Racism has always been present in European football (soccer) with many cases experienced in the near past both on field of play and outside of it.
Many great African players have been left out of the spotlight simply because of the color of their skin and many have been placed in the spotlight solely because of their undeniable skills.
The recent situation with Kurt Zouma kicking and slapping a cat for fun is really unfortunate and inhuman. However, the punishments metted out against the act are simply too much.
First his team West Ham football club fined him the highest amount possible. This kind of fine is reserved for the worst behavior by a player in the situation that the club is not willing to let such player go just yet.
But the club was fast to dose out such judgment in this case, it was like they have been waiting to slap with him with such judgment.
Then adidas withdrew their sponsorship with many such examples following their act. Adidas, the German footwear company with recent questionable act themself when they used numerous nude women in a public advert that children will obviously see (and which Twitter allowed although they have a ‘policy’ about partial nudity), used that as an opportunity to cut ties with the ‘equal’ French player.
We all know that many ‘White’ players have committed many questionable offenses, examples of which we don’t need to give in order not to ‘pour fuel into the burning fire’ here and now, and which have gone unpunished, with the few punished cases only due to the publicity such acts have gathered.
But it seemed the whole of Britain took this as the ‘end of the world’ with hundreds of thousands signing petitions against him.
Kurt Zouma cooperated with animal rights group, and the cats have been taken away from him.