World Cup final Zinedine Zidane was pulling the strings, so what do the Italians do? Wind him up until he flips, then capitalise by beating a Zidaneless France. And now in 2014, down to ten men themselves, the Italians pin point Uruguay's biggest threat and get him to lose it. Unfortunately (for them) the ref didn't see it, so they couldn't capitalise against ten men.
In England, the incident has now been blown out of all proportion. People calling for life bans and the like. As the title of this blog mentions context, well let me give you some: On the BBC news tonight the top three stories were Jimmy Savile for years of paedophilia, Rebekah Brooks for phone hacking, and Suarez for biting. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of British journalism.
Liverpool, yet again, just have to ride the storm with Suarez. There's a fine line between genius and madness, and we have to accept that. Anyone who wants to sell him because of this, well people were saying the same after the last biting incident, but it didn't stop them celebrating his goals that took us to our best Premier League finish in years. People who think they're taking the big club attitude by saying "no one man is bigger than the club" are wrong, the big club attitude is that you don't sell your best players, and you don't bow to media pressure. When you do what the media want you to do, you end up with Roy Hodgson as your manager. And believe me, if we were to sell Suarez, the rest of the country and it's media would just see it as a victory for themselves. And fickle as they are, if we sold Suarez and he started banging them in somewhere else, we'd be getting slated for letting him go.
So Liverpool fans, if you're reading this, don't listen to what fans of other clubs are saying, because if it was announced they're club was signing Suarez they'd soon change their mind on him. They're all just jealous. And John Henry, if you're reading this (which I'm sure you are) now wouldn't be a bad time to come out and say Suarez isn't going anywhere, because it would settle the situation, and it would just be hilarious to see the media crying over it. All the best.
@adamheath
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