March 5 – Chelsea and Australia star Sam Kerr will face a criminal trial next year for alleged racially aggravated harassment of a police officer.
The 30-year-old Kerr (pictured) pleaded not guilty to the offence at a court hearing on Monday, the Crown Prosecution Service said. She is scheduled to appear in Court in February 2025.
“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,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said. She was charged on 21 January “with a racially aggravated offence under Section 4A [of the] Public Order Act 1986.”
Kerr is currently out of action after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Chelsea’s training camp in Morocco in January. The striker has scored 99 goals in 128 matches since joining Chelsea in 2019. She is Australia’s record goal scorer with 64 goals in 125 games.
Last summer, Kerr rose to national and international prominence when she spearheaded Australia’s run to the semi-finals of the World Cup on home soil.
Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said the federation had learned of the “very serious allegations” in the news that morning.
“There is no place for racism in our sport,” said Johnson. “At the same time, Sam has rights, natural justice rights, procedural rights that she has to work through and we will respect that. We are trying to get to the bottom of it at the moment… we’ve got to find out what actually happened. I haven’t spoken to Sam other than a text message to check in on her wellbeing.”
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