Here is the video footage and both parties said happenend courtesy of the released documents (paragraph 87 -97) .
Is anyone good at lip reading?
Sky News Report on Liverpool's Luis Suarez 8 Match Ban and £40,000 Fine 20.12.11Between 1.18 and 1.39 is the video footage
Here is the FA evidence
87. Mr Evra and Mr Suarez are agreed that they spoke to each other in Spanish in the
goalmouth. Mr Evra said that he is not exactly fluent in Spanish but that he can easily
converse in Spanish. For Mr Suarez, Spanish is his native language as a Uruguayan. Mr
Evra told us that he began the conversation by saying "Concha de tu hermana". Mr Evra's
evidence was that this is a phrase used in Spanish like when you say "f**king hell" in
English, but the literal translation is "your sister's pussy". Mr Suarez did not hear Mr Evra
say this. One of the video clips that we have seen, taken from a close up angle behind the
goal, does appear to support Mr Evra's evidence that he started the conversation with this
comment.
88. Mr Suarez said that he did not hear this first comment from Mr Evra but that he heard him
whispering something. Mr Suarez told us that he then said "What did you say?" It does
seem from the video footage that Mr Suarez does say something at this point in response
to Mr Evra's opening comment.
89. Mr Evra told us that he then said to Mr Suarez "Porque me diste un golpe", meaning "Why
did you kick me?". The video footage shows that Mr Evra looked down at his knee then at
Mr Suarez's face as he asked this question, which does support his evidence that he asked
a question about being kicked in the knee. Mr Evra said that, when he asked that question,
he was in shock and upset at having been kicked in the knee by Mr Suarez. Mr Suarez
agrees that, at this point, Mr Evra asked him why he had kicked him, referring to the
earlier foul. That is largely the end of the agreement between them as to what was said in
the goalmouth.
90. Mr Evra's evidence was that, in response to his question "Why did you kick me?", Mr
Suarez replied "Porque tu eres negro". Mr Evra said that at the time Mr Suarez made that
comment, he (Mr Evra) understood it to mean "Because you are a nigger". He now says
that he believes the words used by Mr Suarez mean "Because you are black". We shall
consider further below Mr Evra's understanding of the Spanish word "negro".
91. Mr Suarez said that he replied to Mr Evra's question "Why did you kick me?" by saying
"que habia sido una falta normal", meaning "it was just a normal foul". He said he
shrugged his shoulders and put his arms out in a gesture to say that there was nothing
serious about it. At this point on the video footage, Mr Suarez's face is obscured, but he
does appear to shrug his shoulders.
92. Mr Evra said that he followed up Mr Suarez's reply "Because you are black" by saying
"Habla otra vez asi, te voy a dar una porrada", which means "Say it to me again, I'm going
to punch you". Mr Suarez replied by saying "No hablo con los negros". Mr Evra said that,
at the time, he understood this to mean "I don't speak to niggers", although he now says it
means "I don't speak to blacks".
93. Mr Suarez's evidence was that Mr Evra replied to the comment "it was just a normal foul"
by saying "Ok, you kicked me, I'm going to kick you". Mr Suarez said in his witness
statement that his response was "Le dije que se callara e hice un gesto breve con mi mano
izquierda parecido a la mocion de un "pato cuando hace cuac" para indicarle que hablaba
mucho y deberia callarse", which was translated as "I told him to shut up and made a brief
gesture with my left hand like a "quacking" motion as if to say he was talking too much
and should be quiet".
94. Mr Evra said that after Mr Suarez said "I don't speak to blacks", he (Mr Evra) said "Ahora
te voy a dar realmente una porrada", which means "Okay, now I think I'm going to punch
you". To this he says that Mr Suarez replied "Dale, negro...negro...negro". At the time, Mr
Evra understood this to mean "Okay, nigger, nigger, nigger". He now says it means "Okay,
blackie, blackie, blackie". The expert witnesses stated that the phrase "Dale, negro" can be
understood as "Bring it on, blackie" or "do it, blackie" or "go ahead, blackie" (see paragraph
184 below).
95. Mr Evra said that as Mr Suarez was speaking he reached out to touch Mr Evra's arm,
gesturing at his skin. Mr Evra said that Mr Suarez was drawing attention to the colour of
Mr Evra's skin. This gesture is clearly shown on the video footage, just as Mr Kuyt comes
between them. It seemed to us that Mr Suarez reached out and pinched Mr Evra's left
forearm. In cross-examination, Mr Evra said that at the time he did not realise that Mr
Suarez had pinched his arm. He was more focussed on his lips and what he was saying.
Mr Evra only realised that Mr Suarez had touched his arm in this way when he saw the
video footage later.
96. As to the pinching of Mr Evra's arm, Mr Suarez said this in paragraph 27 of his witness
statement:
"Evra did not back off and Dirk Kuyt was approaching us to stand between us. At
this point I touched PE's left arm in a pinching type movement. This all happened
very quickly. I was trying to defuse the situation and was trying to intimate to Evra
that he was not untouchable by reference to his question about the foul. Under no
circumstances was this action intended to be offensive and most certainly not
racially offensive. It was not in any way a reference to the colour of PE's skin.”
97. Mr Suarez said that at no point did he use the word "negro" during the exchange with Mr
Evra in the goalmouth
