West Ham condemned for action over Kurt Zouma by Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand was not best pleased with the punishment West Ham gave Kurt Zouma after he was videoed abusing his pet cat.
The 27-year-old was slapped with a fine of two weeks wages (the maximum the club can hand out) for his actions which saw him kick the cat across his apartment before slapping it in a video posted on social media.
Ex-Irons defender Ferdinand, now a pundit for BT Sport, was not impressed with the decision to punish the Frenchman with a monetary value.
“Looking at it, is £250,000 going to really affect the millionaire footballers that we have today? Probably it’s going to be a dent but it’s not going to make him limp,” Ferdinand said on BT Sport, as cited by the Daily Star.
Adding if being dropped by West Ham will have more of an effect: “But, is missing a game going to affect him?
“Yes, it will more than the financial implications because then it affects his team-mates and the environment, position in the league.
“So, the way you deal with these players, I think monetary is secondary when you look at these situations.”
Money is irrelevant
Ferdinand makes an excellent point here because when you are earning upwards of £100,000 every week, a quarter of a million pound fine really isn’t much in the grand scheme of things.
With people earning this much, they almost need their own set of laws when it comes to incidents away from the pitch like this.
If jail time is necessary, then by all means send them in and let them serve their time but if it is only a fine that can be handed out, then there’s no point.
A multiple-match suspension is a far better equivalent to a fine but we don’t want to see it come into effect for minor incidents such as a parking violation or slight speeding (34mph in a 30mph zone for example).
It is a very nuanced area and one that needs good time and attention taken to ensure a comprehensive punishment system is in place for non-football offences because these fines are doing nothing to change things.
In other West Ham news, this report shares whether Zouma will be included for the trip to Leicester City on Sunday (13 February).