(Courtesy of Sky Sports).
If you look back in the history of a sport like football, you can see that biting opponents was a thing in the dark ages of the NFL. It didn’t have as much of a history in hockey since many players were missing teeth to do so. Soccer, however, had a chronic biter in the 2010s. Luis Suarez brought a unique and socially unacceptable way to injure people back to sports.
Is Luis Suarez a vampire? Does he have rabies?
Probably not, and hopefully not. After Luis Suarez bit his third person in 2013, he sunk his teeth into finding help and figuring out why he did it in the first place. Apparently, in high-intensity moments, the buildup of pressure caused him to act out by biting on impulse. I can kind of understand it, but I don’t like it, and I would be scared to play against him.
Suarez felt that his journey of keeping his teeth to himself was a private thing. The only problem with that is that his bites were very public. It’s not out of the ordinary for people to want to verify that you are done gnawing on people with proof.
Luis Suarez bit people three separate times?
Yes. Luis Saurez bit three different people in three different matches. He won the nickname “Cannibal of Ajax” after snacking on the shoulder of an opponent in 2010 while playing for Ajax and not being caught. He was banned for seven games after the game was over.
Luis brought his special brand of Mayhem in 2013 when he was seen gnawing on the arm of a Chelsea opponent like a hungry tiger. Referees initially didn’t catch the incident (who would look out for that?) but he was banned for 10 games for that chomp as well.
Suarez’s final (so far) bite occurred in 2014, when he bit a player in the shoulder at the World Cup. Once again, his rabid attack was missed by the referees. Maybe it was the tooth pain he had after his final bite, or maybe it was because someone can only bite others so many times, but Luis finally got help and seemingly ended the bad habit. He was also banned from all soccer activities for four months, which was likely an incentive to stop.
Biting is harmless?
Luis feels like his bites are harmless, even though they are appalling. It depends on the severity of the bite, of course, but any injury that breaks the skin can cause infection, and that is never harmless. A bite can also pass disease from one individual to another. Something I would be worried about with someone who can’t keep their jowls off of others.
At the very least, it’s painful, distressing, and pointless. The type of injury that most sports would attempt to avoid.
An unfair FIFA biting ban?
Continuing on analyzing the disconcerting thought processes that exist in Luis Suarez’s mind, there was also his hot take that being banned for 10 games, meaning all games, was unfair. Luis pointed out that other players had not been punished as thoroughly as he had, despite also injuring someone else.
Well, Luis, they didn’t bite someone, now did they? It’s hard to make a comparison from one injury to another when the injuries he addressed (broken legs and noses) happen from time to time and are not completely out of the ordinary. Literally no one bites people, Suarez. It’s a whole new situation that FIFA has not and likely never wanted to address.
Luis Suarez is known for other problematic acts (most notably, racism). However, we will leave this article having just focused on his history of taking a bite out of soccer.
For other articles on a myriad of other sport topics, look at my other articles here.
