As The Guardian reports, the allegations centred around an incident during a Premier League fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield on 15 October, during which Evra claimed Suárez racially abused him 'at least 10 times'.
Liverpool's defence involved arguing that the word 'negro' does not necessarily have racist connotations in Uruguay, where Suarez was born and brought up.
Also in October, Chelsea's John Terry found himself in the centre of a racism claim, having been accused of calling QPR's Anton Ferdinand a 'black c..t' during a match at Loftus Road. The incident was much more high profile, cost England its manager, ended up in Criminal Court (where he was found not guilty of racist behaviour) and caused Terry to retire from international football.
Terry was subsequently found guilty by a Football Association panel and fined £220,000 (about 1 week's wages) and banned for 4 games - even though Terry's evidence was found, in parts, to be 'improbable, implausible and contrived'. Terry, the panel found, was no racist - but was guilty of insulting behaviour.
Quite what all this all says about the FA's view on the Luis Suarez incident is anyone's guess, but the player, club and Liverpool fans will doubtless feel that the football authorities are being somewhat inconsistent here.
By banning the Liverpool player for 8 games they are surely implying that Suarez was more culpable than Terry. And that's something many will find difficult to swallow.
image: © dannymol
The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire
Hubris: How HBOS Wrecked the Best Bank in Britain
