YOUTH football leaders in Worcester have united in condemning Premiership ace Luis Suarez for biting another player.

Those who coach Worcester’s young footballers have said they work hard to make sure their players do not copy their idols’ bad behaviour.

But they remain worried that some players and adults who witnessed the incident on Sunday and others like it will see such actions as just ‘part of the game’.

During the incident on Sunday Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is seen to sink his teeth into Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic’s arm. It is the second time the Uruguayan Premiership star has been caught on camera biting another player. In November 2010, Suarez — then playing for Ajax Amsterdam — was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal during a Dutch league game.

Mark Webb, St Johns Colts FC chairman, said they, like many clubs in Worcester, operated a zero tolerance code towards bad behaviour among their 200 plus members.

He said: “It is a discipline thing and as a coach or a manager you have a responsibility to teach them the right and wrong way. “They don’t do that kind of behaviour and we don’t allow them to do it. They don’t use foul language, don’t argue with the referee and the ref’s decision is final but they see all these things on television. “We will talk about it [the incident with Suarez] because our players will bring it up, it is just socially unacceptable to bite someone let alone during a football match. “At the end of the day they are playing a game, it doesn’t matter what level it is at, it is just a game, nothing more than that.”

Mr Webb and George Silverman, Mercian Festival Junior Football League chairman/secretary, both pointed to the FA’s Respect campaign as having a positive impact on youth football.

Mr Webb added: “I think the FA has done a reasonable job with their Respect campaign and made a big difference. “There is quite a few local clubs doing quite well but there’s more that could be done especially re-educating the parents.” Mr Silverman said that Suarez’s actions could not be condoned.

“It has got to be discouraged at all levels and seen to be discouraged at the top which hopefully will filter through to grassroots level. “We have to look at the big picture and take action against that kind of behaviour.” Mark Wilcox, chairman of Nunnery Wood Colts Football Club, said the children they coached knew better than to bite another player on the pitch. “Like a lot of clubs in Worcester though we have rules and regulations in place.”