• Piara Powar criticises club for attitude to FA
• Supporter arrested after Oldham FA Cup tie
The head of European football's anti-racism group
believes Liverpool's reaction to the Luis Suárez affair has whipped up "a
tribal fervour" at Anfield.
Piara Powar, the executive director of European football's
anti-discrimination body, Fare, said some supporters are reacting
in a worrying manner after Liverpool mounted a sustained defence of
their Uruguayan striker. Last month, Suárez was found guilty by a
Football Association-appointed independent regulatory commission of
racially abusing the Manchester United defender Patrice Evra. He is
now serving an eight-match ban.
Powar has criticised Liverpool for their response to the Suárez
affair, and earlier this week he urged the FA to charge Liverpool
and their manager, Kenny Dalglish, with bringing the game into
disrepute.
On Sunday, Powar told the Sportsweek programme on BBC Radio Five
Live: "If you look at the comments Dalglish has been making, if you
look at how Liverpool resort to defend what they see as an
injustice, look at the way their fans have been whipped up into a
tribal fervour.
"Some of the words being used to describe the FA processes, some
of the way to describe the FA and its role in governance on these
sort of issues, that is really beyond the pale."
Powar said Liverpool were not setting an appropriate example to
their supporters: "The environment at Anfield is so driven – in
terms of the paranoia that some fans feel – [by] expressions of
injustice from Liverpool, especially over the last few weeks.
"There is a wider issue here of the way Liverpool have dealt
with this and it has disconcerted many observers. It is a constant
undermining of the FA's role as the governing body in
football."
Police have investigated allegations that the Oldham Athletic
defender Tom Adeyemi was racially abused during Friday's FA Cup
match at Anfield. A 20-year-old man from Aintree was yesterday
arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order
offence, following the alleged incident.
Liverpool, who beat Oldham 5-1, said on Saturday that they were
also investigating the incident involving Adeyemi. The club issued
a statement which said that they were continuing to work closely
with the police to establish the facts surrounding the incident.
Liverpool also said that they had supplied evidence to police,
including CCTV footage and still photography and statements from
stewards.
Powar is also concerned by the levels of abuse aimed at
footballers on social networking websites. Powar said he did not
think the problem of racism was getting worse but he also said the
problem was generated partly by "the way in which fans feel they
can get on something like Twitter and make comments without
accountability.
"There is nobody touching them on their shoulder looking at
their comments and saying, 'No, that is not what is acceptable.' I
don't think the situation has been worse than it's been for a long
time but we are dealing with difficult issues here between players
and the way in which the clubs have responded."
