THE recent pronouncement by the English Football Association (FA) which slammed Liverpool's Luis Suarez with an eight-match ban from participating in the Barclays English Premiership League, coupled with a fine of 40,000 pounds (or N10, 400,000.00), was welcome news to those who vehemently oppose acts of racism in any form in sport.Seen by most as clearly a deterrent to would-be offenders in such a moral question on sensitive matters relating to racism in the so-called 'beautiful game,' the English FA thought it fit to mete out such unprecedented heavy punishment on Uruguay's 2010 World Cup semi-finalist and reigning 2011 Copa America champion in order to send a clear message of a zero-tolerance to anyone who might want to put the game of football into disrepute through actions tantamount to racism.It was just as well, that such worldwide warning was sounded loud and clear by no less than the English Football Association, 'the FA,' as the body is generally known as, perhaps, a fitting recognition that the now world-famous sport was introduced and first organised in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century.Suarez's offence could not have taken place before a more high-profile gathering, being a crucial Barclays English Premiership League game between Manchester United and Liverpool, the two most accomplished clubsides in the rich history of the best organised, best publicised, and by far the most widely followed League around the world. The fact that Liverpool's haul of 18 league titles is second only to Manchester United's 19, only tells part of the teams' remarkable success story.Until the genius of Frenchman Arsene Wenger held sway and turned Arsenal into one of the best and most popular clubs in the world in the late 1990s and the early 2000s; and the limitless supply of money from Russia's billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich, which translated into Chelsea's purchase of the best available players from around the world, plus the recruitment of the self-styled 'special one' coach (Jose Mourinho) in the mid-2000s, all of which essentially pushed the 1999 treble-winning Manchester United and five European Cup-winning Liverpool to struggle for just top-four finish, the English League was nearly always all about the Reds of Anfield and the Red Devils of Old Trafford.During the typically explosive Premier League match between hosts Liverpool and Manchester United, the visitors' captain and defence ace Patrice Evra, a black Frenchman, who captained the French national team to the last World Cup in South Africa, took exception to being racially abused by Liverpool star forward Luis Suarez after he (Evra) had reportedly asked the Uruguayan why he was taking delight in constantly kicking him whenever the two contested for the ball. 'Because you are black' was the reported reply from the Uruguayan. When, according to Evra, the Frenchman threatened to respond in kind if the kicking continued, Suarez replied, 'I don't talk to blacks,' in a deplorable reference to Evra's skin colour.It did not stop there, despite the match referee's intervention during play. After the match, the incident, further amplified by different reactions in the social media around the world, dominated the headlines in sports stories, and the case was not helped by FIFA President Sepp Blatter's infamous suggested 'handshake' solution which further enraged the world. Blatter had to swallow his own words while apologising for his ill-advised comments.Clearly, the English FA, which also has yet to deal with a similar racial abuse incident on the field of play which allegedly was aimed at Queen's Park Rangers' Anton Ferdinand (the younger brother of former England captain Rio Ferdinand) by England and Chelsea's captain, John Terry, found itself on the spot.How would the English FA, which has consistently accused FIFA of corruption, deal with this moral question and extremely sensitive racial issue' The case was considered so serious that it has been taken over by state prosecution in the court of law. On the former case, thebody appointed an independent investigating body to thoroughly investigate Evra's racial abuse allegation, which was causing a distraction and an embarrassment to the game in the UK and beyond.The independent investigating body went to work, and the result was a startling 115-page document which exposed the whole truth, as Suarez was indicted of racially abusing Evra as many as seven times within two minutes during the match.On the strength of the overwhelming evidence against the Uruguayan, the FA confirmed the eight-match ban and the 40,000 pounds fine. Liverpool FC was circumspect enough to back out of their infamous T-shirt wearing support of Suarez. Even Hugh Robertson, the British Minister of Sport and the 2012 Olympics, praised the FA for severely punishing Suarez.Said Robertson: 'There is no doubt about it; racism is a really serious threat, which needs to be dealt with in absolutely the correct way. I'm actually pleased with the way the FA has taken this case on. They handed it to an independent service commission, which is entirely the right thing to do. The commission looked into it, and produced very detailed findings that have been published. I encourage everybody to read those findings, reflect on them, and find out that it is really an insidious crime, which, if allowed to fester in any way at all, the consequences are very, very severe indeed. Racism simply has no part to play in sport whatsoever, and anybody who indulges in it, either by accident, or on purpose, deserves to face as strong as possible recrimination.'The FA's action is commendable. It should spur the British government further to stem the tide in the manifest current revival of racism in the younger generation, not only in football, but also in the larger British society.Liverpool Football Club won itself no friends with their initial lukewarm attitude towards the Suarez case, and it is just as well that they quit promptly, and apologised to Nigeria-born Oldham player, Tom Adeyemi, who more recently suffered racial abuse from Liverpool fans during their FA Cup fourth round game against visiting Olham FC, leading to an arrest of a 20 year-old misguided youth.It is a worrying trend these days that, with every economic crisis in the UK, the scapegoats are always people who are described as 'coloured.' We need more genuinely sincere persons in high office like Hugh Robertson, who has given a correct signal to racism culprits. Racism is anti-human, to say the least; and those who still embrace it should be told so in unmistakable terms.
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