First of all, this is not meant as an insult or affront to the lady in question but more of my disagreement with her statement and methodology.
It is no secret that the biggest news from the World Cup last week had nothing to do with football directly but the biting incident involving Uruguayan player Luis Suarez and Italian player Giorgio Chiellini. Since FIFA passed their judgment on the matter the reaction from all aspects has been mixed and in some cases surprising. The one that caught my attention the most was the reaction from Suarez' grandmum in a statement issued yesterday:
Suarez has been unfairly victimised in his "barbaric" expulsion from the World Cup for biting, his disconsolate grandmother said on Thursday. "Everyone knows what they've done to Luis. They wanted him out of the World Cup. Perfect, they did it. They chucked him out of there like a dog," a sobbing Lila Piriz Da Rosa told Reuters from Suarez's birthtown Salto in north-west Uruguay.
Piriz, who has 22 grand-children, said football authorities had been watching Suarez from the outset. "This was on purpose," she said of the sanctions given to the brilliant but volatile Suarez, who has been punished three times now for biting and once for racism. "They had their eyes on him to see what he does. It's barbaric what they've done to him," Piriz added. "I'm his granny and I love my boy loads,!" Piriz said. "Please don't ask me any more." - Eurosport
Far be it from me to come between the love for a grandmother and her grand son but this response is one of a number of reactions that is just absolutely ridiculous. This notion of Suarez being victimized is laughable at least. How is it possible to see a football professional bite three people on the field of play and yet he is the victim? How is there a witch hunt on someone that in spite of his past indiscretions, everyone has forgiven him and even celebrated him for triumphing in the face of his 'adversity'? If Balotelli is the king of off field discretions, then Suarez is the king of on field misbehavior. Biting tendencies aside we will also remember that he has had racist charges levelled against him as well as his famous handball at the last world cup that knocked Ghana out. And Suarez is a victim?
Forget the fact that if a different footballer who wasn't so prolific did the same thing repeatedly the whole world would have taken him to the Hague for crimes against humanity and barbarism. But because he is in fact a protected player he got off easy. It may not be so far fetched to accuse FIFA of favoritism and not victimization.
So his grandmum cried and shed tears so that the world would see a human side to her serial biter grand son but that bit of manipulation was totally unnecessary. After all she has 22 grandkids. Does biting run in the family? Why does she have to take to the spotlight to lament when she has 21 that have refused to bite people in their line of work?
No one did anything to Suarez. Whatever punishment was meted out to him was totally deserved, and in my opinion was insufficient. I won't even bother going into what other reactions were, like that proferred by the washed-out has-been that is Maradona, in whose opinion Suarez did nothing wrong, but enough of this victimization talk. That man needs a proper psychological evaluation and possible spiritual intervention because you have to ask yourself, what goes through a man's mind that would make him want to bite someone else? Please feel free to leave a comment below stating what would drive you to bite another person.
Then again what is the point of banning Suarez? He'll just come back to the Premier league in November and still be the highest goal scorer in the league and will be once again celebrated as the triumph of a reformed man over his adversity.
