Football Australia say they only found out about the allegation of racially aggravated harassment against captain and striker Sam Kerr in the UK. 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. Football Australia CEO James Johnson 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’. He urged people to be respectful of Kerr however, adding ‘Sam has rights as an individual. She’s pleaded not guilty. I think we need to remember that and we need to respect that’