Going on the offensive....

As we close in on the festive season with peace on earth and goodwill etc the Christmas spirit seems to have been taken away from the beautiful game. For those who have been in a cave, up a mountain or in the outer Hebrides for the past week, football has become a little bit racist and quite a few people aren't very happy about it, as well they should be, given the efforts of the kick it out campaign to eradicate racism from the pitches and terraces of the national, and indeed, worldwide (sadly not reaching as far as Spain yet but theres still time).

The first incident concerns Liverpool's Uruguayan talisman Luis Suarez, the chipmunk-faced striker who's as handy with his hands as he is with his feet, for those who braved the world cup coverage in the summer of 2010. Suarez is alleged to have used an offensive term, quoted as "Negrito" towards Patrice Evra of Manchester United in a recent game at Anfield, resulting in Suarez being found guilty, despite apparent lack of hard evidence. Suarez appeared to use this term, apparently harmless in South America, as response to a taunt by Evra during play, Evra took mass offence to the comment and pursued his claim, as indeed he is fully entitled to. My opinion is that Suarez made an error of judgement, call it a cultural mix-up if you wish but I do not expect to see Luis Suarez visiting the black population of Merseyside and the surrounding area dressed in a white hood with a pitchfork anytime soon.




Professional's past and present have been divided over the Suarez issue, Brighton manager Gus Poyet for example came out to defend Suarez, citing his character and understanding of the phrase used against Evra. John Barnes has shown the decency to highlight the fact that Suarez admitted exactly what he said and that he failed to realise the any offense that it would cause. Paul Mcgrath on the other hand condemned Suarez's team mates for showing support for him by wearing t-shirts during the warm up away at Wigan Athletic in mid-week, stating that he would have 'thrown his shirt to the floor' and questioning Glen Johnson's reason for supporting his team mate.

Staying with ex-Liverpool players, Alan Hansen joined the Racial debate by referring to "coloured" players, causing uproar and complaints via Twitter. Hansen apologised for any offense caused soon after but why should people be offended when quite clearly no malice was intended by Hansen's comments? Where do we draw the line at what is acceptable and what isn't? Racism is indeed a sensitive issue but theres sensitive and over-sensitive in my view.

Outrageous claims such as Sepp Blatter's quote that racism on the football pitch can be resolved with a handshake did nothing but harm to the work and effort put in by campaigns like Kick it out to make racism punishable as it should be, Suarez has been punished for his mistake, John Terry has now been charged for racist comments towards Anton Ferdinand and Hansen has apologised. Now can we all get on with Christmas now, please...