IN HER PULITZER Prize-winning 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee famously wrote: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Not many people claim to know Luis Suarez, yet most are quick to judge him. His actions can sometimes be reprehensible, as was ostensibly the case when he allegedly bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, yet on the other hand, arguably not since Diego Maradona has one player encapsulated the spirit of a nation with his passion and drive, his tremendous talent and expressive nature. He is someone capable of entrancing those around him, as was seen when Uruguayan players raised him over their shoulders following his recent match-winning performance against England.
Many people were understandably shocked by this latest occurrence, but few were surprised upon mature reflection — after all, this was someone who had bitten an opponent not once but twice already during his career.
Nevertheless, only earlier this month, Suarez — a deeply complex and often contradictory figure — insisted he was a changed man who was deeply remorseful about his past indiscretions, explaining: “The mistakes I have made in my life… biting an opponent twice, I am so ashamed about that. Only later I realised my kids are going to see those pictures one day.
“That thought almost hurts me more than the actual deed. The fact, as well, that I will have to explain one day to my kids that it was me, their father.”
Yet old habits seemingly die hard, and the Uruguayan star was again a figure of ignominy following Italy’s 1-0 loss against Uruguay, as a palpable sense of déjà vu struck long-term Suarez watchers. He is evidently deeply instinctive in virtually every possible way, which is ideal when it comes to goalscoring, but less so in terms of personal discipline.
However, what was perhaps most striking about Tuesday’s events was the complete refusal of the Uruguayan players and management (as well as sections of their media) to condemn their impossibly impulsive striker. This reaction epitomises the culture of modern-day football, whose mantra might as well be ‘if at first you don’t succeed, cheat, cheat again.’
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We are constantly being told that there are more important things in life than sport, but this message is continually being undermined by supposed professionals who should know better.
Suarez’s behaviour, provided it is proven, was plainly disgraceful and unnatural — biting an opponent is decidedly unacceptable, yet people such as Diego Lugano will plainly say anything in the faint and vacuous hope of gaining an advantage (in this case, attempting to prevent Suarez’s suspension from the competition).
“You need to show me [the incident] because I didn’t see anything,” the Uruguay captain insisted.
“Did you see it today or did you see what happened in other years? You couldn’t have seen it today because nothing happened.”
PA Archive / Press Association Images
PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
(Suarez was previously found guilty of biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic when playing for Liverpool)
And in a way, these protestations of innocence are even worse than the act itself, because Suarez, quite frankly, is psychologically damaged goods.
Blanket terms that have been widely used to deride the Liverpool striker in recent times, such as ‘thug’ and ‘monster,’ are deeply unhelpful, as they serve to effectively dehumanise him.
Suarez needs psychiatric help, yet his tragedy is that he’s surrounded by people who insist he’s done nothing wrong. When he outrageously cheated to earn Uruguay a place in the 2010 World Cup semi-final, the end justified the means in many people’s eyes, thereby doing little to detract from his status as a national hero. Not for the first time, he was consequently rewarded handsomely for his highly dubious actions.
And the Uruguayans are not the only ones who continually indulge his disreputable behaviour. Amid the Patrice Evra racial abuse saga, his Liverpool teammates trenchantly supported the star, despite having no greater right than the average punter to cast judgement on the issue, given the scant evidence of his innocence at their disposal.
Similarly, after he bit an opponent, Brendan Rodgers and other Liverpool figures were extremely slow to condemn his actions and even upon finally acknowledging that he was in the wrong, they invariably qualified it with more positive sentiments, indicating that he’d ‘learned his lesson’ and was now a ‘stronger person’.
Like many footballing geniuses — Paul Gascoigne, Diego Maradona and George Best spring to mind — Suarez, an impoverished kid from the streets of Salto, Uruguay who has so happened to develop into one of the world’s most famous footballers, is prone to self-destruction.
And again, similarly to Best et al, his problems are exacerbated by the fact that he is surrounded by people who are continually eager to justify and sugar-coat his behaviour, who turn a blind eye to all his inherent problems so long as he keeps scoring goals.
That genuine authorities of the game take such a casual attitude to his compulsive behaviour gives a telling insight into the ruthless nature of the footballing world. Footballers are perceived to be little more than ‘pieces of meat,’ as Roy Keane once noted, and rather than people condemning Suarez as an aberration, he should be seen as the classic victim of the sport’s authorities’ disregard for players’ mental health, authorities who prefer instead to focus on saving their own investment rather than seriously addressing the issues that cause him to tarnish the image of the game. Hence, Suarez is not a monster, he is a victim and a symbol of everything that is corrupt and wrong with the once-beautiful game. Instead of seeking genuine help for him, they would rather simply give him a Player of the Year award.
Therefore, the selfish world of football, in which corporate greed invariably triumphs, will never really understand Suarez and see things from his point of view, leaving him free to engage in this addictive, unseemly behaviour that mocks the values for which the sport once stood.
So perhaps a lengthy ban would ban would ultimately be the best possible outcome for Suarez the person, if not Suarez the footballer — anything to remove him from this toxic environment in which disreputable behaviour is rewarded would surely be beneficial to him in the long term.
