Blame Kevin Friend for missing Suarez’s bite: England’s Jermain Defoe only got a yellow card for his ‘nibble’
POOR old Luis Suarez (Uruguay). Had only the Liverpool’s mouth antics earned him a booking. A yellow card for his bite on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic and he would have escaped a fine and a lengthy ban from the Football Association.
In October 2006, Spurs forward Jermain Defoe (England) bit West Ham’s Javier Mascherano (Argentina). Defoe was booked for “aggressive behaviour”. No more punishment came his way because the referee had dealt with the incident at the time – even though the FA knew the official had missed the bite.
Said Defoe:
“The referee was standing over me and if he felt I had done something bad he would have sent me off.”
Friend was close to the Suarez bite. He did not send the player off. Defoe added:
“When the West Ham player fouled me, I reacted in a bit of a mischievous way – my character is a little like that at times.”
Suarez apologised for his “inexcusable behaviour”.
FA chief executive Gordon Taylor told Press Association Sport:
‘We have to work hard on anger management now. We have trained counsellors in this field and we will be offering their services to Liverpool and the player to try to improve matters.”
Did the PFA offer that service to Defoe? There is no record that they did. Defoe wasn’t banned. The FA says about Suarez:
“The FA has charged Liverpool forward Luis Suarez with violent conduct…The incident was not seen by the match officials and has therefore been retrospectively reviewed. It is alleged that the conduct of Luis Suarez constitutes violent conduct and it is The FA’s contention that the standard punishment of three matches that would otherwise apply is clearly insufficient in these circumstances.”
If you want to blame anyone, blame referee Kevin Friend for not dealing with Saurez at the time.
Posted: 22nd, April 2013 | In: Sports Comments (7) | TrackBack | Permalink
