Hung out to dry: Suarez wasn't offered redemption by the FA

Had he met and talked to the real victims of discrimination, it is almost unthinkable that he would not have moved to the next stage of rehabilitation, by saying sorry to Evra. Had Evra then seen an achievement in personal growth, given his
conciliatory gesture, one presumes an apology would be accepted. And we move on.

That is the problem in our game right now. Nobody grows.

In our desire for a searing public judgment, the condemned stay condemned and the offended remain offended. It suits the news agenda. There is far less fun to be had on Twitter if we try to affect social change rather than the next appearance in the stocks.

Take the incident between Stuart Pearce and Paul Ince in 1994, exhumed the day Pearce was announced as England’s caretaker manager. We are told the reason the matter was long forgotten was that society was different then.

No it wasn’t: 1994 is not 2012 but it is not 1949, either. Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party in 1994. Bill Clinton was President of the United States. Kurt Cobain died. The first episode of Vicar of Dibley aired. We knew right from wrong on race in 1994.

And there were four black players on the field that day, Ince of Manchester United, plus three from Nottingham Forest: Des Lyttle, Bryan Roy and Stan Collymore.

Rolling television news was in its infancy, however, and there was no such thing as a firestorm on social media. Neither is particularly helpful in bridging the racial divide, only adding to the controversy and  tension, helping to quickly create entrenched positions when more measured reactions are needed.

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