Luis Suarez Will Appeal Ban as He Continues to Fight for Reputation

Luis Suarez is in a fight for nothing short of his good name, and he has the backing of his teammates from Liverpool to help the cause. 

FA officials came down with a hammer on the Uruguayan star, who allegedly fired off racist slurs towards Manchester United's Patrice Evra. The punishment for Suarez is stiff, and includes an eight-match ban as well as a $62,000 fine. 

The punishment is needed and just, but only if Suarez did what has been alleged. Racism has been far too prevalent in English football, as well as in other leagues, for officials to look the other way much longer. 

That said, it's clear that Suarez and his teammates have a much different view of the situation. It is apparent from these simple words from Mirror Football's Twitter feed. 

The Liverpool forward is prepared to fight to stay on the pitch as well as to keep his honor. This will not be a one-man fight by any means. 

An ESPN report quotes Suarez's lawyer Alejandro Balbi as stating the following: 

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"The counts of racism that were made against him are not true. [Suarez] is very affected [and is] calm because of the massive support of the club, the coach, his teammates and his captain."

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The report also states that Liverpool players and manager Kenny Dalglish were seen on the pitch wearing white tee shirts with Suarez's image on them. And that's not all. The players released a joint statement included in the ESPN report. 

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"Luis Suarez is our teammate and our friend and as a group of players we are shocked and angered that he has been found guilty by the FA. We totally support Luis and we want the world to know that. We know he is not racist...We have lived, trained and played with Luis for almost 12 months and we don't recognize the way he has been portrayed."

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The amount of unity that is being shown behind Suarez is amazing. It needs to be said that athletes need to work very hard to get that kind of unified support. 

These players are putting their own reputations on the line by backing a man accused of racism. There is no way they would do that if they didn't believe without a shadow of a doubt that he is innocent of the charges. 

Balbi went on to note that the only evidence used in the decision to ban Suarez was the word of Evra.

That committee better hope they got this suspension correct, because they are dealing with no less than the good name of Luis Suarez. Something with that much weight should never be dealt with just to prove a point or with flippancy.

That would be a crime in and of itself. 

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