Sam Kerr: Football Australia says it was blindsided by player’s UK harassment charge and court appearance

Football Australia and Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson say they were blindsided by an allegation of racially aggravated harassment made in the UK against Australian captain Sam Kerr, and only found out about the charge on Tuesday morning.

The striker appeared in court on Monday in the UK and pleaded not guilty to charges of using insulting, threatening or abusive words that caused alarm or distress to a police officer in an incident in January 2023.

FA chief executive James Johnson said he heard through the media.

“I woke up this morning like everyone else did to the news, and that is when Football Australia found out about this unsettling event,” he said.

“We are trying to get to the bottom of it at the moment. We have got our own questions that we’d like to know, we have got to find out what actually happened.

“But we also want to say that there is a process that is under way in the United Kingdom and that process needs to run its course.” The Metropolitan police in London issued a statement saying “the charge relates to an incident involving a police officer who was responding to a complaint involving a taxi fare on 30 January 2023 in Twickenham”. The trial is set for February 2025.

Johnson was in Adelaide at a press conference announcing the Matildas’ first match in South Australia in almost five years, scheduled against China in May.

He said the charge against Kerr contained “very serious allegations, it regards racism”.

“At the same time Sam has rights, natural justice rights, procedural rights, that she has got to work her way through and we are respectful of that,” he said.

“We need to understand the issue a little bit better ... we have got to establish the facts. We have got to get some answers before we have a