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Dublin: 5 °C Saturday 25 May, 2013

Race row: Suarez apologises for Evra comment

The Liverpool striker issued a qualified apology last night for his use of the term “negro” towards Patrice Evra.

Image: Joe Giddens/EMPICS Sport

LUIS SUAREZ APOLOGISED last night for using the term “negro” towards Patrice Evra, but remained adamant that he only ever said the word once during the players’ controversial exchange.

The Liverpool striker was roundly criticised for not apologising to Evra in a statement released on Tuesday evening in which he indicated that he would not appeal the eight-match ban and £40,000 fine handed down by the FA’s independent commission.

But in a second statement yesterday, Suarez said that he was sorry if his choice of words offended anybody, though he still did not publicly apologise to Evra by name.

“I admitted to the commission that I said a word in Spanish once, and only once, and I told the panel members that I will not use it again on a football pitch in England,” Suarez said (see The Guardian).

“I never, ever used this word in a derogatory way and if it offends anyone then I want to apologise for that.”

Criticism

Blackburn Rovers striker Jason Roberts became the latest footballer to publicly criticise Liverpool for the manner in which they have handled the fallout from the FA’s judgement.

The Anfield club have stood steadfastly behind their Uruguyan star who maintains that the term “negro” — commonly seen as inoffensive in Rioplatense Spanish — was used in “a conciliatory and friendly way.”

“Liverpool’s stance of saying he’s done nothing wrong goes against the spirit of our league. When you read the report, it’s quite ugly,” Roberts told BBC Sport yesterday.

“Liverpool must think long and hard about how they are perceiving this. They are a proud club with lots of fans of different cultures and nationalities and it’s important to think about how they would feel about being treated in the same way.”

Speaking after Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat away to Manchester City — the first game of Suarez’s ban — manager Kenny Dalglish reiterated the club’s view that the FA panel “constructed a highly subjective case against Luis Suarez,” suggesting that there had been a number of important omissions in the final 115-page judgement, which was delivered on New Year’s Eve.

Andy Hunter in the Guardian reports that Evra was allowed to view video footage while compiling his testimony, an opportunity which Suarez was not given, and that the Frenchman only remembered that he had been pinched by Suarez after reviewing the tapes.

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Comments (13 Comments)

  • He said racsit remarks and when he got caught by and INDEPENDENT COMMISON!!! he changed his tune, he is not a victim, evra barely is either, but he said something stupid he shouldnt have and club and player need to shut up and move on!!! I am a Liverpool fan and all this tunnel vison for the pool and suarez is stupid and childish, grow up, move on, if it was the other way around, you would all be laughing about it! We have an average manager in an average league and will finish in the top 10 no matter if Suarez plays every game or none at all,. He said a stupid thing and got punished, move the f**k on. Sick of this i hate man u stuff. Focus on ourselves, Liverpool sure dont handle situations the way the club did in the past…. A lot of fans need to engage perspective and grow up a bit.

    Reply
  • How many people who have posted here have actually read the commission’s report? The summaries you’re getting through the media are inaccurate. If you want to form an informed opinion you should read it in full for yourself. There are inconsistencies in both player’s versions. Suarez claimed that at one point he was trying to defuse the situation – that is patent rubbish and seems to have turned the commission completely against him and destroyed his credibility (in their eyes) on everything else he said. Seems a very harsh approach to deem him completely unreliable for not admitting something comparatively innocuous and which does not really matter to the central accusation of specific words used (or not used). Evra had as many inconsistencies in his version. Evra claims that when Suarez said negro he understood – at that time- that the word equated to the much worse n word and that is why he was so shocked/upset/amazed at Suarez using it. Yet when, at the time, he complained to the ref, and to his captain Giggs, he said to them he had been called ‘black’ not the n word. Who, believing they had been called a n****r, and reeling from the (understandable) shock of hearing that, would go to the ref/giggs and say they’d been called “black”? Why would you sanitise it when the entire reason for the (understandable) outrage/shock would be the word itself? He said he couldn’t bring himself to say such a shocking word again. Come on. Doesn’t make any sense. Throughout the report Suarez’s inconsistencies (there are quite a few) were played up whilst Evra’s (there are as many) were played down or completely ignored. I am a Liverpool football fan but this has nothing to do with football. I don’t know the truth and nor does anyone else posting here. There is also the possibility that neither player is lying but genuinely believes what they heard. But my view, and I’m sure I’ll be accused of bias because of my football allegiance, is that Suarez has been treated very unfairly and very inconsistently as against the treatment of Evra. I would urge anyone who really cares to read the report and to read it slowly/carefully. On the inconsistency point the evidence is in the report for Evra to be found guilty of the exact same 2 charges that Suarez was found guilty of. Evra used foul and abusive language, and made a reference to Suarez’s ethnicity. And he did each prior to Suarez so a defence of simply reacting – which might have been fair enough had his remarks followed Suarez’s- does not apply. Yet no action has been taken against him at all. A couple of other points: (1) if LFC genuinely believe an injustice has been done then they are right to stick by Suarez and say it publicly. To do otherwise would be immoral. (2) saying the commission was independent, issued a considered report and had a QC on it, and using that to argue they can’t be disagreed with, is nonsense. They could have gotten it wrong. They could have attached too much weight to Suarez not admitting the conciliation point above. They are not infallible. They finished hearing evidence on a Friday and issued their verbal decision the following Tuesday. This is not something they deliberated over for months. Read the report if you care enough.

