Some back-of-the-envelope maths regarding Luis Suarez: according to Wikipedia, he has played in 363 club league, cup and friendly matches since breaking through into the Nacional senior team in the 2005/06 season. He’s also played 78 times for the Uruguay national team.
He has bitten three opposition players in the time it took him to play those 441 senior matches – PSV’s Otman Bakkal in November 2010, Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanović in April 2013, and now Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in the World Cup game on 24 June. This raises a crucial question: how much risk is a football player taking if Luis Suarez is on the opposition team? You’ve got to know the risks when you get involved in a contact sport, after all.
- Bitten by a shark while swimming in the ocean (one in 3.7 million)
- Struck by lightning once across an 80 year lifespan (one in 10,000)
- Dying from a hornet, wasp or bee attack (one in 75,852)
- Being killed by a firearm in the United States (one in 6,509)
- Living on a coastline and experiencing a tsunami (one in 50,000)
- Hit by an asteroid (one in 700,000)
- Dying on a space shuttle mission (one in 100)
- Getting cancer (between one in two and one in three for any kind)
- Experiencing some or any symptoms of concussion after a soccer match (one in two)
- Having an ear bitten off by Mike Tyson during a boxing match (one in 50)
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