West Ham’s Michail Antonio has questioned the reaction to Kurt Zouma kicking his cat, asking if it’s worse than players convicted of racism. pic.twitter.com/QchAIeXOsT
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 10, 2022
Have to say – Antonio raises an interesting point here. Yeah OK calling someone a racial slur and volleying a cat across the room are not the same thing, but racial abuse is hurtful, demeaning and humiliating enough that it should warrant at least similar outrage to what Zouma is dealing with right now. There are some people who even say that the level of outrage directed at Zouma is racially-motivated.
Back in 2012, John Terry was banned for 4 games and fined £220,000 for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. In 2011, Luis Suarez was banned for 8 games and fined £40,000 for racially abusing Patrice Evra. Meanwhile (keeping in mind a decade has passed), Zouma has been fined £250,000, has lost his sponsors and is potentially looking at further punishment.
The point Antonio is making is that calls for Zouma to lose his livelihood and never play football again might be OTT if they are not also applied to footballers found guilty of racial abuse. At the end of the day, I think we can all agree that both scenarios are abhorrent. Will be interesting to see how the next instance of football racism is tackled, and indeed what becomes of Kurt Zouma.
