Players union believes Suarez needs help
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THE players’ union and soccer’s governing body agree on one thing in the wake of the heavy ban imposed on Luis Suarez for his third biting incident: the Uruguay and Liverpool striker needs help.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said a third biting incident in Suarez’s career was “unacceptable.”
“I think he should find a way to stop doing it — he should go through a treatment,” Valcke said.
The players’ union, FIFPro, came to the same conclusion but from a more sympathetic approach.
FIFPro said the FIFA disciplinary panel’s ban for Suarez of nine Uruguay matches and four months from all football “infringes his right to work” and doesn’t offer him the treatment he needs.
“Luis Suarez should receive all the support he needs to deal with any off-field issues he may be experiencing at this time,” the union said, adding that “treatment must be a part of any sanction.”
Neither Valcke nor FIFPro specified if the treatment should include anger management therapy or counseling.
Meanwhile, Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez quit FIFA’s strategic committee in protest at the ban football’s governing body imposed on Suarez. He also made an often rambling 15-minute speech.
In his monologue, Tabarez blamed English-speaking media for creating pressure on the FIFA disciplinary panel to punish Suarez. He hinted that Uruguay, perhaps as a small country, was being singled out.
“It is not wise, at least it is not prudent to be in an organization with people who exerted pressure in order to promote this decision,” Tabarez said.
In his first public comments on the controversy, FIFA President Sepp Blatter declined to discuss the length of the ban but condemned Suarez’s action.
“It is not fair what he has done,” said Blatter in a video on FIFA’s website.
Suarez bit Chiellini’s left shoulder during Uruguay’s 1-0 win over Italy at Natal on Tuesday. The incident went unpunished by the referee but was broadcast around the world on TV.
It was the third time Suarez has bitten an opponent, after incidents in the Dutch and English leagues. He was banned for seven and 10 matches, respectively.
“If it starts to be more than once it is not any more an (isolated) incident, so that is why also the sanction has to be exemplary,” said Valcke.
“What happened with Suarez was beyond the game, was something which is far beyond the fair play and the attitude you can have when you play at the World Cup,” the French official said.
Still, FIFPro said the sanctions should be reduced, calling on FIFA’s appeals panel to “focus especially on the accumulation of sanctions.”
“The fact that Suarez is prohibited from working for a long period must be addressed as it directly infringes his right to work,” the Netherlands-based union said.
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