For fans of common sense, take a deep breath…

For fans of common sense, take a deep breath…

For fans of common sense, take a deep breath…

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By Azeem Banatwalla

The footballing world in its entirety knows what happened before and after the clash between Manchester United and Liverpool yesterday. YouTube is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? So there’s not much point repeating what happened, but in the aftermath of yesterday’s events, debates have sprung up, as they usually do, on Facebook status updates, newspaper websites, and pretty much every space of internet brave enough to host a comments section. United and Liverpool fans are at each other’s throats. United fans say Suarez should have shaken Evra’s hand. Liverpool fans say it’s just a handshake being blown out of proportion. But the essential point of the debate was lost a long time ago. Having had a weekend to sleep on it, let’s see if we can find our heads again.

Whichever side of the fence you’re on, the facts remain the same. I will admit to being a Manchester United fan, but I’m also a fan of common sense, so I am going to try and be completely objective here. Just the facts, nothing else – so that we can switch our focus back to the real problem (or lack of it). Patrice Evra claimed to have been victimized racially by Luis Suarez. Do we (by ‘we’, I mean you and me) know for certain that he was? No. Based on the limited releases from Suarez’s court hearing, Suarez claimed to use a particular controversial word that’s acceptable in Spanish, but was allegedly quoted out of context. Do we know exactly what was said and in what context it was meant? No. Are we certain that Evra was aware of the context as well? No.

I could go on with this, asking questions about whether we’re certain of ANYTHING in the Suarez-Evra saga apart from the colour of their respective skins, and the answer would still be enn-ohh, NO. If you’ve ever read a courtroom drama, you’ll know there’s a lot more to any case than meets the eye. The world has formed its opinions on a largely imaginary debate with largely imaginary evidence and self-drawn conclusions based on where loyalties lie. It’s really as simple as that. What happened to rivalries on the field? The good old days of Keane and Vieira, where gamesmanship and flared tempers stemmed from being a sportsman and not the closed doors of a courtroom.

Yes, racism is a massive, sensitive issue. Yes, it has no place in society. Yes, we need to kick it out. But how will arguing endlessly about a flashpoint, a court hearing or a handshake achieve that? Evra made a complaint, Suarez was punished, he had his time to sulk, he could have done a lot of things differently, but people are who they are. There is no bigger man here. There’s some blame attributed to everyone. Our world is not Utopian. It’s not particularly mature either. So, in the interest of football, common sense and peace of mind, I suggest we all grow up a bit and move on. I’ve had fourth-grade classroom bust-ups about swearwords that were resolved faster. Respectfully, just watch the game. Lawyers are paid enough without the likes of us professing to do their work for them.