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Picture Credit: Twitter

Football Australia has been under a lot of scrutiny as a video footage of the crowd at Saturday night’s Australia Cup final after some Sydney United 58 fans “displayed the Hitler salute”. The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies wants the fans who displayed Nazi symbols and salutes at the match to be given lifetime bans.


A record 16,461-strong crowd gathered at Commbank Stadium to watch Macarthur FC beat Sydney United 58 2-0. But the match was overlooked when Sydney United supporters booed the pre-match welcome to country and the national anthem, sang fascist songs, displayed symbols associated with the Ustaše and made Hitler salute gestures.


The Ustaše was a fascist group that worked with the Nazis during the second world war and participated in war crimes, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide. This group also established the Jasenovac concentration camp where Jews, Serbs, Roma, other minority groups and political opponents were murdered.

Football Australia said has condemned “the actions of a small minority of individuals”, saying their behaviour was “not consistent with Football Australia’s values and wider community expectations. Football Australia took steps during the match to address some isolated behaviours by a small minority of individuals, including facilitating the evictions of eight people,” it said in a statement.


“Football Australia is today assessing all footage and images available of certain individuals which are of concern to our organisation and the broader Australian football community, including the displaying of the ‘Hitler salute’.”


The governing body has been ‘working closely’ with CommBank Stadium management and NSW police to determine ‘strong and swift action on any identified anti-social behaviour which may also be deemed as illegal in the state of NSW’.