    Reply
  • Don’t matter what colour Evra’s skin is to be honest. The biggest factor about him is the fact he is French. When France cheated Ireland out of a world cup place Evra said we deserve a replay……”but only on the playstation” hate the little prick.

    Reply
    • I think it’s time to get over that debacle. We were never winning the tie so they didn’t cheat us out of a World Cup spot, only the chance to qualify. We had enough chances in Paris to put the game away and we didn’t take them.

      In regards to Suarez, I think he would have avoided 8 games had he just apologised from the start. It was never disputed that he said an offensive phrase. It would have saved a giant PR disaster.

      Reply
  • Suarez is being made an example of. The most he should of received is a 2 or 4 game ban for what he said. I hope the FA are going to make a bigger example of John Terry when its his time for a ban. Oh wait he is the England and Chelsea captain so he probably wont get a ban ! Suarez doesnt even have a chance to appeal whether he is guilty or not, only for how long he gets banned for. What kind of a system is that?
    He wasnt even found guilty or highly probably guilty, just probable on the evidence of a known lier who has made cases like this before and even Evra said in his testimony that he didnt think Suarez was a racist. Spanish linguistic experts have even said that what Evra says Suarez said makes no sense in Spanish let alone the Uragurian version of the language but that didnt matter. And what happened to Evra over insulting Suarez’s sister in Spanish? Nothing !

    Reply
    • Aaron 05/01/12 #

      Where to start……? Well let’s start with the fact he can’t appeal the guilty verdict when he already admitted saying it. And Evra a known liar? When? If you bring up the Chelsea or Steve Finnan incidents you better check your stories first.

      It doesn’t matter if Evra thinks he’s racist or not. What he said was racist and the ban is justified.

      Reply
    • This is Hispanic Studies professor Aldo Mazzucchelli take on the incident. “Por que, tu eres negro?”…. ??!! This makes no sense. It is no Spanish. “Por qué” means “why” (and not “because” in this case). It is incorrectly spelled by the FA in their official report (they don’t seem to give a damn about Spanish, since they treat Spanish in such a careless way all along the report). It cannot be translated in a way that makes sense. Literally, if I had to translate it, it would be something like this: “why, you are black?” I have no idea what that could mean.
      http://www.thisisanfield.com/2012/01/professor-in-hispanic-studies-dissects-the-fas-suarez-report/
      He admitted to saying negro in a sentence which is a common thing in South America and is not considered racist !
      1) The FA tends to believe Evra is more reliable than Suarez (a purely subjective element)
      2) The FA does not seem to have understood the Spanish language allegedly used –even though they grounded the verdict on their own interpretation of that very Spanish language.
      3) They believe the word “negro” cannot be used just in a descriptive way in the context of a discussion–which means they don’t really understand how we do use it in the Rio de la Plata area. This made them feel Suarez was unreliable and probably aggravated them.
      Evra has had 2 cases of this kind before and his testimony was thrown out as unreliable so why was it so reliable this time?

      Reply
    • Martin, you expect a report from an LFC fans forum to hold any credibility….

      As Aaron said, tell us the facts about Evras 2 cases. Find the details and come back to us then.

      As Barry said below, grow up and look take off the ABU glasses. Its getting pathetic now at this stage listening to LFC and some of its fans with the blinded ignorance on this issue.

      IF LFC have a case, then come out and follow it up and stop this “we have a story but we aren’t telling anyone”, its real “Boy who cried wolf” territory.

      As stated by Barry there, its time LFC concentrated on the football and stop with the bitch slapping victimization.

      Reply
    • http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Hispanic_Studies/people/facultypage.php?id=1187272621

      Thats his page @ Brown university ! It was posted in the Liverpool forum and the article was written by a professor in Hispanic Stdies. Its not a case of ABU but a case where Evras evidence carried more weight than Suarez’s. If this was tried in a real court this case would of fell apart and because there would be one mans version against another mans version with no other witnesses to the event.

      Reply
    • Kuyt, Commolli and Dalglish all gave evidence to the referee admitting Suarez mentioned Evra’s skin colour. There was independent linguistic experts used during this case. They were approved by Liverpool.

      It’s not one man’s word versus another. It’s a case of he clearly broke a specific FA rule saying you cannot reference a player’s race. It’s irrelevant if it would pass in court, it broke FA rules.

      Nobody is saying Suarez is racist, but what he said is a racist remark and has caused offence. It really is that simple.

      Reply
    • Ok so your giving us a page to a professor who allegedly wrote this, this report has only appeared in a LFC forum and not used then in the case with Suarez.
      Why didn’t LFC use this then?

      I could easily go off, find another Hispanic Studies professor and create a profile on a United forum and give the complete opposite slant on this couldn’t I???

      Let LFC make that report public then and APPEAL his case.

      If this was in a real court the same verdict would have happened.

      Clutching at straws still, he admitted it, the case was heard, he was found guilty, he is serving his ban and to concrete it, he apologized.

      Its pretty clear on all aspects, except that LFC can’t seem to comprehend it.

      Reply

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