So he's been at it again - Luis Suarez, that most despicable of footballers, last night 'bit' another player on the pitch for the third time in his career.
I'm not sure why I bothered to put the word bit in inverted commas - sure, it's been trial by TV replay from a bad camera angle, but repeated viewings leave little doubt that he did it.
The suits at FIFA are at time of writing deliberating over his punishment, which will surely see him expelled from the World Cup and given a lengthy ban from international football. And of course there's will be implications for his current club side and whoever he was going to join this summer (he's been agitating for a move - classy).
But what about his image and the impact such bitey madness has on impressionable youth?
Well, his image was already in the toilet - two counts of on-field biting and one of racism takes care of that. What's telling though is that the first biting offence didn't stop Liverpool signing him, the second biting/racism offence didn't stop Liverpool playing him, and the latest incident probably won't stop another big club buying him.
Clearly, football operates by a different moral code to the rest of us - if you're good enough at your job, that trumps any other considerations when it comes to your character/previous.
Then in the immediate aftermath of the incident we had the inevitable 'won't somebody thing of the children?!' commentary. Now, as I've mentioned in previous blogs, this might be my son's first World Cup, but he's only seven months old, so he's spared the pain of watching his team get beaten, or witnessing toothy on-field assaults.
But as I sat there watching Glenn Hoddle talk nonsense on the telly box, I tried putting my 'concerned parent' hat on and pondered whether, if The Boy was at a more impressionable age, would I be worried that he would go into school one day and 'do a Suarez' having seen the offence in full widescreen HD glory?
And my conclusion was that no, I wouldn't be worried. Why? Because Luis Suarez clearly has issues. Normal people just don't go out and about biting people, either on the football field or in the street (market town centres after 10 pints on a Friday night notwithstanding).
If there was a child at school that did carry out such repetitively bad biting behaviour, chances are he or she would require professional help in the same way Suarez does. Such behaviour is just not normal.
So nope, from a parenting standpoint it's not the biting in football that worries me - I'd actually be more concerned about on-field cheating - diving, fake injuries, bad tackles and the like. That's the stuff that school kids might copy as it comes under 'gamesmanship', not ultra violent physical assault.
And let's be clear - there's a big difference between what you'd call a 'nasty' challenge and making a conscious decision to bite an opponent.
So for all the handwringing at one individual's extreme - and extremely rare - behaviour, what we really should be doing is asking why nothing ever seems to be done about the kinds of on-field bad behaviour that ARE copied by - and even taught to - kids.
Over to you, FIFA and the The FA, but I'm not holding my breath.
Stuart
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