Luis Suarez: a ‘handy’ player

Suarez is no saint (it goes without saying really) but the line is blurred when it comes to 'cheating' in football or any sport for that matter. A great article on the subject (granted its from a Liverpool blog) that puts things into perspective: http://tomkinstimes.com/2013/01/why-is-it-always-him/

Anyone else remember this? October 27, 2006 Energy Australia Stadium, Newcastle..... Newcastle Jets 2 Adelaide United 1 Newcastle Jets midfielder Nick Carle scored a wonder goal in the 89th minute to hand his side a stunning 2-1 victory over Adelaide United at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Friday night. Carle ran from inside his own half, weaved through the opposition defence and then unleashed a swerving shot with the outside of his left boot that found the top left corner of the net. A minute earlier, Adelaide veteran striker Carl Veart shot over the bar from a penalty attempt. Referee Matthew Breeze awarded the spot-kick and sent off Jade North after the defender stopped a Sheng qing Qu header on the goal line with his hand. Jets coach Gary van Egmond said North's handball and subsequent send-off gave his side a chance. "When you get to that level and to those certain times, it's a game of inches. That was a moment where he (North) made a decision and it proves to be a right decision." Discuss!!!!

The "save" wasn't as bad as his celebration when Ghana missed the penalty.

So a person who is prepared to call another a "vile rat-faced ass" and hopes ill befalls him, hasn't ever tripped an opponent, pulled a shirt, or even disputed a refereeing decision? Why do I find that hard to believe?

What I meant Roger was that if Neill didn't handle it, therefore the Iraqi header ends up in the net and the Socceroos lose 1-0. They would thus have been eliminated and therefore obviously not good enough to qualify. All hypothetical I know but I'm surprised that you and Kasey would rather miss out on a World Cup than qualify by doing something that has been done, and will be done again hundreds of times. I should tell you (humbly!!) that I've played and coached professionally in 3 countries and I can't think of, or imagine, any player I've known who wouldn't do the same as Suarez (or Neill in the hypothetical) if they were in the same position. Don't let the anti-football brigade get to you, there are plenty of cheats in their favourite codes too!

I'd be in a similar boat to you Roger. Then I'd be thinking of the damage Luca$h's actions would do to football. We are already seen as a sport filled with divers and cheats. The last thing we need to do is re-inforce those stereotypes:( If we qualified by 'cheating' the whole thing would be tainted for me.

I'm sorry kopite, what you just said doesn't really make sense.

"B) Suarez v Ghana... If Ghana score the penalty, Suarez actions would have been forgotten there and then on the night. Only through a professional footballers inability to score from the spot does he become the world’s biggest villain." Rubbish. He would have been labelled a cheat regardless. It's just that instead of people being incensed by it, people would have jeered him and sai "even though you cheated, you still couldn't win". No excuses for this behaviour Sam, none. Cheating to win should never be supported or justified. Not ever. As Kasey says, by this line of thinking its ok for players to dope, as long as they don't get caught. But what's that you say? Dopings not legal in football? Well, neither are intentional handball.

+1

News Headline: " Suarez mistakes football for volleyball….Again." Cheating to win should NOT be condoned at all. Otherwise why not allow doping? The Country with the best chemists wins the Olympics - All athletes dead of heart conditions at 32:( Saying it is up to the officials to catch the cheats is a cop-out. The humanity of officials (humans make mistakes) thus robs the spectator of the chance for a true sporting contest. We all like sport for the contest. We can accept simple errors by officials, blown offside calls etc because football is a metaphor for life, in Life we are told cheats do not prosper – it is a cornerstone of the Judeo-Christian ethics structure that underpins our society. Suarez cheated plain and simple and he prospered (Liverpool progressed in the Cup) this is the crux of the matter and why it grates so much.

