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FA must enforce handshake or drop it

February 13 2012 at 02:27pm
By Martin Samuel

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REUTERS

Handshakes should either be a non-negotiable or be dropped altogether, says the author.

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Start with the handshake. It has run its course. No doubt when the plan was conceived at Premier League HQ, all concerned thought it a noble and sporting way to open proceedings. This is football, however. Every rule, every refinement, will be twisted in some way to gain a competitive advantage. So now we have the snubbed handshake as a psychological ploy. Carefully planted stories prior to a big game, will they, won’t they? And as Luis Suarez proved on Saturday, just because you were in the wrong, doesn’t mean you can’t flip that standpoint. Patrice Evra no doubt lined up, believing he had a foot on the high moral ground. And then Suarez treated him like the pariah. Who knows what the Uruguayan phrase is that means ‘more front than Selfridges’ but if there is one, he is worthy of it.

The handshake issue can be dealt with overnight by making the responsibility of players very clear. Before each match, you shake hands with all opponents in the line, and failure to do so results in a disrepute charge. Either enforce the gesture, or abandon it. We cannot let this farce continue. Ever since John Terry was left hanging by Wayne Bridge in 2010, there has been the possibility of ordeal by refused greeting. Now it seems to be a weekly occurrence. What should be a commitment to sportsmanship has descended into the first shot fired. As this ceremony is having the opposite effect to that intended, it is time to evolve the regulation: enforce or abandon. It is the Football Association’s call.

So Suarez lit the fuse by publicly humiliating Evra, who was attempting some small reconciliation. Why did he do this? He did it because he felt empowered. And he felt empowered because his club have allowed him to believe and behave as if he has done nothing wrong; until Sunday when one imagines a tipping point was reached, and Suarez apologised. Not to Evra directly, we notice. Not quite. Suarez instead said sorry to his manager and his club, as he should. He has done them no little harm in recent months.

Yet both helped create this monster. They could still have supported Suarez while making plain from the start that his conduct towards Evra was unacceptable. They could have let him serve his punishment and return without casually flicking a match into the powder keg. They did not. While Kenny Dalglish maintained his strong public sense of resentment over the ban, there was no prospect of closure; while Liverpool allowed this to fester there was always the potential for further outrage. Suarez deceived them, by reneging on a pre-match pledge to behave correctly, but there have been some very mixed messages from Liverpool. Everyone was apologising on Sunday: player, manager, club. It should have happened sooner. The wisdom of Liverpool’s stance on Suarez will long remain a mystery. What good any of it has done will long remain a mystery.

Every manager has used a siege mentality to inspire his players, but never like this. There is a difference between convincing a group the world is against them, and behaving in a way that ensures the world is. Only the most blindly devoted could find reason in Suarez’s actions before Sunday’s climbdown and no good came of his ignominious last stand at Old Trafford, and no victory, moral or literal. It should have been Suarez’s first step towards rehabilitation. Instead, he ended a two-time loser.

Now to Evra’s problem. He could not recognise that he had won, so also lost. His triumphalist, confrontational behaviour at the end of the game diminished him, and detracted from the hard-fought victory of his team-mates. It was unnecessary. By offering his hand, he had shown a willingness to reconcile. It was no easy match for him, mentally, after the snub but as United’s captain he should have controlled his emotions. He should not have put personal feelings ahead of what was best for his team. His antics in stirring could have had serious consequences had he sparked a brawl, and further FA sanction for players of both sides.

All round, it was a desperately depressing day for football, and we must hope Suarez’s statement is the beginning of a difficult and lengthy healing process. It has to be; beyond lies madness. – Daily Mail

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mark, wrote

05:56pm on 14 February 2012

just do it with the capatains who shake hands at the beginning of international matches. they don't shake hands in rugby, tennis, baseball,hockey etc etc until after the game. Even the head of fifa thinks it is ok to lie and cheat your way to penaltiesa. Lokks like United have taken that to heart with all their diving and begging the rf to book players all the time. Go Manchester City.

FA must enforce handshake or drop it

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