Fair enough, any thoughts on the statement yourself?

im just glad that this whole incident is now settled and can’t disrupt the peaceful and friendly atmosphere that has hithero prevailed around east lancs derbies

Amen to that.

Except he admitted saying ‘it’* himself. It’s not that there was any dispute about that, the dispute was about whether ‘it’ was intended as a racist insult to wind up the opposition, or a jovial term of endearment as used in Uruguay between good old buddies who were just having a bit of banter together. Suarez claimed the latter, saying ‘it’ was what Evra’s own teammates called him.

This is the thing. Is the FA sure beyond reasonable doubt of the context in which he said what he’s supposed to have said? I dunno. That “prior unfounded accusations” thing is disappointing though—pisses me off the number of people who’ve referred to those incidents.

That’s the thing, it seems insane to me that an organization which obviously has access to the kind of legal advice that Liverpool does would release a statement like that. Why not put out a simple, terse announcement of their intent to appeal?

cuz they are taking their lead from dalglish?

xposts to myself. That “I dunno” was a tired, generic, confused “dunno”—surely the FA must be certain beyond reasonable doubt for them to have found Suarez guilty. But then why would Liverpool make a statement like that?

Ngog played well tonight.

The statement from Liverpool is a disgrace. Putting it down to “but Suarez is from Uruguay and in Uruguay the word ”negro“ doesn’t have negative or discriminative connotations” is the worst bollocks I heard all year. Face it, Suarez admitted having said what Evra claims he said, but is putting it down to “cultural differences”, which is a load of horse shite. Suarez, you are playing in England now, it doesn’t matter in the slightest what your customs regarding the word “negro” are in the country you were born.

This belongs in the Ronaldinho bottle-opener thread tbh

Yeah, we need to get this thing out in to the wider world of ILX. They love a bit of racism

Face it, Suarez admitted having said what Evra claims he said, but is putting it down to “cultural differences”, which is a load of horse shite.

Why is it? Fact remains that cultural differences do come into play here surely, regardless of the fact it happened in England? Why else would Suarez admit saying something?

dunno why it wd be difficult for the FA to get opinion from Uruguayans on whether the word is considered racist there. Suarez has been a long time in Europe to really use the harmless banter defence tho.

Hey, Mark Hughes is back

xpost to myself. I mean was the emphasis on Evra to prove his stance, or on Suarez to deny it? If that makes sense. Have the FA deemed the context/intent to be irrelevant here? My head hurts.

Anyway, Ngog did play well tonight didn’t he. And I do feel a bit sorry for Steve Kean.

nobody knows anything

context is p. irrelevant. when in rome, don’t refer to an opponent’s race.

not everything’s that blind and white

yeah tbf when in rome it’s probably allowed for a start

finest of the fine

A few thoughts:

  • the FA statement reads a little strangely; the bits about insults and about colour are dealt with separately. While the overall impression and reporting is that Suarez abused him racially, the statement doesn’t say that. That could be because it’s merely following the wording from the charge or from FA rules; but it could be because the evidence wasn’t of racist abuse, and instead the FA have joined the dots themselves to make a point and give a ban consistent with racist abuse. If it’s the latter, that’d be strong grounds for an appeal.

  • we still don’t know what the evidence was. Suarez may not have given evidence at all. In criminal proceedings you don’t, though I don’t know how FA disciplinary proceedings work. But it may be right that Evra’s word is all there is.

  • but the Liverpool statement is a terrible idea. Backing him publicly is great and reiterating denials is fine—but the ad hominem stuff is awful, the last thing an issue like this needs. It suggests they’re taking this to the court of public opinion now, which I hate anyway but this is a dreadful context for it.

  • thinking about John Terry, I had been tending to the view that his ‘I never called you a...’ explanation would get him off. But the FA statement raises a third possibility, that they accept he didn’t say ‘black’ but that were were insults. On the basis of their statement here, they’ve got to ban Terry for that alone now. Basically, they can’t fudge his case, it’s got to be a full ‘not guilty, nothing was said at all’, or it’s a conviction for insults at least.

the lfc statement from ‘it is key to note....’ onwards is embarrassing. anyone releasing it in a professional capacity as a public statement to the press wants sacking.

CPS have announced that they’re going to make an announcement about Terry. Why not just make the announcement? This isn’t X Factor.

So FA bans are for all competitions, league, FA Cup, Carling Cup yeah?

So he’ll miss 6 league games, first leg of City C-Cup semi-final and the FA Cup game against Oldham. Back by the end of January. Oh well a nice winter break for him after 2 straight summers of international tournaments. That’s not too bad.

announcements of announcements

way of the world these days IK

post announcement parties

I missed the announcement announcement, they should have let us know it was coming.

If only there was some way of doing that.

Hahaha at England’s brave blubbering penalty-shanking glass-jawed stumbling racist cunt.

“I have today advised the Metropolitan Police Service that John Terry should be prosecuted for a racially aggravated public order offence following comments allegedly made during a Premier League football match between Queen’s Park Rangers and Chelsea on 23 October 2011.

“The decision was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and after careful consideration of all the evidence, I am satisfied there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute this case.

“Mr Terry will appear before West London Magistrates’ Court on 1 February 2012.

“He is now summonsed with a criminal offence and has the right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that nothing should be reported which could prejudice his trial.”

oh dear god its happening its really finally happening

Hurrah

early christmas present for darragh

for skilful wingers, minority ethnic groups and cuckolds everywhere, not just me tbf

you’re at least two of those, no?

Why is it? Fact remains that cultural differences do come into play here surely, regardless of the fact it happened in England? Why else would Suarez admit saying something?

