LIVERPOOL HAVE been urged to abandon any thoughts of appealing against the eight-match ban and €48,000 fine that Luis Suarez received for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, with a leading anti-racism campaigner warning the club that their vehement support of the Uruguayan is damaging their reputation.

Piara Powar, the executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe, believes the club should respect the verdict that was reached by an English Football Association independent commission last month. The commission’s findings have since been made public in a document that was published on Saturday night, providing a detailed and thorough account of the process from start to finish, including all the evidence that was presented to the three-man panel chaired by Paul Goulding QC.

Suarez was found to have called Evra “negro” seven times during the game at Anfield on October 15th and the evidence that the Liverpool player gave in relation to the confrontation with his Frenchman was described as “inconsistent” and “unreliable”. The commission also revealed that they considered giving Suarez a longer suspension.

Liverpool received the commission’s report on Friday night and have said that they will “take the necessary amount of time to read, digest and properly consider the contents” before making further comment and deciding whether to appeal. They have until January 13th to decide, although Powar believes that the time has come for Liverpool and Suarez to change their stance and accept the commission’s decision.

“The Football Association’s published judgment from the Suarez-Evra incident is welcome,” said Powar. “It appears the FA have taken their time to initiate a process that was both fair in its implementation of football rules and in accordance with the principles of British justice. As an international non-governmental organisation we (Fare) think the investigation and judgment sets the bar for governing bodies globally.

“Racial abuse between players on the field of play has been an unspoken taboo for too long, an area that has been unsatisfactorily dealt with by English football despite many cases over the past 10 years. Luis Suarez and Liverpool FC have the right to appeal. However, we would call on the club to think again about their public campaign to dispute the charges and contest the principles involved in the case. As a club with a good international standing the vehemency of their campaign is unquestionably causing them reputational harm.”