The Blog, The Hearing, The FA and the Following Media Free For All.

This blog is primarily intended to be a few different things;

A sounding board for those that wish to comment on, and/or discuss issues surrounding the charge, the hearing, the verdict and the coverage connected with the recent 8 game ban handed down to Luis Suarez, following the game against Manchester United in October last year.

A response to what was largely perceived by Liverpool supporters to be a very partisan FA disciplinary procedure. And to what is felt to have been an extremely sensationalised and biased coverage in the media, since the verdict was announced.

This is also the place to air views about the possible motives for a decision by the FA, that was widely viewed by the supporters of Liverpool Football Club to have been made whilst ignoring a lot of the evidence presented to it during the hearing.
And to consider seemingly unfair access to video evidence with regard to the two parties involved seeing different parts of the available evidence at differing stages of the process, in a way that can easily be judged to be very unfair.

This is a blog on which to discuss the way in which football is regulated domestically, be that applied to this particular case, or to the general frameworks and practices connected to FA disciplinary procedures.
The processes by which personel are selected and deemed suitable to take part in hearing individual cases, and the systems in place for appeals and the manner of the standards of proof by which guilty verdicts are reached.

This blog is also about the way the subject has been processed by some of the press and the wider media. It's about standards of journalism and punditry, and the absence of balance in reporting, that has often seemed loaded in the pursuit of the sensational.
Coverage that's often appeared to be an exercise in shifting copy and nothing more. And about the absence of proper analysis of all the evidence available, when writing the headlines and the stories that don't always add up to the truth about the verdict, the procedure or about the man that's been branded a racist by some.

I'd suggest that the FA may be able to silence the clubs and the players with veiled threats and a media frenzy, but it's harder to silence the supporters of football. Because it's the supporters that it's all really about.
It's the views and the earnest enthusiasm and love for the game and the teams that allows the leagues and the association to exist.
It's the pursuit of truth and of accurate, complete and balanced reporting - to the people, that makes a free and honest press an essential part of society. And it's that society the media must answer to when those standards are absent.

This blog is not intended to push any particular agenda, it's merely an outlet for the frustrations of football supporters that want to have their own say in the face of a tidal wave of misinformation, poor commentary and a domestic regulatory football body that appears to have lost it's way.

You may think we're raging against the machine because we're angry, you may think we're standing by our man and being loyal to our club.
And we are.
But this isn't just a soap box for voicing disappointment and an unwavering and unconditional support - it's a collection of heartfelt anaylsis, based on a lengthy and detailed, balanced assessment of the facts and the events that constitute the current situation and the processes that brought us here.
Engage us by all means, but listen to what we say and ask yourself 'What if this happens to my club next?'"

The views contained are not the views of one man or woman, they're the views and the concerns of many, about the direction that the game is heading, and the way in which the media and the FA have behaved.

(Lee)