The Bite Club: Tyson, Gallardo, Suarez and more...

Biting has a long and ignominious history across sports. Luis Suarez is not the first to bite an opponent - it wasn’t even his first time - and he will most likely not be the last. Firspost looks back at some of the more notorious incidents of sportsman biting sportsman. Mike Tyson The bite heard around the world. Mike Tyson was once the baddest man on the planet but when he took on Evander Holyfield in a bid to win back his heavyweight title on June 28, 1997, his reputation was already fading. What happened next the beginning of the end for Tyson’s boxing career. During the bout, Tyson decided he would bite off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear. He was promptly disqualified, which cost him $3 million and he never won a heavyweight title again. [caption id=“attachment_717866” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mike Tyson decided he had to have a taste of Evander Holyfield. Getty[/caption] Tree Rollins During an NBA playoff series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics in 1983, Tree Rollins, a Hawks player, started a fight with by throwing an elbow at the Celtic’s Danny Ainge. During the scuffle, the two ended up on the ground and Rollins somehow managed to bit one of Ainge’s fingers so hard, it needed a tetanus shot and stitches. The next morning the headline in the Boston Herald read: “Tree Bites Man”. Francisco Gallardo Footballers are known for the exuberant celebrations after scoring a goal. There are cartwheels and flips and players jumping on each other. In 2001, Francisco Gallardo, who played for Sevilla in the La Liga, decided to take things a step further, but not in a good way. After Jose Antonio Reyes had scored a goal, Gallardo decided to celebrate by nibbling Reyes’ p***s. No, that is not a misprint. The Royal Spanish Football Association obviously fined and suspended Gallardo for violating “sporting dignity and decorum”, but the player himself couldn’t understand the fuss. “I am sure I didn’t offend anyone,” he said. “I don’t think what I did was very noteworthy.” Alex Burrows Biting fingers is a surprisingly popular pastime for sportsmen. In the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins, Vancouver’s Burrows had a little nibble on the finger of Boston’s Patrice Bergeron. The powers-that-be at the NHL didn’t take much action – the NHL is known for the toughness of its players – for the rest of the series the Bruins harassed Burrows by waving their fingers in his face. Luis Suarez Suarez, then playing for Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie back in 2010, got in a heated altercation with Otman Bakal. With teammates from both sides surrounding them, Suarez suddenly leaned in and bit Bakal’s shoulder – practically vampire style. The referee missed the incident in that game as well, but he was promptly suspended for two games by the club, and the ban was extended to seven games by the Dutch FA. After the incident, Suarez showed no remorse, saying he did it because he had been travelling more than normal: “No, I do not regret what happened. Normally I always keep calm but I didn’t… I’m a little tired. This week I had to travel a lot.”