Chewed over
Four month global ban for Suarez; excessive, fair or insufficient?
I don’t go with any of those. Whatever you think of the gravity of the offence, it happened on the watch of the Uruguayan FA. When Suarez is with his club, he’s protected by its support systems. These include a psychologist and an extremely perceptive head coach. When he went off with Uruguay he went into an aggressive environment, where his transgression is barely recognised as such. Therefore isn’t it entirely logical that any penalty should impact on Uruguay alone?
As I understand it, when a player is on international duty, his club is indemnified against injury, by insurance. Not so in this case, unless Liverpool FC’s lawyers persuade Uruguay that it should compensate the club for the loss of his services.
Common sense says to me that a fairer disposition would have been a longer ban from international matches, and a fine, not on the player but on the Uruguayan FA, (which has plenty of previous over the years) leaving the club to deal internally with the matter.
But when did FIFA last display common sense?
Quintin Jardine's blog 
I agree that the Uruguay FA should be fined and I also agree they should compensate Liverpool FC but I think the ban from all forms of football is in part correct. After all this is the third time he has decided to bite an opponent therefore previous punishment has not been sufficient. Had Suarez taken a dislike to something on the street and taken a chunk out of someone nearby, we’d be looking for him to be jailed. I don’t think it should go this far but he has to be severely punished.
I do believe he should have been given some sort of treatment order along with the ban. He clearly has “issues”.
Lisa
There’s an anomaly at work here. A player who’s suspended in the Champions League, may play in domestic football, and vice versa. Plus, he didn’t actually take a chunk out of anyone.
I agree with Lisa that he needs treatment of some sort.
While I can see QJ’s point that Liverpool will suffer, and that may not be equitable, Suarez is a role model for many youngsters and if, after seeing him commit such a heinous act, he is then playing in the EPL all season what sort of message does that send out? That kind of behaviour has no place in society let alone football and he has been rightly punished. In my view he has got off lightly – 6 months to a year and/or a suspended sentence of a lifetime ban if he re-offends would have been more appropriate. It is a tragedy that such a skilful player should have this huge issue bubbling inside him.
Liverpool should be entitled to some compensation but, if they look at this in the long term, that once great club is in danger of being tarnished by his actions so it is time to cash in and move on. Their biggest issue is that he may not be as marketable as he was a week ago.
Yeah, I think the punishment is fair. It’s not too harsh, and it’s not too lenient. Liverpool have no cause for complaint to anyone but the player himself. The club gambled on a virtuoso with an erratic temperament, they enticed him to commit to an improved four-and-a-half year deal. They’re getting what they paid for.
I doubt there’s much they can do for his mental condition. LFC’s sports psychologist will have already taught him to count to ten when he gets angry, or to think of happy things, like scoring against England. It does appear though that there is a point in Suarez’s dark mind beyond which he can summon no other action other than to have a quick chomp on the nearest beefy defender.
Chiellini did his job well, although not well enough. England fans can find consolation in the rapid actions of the Twisted Karma Fairy: Balotelli and Suarez thought they had had the last laugh, but now neither of them will be playing in the next round either.
What a great tournament.