Luis Suarez receives 10-match ban

Today (Wednesday 24th April), the FA ruled that Liverpool’s Luis Suarez would be given a ban of 10 games for biting Chelsea defender Bransilav Ivanovic. This means he will miss the remainder of this season, and the first six games of the 2013/14 season.

There is some debate as to whether or not this ban is fair. There is universal agreement that Suarez deserved a ban, but the length is controversial. Some feel that 10 games is fair, as it is the second charge of biting that Suarez has faced (he was banned for seven games for biting a PSV player during his time at Ajax), and an example needs to be made to younger players. Others argue that the precedent of a 7-game ban for biting has been set, and therefore that should again be the length of his ban. Still others say that Suarez’s bite was violent conduct, and as the FA’s own legislation states that a retrospective ban for violent conduct is 3 games, that is how long Suarez should be suspended for.

It is hard to say what the right decision is, as an incident of this nature has never really occurred in the Premier League. The only similar example would be the Jermaine Defoe bite on Javier Mascherano in 2006, which the FA took no action on as the referee had ‘seen the incident and dealt with it’. It is therefore hard to draw comparisons between the two incidents, but seeing as the FA felt no need to change their own rules in order to punish Defoe’s bite, it would seem a little harsh that they gave Suarez a ban so much larger than their regular ban for violent conduct.

Either way, the fact is he is out for 10 games. This will have a huge effect on Liverpool, who will have to start their 2013/14 campaign without their star striker. It also means that Suarez, who was in contention for the golden boot, can no longer win it, as Robin Van Persie now has a higher goal tally than he does (thanks to his hat-trick against Aston Villa). The only silver lining for Liverpool fans is that the ban greatly improves their chances of being able to hold on to Suarez over the summer. Although the 10-match ban was imposed on Suarez by the English Football Association, the ban would still apply if he transferred abroad, as we saw with Joey Barton’s move to Marseille last year. A lot of big clubs who may have been tempted to buy Suarez will not like the fact that they will not be able to play him for six games, and they will probably also be put off buying him due to the controversy he seems to take with him wherever he goes.

The ban is one of the longest ever imposed by the FA, and many people are unhappy, claiming that they are biased against Luis Suarez. However, he did bite someone, and that is a serious offence. In any case, the loss of Suarez for 10 matches will come as a huge blow to the player and to the club, and Liverpool will find it hard to break their woeful first day of the season record (the last time they won their first game was in 2008, a 1-0 win against Sunderland) next season without their star striker.

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