Suarez, Ferguson and Hillsborough: Premier League Sporting and Controversial Moments of the Season

Arunava Ray

Sporting moment: For Arsenal, giving a Guard of Honour to Manchester United was probably the hardest thing that could have befallen them this season, more so due to the return of Robin van Persie to the Emirates. However, the players were honourable in their demeanour and gave the Champions a respectable ovation onto the field.

Arsenal Wenger had stressed the importance of upholding the tradition of English football and the Gunners should be proud of themselves and even take inspiration to put in a proper title challenge next season.

Controversial moment:The most controversial act of the season must go to Luis Suarez whose bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has taken the footballing world by storm. Suarez was charged by the FA for this ignominious act and was suspended for 10 games, a two game increase from his suspension after his racial slur on Patrice Evra last season.

Naveen Nayak

Sporting moment: Manchester United were given the Guard of Honour before the start of the final game of the season by West Brom. The game marked United's legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguon's last match in charge for the Premier League champions, who was later given the Guard of Honour by United and the Baggies.

Controversial moment: Chelsea lodged a complaint to the Football Association (FA) that referee Clattenburg abused John Obi Mikel during their 3-2 defeat to Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. The Nigerian international was backed by Brazilian duo of David Luiz and Ramiers, who were the key witness in the case.

However, with English not being Ramiers' first language and Mikel confirming he did not hear the referee racially abusing him, the FA decided to drop the charges against Clattenburg. In addition to this, the Blues midfielder was slammed with a 3 match ban and a fine of £60,000 by the FA.

Nick Howson

Sporting moment: Liverpool's first home game since the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough were absolved from blame came against a Manchester United side whose relationship with the Anfield club had reached boiling point following the Luis Suarez affair 12 months previous.

Chants the previous weeks against Wigan Athletic regarding Hillsborough pointed towards a repeat performance upon the visit to The Reds the following week, forcing Sir Alex Ferguson to write a letter urging fans to behave.

While a section of petulant fans disgraced the name of the club after full-time, before kick-off, the gentleman of Old Trafford Sir Bobby Charlton exchanged a wreath with Ian Rush in a poigniant moment which unified the two clubs on a day of rememberance.

Controversial moment: Kemy Agustien, Guly do Prado, Joe Edwards, Michael Johnson, Courtney Meppen-Walter, Samir Nasri, Kyle Naughton, Micah Richards, Davide Santon, Carlos Tevez and Ryan Tunnicliffe; English football's disgraced class of 2012/13.

While football club's hand the likes of Luke McCormick, jailed for killing two children while drink driving in 2008, a second chance after a driving offence, they are failing to prevent their current players from repeating those same mistakes.

History tells us footballers are unable to help themselves, and while this is anything but an excuse, clubs have a responsibility to their players and to the safety of the general public to ensure individuals are educated sufficiently. At the moment, their job can only be described as dangerously woeful.

Srinivasan Chandrashekar

Sporting moment: Football should, ultimately, be about a community. It should be about fostering respect, peace and love; both for the game and the people in and around it. Ours is, sadly, a violence-filled world and so when moments like Aston Villa's touching tribute to captain Stiliyan Petrov come along, you want to relish and hold on to it.

The Bulgarian was diagnosed with leukaemia in March last year and has spent the last year fighting the illness. And when he announced his retirement in early May, it seemed almost like the end of an era. Where else would you see supporters applaud at the 19th minute, in honour of his squad number, of every home game?

Controversial moment: Suarez's Count Dracula act was absolutely ridiculous. There is no defence whatsoever and, personally, the Uruguayan should have received a ban running into months. Don't get me wrong. On his day, the Liverpool star is one of the best forwards in the world but then, in the words of Frank Sinatra, he goes and does something stupid. And it isn't even his first such offence! That is what makes this so unbelievable.

Tony Mogan

Controversial moment: Having not enjoyed the most impressive start of the season, the last thing Andre Santos wanted to do was give Arsenal fans another reason to call for his head. With Gunners fans having seen their former captain Robin van Persie give Manchester United the lead in their Premier League meeting at Old Trafford, the revered Brazilian then took it upon himself to swap shirts with the forward who had become a reviled figure amongst Arsenal fans, which would have been bad enough. But whether he was oblivious to the ire of a wronged Gunner or if he just really wanted the shirt, Santos trotted over to the United striker and instigated the swap at half time, predictably leaving the red half of north London fuming.

Sporting moment: Liverpool would take on Manchester United in their first game following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel which exonerated Reds fans from any blame, and both clubs were keen to mark the situation in the right manner as football was put into perspective.

The typically volatile fixture had been aggravated by incident in recent fixtures, but the sight of rival captains Ryan Giggs and Steven Gerrard walking out together to release 96 balloons in honour of the victims spoke volumes, as did the mosaics around the ground spelling out "The Truth" and "Justice" before the game.

Vishnuprasad S

Sporting moment: Facing each other for the first time since City dramatically grabbed the Premier League title right out of United's hands on the last day of the previous season, the Red Devils made sure they left the derby day with bragging rights.

Back in December, with the scores level at 2-2 at the Etihad, Robin van Persie sent his free kick bouncing past Joe Hart (thanks to a deflection off Samir Nasri). The goal secured United a 3-2 victory over their arch-rivals and handed City their first domestic home defeat since 2010.

Controversial moment: Around 30 football fans were arrested after the Tyne-Wear derby at St James' Park in April, as fights spilled into the city centre. Some supporters even attempted to fight a police horse amidst all the chaos.

The footage and photos found the spotlight with ease, causing serious damage to the reputation of the most popular football league in the world. Expecting the Premier League and the FA to make a better effort towards fan safety from next season.