Suarez dismissed as "unreliable" witness after FA publish racism report

By David Gold

January 1- The English Football Association report following the investigation that Liverpool forward Luis Suarez racially abused Manchester United’s Patrice Evra has accused the Uruguayan of giving “unreliable” evidence.

Suarez faces an eight game ban as well as a £40,000 (€48,000/$62,000) fine for the incident, during a 1-1 draw between the two clubs in the Premier League in October, and the report suggests that the player could be permanently suspended if he repeats the offence twice more in the future.

“Mr Suarez’s evidence was unreliable in relation to matters of critical importance,” the report said, adding that “it was, in part, inconsistent with the evidence, especially the video footage.

“Mr Evra was a credible witness.

“It [Evra’s evidence] was, for the most part, consistent, although both he and Mr Suarez were understandably unable to remember every detail of the exchanges between them.

“For example, Mr Suarez said that he pinched Mr Evra’s skin in an attempt to defuse the situation.

“He also said that his use of the word ‘negro’ to address Mr Evra was conciliatory and friendly – we rejected that evidence.

“That this was put forward by Mr Suarez was surprising and seriously undermined the reliability of his evidence on other matters.

“There were also inconsistencies between his accounts given at different times as to what happened.”

The report concluded that “given the number of times that Mr Suarez (pictured) used the word ‘negro’, his conduct is significantly more serious than a one-off use of a racially offensive term and amounts to an aggravating factor.”

Suarez is alleged to have said “negro” to Evra seven times in two minutes, with the report saying that he told the Frenchman that he kicked him during the match because he was black.

The Liverpool forward’s defence largely rested on the claim that the word “negro” has a different meaning in his home country – for instance, the South Americans’ 1950 World Cup winning captain Obdulio Varela is ‘affectionately’ referred in Uruguay as “El Negro Jefe” (The Black Boss).

“[Suarez] said that he used the word ‘negro’ at this point in the way that he did when he was growing up in Uruguay, that is a friendly form of address to people seen as black or brown-skinned or even just black-haired,” the report says.

“[Suarez] said that he used it in the same way that he did when he spoke to Glen Johnson, the Liverpool player.”

The report, crucially, indicates that the ban is nothing to do with whether Suarez is racist, even suggesting that the FA Commission believe he is not, and that the sanction meted out was for the extent to which he used the term ‘negro’ during his discourse with Evra.

Given that Liverpool’s defence was largely based on the argument that there was no racist intent behind Suarez’s language, the fact that this was not at the heart of the decision to hand the player an eight game ban is likely to make it more difficult for the club to argue his defence in any appeal.

The report is 115 pages long and was handed to both Liverpool and the FA on Friday (December 30).

Both the club and the player have indicated they would contest the eight match ban, but were waiting on the report before doing so.

Liverpool, who have vehemently defended their player throughout, have also suggested that the FA should charge Evra for calling Suarez “South American” in a derogatory manner, though this was found to be untrue by the Commission.

Liverpool and Suarez, who missed his team’s 3-1 win over Newcastle United on Friday after being handed a one game ban for gesturing towards Fulham fans earlier this season, now have until January 13 to formally submit an appeal.

Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1752384263labto1752384263ofdlr1752384263owedi1752384263sni@d1752384263log.d1752384263ivad1752384263