A LITTLE OVER a year ago Luis Suarez was getting hounded by paparazzi as the English FA consulted their lawyers about just how long they could ban the footballer for. Suarez, frustrated with his team’s performance against Chelsea, decided to bite Branislav Ivanovic, his marker.
The Uruguayan was banned for 10 games and his future in England looked bleak. There were rumours linking him with Real Madrid and PSG. Suarez, who had already been banned for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patric Evra, admitted he was considering a switch away from Liverpool. Many former Reds legends urged him to get packing.
Within the space of a season, Suarez has scored 30 league goals and has assisted in 25 more. He has struck up a lethal strike partnership with Daniel Sturridge, one that has Liverpool on the brink of their first league title in 24 years. Suarez is the resounding favourite to win the Players’ and Football Writers’ player of the year awards. Even Evra has cast his vote for Suarez to win the PFA accolade.
The transformation of Suarez from castigated villain to redeemed hero has been rapid and, with Liverpool’s title quest thrown into the mix, remarkable. It is not, however, the first time a player has ended a tough 12 months on a high. For example, David Beckham was turned on by the English press, and huge swathes of their supporters, after he was sent off during his country’s 1998 World Cup exit against Argentina. The situation got so vitriolic and rancid that effigies of Beckham hung from two London pubs. Within 10 months of Beckham’s red card, he was a Treble winner with Manchester United.
Here are some other sporting examples of the villain to hero return.
Tana Umaga
The All Blacks captain had British and Irish rugby fans in a rage as he teamed up with Keven Mealamu to drive Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll into the turf — dislocating the centre’s shoulder in the spear-tackling process. He avoided a citing to lead his team to a 3-0 whopping of the tourists and a Grand Slam tour of the Northern Hemisphere later that year.
Paul Galvin
The Kerryman was given a lengthy suspension in 2008 for slapping a notebook from the hand of referee Paddy Russell. He returned in 2009 to win an All-Ireland with the Kingdom, claiming an All-Star spot and Footballer of the Year in the process.
Eric Cantona
In January 1995, the Manchester United forward did something so outrageous that it actually appeared on that year’s Junior Certificate English exam in Ireland. The Frenchman was sent off for kicking Crystal Palace defender Richard Shaw. On his walk to the Selhurst Park tunnel, Cantona took a detour into the crowd to dole out studded justice to a foul-mouthed fan.
He was banned from football for eight months, fined £30,000 and had to do 120 hours of community service. He returned two months into the 1995/96 season and inspired his team to the league title. Cantona then secured the ‘double’ for United by scoring the FA Cup final winner against Liverpool.
Ray Lewis
In 2000, the NFL star was charged with murder but ended up having the charges dropped. Lewis ended up testifying against Joseph Sweetling and Reginald Oakley at their trials. He ended up pleading guilty to obstruction of justice, admitted to giving the police a false statement, was placed on one years’ probation and fined $250,000 by the NFL. The following year, Lewis was instrumental in the Baltimore Ravens winning the Super Bowl. He was named MVP for his contribution.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Lambasted by the British press [again] in 2006 for telling the referee to caution Wayne Rooney for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho. A red card was brandished and Ronaldo winked at his teammates as his Manchester United chum headed to the sidelines.
The Portuguese was roundly booed and abused at grounds across England the following season but it mattered him not. He captured the PFA player and young player of the year as United won the league.
Neil Back
The English forward had the temerity to slap the ball from Peter Stringer’s hands during the put-in to a Munster scrum, in the 2002 Heineken Cup final. He followed that up by taking part in the English team’s refusal to vacate the Lansdowne Road red carpet — forcing President Mary McAleese to walk on the grass.
Back won a Grand Slam that day, in March 2003, and was part of a World Cup-winning squad some six months later.
Charlie Redmond
The Dublin forward missed penalties in the 1988 Leinster final and the 1992 All-Ireland final [against Donegal]. He had another penalty chance, against Down, in the 1994 All-Ireland final and missed that too. Sweet redemption arrived in 1995 as he scored a crucial goal in the 1-10 to 0-12 win over Tyrone.
David ‘The Hammer’ Schultz
The Philadelphia Flyers enforcer equalled an unwanted record, in 1972, of most penalty minutes in an NHL season. He toned down his goonish antics [only slightly] a year later, in the 1973/74 season, as the Flyers claimed the Stanley Cup. ‘The Hammer’ scored 20 goals that season including a series winning effort against the Flames. He also released a ‘hit’ song in 1975 called ‘The Penalty Box’.
Andy Murray
The British public were beginning to weary of Murray’s on-court petulance and nearlyman antics when, in 2012, he lost his fourth consecutive Grand Slam final. To make matters worse, the fourth loss was at Wimbledon and Fred ‘last Briton to win Wimbledon’ Perry’s record looked set in granite forever more. Two months later, the Scot travelled to Flushing Meadows to play Novak Djokovic in the final of the US Open. He clinched the title in five gruelling sets, won Wimbledon a year later and claimed a gold medal at London 2012 in between.
Stephen Donald
‘The Beaver’ was a hated figure among large contingents of All Blacks supporters for his role in costing his country the Bledisloe Cup in 2010. He missed a late penalty that would have seen New Zealand clinch their match against the Wallabies, then failed to find touch with a clearing kick that James O’Connor returned in try-scoring style. Finding himself as his country’s fourth-choice out-half at the start of the 2011 World Cup, Donald came off the bench [Dan Carter and Aaron Cruden were injured] to kick what turned out ti be the cup-winning penalty.
