Racism in sports

I love sports. Soccer, football, soccer and oh yea did I mention soccer. I am a huge fan of Manchester United(England) and of course the U.S. national team. This past weekend I was watching the Manchester United vs Liverpool game and besides that fact that they tied, it was a pretty intense game. After the game, there was lots of talk on about a player from Liverpool named Luis Suarez calling Patrice Evra the N word while playing. This was very surprising to me. The reason being is because when a player gets a chance to play in Europe they are most likely from another country and deal with many different type of races on and off the field. Patrice Evra is from France and black. Luis Suarez is Uruguayan and not black. What I don't understand is that at the beginning of every game in Europe they have kids in front of the kids at a distance from the players holding signs that read "Say No To Racism", which I don't understand because this is a huge FIFA (Federal International Football Association) campaign. Only the best players play in Europe so when one gets a chance to play there they go in knowing that they will be playing with many different people with different backgrounds. I never noticed how much of an impact racism really had on the field until I heard about when one of then U.S. players, Oguchi Onyewu, was called a "Dirty Ape" by an opposing player while playing in Italy with AC Milan. I didn't understand this because everyone on the field is from a different race. There have been many racist attacks by player to players every year and when they are suppose to be role models they end up showing all of us who they really are. Currently Patrice Evra is failing a complaint with the FA(football Association), which deal with soccer in England. If he wins his case Luis Saurez will be banned from a number of games which will be a huge loss not only for himself but for the team because he is one of the best players in Europe. This, I believe, would only be a a slap on the wrist because this shouldn't be happening in on or off the field.