Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12 - Mod Note 4153

340. Mr Suarez plays with black players in the Uruguay national team and has no problems
with them. When they are on international duty, the families are together. When Mr
Suarez was in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, he became involved in a charity in
conjunction with the black Cameroon goalkeeper, Carlos Kameni, and Andres Iniesta, the
Spain and Barcelona player. Each of them was filmed meeting a young South African who
played football as part of a project with young black and white children to encourage
solidarity and stamp out racism. The central theme of the film, which the Commission
watched, is that the colour of a person's skin does not matter, they can all play together as
a team. It shows Mr Suarez meeting one of the young footballers. The DVD of the film is
advertised on Mr Suarez's Facebook page, via which it can be bought with all the money
going to help the charity.
341. Mr Suarez told us that he has never had any allegation of this nature made against him by
any fellow professional or official associated with football whether on or off the pitch. He
is saddened by Mr Evra's allegations and deeply concerned as to the implications of these
allegations on his playing career, personal relationships and his charity work.
342. We asked ourselves whether a player with this background would make the comments
that Mr Evra alleged. We took all these points fully on board and thought long and hard
about them before finding the Charge proved. We dealt with them in the following way.
343. Mr Suarez's background as described by him in his statement raised doubts in our minds,
in the first instance, as to whether he would ever make the alleged comments. We
recognised that Mr Suarez's background together with the seriousness of the Charge,
meant that a greater burden of evidence was required to prove the Charge. We formed the
view that, overall, the preponderance of the evidence favoured the FA's case.
344. We took into account the fact that it is a real albeit unattractive trait of human nature that
we all act from time to time, to greater or lesser degrees, in ways which may be out of
character. This is especially so when we feel under pressure, or challenged, or provoked,
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or pushed into a corner. We do and say things that we are not proud of and regret, and
that we might try and deny, sometimes even to ourselves. We occasionally do or say
things that we would be embarrassed to admit to family or friends. It is not inconsistent to
have black colleagues and friends and relatives, and yet say things to strangers or
acquaintances about race or colour that we would not say directly to those closer to us.
345. Bearing these considerations in mind, whilst we were initially doubtful that Mr Suarez
would make the comments alleged by Mr Evra, we proceeded on the basis that the factors
relied on in relation to Mr Suarez's background and experiences did not mean that he
could not or would not act in this way. We weighed these considerations together with all
the evidence when asking ourselves whose account was more probable.

363. Mr Evra denied using the words "South American" when speaking to Mr Suarez. When it
was put to him that he had done so, he seemed genuinely bemused. He said to address
someone as "South American" in this way is not something he would do. He said "What's
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the sense? What's the point?". There was no evidence of Mr Evra using this phrase on any
other occasions.
364. We found that Mr Evra did not use the words "South American" when speaking to Mr
Suarez. The language experts were not familiar with its use as an insult, Mr Evra's denial
of his alleged use of it was plausible, we found Mr Suarez's evidence unreliable in many
respects, and we found Mr Evra generally to be a credible witness.

379. We accepted Mr Evra's account of these exchanges. The principal reasons for doing so
were the following. First, Mr Evra was a credible witness whose evidence was not
seriously undermined in any material respect, as explained above. Secondly, we found Mr
Suarez, in contrast, to be an unreliable witness on critical parts of his evidence. His
evidence was inconsistent with contemporaneous evidence in the form of video footage,
especially with regard to his claims of pinching as an attempt to defuse the situation, and
using the word "negro" in a conciliatory and friendly way. He changed his account over
time in a number of respects. This all combined to cast grave doubt on the reliability of the
remainder of his evidence on the main factual disputes.