Reality bites

I question the fairness of a four month ban for Luis Suarez and am perplexed at the the overreaction to the incident. Kicking lumps out of each other is one thing but is biting lumps so off the scale that it merits such a long ban? While Suarez finally admitted that something happened and apologised the severity of the ban still seems unjust. Even Chiellini thought that the ban was too harsh.

Twenty years ago in the 1994 World Cup in USA Leonardo elbowed Tab Ramos and got a four match ban. That seemed about right, it was an ugly incident, dealt with promptly and left at that.

The four-month ban seems to be a knee-jerk reaction, more a case of FIFA wanting to manage the incident with attention grabbing headlines and show how importantly it holds the values of the game by issuing a severe penalty.

I don't think a lesser ban would mean that the event was taken less seriously. Players bring all kinds of issues on to the pitch some of which lead to violent conduct. Long bans won't stop this happening and whatever happens next, it's certainly something to chew on.