100% Wire wrote:
I have a sneaking suspicion they're sticking up for him because of the cloudiness of the issue (the whole cultural differences etc etc), i reckon if Suarez had just said something along the lines of 'Evra, you stupid f**king ni**er', they may have been less likely to stand up for him for fear of looking stupid and condoning his remarks. Of course i'd like to think that's the case anyway.....
It is the case, sort of. I said at the start, as soon as Evra made the allegations, if it's proven Suarez actually abused him during the game, then I'd willingly accept a ban towards him for the rest of the season. I said at the time, if it comes out that Suarez has gone "n****r" ten+ times to him during the game, I probably wouldn't want to see him play for us again. However, according to the reports that have come out on it, a word has been used once, something Suarez has admitted to, but he hasn't admitted to racism, something a lot of people seem to think has happened. For me, Suarez's defence on cultural/language differences is an acceptable one to a certain degree. I don't think he should be found completely innocent as it sets the wrong precedent and they do have to punish Suarez, even if it was a mistake/accident/mix up. However, the punishment given, for me anyway, is all wrong. It should have been guilty for 'potentially racist language', and he should have received a match ban and a fine, with a suspended ban of 10 games or whatever if it happens again. It's been said that Evra has said he doesn't believe Suarez is racist, and apparently the FA have said the same thing, just he was guilty of using racist language, but the tag still sticks and people like Mark think he's in the klan.
It's been mentioned in these reports that Evra referred to Suarez as a 'South American', but that too is racist and, from what I've been reading, it's more offensive in South America to mention somebody's country/region than it is to mention colour. So, if it's true that Evra has admitted calling him that, I can't understand why they would choose to ignore it.