FIFA World Cup 2010: Fair Play, What's That? Asks Uruguay's Luis Suarez

That Uruguay’s Luis Suarez is a national hero is a travesty.

He was responsible for one of the most cynical and reprehensible examples of cheating in a game of football; an act that brings disrepute to the beautiful game.

His goal line handball was always going to earn Ghana a penalty. It was also always going to earn him a guaranteed red card and ban from the following game. FIFA had the opportunity to ban Suarez for more than one game, but took the easy way out.
None of that mattered.

Without that hand ball, Uruguay was almost certainly consigned to the World Cup scrapheap for another four years. Suarez had converted a certain goal into a second chance—a chance that was realised moments later when Asamoah Gyan slammed the penalty into the  crossbar and the rest, as they say, is history.

Uruguay eventually survived the penalty shootout at the end of extra time and are through to the semi-final round of the world cup. Ghana’s Black Stars leave the cup with their heads held high, knowing that they were the moral victors.

But moral victories don’t fill trophy cabinets.

FIFA is an organisation that prides itself on fair play. The Fair Play campaign came into being after another infamous South American example of a hand ball altering the course of a game. The infamous “Hand of God” incident has little that is positive associated with it, the Fair Play campaign is the only exception.

So, to allow this shameful episode to pass without review would make a mockery of this commitment to fairness, but let’s not hold our collective breath.

This World Cup has seen some fantastic football. Germany have been reborn into a side that plays a free flowing, exciting football. The Netherlands are finally living up to the potential they have promised so many times.

Even the minnows have got in on the act. New Zealand went through the group stage undefeated, including a famous draw with reigning world champions, Italy. Hosts South Africa put a hapless France to the sword.

But for every laudable act, there have been multiple examples of the dark side of the game.

Diving is rampant. Every touch leads to a player going down harder than an extra in Saving Private Ryan’s beach landing scene. Probably the worst example being Ivory Coast’s Abdelkader Keita, who first deliberately ran into Brazil’s Kaka, and then fell to the ground, clutching his face. Kaka was sent off for his trouble.

But nothing compares to Suarez’s handball.

There is no penalty that would prevent this kind of act. A player will willingly sacrifice himself for team success. In an interview after the game, Suarez was asked if he thought his action and the consequences were worth it. He had no hesitation in saying yes.

And why wouldn’t he? He had saved his team from certain defeat and allowed them to claim victory and a place in the World Cup semi-finals.

Perhaps the punishment should be not only the penalty and red card, but also a penalty goal. Only then, would the price for the handball be too great. No player should get the opportunity to become a hero on the back of an act of cheating.

FIFA should do everything to ensure that it never happens again.