Opinion: Luis Suarez has an addiction problem -- and he’s surrounded by enablers
Updated at 18.11
IN HER PULITZER Prize-winning 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee famously wrote: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Not many people claim to know Luis Suarez, yet most are quick to judge him. His actions can sometimes be reprehensible, as was ostensibly the case when he allegedly bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, yet on the other hand, arguably not since Diego Maradona has one player encapsulated the spirit of a nation with his passion and drive, his tremendous talent and expressive nature. He is someone capable of entrancing those around him, as was seen when Uruguayan players raised him over their shoulders following his recent match-winning performance against England.
Many people were understandably shocked by this latest occurrence, but few were surprised upon mature reflection — after all, this was someone who had bitten an opponent not once but twice already during his career.
Nevertheless, only earlier this month, Suarez — a deeply complex and often contradictory figure — insisted he was a changed man who was deeply remorseful about his past indiscretions, explaining: “The mistakes I have made in my life… biting an opponent twice, I am so ashamed about that. Only later I realised my kids are going to see those pictures one day.
Yet old habits seemingly die hard, and the Uruguayan star was again a figure of ignominy following Italy’s 1-0 loss against Uruguay, as a palpable sense of déjà vu struck long-term Suarez watchers. He is evidently deeply instinctive in virtually every possible way, which is ideal when it comes to goalscoring, but less so in terms of personal discipline.
However, what was perhaps most striking about Tuesday’s events was the complete refusal of the Uruguayan players and management (as well as sections of their media) to condemn their impossibly impulsive striker. This reaction epitomises the culture of modern-day football, whose mantra might as well be ‘if at first you don’t succeed, cheat, cheat again.’
We are constantly being told that there are more important things in life than sport, but this message is continually being undermined by supposed professionals who should know better.
Suarez’s behaviour, provided it is proven, was plainly disgraceful and unnatural — biting an opponent is decidedly unacceptable, yet people such as Diego Lugano will plainly say anything in the faint and vacuous hope of gaining an advantage (in this case, attempting to prevent Suarez’s suspension from the competition).
“You need to show me [the incident] because I didn’t see anything,” the Uruguay captain insisted.
“Did you see it today or did you see what happened in other years? You couldn’t have seen it today because nothing happened.”
(Suarez was previously found guilty of biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic when playing for Liverpool)
And in a way, these protestations of innocence are even worse than the act itself, because Suarez, quite frankly, is psychologically damaged goods.
Blanket terms that have been widely used to deride the Liverpool striker in recent times, such as ‘thug’ and ‘monster,’ are deeply unhelpful, as they serve to effectively dehumanise him.
Suarez needs psychiatric help, yet his tragedy is that he’s surrounded by people who insist he’s done nothing wrong. When he outrageously cheated to earn Uruguay a place in the 2010 World Cup semi-final, the end justified the means in many people’s eyes, thereby doing little to detract from his status as a national hero. Not for the first time, he was consequently rewarded handsomely for his highly dubious actions.
And the Uruguayans are not the only ones who continually indulge his disreputable behaviour. Amid the Patrice Evra racial abuse saga, his Liverpool teammates trenchantly supported the star, despite having no greater right than the average punter to cast judgement on the issue, given the scant evidence of his innocence at their disposal.
Similarly, after he bit an opponent, Brendan Rodgers and other Liverpool figures were extremely slow to condemn his actions and even upon finally acknowledging that he was in the wrong, they invariably qualified it with more positive sentiments, indicating that he’d ‘learned his lesson’ and was now a ‘stronger person’.
Like many footballing geniuses — Paul Gascoigne, Diego Maradona and George Best spring to mind — Suarez, an impoverished kid from the streets of Salto, Uruguay who has so happened to develop into one of the world’s most famous footballers, is prone to self-destruction.
And again, similarly to Best et al, his problems are exacerbated by the fact that he is surrounded by people who are continually eager to justify and sugar-coat his behaviour, who turn a blind eye to all his inherent problems so long as he keeps scoring goals.
That genuine authorities of the game take such a casual attitude to his compulsive behaviour gives a telling insight into the ruthless nature of the footballing world. Footballers are perceived to be little more than ‘pieces of meat,’ as Roy Keane once noted, and rather than people condemning Suarez as an aberration, he should be seen as the classic victim of the sport’s authorities’ disregard for players’ mental health, authorities who prefer instead to focus on saving their own investment rather than seriously addressing the issues that cause him to tarnish the image of the game. Hence, Suarez is not a monster, he is a victim and a symbol of everything that is corrupt and wrong with the once-beautiful game. Instead of seeking genuine help for him, they would rather simply give him a Player of the Year award.
Therefore, the selfish world of football, in which corporate greed invariably triumphs, will never really understand Suarez and see things from his point of view, leaving him free to engage in this addictive, unseemly behaviour that mocks the values for which the sport once stood.
So perhaps a lengthy ban would ban would ultimately be the best possible outcome for Suarez the person, if not Suarez the footballer — anything to remove him from this toxic environment in which disreputable behaviour is rewarded would surely be beneficial to him in the long term.
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bite World Cup danger man Diego Maradona Luis Suarez Paul Gascoigne Italy Liverpool Uruguay World Cup 2014