― Chris, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 02:00 (13 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

yeah, i think people from ciudad juarez who move to the uk should be let off on murder charges.

liverpool’s statement boiled down to: evra is a known liar + evra says suarez is not a racist

So FA bans are for all competitions, league, FA Cup, Carling Cup yeah?

So he’ll miss 6 league games, first leg of City C-Cup semi-final and the FA Cup game against Oldham. Back by the end of January. Oh well a nice winter break for him after 2 straight summers of international tournaments. That’s not too bad.

― pandemic, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 13:40 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

suarez ban is suspended until appeals process is exhausted. certainly won’t miss any matches during 2011.

can i just say, i’m having a lovely time

If he doesn’t appeal and there aren’t any winter cancellations then the next game he’s eligible for is Man U.

fwiw if he doesn’t explicitly say he’s not appealing, then the the ban is suspended until the appeal window expires

(14 days)

It also strikes me that any decision whether to appeal may be used tactically. Suárez has 14 days to either (i) accept the charge, (ii) lodge an appeal or (iii) do nothing. If he admits the charge the penalty will take effect from the date the charge is admitted. Should Suárez appeal, the penalty is suspended until after the outcome of the appeal. Alternatively, Suárez could do nothing and allow the penalty to begin at the expiry of the 14-day deadline. These options will determine which matches Suárez can play in over the coming weeks.

5pm kick off for Udinese—Juventus? Strange. But who am I to argue, I’ll just sit back an enjoy. Di Natale bound to score.

how has buffon been playing this season

Made a great penalty save from Totti the other week, prompting a ‘maybe I’ll just leave Roma’ sulk iirc.

oh dear god its happening its really finally happening

― twice banned gabbage is death (p much resigned to deems), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 14:27 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

Huzzah!

will suarez also go to jail? what about harry?

why didn’t big ron go to jail?

thanks for the reminder pandemic!

buffon’s been solid (missed a couple of games early in the season due to injury)

marchisio just missed a presentable chance

juve have started well

xp

is harry a mad racist?

Nah, just a wheeler dealer

suarez isn’t mad

discrimination against the tax race

will terry get a jury trial and if so, how do i make myself particularly eligible for it?

wear chelsea/english shirt at all times?

i know nothing about him btw and have no particularly feelings one way or the other towards racism.

magristrates xxp

thought it might be. how do i become one of those by feb?

Chelsea’s super-sensitive manager Andre Villas-Boas has had lead pundit Tommy Langley removed from his own club’s TV channel for criticising the Portuguese’s hardline treatment of disenchanted players.

Former club favourite Langley was told he was no longer required at Chelsea TV after he described AVB as ‘vindictive’ for allegedly not allowing Nicolas Anelka and Alex to park their vehicles in the first-team car park after they had been banished from the squad for handing in transfer requests.

lol

pwn3d

I want to like AVB, but week by week he’s making it harder and harder.

This is the worst I’ve ever seen Matri play.

Ferronetti has been great at the back for Udinese tonight.

Oh Matri gets the hook.

careful, you don’t want him to get completely not vindictive with you xp

udinese 0–0 juventus FT

not good at all tbh

pirlo kept quiet.

not sure whether to bother with wigan-LFC. Might leave it to MOTD. Arsenal should straight murda Villa tonight.

udinese Vs juventus was super boring btw, thanks pandemic, thanks for nothing

yeah, i think people from ciudad juarez who move to the uk should be let off on murder charges.

Yeah, that’s exactly what I meant.

Sorry!

xp

We are a squad of many different nationalities and backgrounds

some of their best players are black

they are wearing tshirts with suarez’ picture on during their warmup

Liverpool should have handled it more along the lines of

1-Evra makes accusation

2- LFC ask Suarez what he did/said

3-Suarez says he called him a ‘negro’ but that it’s not a racist term in uruguay

4-LFC tell suarez that it is here, not to do it again, and that he should insist, if asked, that he said nothing of the sort to Evra

dzeko doesn’t even make the bench for City tonight. Is he injured?

avb will support terry ‘whatever the outcome’

pandemic otm btw ffs how was suarez allowed to admit what he’d said

they are wearing tshirts with suarez’ picture on during their warmup
― awesome to have a clever englishman zinging yr enemies (nakhchivan), Wednesday, December 21, 2011 7:20 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

this is a thing that is actually happening

kenny dal’s wearing one too

hero

moron

what is he doin

incredibly cringeworthy

i like kd but jesus he’s mounted the shark and is humping it furiously on this issue

Is Suarez wearing a Suarez t-shirt too?

He’s wearing a John Terry shirt.

he was indeed xp

Aston Villa just played their best 10 minutes of the season. Didn’t score, but you can’t have everything.

they are actually fielding some football players today tho

That’s just because all McLeish’s favorites are injured.

weak penalty.

4 mins of constanyly singing suarez’s name. i give them until the tenth minute before their voices give out. If they last the 90 mins then I tip my cap to ’em.

Welbeck with an easy opener

*constantly*

xp

please god, let suarez score the 20,000th goal

^^^^^

West Brom lose defender Steven Reid, who lands awkwardly following an aerial challenge with Leon Best in the area.

it’s like 1922 all over again

He’ll need 20,000 attempts amirite?

caught up today up on schalke’s 5–0 win over werder bremen and decided that raul way more deserving of a place on the national team than torres.

le tissier doing the co-commentary on lfc. i hate matt le tissier.

beautifully timed challenge by coquelin

moses went down in a replica of last weeks modric pen. not given.