‘Disrespectful and deeply offensive’: Sydney United 58 hit with heavy fine, suspended sanctions

Sydney United 58 has been hit with a $15,000 fine and some of the heaviest suspended sanctions ever issued by Football Australia, which could see them stripped of points and banned from future tournaments if the Croatian-backed club or their fans breach the federation’s requirements.

The former National Soccer League club made history as the first team from outside the A-League to reach the Australia Cup final, but last month’s decider at CommBank Stadium - which Macarthur FC won 2-0 - was marred by anti-social behaviour.

Sydney United fans at CommBank Stadium.Credit: Getty

Two people were given life bans for performing Nazi salutes, while Sydney United fans were criticised for not observing the pre-match Welcome to Country and displaying flags with symbols and insignia closely related to the Ustashe, a regime which collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Romani people.

Fans also chanted ‘Za Dom - Spremni!’, a slogan also associated with the Ustashe movement.

Football Australia says it took all of this into account when considering its sanctions against Sydney United, as well as the club’s response to a show cause notice from the federation, the need to deter such behaviour from occurring again, and the sport’s broader interests.

The money from the fine, FA said, will be used to “further invest” in anti-discrimination and cultural competency education, training and materials for the Australian soccer community.

Football Australia chief executive James Johnson.Credit: Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

FA also outlined a wide range of other punishments for the club that will be enacted if the club “fails to comply with specific requirements”, which were not publicly revealed - including a deduction of up to 40 competition points per sanction from its NSW NPL tally, and participation bans from the next three editions of the Australia Cup.

The club’s board members, administrators, players, staff, volunteers and fan group leaders will also be directed to undergo compulsory education and training to counter racism, discrimination, anti-Semetic and faith-based hatred in the event of any further breaches of FA’s requirements, as well as Indigenous “cultural competency training”, volunteer work with First Nations and Jewish communities, and other “cultural initiatives” and “prescribed standards of behaviour” that will be forced on the club and its supporters.

The measures were announced in a press release on Friday, which included endorsements for the punishments from the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and Football Australia’s National Indigenous Advisory Group.

“Football Australia has run a thorough and considered process involving listening to several different viewpoints and lived experiences. What has strongly resonated is the deep hurt and impact of the actions that do not represent the values and expectations of our game or protect our community,” FA chief executive James Johnson said.

“The actions of certain groups of people were disrespectful and deeply offensive to the Indigenous Australian and Jewish communities. As a result, we have acted decisively in a manner which reflects our desire to strike this behaviour out of Australian football.”

While serving as punishment and as a deterrent, FA’s sanctions are designed to encourage Sydney United 58 to weed out the problematic elements from its fan base and modernise its outlook to prepare for a planned national second division.

FA is pressing ahead with plans for the second tier, which is on track to be launched in 2024, with participating clubs to be announced either before or after next year’s Women’s World Cup.

Seen as a likely entrant for the second division, Sydney United has one of the biggest support bases of any team outside the A-League, and had the backing of the vast majority of the 16,641 fans at the Australia Cup final - but any repeat of the behaviour seen at that match could understandably scare off corporate backers and put the financial footing of the proposed competition in jeopardy.

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