Johnno, surely you're not suggesting that this has enhanced the spectators viewing experience of cricket? "Yes he's out! No wait, we have to wait for a decision".... *10 seconds elapse*. "Yay, he is out......" Kind of dampens the experience. Football is a flowing game, and its part of the beauty. Can you imagine the damage that would be done to the game by introducing video review? "GOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!", followed by fist pumping and high fiving, would be replaced by "Was that a goal? Dunno, we have to wait for the replay" And of course this is all besides the point, because we don't have video review, and until such time, its not reasonable or correct to say that "good on players if they can cheat and get away with it"

Here's the long and short. A) Suarez v Mansfield. First thing I would like to point out is that it is not even close to being deliberate. I do not even need to clarify. It's there to see. It bobs up on to his hand and in frustrating Suarez belts it in to the net expecting it to be disallowed. Only when he turns around and sees that to everyone's (bar the referees) disbelief, the goal was awarded does he proceed to celebrate in the same way he celebrates every goal he scores. Hardly rubbing it in. Why should he own up? How often does a defender raise his hand in the box and say, "Referee! I handballed that. It's a penalty." Never? Thought so. Wake up to yourselves. The only person to blame here is the referee. I'd be surprised if everyone here didn't benefit from a referees incorrect decision at some stage in their sporting career. I guess we're all cheaters. B) Suarez v Ghana This one only needs to be short. If Ghana score the penalty, Suarez actions would have been forgotten there and then on the night. Only through a professional footballers inability to score from the spot does he become the world's biggest villain. He knew full well what he was doing. It's what we label a professional foul in football. Not 'cheating.' He knew the consequences. The ball was goal bound. It was in his teams best interest that he take the red card in hope that Ghana miss the resulting penalty. Genius in my eyes. As some have pointed out, in those circumstances who wouldn't do it? If committing a professional foul is cheating well then once again, our game is full of cheaters. C) Evra Saga It's old and I've moved on but some still feel the need to Suarez bash using it. The question I raise to people is this. If you are accused and found guilty of something you truly believe yourself to be innocent of, would you readily and happily then shake the persons hand who brought the action against you? Of course you wouldn't. If you say yes, you're just lying to yourself. Suarez is a tough on field competitor who like many of us, has let the heat of the moment overwhelm him at times. He has done his due and served his punishment for those actions. Unfortunately no one seems to let go, and every little thing that happens involving him these days is exaggerated and amplified to the extreme. Just let the man get on with his football. He is a special talent and we should be cherishing him, not trying to drive him out of the game.

Personally, I find it embarrassing that the Mighty! Liverpool have to cheat to beat a NON-LEAGUE team and their fans are perfectly happy for them to do so.

This is becoming tedious. If the situation had been reversed and Mansfield had taken a two goal lead thanks to a handball, (which was ruled accidental by the match referee btw) the only people complaining would be Liverpool supporters. For everyone else it would be a cheeky act by a plucky lower league striker.

But you would have been wrong!

Stevo even if it is cheating, I don't have a problem with cheating in pro sport, amateur sport is different. If your tactics are to cheat, then the officialdom and referees should be competent enough to find the cheating. And Suarez was caught out vs Ghana on full time and did get punished, players often get caught out for off side in rugby, and coming in from the side. but not always , it's up to the referees to be trained competently to find the errors. I think DRS has been great for cricket, and funny the only team that objects too DRS is the most commercially powerful in cricket India. Funny that. I love the 2 challenge system. It works fine for now, i say keep it.

This is about as funny as the Evra " Negrito" drama, Suarez insisted he was the victim !! lol

Swampy DRS is a tricky one, i think DRS could work but only on designs in the box and if a team wants to dispute if a ball goes over the line, other than that let the game flow.. Lucas Neil wouldn't mind DRS, nor would Harry Kewell vs Ghana, or Frank Lampard vs Germany, or Irleand VS France and Thiery Henry.

Yes in cricket when you nick the ball and it's caught you're out. Gilchrist was crucified for talking about "walking" in recognition that he had hit the ball. Most other players stand waiting for a decision. Is that cheating? Are players abiding by the spirit of the game? As for Suarez, he's approach is no different to that of the Australian cricket team, especially under Steve Waugh. Stretch the boundaries, see what you can get away with, play for keeps.

Lost me with DRS for football johnno. I couldn't agree more with what you say otherwise. The games aren't strawberries and cream on a Saturday afternoon. There is more pressure than any of us imagine to win and make the most of what amounts to a very short career. Guys like Maradona and Suarez come from absolutely nothing and their 10 year career can change the lot of their family and future family forever. If the referees are not alert to suspect incidents during a match then I suggest that post match reviews are conducted more thoroughly. A more rigorous approach to punishing players needs to be adopted. Punishments which, for serial offenders, escalate and damage the personal value they have to their club or nation. As I see it, the only way to effect the way a Suarez plays is if he plays down his potential value by missing large chunks of a season and loses large chunks of his salary. FIFA (& UEFA) are too gutless to enact such a policy so I guess we won't see a change ever. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.