Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle / Sport

Suarez punishment has no teeth

By Jared Smith
Whanganui Chronicle·
27 Jun, 2014 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Jared Smith Photo/File

Jared Smith Photo/File

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When no less than 167 punters were willing to put a few of their hard-earned dollars down on the prospect you will sink your teeth into something substantial in Brazil, it's hard not to label you a repeat offender.

And we all know what happens to repeat offenders in the court of law.

Watching Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini's head fly up and his legs shoot out from what appeared to be no more than a chin brushing his shoulder had my eyes rolling on Wednesday at what seemed yet another case of the embarrassingly tolerated sin of 'Hollywood diving'.

But the second Chiellini stood up to pull down his collar and reveal the tell-tale red mark, my vexation switched to complete bewildered exasperation.

Luis? Again? Are you kidding?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Those aforementioned punters through the company Betsafe were able to pocket a collective 50,000 ($77,740 ) this week from odds of 175-1 that Luis Suarez, so often the game's golden boy, would again degenerate to commit the most primal of physical contacts on a football field.

A relatively small figure given the odds, that 50,000 payout shows they were not betting big amounts on the 'unlikely' prospect, but were still the smart types to identify recidivist behaviour when they see it.

For all the Uruguayans planning on running about with flares and chanting about torching stadiums because Fifa's four-month ban on Suarez has killed their World Cup, come back to the real world and consider for a moment how ridiculous it is that the 27-year-old will be playing again on his multimillion-dollar Liverpool salary within this calendar year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The forward will be trotting out on pitch by about week 7-8 of the EPL this October. The season ends in late May 2015.

Now contrast that holiday with the 'three strikes law' that governs most Western court systems where if you just won't stop, you gotta go down for life, as the public warning to others that you wouldn't take.

Like the pyromaniac handed a full jerry can and the anarchist hacker presented with a new laptop, Suarez's third shocking indiscretion to follow on from 2010 in the Netherlands (seven-match ban) and Britain last year (10 matches) shows a habitual offender who has zero ability for self-restraint.

The unforgivable has not exactly been forgiven, but it sure can't be said the punishment fits the crime, and Uruguay's Football Association still plans to appeal the sentence with all the legal might it can muster.

Great message for the kids.

Role models? Not a priority this is about having our talented teeth snapper available for the next nine internationals.

Suarez's ban on representing his country till at least the 2018 Fifa qualifiers may handicap his nation, but only lends further credence to how much he is getting away with it personally.

The fine of 100,000 Swiss francs could just about qualify as a tax writeoff by his accountants.

In no way does this sentence impact his quality of professional life, ability to make an income, and therefore, one can suggest, neither does it bring any sense of remorse.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Whanganui Chronicle

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running

Sponsored Stories

Rugby: Marist Knights seize senior title

Sponsored Stories

Rugby: One point in it as Taihape edge Kaierau


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running
Whanganui Chronicle

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running

'I’m doing it again to compete in it, rather than just complete it.'

15 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: Marist Knights seize senior title
Sponsored Stories

Rugby: Marist Knights seize senior title

14 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: One point in it as Taihape edge Kaierau
Sponsored Stories

Rugby: One point in it as Taihape edge Kaierau

14 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP