MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Football Australia said on Wednesday it looked forward to Sam Kerr's return to the pitch after the national women's captain was found not guilty of racial abuse but the episode has left a sour taste for some fans and pundits in Australia.
Kerr was acquitted by a jury at Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday two years after calling a British police officer "stupid and white" after a drunken dispute with a cab driver.
Kerr's lawyer told the court that her words were a comment on power and privilege from a woman with Indian ancestry who thought police were treating her differently based on the colour of her skin.
One of the world's top strikers in women's football and a totemic captain of Australia's Matildas, the Chelsea forward's acquittal was hailed by home fans on social media and welcomed by the sport's national governing body.
"Throughout this period, Football Australia (FA) has remained committed to supporting Sam and will continue to do so as she focuses on her footballing career, rehabilitation from injury and return to play," FA said in a statement.
FA's support is understandable, being rooted in Kerr's immense contribution to Australian soccer, on and off the pitch.
She is the country's all-time top scorer with 69 goals and no other local footballer comes close to her profile or branding strength.
Though she played only a cameo in the 2023 Women's World Cup due to injury, Kerr was the face of the tournament for the co-hosts whose run to the semi-finals thrilled the nation.
Once struggling for profile, the Kerr-captained Matildas have become a gold mine for FA, with heavy media coverage and huge crowds attending their matches.
With Australia to host the 2026 Women's Asian Cup in just over a year's time, both FA and Matildas fans will hope Kerr can return from knee surgery and rack up the goals again.
While Kerr's injury may soon be behind her, it may take longer for the 31-year-old's image to recover.
The Australian public takes a dim view of athletes behaving badly on and off the pitch, and expects team leaders to be role models.
Officials tend to come down hard on those whose actions reflect badly on their teams and sports.
Cricketer Steve Smith was banned for one match by the International Cricket Council for his part in a plot to tamper the ball when captaining Australia in a test match against South Africa in 2018.
Australia's cricket board, however, banned him from playing for a year and barred him from leadership roles for two years.
Smith's successor Tim Paine also gave up the captaincy amid revelations he had sent lewd messages to a woman who worked at his home state's cricket board.
Kerr's messy night out in London may be far from Australia's most egregious sporting episodes but the footage of her sullenly swearing at a police officer came as a shock to fans who had never seen that side of the Matildas taliswoman.
Bruce Djite, a Black footballer who played for the Australian men's team, said Kerr should consider handing back the captaincy which would "help with the PR for Football Australia".
The Australian newspaper's soccer writer Erin Smith said the not-guilty verdict did nothing to cancel out Kerr's "unacceptable" behaviour for a leader.
"Football Australia needs to take a hard line stance and send a message to the millions of Matildas fans that behaviour like this will not be swept under the rug and forgotten about," Smith wrote in a column on Wednesday.
FA declined to comment on Kerr's future as captain but noted there were expectations inherent in leadership.
"Football Australia will reflect with Sam on learnings from this matter and we will continue to provide appropriate support for her moving forward," it said.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Michael Perry)
