I don’t know Alan Hansen

Suarez and Evra

 Hola. Hope you are well and enjoying the festive period.

There’s a common philosophical question which asks, ‘if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to see it, does it make a noise’?, well I feel there is a new question that can now be thrown into the mix. ‘If a man uses a term that in his country/culture is not deemed racist but uses that phrase in a country where it could be construed as being racist, is it racist’? Well, if you are part of the 3 man FA panel apparently it is.

Of course I am talking about the Luis Suarez case. I wasn’t present on the pitch when it happened and I wasn’t present at the hearing, nor do I know the intentions of Suarez so all I can go on is the things that I have read and heard about the case.

Neither am I sure what the public perception of Suarez is? I know some people think he goes down too easily, or remember the save on the line against Ghana in the World Cup, or heard about him biting another player’s leg and have drawn their own opinion about him from these incidents. But in this case, I think if anything he may have been too honest. If he wanted to, he could have denied saying this term, after all there was no video evidence to dispute this, despite Evra saying Suarez used this term 10 times, and none of the other players came forward to say they heard Suarez use the term. So essentially it was his word against Evra’s so if he had denied it, he probably could have got off without punishment. In light off this, the fact he was open and honest to the panel makes me think that he genuinely didn’t feel that what he said was a racial slur. That’s not to say just because you don’t think something is offensive then it’s not.

Nor am I saying that if someone uses racist language towards another player they should go without punishment, but if this scenario had happened in a school (I work in schools) I believe Suarez would have been sat down and told that in this country that the term he used is not considered acceptable and he should not use it in the future. Of course if he used it again, he would have to be suitably punished as he wouldn’t be able to plead ignorance as a defence.

I also feel Alex Ferguson hasn’t helped things by saying Liverpool should accept the 8 match ban, this is from a man who has never accepted any decision that has ever gone against him. We shall see how accepting he is when an official makes a mistake at Old Trafford to cost his side 3 points. Nor do I understand how Evra is not facing disciplinary action, as he freely admitted to the panel that he verbally abused Suarez, although Suarez said he never heard him. So maybe you are allowed to verbally abuse people as long as they don’t hear you.

The talk of racism then went from the pitch and to the Match of the Day studios, where Alan Hansen twice used the word ‘coloured’ when referring to black/foreign players in the game. Again, I don’t know Alan Hansen but I don’t think he was being malicious, I think he used a term that is outdated, but am I offended by the word? No. I doubt it very much that he will be using it again any time soon. I do however feel that if MOTD did want to talk seriously about racism in football, instead of Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen and Lee Dixon talking about it, it might have been nice to see someone like Sol Campbell on the programme, not only is he a black guy but he is also just out of the game.

As for John Terry, whether he is found guilty of making racist remarks towards Anton Ferdinand or not, it won’t make any difference to how I view him, as I doubt he can go any lower in my estimation.

Anyway after all this talk of racism, all that is left to do is wish you all a good and prosperous 2012!

Til next time, stay safe!

Advertisement

Tags: comedian, comedy, football blog, funny football blog, julian daniel, luis suarez, the view from the trevor