At last weekend’s game between Manchester United and Liverpool at Anfield, striker Luis Suárez is accused of allegedly repeatedly muttering racial slurs at Patrice Evra. Rightly the complaint is said to be investigated further and has been commented on by the management of both teams.
This is the second time in a handful of weeks that Suárez has caused controversy while playing for Liverpool. The first shameful incident, for which he publicly apologized afterwards, was a very visible and aggressive public outburst after having been substituted around ten minutes before the end of a game to make way for a returning-to-fitness Steven Gerrard. To describe the way he sat on the bench shaking his head for a few minutes afterwards, having also kicked a water bottle angrily, as childish and petulant would be an momentous understatement. Ego at its most badly behaved.
Clearly the alleged racist language is of far greater consequence than the puerile lack of self control during the bottle-kicking incident. However Sir Alex Ferguson intimated that he thought that the racism issue is no longer widespread enough to be a worry for the game at large, although obviously it needs policed.
If the repugnant racism charges are indeed true, and regardless of whether they are proven in the future or not, unless Suárez takes a moment to consider how easy it is to fall from such an elevated ephemeral height then he might find himself landing with an undignified bump. I for one hope he pulls his socks up before that happens.
