On this day in 2012: Liverpool opt not to appeal against Luis Suarez racism ban

Liverpool announced on this day in 2012 they would not appeal against the eight-match ban handed to Luis Suarez for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

The initial incident occurred in the 1-1 draw between Liverpool and United on October 15, 2011. Suarez was found to have racially abused Evra who was marking the Uruguayan ahead of a free-kick.

Suarez was charged by the Football Association and eventually given an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine, a verdict that was delivered on December 20.

A day later Liverpool caused controversy when they wore T-shirts in support of their striker during warm-ups for their Premier League match at Wigan.

But, despite that, Liverpool would ultimately not appeal against Suarez’s penalty, albeit announcing their decision in a strongly-worded statement which criticised both the verdict and the manner in which the FA had handled the situation.

“It is our strongly held conviction that the Football Association and the panel it selected constructed a highly subjective case against Luis Suarez based on an accusation that was ultimately unsubstantiated,” the statement said.

“The FA and the panel chose to consistently and methodically accept and embrace arguments leading to a set of conclusions that found Mr Suarez to ‘probably’ be guilty while in the same manner deciding to completely dismiss the testimony that countered their overall suppositions.

“Mr Evra was deemed to be credible in spite of admitting that he himself used insulting and threatening words towards Luis and that his initial charge as to the word used was somehow a mistake.”

The bad feeling continued when Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand ahead of the return fixture between the sides in February.

However, the pair would shake hands before a Champions League match between Suarez’s Barcelona and Evra’s Juventus in 2015.

In 2019, when Evra made an appearance as a pundit on Sky Sports, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher apologised to the Frenchman for wearing the T-shirt supporting Suarez at Wigan, and Evra later revealed he also received a letter of apology from the club.