Evra accuses Suarez of racism

[Fredo]

It depends what exactly he admitted to though - no facts have yet been presented regarding this case so we'll have to wait and see.

Well the club's strongly worded statement sets the tone. I'm sure they know that the fa has got scant evidence and are making a point by throwing the book at him. As have been said i'm pretty sure that the influence of Ferguson is unhealthy and should be addressed in the same breath.

[little dave hedgehog]

I cannot even begin to express the anger that I feel.

I loved the fact that the club statement did not hold back. They clearly stated the FA were biased from the outset. The evidence is flimsy at best.

On appeal the ban will get reduced to 4 games but the charge will stand.

We now need to make formal complaints re Evra and his comment, and complain re the behaviour of Ferguson.

It's quite clear Ferguson and his club hold way too much influence over the FA

it's not flimsy evidence ffs!

let's be honest, if he had said something truly nasty and nothing else had changed about the case this would be an open and shut matter, and rightly so. if he had said nig*er for example, and then told the press he had done it, that would be unacceptable. that's basically what they're saying has happened in fact.

but as far as evidence goes, i don't know what more you need than an explanation from the man himself. i never heard anyone saying there was any disagreement over what he said, just what he meant by it and whether the words are abusive.

they aren't by the way. well ok, not any more abusive than anything else uttered during a derby.

[Lecter]

the negro/negrito thing. i'm sure the united negro college fund might have something to say about it.

there's no question he said what he said. the hearing hinged on whether or not those words were offensive. might've been easier if he hadn't come right out and told everyone he had called him something, but as it is there's still plenty of room for appeal. we might still lose it, but it's not over yet and i think suarez has a case. will be interesting to see whether they charge evra given that he also admitted to "abusive" words in the other direction in his testimony. they were no better and no worse than what suarez said.
allegedly.

If they dont now subsequently charge and ban/fine Evra it smacks of double standards

They wont charge him though, I mean that would be a minefield for the FA - hes black, plays for United and is French - best just brush that one under the carpet

[Exiled_red]

Despite hearing this yesterday I still can't get my head around this verdict. It's the sort of thing I'd have expected had the FA dealt with it with in a week - i.e. it seems very knee-jerk IMO.

It seems that the FA have just deemed the use of the word racist, and after all the stuff in the papers about this being a complex case and the use of body language and consideration of tone and context etc, it would seem that the panel have considered none of these things, it's especially difficult to justify such a verdict when you consider how little evidence there is, and even more strange when you consider that Evra and the FA accepted that Suarez isn't racist.

[Fivex]

Bearing in mind the FA's statement said that Suarez wasn't a racist, isn't is slander regardless of any appeal?

It's completely ridiculous. We should go after every single paper that's labelled him a racist.

[The_weatherman]

It's completely ridiculous. We should go after every single paper that's labelled him a racist.

And Luther Blissett as well.




Edit: I'm actually bursting with rage, I hope I won't yell at someone at work.

[Exiled_red]

Well what is it then, negrito is abusive but not racist? What about telling someone to **** off? Is that a yellow or even a red card now then?

It seems that saying something abusive results in a 4 match ban but the ban has been double because of a racial reference.

Personally I think that now everytime an opposition player calls one of our players a prick, tosser, arsehole etc... we should report them to the FA and see what happens then. It may not be a nice thing to do to other clubs but to the letter of the law we are entitled to do it. I think if every club did this, the FA disciplinary process would be paralized due to the high volume of cases they'd have to deal with.

[little dave hedgehog]

they'd probably refuse to hear most of those cases, but at least it would show that this is a farce.

[Exiled_red]

Has anything been said about how many times he said it? Evra claimed he said it at least 10 times but from what I've heard people are only mentioning one incident (in the goal mouth).

I'm just asking because if the at least 10 times claim is exagerated that some what calls into question Evra and his evidence. Also Evra's claims that he used the word at least 10 times seems to contradict Evra's acceptance that Suarez isn't racist.

[little dave hedgehog]

yeah that's a murky one, mate. it doesn't quite add up. it's nuts. but somehow he's not a racist, and we all agree on that. well the people who matter do anyway.

[sean_lfc]

Has anything been said about how many times he said it? Evra claimed he said it at least 10 times but from what I've heard people are only mentioning one incident (in the goal mouth).

I'm just asking because if the at least 10 times claim is exagerated that some what calls into question Evra and his evidence. Also Evra's claims that he used the word at least 10 times seems to contradict Evra's acceptance that Suarez isn't racist.

I thought about this too. However, if 'The Trial' had been unbiased and rationally looked at, similar to how it should generally happen in a court of law, this would obviously have been picked up by professional lawyers. Seeing as it's the corrupt Kangaroo 'court', it was always going to be a wishy-washy affair. It's similar to FIFA's Ethics committee! 'Yea sure, we'll investigate ourselves for corruption, we'll be sure to dig real deep, gov'na, honest. We'll smoke the monster out we's will!!'

[Exiled_red]

they'd probably refuse to hear most of those cases, but at least it would show that this is a farce.

Can they refuse to hear them? They could presumably throw them out if they liked but technically an FA rule would have been broken, could they so blatently choose when they apply the rules and when they don't? - I guess to some extent they do this at the moment. I guess they would try and get the PFA to get the players to settle it between themselves, but if the players/club refused and were doing this on a point of principle the surely there would have to be a hearing. Also given the (likely) anger of LFC if they attempted to throw such a case out surely they would have to justify their decision, especially after the precident of such a high profile case as this. They would essentially be sending out a message that says we are tough on racial abuse but we don't care about any other type of abuse.

[little dave hedgehog]

not sure how the appeals process works but i hope he gets representation. a **** hot lawyer could have a field day with this.

[little dave hedgehog]

Can they refuse to hear them? They could presumably throw them out if they liked but technically an FA rule would have been broken, could they so blatently choose when they apply the rules and when they don't? - I guess to some extent they do this at the moment. I guess they would try and get the PFA to get the players to settle it between themselves, but if the players/club refused and were doing this on a point of principle the surely there would have to be a hearing. Also given the (likely) anger of LFC if they attempted to throw such a case out surely they would have to justify their decision, especially after the precident of such a high profile case as this. They would essentially be sending out a message that says we are tough on racial abuse but we don't care about any other type of abuse.

they've passed the buck on the (frankly more abhorrent in every aspect) john terry matter. how much more "evidence" do you need?

[TheElephantMan]

Who can complain about abusive language - anybody? If the FA receive a single complaint about abuse do they have to investigate it?