I haven’t missed a footie post since the World Cup began, but today is quiescent. There is, however, some news. According to today’s New York Times, The Chomper is being transferred to Barcelona from Liverpool, partly because of his World Cup Chomp:
Luis Suárez, who was suspended from all soccer activities for four months after biting an opposing player during the World Cup, will return from his ban with a new club: Barcelona.
It may not be the best example for young and impressionable players looking up to the Uruguayan star, but part of the fallout from Suárez’s infamous nibble of the Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder was increased pressure on Liverpool, his former club, to grant him the transfer he had requested. Liverpool had previously rejected opportunities to part with Suárez, but after this latest incident — the third biting episode of Suárez’s career — Liverpool engaged Barcelona in negotiations. The teams settled on a transfer fee reported to be 75 million pounds (about $128 million), and Suárez agreed to a five-year contract with the Catalan club.
Technically, Suárez’s four-month suspension means he cannot be officially introduced at the Camp Nou stadium, but Barcelona confirmed the deal Friday morning.
75 million pounds!! Meanwhile, SN Soccer has a curiously inconclusive article called “Can Suarez, Messi and Neymar fit together at Barcelona?“
I’d be pretty nervous if I were a supporter of Real or Atletico after herring this news.
Seriously?
Biting another player should be grounds for a “Professional” player being kicked out of the game for life.
Maybe he would enjoy finding a real job.
-evan
He doesn’t need any kind of job anymore… he’s reportedly been on 120K quid a week all his time at Liverpool, 200K since mid last season. He schould have a bit stashed away for poor times…
The transfer to Barcelonas was already set up. Barcelona was responsible for making Suarez apologize. The punishment was absolutelly severe and Fifa used it to show itself as an institution of good moral. However, FIFA is a corrupted rotten organization full of thugs and crooks.
Getting a few months off for biting someone (for the third time) is a severe punishment? I think FIFA showed how unconcerned with fair play it was with that punishment. I thought he should have been banned for life.
Someone almost broke Neymar’s back and he could have been crippled for life. Yet almost nobody suggests that the player should be punished.
Similarly, some players have a very aggressive and dangerous style of play which in the long term can be much more harmful to the other players than a bite on the shoulder. Again, no one suggests that aggressive style of play should be punished.
From the prevoius discussion, it seems that people rationalize this discrepancy by suggesting that “aggressive playing style” is part of the game and is done with accordance to the rules of the game. But this reason is nothing but post hoc rationalization. From an objective moral point of view, it does not make sense to severely punish a player for actions that are ultimatley less harmful than others.
FIFA already punished Suarez sufficiently. Probably the only term missing from the punishment is some sort of requirement that he should seek help for his outbursts on the field. This is clearly a much more productive approach than the simplistic “let’s ban him for life.”
Do you really not see a moral difference between accidentally hurting someone while trying to play within the rules and someone who routinely and purposely bites another human being? This was the third time he bit someone, obviously he isn’t learning his lesson.
It isn’t a post hoc rationalization to punish a person less for an accident than for a purposeful action. Manslaughter is punished much less harshly than murder, according to the argument you are making manslaughter, 2nd degree murder, and 1st degree murder are all equally bad, since they all have the same outcome. We do punish people differently based on motives, partly because that’s a major part of the consideration for the potential for recidivism.
And human bites are serious matters, we routinely put people on prophylactic antibiotics after human bites because of the risk of bacteremia, endocarditis, and serious skin infections.
He gets the punishment for a third-time assault, with maybe a bit added for the yuck in biting.
The guy who put out Neymar got nothing, and looking at it, that one wasn’t trying to play withing the rules. He wanted to hurt Neymar to subdue him, playing only with half a heart. The scale of the damage was probably not intended, but the risk callously accepted.
As far as I know in some jurisdictions any death in the course of any crime is considered to be first degree murder, no special intent to kill necessary…
It seems you are one of those that are in favor of capital punishment no matter what. To ban someone for life from doing your profession is something absurd. Suarez only needs psychological assistance and not be treated as a criminal and as scapegoat by FIFA. Suarez has a family with two children and he is professional and friendly with colleagues. These are characteristics that should be taken into account before vilifying someone.
And there is this lame discussion about what is morally acceptable or not in the philosophical sense. It seems some love ideas more than people.
Diogo, you are making a number of comments that are rather rude and nasty (there’s another I will highlight in a second). Please try to be polite and civil, or I’ll ask you to leave. The last paragraph is simply rude.
Typo ergo sum Merilee
>
There’s a simple solution to Suarez’s unusual dietary habits: take him to an all you can eat buffet before matches. 🙂
Men in Blazers – most fun in this world cup.
http://meninblazers.com
Their take on Suárez:
http://www.espnfc.com/video/men-in-blazers/103/video/1910920/men-in-blazers-if-the-teeth-fityou-cant-acquit
As a barca fan this is great news!
Messi and Neymar will not get rabies during this seasons champions league.
HAHAHAHA! That’s really funny man! LOL.
And in the off-season maybe Manuel can get him some work at Fawlty Towers.
Suarez has certainly left his mark on this World Cup.
I would think Barcelona need defenders more than strikers at the moment. They have plenty of firepower up front already.
New name for Suarez: Al Dente
We once had a hotel owner in Italy we used to call Al Capuccino, based on hist looks.
Al Dente – +1
If he were to play for France and help them win
the cup, would they parade him down the
Chomps Elysees?
This is a great sponsoring opportunity for Colgate or Prodent.