Suarez apologizes if racial slur caused offense

LONDON (AP)—Liverpool striker Luis Suarez
issued a conditional public apology for the first
time on Wednesday for racially abusing
Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, while
maintaining he felt he had done nothing wrong.
Suarez was banned for eight matches and fined
40,000 pounds ($62,000) for calling Evra “Negro”
or “Negros” seven times in October during a 1-1
draw at Anfield.
The Uruguay international said on Tuesday he
would reluctantly accept the punishment while
stressing that his comments, in Spanish, during
the confrontation had been lost in translation.
The 24-year-old forward has conceded that his
conduct might have caused offense but said it
was not intended to do so.
“I admitted to the (English Football Association)
commission that I said a word in Spanish once,
and only once and I told the panel members that
I will not use it again on a football pitch in
England,” Suarez said Wednesday in a statement
provided by Liverpool. “I never, ever used this
word in a derogatory way and if it offends
anyone then I want to apologize for that.”
Suarez, though, did not apologize directly to Evra,
the black France international whose conduct has
been questioned by Liverpool.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is still incensed
by the verdict last month by the disciplinary
panel.
“There’s a lot of things we’d like to say and a lot
we could say, but we would only get ourselves
in trouble,” Dalglish said on Tuesday. “We are
being evasive because we don’t like getting
ourselves in trouble.”
English football’s anti-racism group hopes the
club uses the incident to push an anti-racism
message, though the team had been strong in its
support of Suarez, with other players wearing T-
shirts bearing his image and number in a pre-
game warmup.
“We commend Liverpool FC in bringing closure
to this matter, reaffirming its commitment to an
unequivocal, zero-tolerance approach towards
discrimination in football,” said Herman Ouseley,
chairman of Kick It Out. “The club can now move
on from this period, showing leadership in how it
demonstrates and communicates this stance to
players and fans alike.”
The players’ union believes Suarez’s punishment
sends a warning that racism in the game will not
be tolerated.
“It’s a lesson to all of us … that all players coming
into our game from different countries
understand and accept what we are about—
equality and diversity,” Professional Footballers’
Association chief executive Gordon Taylor said.
“We have got probably the most multicultural
game in the world so it’s important to set the
right example.
“We don’t want him (Evra) feeling a victim. We
want our black players to feel comfortable that
racism can be dealt with in football terms, as well
as the law of the land.”