Opinion Grabbing a bite

Uruguay made a meal out of Italy in the FIFA World Cup match on Tuesday, winning 1-0 as striker Luis Suarez sank his teeth into Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, or so the story goes. While Chiellini bared an angry shoulder and Suarez clutched his teeth in agony, the referee remained unmoved. Now FIFA has launched an inquiry to settle the key question: did toothwork help footwork in Natal? Suarez, who faces a long ban if the charges are proved, claims Chiellini merely “bumped into me with his shoulder”. What’s bitten him, Suarez may well ask.

Things are not looking good for the Uruguayan striker, who has a dark past littered with biting, diving and racism. A well-timed nip at PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal in 2010 and a hearty bite of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in 2013 have earned Suarez names like “the Cannibal of Ajax” and “Chewy Luis”. But then, snacking after half-time may not be as unusual as initially suspected. Boxer Mike Tyson tore off a bit of Evander Holyfield’s ear in a match in 1997. Sevilla mid-fielder Francisco Gallardo celebrated a goal in 2001 by biting his teammate’s nether regions. “It was a split-second decision,” a sheepish Gallardo explained later. Psychologists suggest these are moments of release during high-pressure matches, when reason is trumped by pure emotion. Though emotions seem to run particularly high when players think they are hidden from view — in the thick of a scrum or the corner of a boxing ring.

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Whether or not the charges are proved against him, Suarez has secured his place in a pantheon of World Cup legends. After Diego Maradona’s Hand of God and Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt, we now have Suarez’s fatal fang. And in the annals of football history, it will be said of him — Suarez, he was hungry for more.