FIFA BITES SUAREZ 😈😈😈😈

The strip is a follow up on the previous one featured on the Luis Suarez ‘biting’ incident at the FIFA 2104 World Cup in Brazil.It came out in the newspapers on Friday,27th of  June instead of its traditional slot on a Wednesday and coincided with FIFA’s verdict in the “Chew-arez” episode.

FIFA Disciplinary Committee (FDC) handed Luis Suarez a record nine match ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in a group match thus leaving his World Cup dream in tatters.Suarez was also slapped a four month world wide playing ban that will keep him out of all competitions till 26th October 2014.Implying that the 27 year old Uruguayan will also miss the first nine games in the English Premier League (EPL).In addition the player was also fined 100000 Swiss Francs (Rs 67.3 lacs).

To round up the humiliation, Suarez has been barred from “entering the confines of any stadium” for the duration of the ban (thus saving any prospective player or spectator from experiencing the strength of a  Uruguayan jaw). Suarez has been found guilty of breeching Articles 48 (assault) and 57 (unsporting behaviour) of the FIFA  code of conduct.

Well, the serious bit(e) ends here.

Its absolute pandemonium when it comes to the reactions to the incident and now on its aftermath. The Uruguayan football team has certainly lost its bite (figuratively and literally) and it’s supporters seem to have developed a penchant for coming with a ridiculous yet sublime explanation for the appearance of the “Suajaws” in the game against Italy. The Uruguayan football Chief feels,“It’s a European Witch Hunt”! Had he said its a Vampire hunt it nay have found some support at least with Wesley Snipes (of the Blade fame) other than his countrymen. 

The President of Uruguay , Jose Mujica ,also threw his weight behind Suarez and sought to blame the process and not the trigger

“in football, I was taught that you obey what the referee says . If you are going to take decisions in football based  on what TV says, then there are loads of penalties and handballs.that you will have to give that weren’t given, so bad luck.”

He then went on to endorse Suarez’s stature as a role model when he said that

“We did not choose him to be a philosopher or a mechanic, or to have good manners.He is a great player.”

And the Uruguayan media termed the FIFA verdict as “barbaric” .Thankfully they did not term it “cannibalistic” or it would have been too close to the protagonist itself and FIFA and Suarez would have been painted by the same broad brush!!!!

Though my heart goes out to Suarez’s grand mother especially since she raised him, yet her statement that they threw out her “negreto” – “like a dog” – doesn’t really evoke the pathos it otherwise would have.I wonder what would happen if a canine given to biting enters a football field featuring Suarez then what would Suarez do or prefer to be done? Yes..you got it- he would throw out the dog!!! So how has FIFA behaved differently? Now that grand ma has my heart or a part of it I hope that the foregoing doesn’t make her toss it to her “negreto”!

Whatever be the opinion of the 3.5 million Uruguayans, the Latin American media, President Mujica and grand mama I tend to go with what ex Brazilian star Ronaldo has to say about the whole issue

“I never bit anyone.I know bites hurt. (If) my kids bite me they are punished in the dark room with the big bad wolf:that’s equivalent of not plying soccer for four months.”

Giorgio Chiellini, the famous Suajaws victim #3 feels that the punishment is too harsh and “alienating” for Suarez.Even Patrice Evra , Suajaws #2, voted for his tormentor while picking the bet player in the EPL.Maybe there’s something in the raw genius (not jaws) of Suarez which compels.even his victims to root for him.But does Suarez really care? And does he really see his rivals any different than a burger? 

When Suarez was 15 he head butted the referee who sent him our for a wild tackle.The refree was Luis Lauranaga.His name has been deliberately mentioned as it took sports writer Wright Thompson considerable effort (and weeks) to get to the bottom of the story amidst fervent denials and impassioned rebuttals from all those he interacted with in Uruguay while covering a piece on Suarez.The common refrain was that

“Sure , his head hit the referee’s face , but not on purpose!!”

I thought heads were far more in control of a player than his legs while darting around on a football field. When the Uruguayan media reports the latest Suarez special in a ‘matter of fact’ way that

“note how Suarez stumbles after jumping for the ball and how his face hits the shoulder of Chiellini”

It is indicative of the sense to protect someone vulnerable.And this vulnerability of Suarez probably stems from his family history and life wherein he was left behind with his grandmother at 7 when his parents moved with his six siblings to Montevideo Suarez had to rough it out on the street for mere survival.His impoverished surroundings and the divorce of his parents at 9 seem to have left an indelible mark on his psyche leaving him on tbe edge and turning him into a man given to compulsive violence. When Suarez was a kid and playing football he probably bit back the kid jostling hom out of position.It seems the kid in Suarez is periliously close to taking control of the adult in him whemever Suarez is close to implosion. Perhaps sensing this itself prompted Cathays Kelly to write in her column on 15th December 2013 that Suarez would probably do something insane at FIFA 2014 and then engineer an ugly transfer drama at world record fees to a club other than one in the EPL.The first part of the crystal gazing has come true and there is enough time for Suarez to make the second part happen.

We all love underdogs and more so of there is an eternal romantic hidden in the story.

Suarez was heart broken when he saw his sweetheart, Sofia ,moving to Spain in 2002.He is the impoverished come -from -behind kid who then dedicated his life to soccer and first made a move to Holland in the quest to reunite with his girl and then made it big in world club football to be able to marry her.What adds to the enigma of Suarez is that he met Sofia when he was a street sweeper and she was from a comfortable middle class family.

The fairy tale is now complete..rich girl..poor boy..struggle to stay together and finally love triumphs..boy gets girl..riches..becomes a world class footballer..has two kids and lives happily! He is a role model for all street kids..so where does the bite fit in? Luis Suarez is a part of the dreams of billions of underprivileged people and he is their God. It will take more than a bite to dislodge him.from his pedestal.And all those who are tempted to try will fail.For people love a hero and a flawed and persecuted hero is a God forever.

Coming to the Amul ad strip.Well it’s a repeat of the one featured earlier except for the tag line.

The tag line..Cannibal..is a description of the FIFA World Cup being played in the land of the Carnival and is being referred to as the Carniball It also a play on the word Cannibal due to the penchant for biting that Suraez has now come to be associated with.

Remaining strip is the same as the one previously discussed in BITE LIKE SUAREZ with the Amul Girl as the referee.

As of now Suarez has had his sponsors ditching him.Poker 888 has terminated it’s arrangement with him and Adidas has decided not to run ads with Suarez featuring in them.

Suarez needs help and that too urgently.It would be a pity too see him ruin himself this way. Zinedine Zidane , an Algeria immigrant , too squandered his legacy at the very end. And he too had a disturbed childhood.

W