Suarez is guilty of making racist insults. He has even admitted it. Ignorance is not an excuse. If you go to live in a different country it is down to you to learn the laws and culture of that country. Do I think Saurez is a racist? No, but he was right to be punished for making comments deemed racist in Great Britain. What is acceptable in Uruguay is not always the same here. Saurez not a child, he's an adult therefore he should know better, he is old enough to educate himself on foreign cultures. I dare anyone to go to a country like the United Arab Emirates and ignore their culture and laws. He is a fantastic player, so I hope he learns a lesson from this and we don't see a repeat of this incident. I for one will miss him on the pitch!
Even if we made ourselves look like fools by taking a stand then not taking a stand, why are these mongs still talking about it? I felt we said we would not do it because we wanted to be active against racism and the message of that was getting unclear. I thought we didn't take it to a higher court because we just wanted it to end, be done and dusted. But EVERY MORNING there is a new person harping on about suarez, what he said, some Lord coming on giving his two cents, Roberts who tagged Suarez as racist without even knowing it ( racial abuse is different than racist abuse, you are implying he is racist JR!). Every day it really is tiresome! I hope we buy someone soon to take some of this off and look at something more positive.
'Negro' is not racist. Why do people have a hard time understanding that? Suarez and Evra were communicating in Spanish during the match. Are you suggesting that everyone must speak English on the football field?
No-one is disagreeing that Suarez said "Negro". But at the beginning of this whole sorry farce, Evra had claimed the word used was "******". If you take that onboard, you can see why the initial denials were so vehement. The next issue is that the word of one player was taken, pretty much wholesale, over another. There was gross disparity in how testimony was taken from Evra and Suarez, and finally, the punishment was beyond that previously apportioned for a similar offence. Added together, it looks like bias and gross unfairness. However, since the FA make the rules up to suit themselves on these issues, appealing would be futile, given the FA's stance and self-justification. I take your point about culture, but when travelling to a new country, are you clear on all offensive words that are 'normal' in English? You can be places for years before you pick up native speakers' nuances. In short, I think a 4 match ban would have been easily justifiable. 8 matches smacks of an FA political agenda aimed squarely at Sepp Blatter...
I think its funny that the press are finally making note of the evra ****** video like its just been found
He hasn't apologised for making racist comments. He has only issued a general apology for the incident and not directly to Evra whom he was found guilty of calling a "negro".
Perhaps someone can straighten something out for me that has been confusion me for some days. Suarez said "Negro", which translates to "Black", yeah? So Black is now a racist term. Hansen got bollocked for using the term "Coloured". Following the logic, he couldn't use the term "Black" either. Anyone got any idea how to refer to the likes of Evra, Roberts, Collymore, etc, in a non-racist way? I just want to be PC about all this? Will annoying ****s do? Mind you, then the parents of kiddies will also be complaining about the filthy language...
It is a racist remark in the UK. If you truly believe it not to be a racist remark then go and use it at work everyday and see what punishment you get! Better still walk through Brixton yelling it at the top of your voice. Speaking Spanish is not an issue, but using Spanish (or any language) words that have a racist meaning is a problem. Are you suggesting if I made a racist statement in Spanish it wouldn't count as racism in your eyes? Honestly, I cannot believe people are even defending this.
But this is an issue of translation - If Suarez used the term in a non-racist manner, how does it follow that the statement in Spanish is racist? If you say something in English that has a word(or words) which when translated into another language is racist (say, um, South American, for instance), is that not the same? Or is it okay to blurt out stuff in English that could be considered racist in another language simply because it isn't intended?
Go and read the summary of the evidence and you will see that he did. He said he meant it in a friendly way. An adult should know that it is not a friendly word to use in the UK. Evra is a Frenchman and the word is not acceptable to use in France either. Saurez was ignorant yes, but it was a racist comment which he admitted to using.
I know off topic but David just reminded me of it. In the book Epic Swindle, Gillett thought Gerrard was gay because of the word "partner" and I think his wife is named Alex right? Sorry strange pop up that.
It's okay in the UK. But if I go overseas and use English words that could have racist meaning then that is my fault. It is down to me to know what I can and cannot say. I'm not some PC freak, but I do think people should learn about a country's laws and culture before visiting or living there. It's common sense really. Some countries will put you in prison for saying certain things!
I was not aware roberts ever really 2played" i thought he just stood around and looked useless? as for the rest? well if you wanna go live in the uae on your tod.. do you want to canary? or would you want to? this is supposedly a free country but i think just maybe it doesn't look like one
Attention please - language lesson in progress. Negro is not a word in French. You either go for Nègre - ****** in English, or Noir - Black. Negro in Spanish means literally - Black. May refer to ethnicity or to another characteristic, such as hair colour. The entire disagreement pretty much falls over whether you believe Evra or Suarez as to context and what was said?
You really don't get it do you. Yes it would be my fault, but I would learn what I can and cannot say in a foreign country. Some people laugh at how petty a law in another country may be but that is their law and you have to respect it, otherwise you shouldn't go. You are the ignorant one!
That's fine, but ask yourself whether the punishment fits the crime of ignorance? and why a higher tariff than previously given unless to stick a finger up at Blatter? And it shouldn't be okay in the UK if its deliberate. Evra got away with using the term South American perjoratively. He's not a stupid man, and lets face it, its a ridiculously out of place statement to make "Don't touch me, South American" However, when translated to Spanish, the term "Sudaca" is racist.
