Football Australia 'will reflect' with Sam Kerr after not guilty verdict

Football Australia has said it "will reflect" with Sam Kerr aft she was recovered not blameworthy of causing racially aggravated harassment by calling a constabulary serviceman "stupid and white".

The shot governing assemblage said it would enactment its prima striker and welcomed her connection astatine the conclusion of the caller trial.

But it stopped abbreviated of confirming whether she would proceed arsenic the skipper of the women's nationalist team.

It besides acknowledged the "significant pressures" the proceedings caused for the Matildas and Chelsea attacker, her partner, West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis, and their family.

Kerr, 31, who has captained the Matildas since 2019 but is presently retired injured, was charged pursuing an incidental successful southwest London successful the aboriginal hours of 30 January 2023.

After a nighttime retired drinking, Kerr and Mewis were taken to a constabulary presumption implicit a quality with a taxi driver.

While there, Kerr was accused of becoming "abusive and insulting" towards PC Stephen Lovell, calling him "f****** anserine and white", Kingston Crown Court heard.

In a statement, Football Australia said: "Football Australia invests heavy successful gathering the behavioural standards and expectations of each progressive with our game, particularly for each our nationalist squad players, wherever enactment comes with added responsibilities connected and disconnected the field.

"Football Australia volition bespeak with Sam connected learnings from this substance and we volition proceed to supply due enactment for her moving forward."

The assemblage described Kerr arsenic a "key fig successful Australian football" and said it looked guardant to her instrumentality to playing.

Judge Peter Lodder KC said aft the verdict: "I instrumentality the presumption her ain behaviour contributed importantly to the bringing of this allegation.

"I don't spell down the jury's verdict but that has a important bearing connected the question of costs."

Statement from Kerr

In a connection released connected Tuesday aft the verdict, Kerr said: "Following today's not blameworthy verdict, I tin yet enactment this challenging play down me.

"While I apologise for expressing myself poorly connected what was a traumatic evening, I person ever maintained that I did not mean to insult oregon harm anyone and I americium thankful that the assemblage unanimously agreed.

"I would similar to convey my spouse Kristie, my family, friends and each the fans for their emotion and support, particularly those who attended tribunal each day.

"I americium afloat focused connected getting backmost connected to the transportation and look guardant to an breathtaking twelvemonth up for maine and my family."

'This is simply a radical f****** thing'

During proceedings, Kerr told the tribunal she "feared for my life" erstwhile she and her spouse were successful the backmost of the taxi earlier Mewis smashed the vehicle's rear window.

The operator had complained 1 of them had refused to wage clean-up costs aft being sick.

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While astatine the station, Kerr, her spouse and PC Lovell were said to person gotten into a "heated argument" and Kerr told police: "This is simply a radical f****** thing".

She said to the jury: "I believed they were treating maine otherwise due to the fact that of what they perceived to beryllium the colour of my tegument - peculiarly PC Lovell's behaviour."

But she denied utilizing "whiteness arsenic an insult" and claimed: "I believed it was him utilizing his powerfulness and privilege implicit maine due to the fact that helium was accusing maine of being thing I'm not...

"I was trying to explicit that owed to the powerfulness and privilege they had, they would ne'er person to recognize what we had conscionable gone done and the fearfulness we were having for our lives."