The pathetic pantomime between Luis Suárez and Patrice Evra highlighted why it is time to shake off one of the Premier League’s rituals, writes Stuart Rayner

BEATEN by a brilliant penalty by Zambia’s Mweene Kennedy, Boubacar Barry came off his line and shook the hand of his fellow goalkeeper.

It was a nice moment in a tense shoot-out to decide an African Cup of Nations final Barry’s Ivory Coast were overwhelming favourites to win, but did not.

It was spontaneous and heartfelt. Barry did not react the same way when any of the other seven players who beat him in Sunday’s shoot-out did so, but he recognised the skill and courage Mweene had shown as someone, like him, whose day job is to keep the ball out of the net, that he could put it in it.

On a weekend dominated by non-handshakes, it was a feel-good moment. Unfortunately, Luis Suárez’s petulance had already ensured football would come out of it with its reputation tainted a fraction.

Suárez’s refusal to shake Patrice Evra’s hand – as he had promised beforehand he would – reinforced the view that top modern footballers are spoilt brats. Actually, plenty are perfectly nice, well-rounded human beings.

But mud like that sticks to all of them – not just those who refuse to shake hands like Suárez (and potentially Harry Redknapp’s next England captain, Rio Ferdinand), or who carry on at the final whistle without an ounce of class a la Evra.

Just as disappointingly, it totally distracted attention from one of the Premier League’s showpiece games, between Manchester United and Liverpool. Like the time two years ago when John Terry’s Chelsea played Wayne Bridge’s Manchester City the focus was all on a few seconds of ceremonials, rather than 90 minutes of football.

With any luck, next season ritual pre-match handshakes might be quietly dropped from the Premier League. It was dispensed with before Chelsea’s FA Cup third-round tie at Queens Park Rangers, presumably because Anton Ferdinand had indicated he would not be pressing the flesh with Terry.

Like Suárez, Terry stands accused of a racial slur towards the ex-Sunderland defender, something the former England captain vigorously denies.

The problem with this outbreak of non-shaking is that once one high-profile footballer does it, no end of people incapable of thinking for themselves start copying. If that sounds harsh, look at the evidence. Is it any coincidence that since the incidents involving Terry and Suárez there has been a spate of mindless racism polluting the terraces and the Twittersphere?

Hours after Suárez made such an idiot of himself, Aston Villa’s young mascot refused the outstretched hand of his Manchester City counterpart as he worked his way down the line of players and officials. On the surface it was quite funny – Colin Murray had a giggle on Match of the Day 2 – but the implications are serious.

Footballers are mimicked, even by those who support different clubs.

Lining players up to shake hands before kick-off was a well-meaning idea as part of the Football Association’s ongoing attempts to introduce a little more respect into a game constantly shamed by rival sports in that regard. The gesture is a good one, but only when done freely and sincerely. Captains have shaken hands with each other and the officials for decades. Hopefully they always will, but it would not be the biggest shock ever if that fell victim to the copycat craze.

Surely nobody bar Sepp Blatter believes racist abuse can be wiped clean with a shake of the hand, but had Suárez simply held out his palm and played along, it would have been the first sign that he and Liverpool were finally prepared to draw the line under a shameful affair and begin the process of reconciliation. As it was, it took another couple of days and yet more crass comments from Kenny Dalglish before that began with some long-overdue apologies.

Ritualising and enforcing the handshake is not the way to go, though. By lining the players up pre-match to the soundtrack of their cheesy anthem, the Premier League have created a spectacle so fake, so contrived it almost makes you want to throw up. It looks like a desperate attempt to ape the Champions League, with its ludicrously pompous “hymn” – as bombastic as the Premier League version is corny – and to buy a few more seconds to squeeze in another advert or two between the players leaving the tunnel and kicking off. If there was a time to demand players shake hands it is after 90 minutes of combat, as a show of appreciation for the contest just past, and a recognition that all that happened on the field had been forgotten.

It is symptomatic of the phoniness of 21st Century football that makes misty-eyed older supporters yearn for the good old days. If players want to greet each other and exchange pleasantries before a match, then by all means let them – they can even have a hug and a kiss if they want to.

But if Suárez’s immaturity is the death knell for this pointless ritual, a least a smidgeon of good will have come from this depressing episode.