Football Australia makes call on stripping Sam Kerr of Matildas captaincy amid fallout from court case

Football Australia has addressed the calls to strip Sam Kerr of the Matildas captaincy as more details come to light.

Football Australia (FA) has refused to make a definitive call on whether or not Sam Kerr will remain the captain of the Matildas until the end of the football star’s court case.

Kerr is expected to make her return from an anterior cruciate ligament injury for Australia’s upcoming international friendlies against South Korea in Australia, but first is attempting to clear her name and rebuild her reputation in UK court.

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The 31-year-old is charged with racially aggravated harassment to police constable Stephen Lovell, after calling him “stupid and white” at a southwest London police station in the early hours of January 30, 2023.

It is alleged Kerr and her partner, fellow football star Kristie Mewis, had been out drinking when they were driven to a police station by a taxi driver.

The driver complained they had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them had vomited and that one of the passengers had smashed the vehicle’s rear window.

Sam Kerr arrives at Kingston Crown Court in south London. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

The women told officers the driver had been “acting in a crazy way” by driving fast, repeatedly stopping and speeding up again, locking them in the car, and refusing to let them go for about 15 minutes, Kingston Crown Court heard.

The driver had first called the police and transported Kerr and Mewis to Twickenham Police Station, where footage from Lovell’s body-worn camera was played to the court.

In the video, the Matildas captain told Lovell and another police officer that she and Mewis were “very scared” and “trying to escape” the cab when they damaged the vehicle.

While there Kerr is alleged to have become “abusive and insulting” towards Lovell.

In the bodycam footage, Kerr is seen accusing the officer of taking the taxi driver’s side, and not taking the two women’s fears for their safety seriously.

“You’re sick. You’re literally a white privileged f---ing person – a white privileged man,” Kerr said. “You are … backing a man when two women are saying that we had to break out of a taxi.”

Football Australia is yet to decide whether or not Sam Kerr will remain as Matildas captain. (Photo by Alex Pantling – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Kerr accepts she made the comments but denies that they amount to the charge.

But as the court case wears on and footage of the interaction is spread online, there are mounting calls for her to be stripped of the Matildas captaincy, a role that’s been taken on by fill-in skipper Steph Catley in recent months.

Kerr is arguably the best female footballer in the world and is a national treasure to many as she inspires young players to pull on a pair of boots and give it a go,

But following the release of the video, which you can watch at the top of the page, many believe her actions in the body cam footage are not befitting of a national team captain.

Body-cam footage of Sam Kerr after taxi cab incident has been played in court. Source: X

4BC radio host Peter Fegan led those calls by saying on Tuesday Kerr must be stripped of her Matildas captaincy regardless of the outcome of the court case.

“Sam Kerr needs to be stripped of her captaincy immediately because the truth is finally out there and Sam Kerr can’t hide any more behind Football Australia, Chelsea or her superstar status,” Fegan said.

“Football Australia is an enormous entity with millions of fans and those fans deserve answers. You can’t just run and hide.”

Many fans were equally outraged and called for either Kerr to step down or for her to be removed.

“After seeing the footage, you must come to the conclusion that Sam Kerr isn’t a leader or role model and doesn’t display traits worthy of leading our national team,” one person wrote on X.

While a second wrote: “There’s no doubting Sam Kerr is an Australian sporting legend. But guilty or not she has forfeited the right to captain the Matildas. The video is not a good look. She could have handled it a lot better. Her actions/mannerisms/demeanour were disrespectful.”

And another said: “Whilst Sam Kerr’s behaviour is so disappointing, worse is her apparent lack of remorse or understanding that racial abuse isn’t ok if you ‘didn’t really mean it’. She’s a role model to so many young girls and her immense privilege comes with a responsibility to do better.”

However, others have defended the Matildas captain and say weight must be given to the situation and stress she was under.

Sam Kerr pictured with partner Kristie Mewis. Picture: Instagram

And in a statement on Wednesday, FA noted not all the footage had been made public yet and said a decision on Kerr’s Matildas role won’t be made until the court case concludes and they have all the facts.

“We understand that there will be some disappointment out there (from fans), but what we would ask is that we all wait out,” FA boss James Johnson said on Wednesday.

“We know there’s a 30-second, 40-second clip out there but we also know there’s a 30-minute video out there which certainly we haven’t seen.

“What we need to do we need to give Sam the opportunity to go through the trial.

“Once we complete the trial, then we’ll have a holistic view of what’s happened.”

Australian interim coach Tom Sermanni also sidestepped the question on Tuesday, refusing to give a definitive answer on whether or not she will remain captain until the case is over.

“It’s difficult for me to answer that to be perfectly honest,” Mr Sermanni said on Tuesday.

“Obviously with the court case that’s going on at the moment, it would be unwise of me to sort of comment on that and comment on the outcome, whatever the outcome might be.

“So I think it’s a case of waiting to see what happens and then move on from there.”

Originally published as Football Australia makes call on stripping Sam Kerr of Matildas captaincy amid fallout from court case