European football's anti-racism head calls for action against Liverpool
Thursday 05 January 2012
Latest in Premier League
140 Sport blogs
Via the World: Welcome to the ocean
The sun is setting on my fifteenth day at sea. Pale pinks and oranges paint the western sky and gent...
iBet: Serena Williams looks hungry again
Serena Williams has looked right back to her best in recent weeks and more importantly she looks hun...
Manchester City top the ‘injury league’, with Manchester United bottom
The results of new research into every significant injury suffered by every Premier League footballe...
Related articles
The head of European football's anti-racism group has urged the Football Association to charge Liverpool with bringing the game into disrepute over their response to Luis Suarez's eight-match ban.
Piara Powar, executive director of European football's anti-discrimination body FARE, said Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish's comments had been "undignified" and that their reaction had damaged the club's brand across the world.
Suarez is not appealing against the ban imposed for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.
Powar told Press Association Sport: "This is a lack of respect for the governing body by Liverpool and the FA should charge Liverpool FC and Kenny Dalglish.
"I think the FA should come back now and be very clear that Liverpool could be construed to have brought the game into disrepute by the way in which they have consistently undermined the judgment and by Kenny Dalglish's comments.
"Liverpool have been too keen to support their man and in doing so have whipped up a sense of paranoia amongst their fans.
"This is not the Liverpool FC that we have applauded in the past for their support for a whole range of issues.
"The responses from Kenny Dalglish have been undignified; the way in which they have dealt with the whole matter has been unprofessional.
"For the club to so aggressively militate against what looks to most people a considered judgment from the FA leads to a potential for anarchy."
Powar said reaction from his colleagues in other parts of the world made him believe the affair was damaging Liverpool.
He added: "They have damaged their brand, no question.
"There is no question that Liverpool do have a global appeal, but I have emails from colleagues in Africa asking me what the hell is going on.
"I think people will be watching this and I believe there is no question that their plans for global expansion will have been damaged by this.
"That's not to say they cannot come back from this but it has done them a lot of damage and they have not conducted themselves in a very palatable way."
Powar's call comes after Lord Ouseley, the chairman on British football's anti-racism group Kick It Out, called Liverpool "hypocritical" and Suarez's apology "lamentable".
Ouseley also described Liverpool players wearing T-shirts in support of Suarez as "dreadful".
Suarez's apology stated: "I admitted to the commission that I said a word in Spanish once and only once. I told the panel members that I will not use it again on a football pitch in England. I never, ever used this word in a derogatory way and if it offends anyone then I want to apologise for that."
Suarez did not mention Evra by name in his apology, and previously said in a statement on Tuesday he would carry out the suspension "with the resignation of someone who hasn't done anything wrong" saying the word 'Negro' was in his country a commonly-used word which did not show any lack of respect.
Ouseley, who was chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality from 1993 to 2000, wrote in The Guardian: "Liverpool FC need to take a hard look at themselves. Since the publication of the 115-page report of the findings of the FA's independent commission, Liverpool's vitriol has increased.
"Suarez's attempt at a belated apology is nothing short of lamentable. I cannot believe that a club of Liverpool's stature, and with how it has previously led on matters of social injustice and inequality, can allow its integrity and credibility to be debased by such crass and ill-considered responses."
Ouseley added: "Liverpool have been particularly hypocritical. You can't on the one hand wear a Kick It Out T-shirt in a week of campaigning against racism when this is also happening on the pitch: it's the height of hypocrisy.
"Liverpool players wore a T-shirt saying: 'We support Luis Suarez', seemingly whatever the outcome. This was a dreadful knee-jerk reaction because it stirs things up."
- 1 Lerner targets Lambert appointment by weekend
- 2 Brendan Rodgers 'agrees deal to become Liverpool manager'
- 3 Euro 2012 files: The youngsters
- 4 Euro 2012 files: Notable absentees
- 5 Club-by-club guide: Players available on a free transfer this summer
- 6 Hodgson likely to play it safe... but how about a quick call to Joe Cole?
- 7 Lampard set to miss Euros as England turn to Henderson
- 8 James Lawton: Liverpool must show new man the respect he needs to do the job
- 9 Final curtain beckons for Lampard's mixed England production
- 10 Rodgers poised to complete Anfield move
- 1 'Homosexual Iliad' wins last Orange Prize
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Claude Miller: Film director who showed the dark side of youth
- 4 Get me out of here: Sri Lanka, South Africa, Dominican Republic
- 5 Anger over Christine Lagarde's tax-free salary
- 6 Did Andy Coulson commit perjury in Sheridan trial?
- 7 Interview with economist Paul Krugman: 'Greece will leave eurozone within 12 months'
- 8 The problem with social mobility
- 9 Image released of naked cannibal killed by Miami police as he ate homeless man's face
- 10 Israel hints it may be behind 'Flame' super-virus targeting Iran
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
A home to be proud of with Halifax
Download the Halifax's brilliant, free new Home Finder app, and take all the pain out of finding your dream home
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
The problem with social mobility
France's sixth biggest city* goes to the polls (*that's London, btw)
Car-crash TV: Ferrari quits news after gaffes, rows and poor ratings
Bringing the IB to the East End




