So many points, so little time. And, let’s face it, such a minefield – particularly for large, straight, white males, who’ve never felt the sting of racial abuse, never felt threatened for our safety in a taxi, never known what is to be negatively judged for our sexuality, skin colour and gender alone.
The only points in favour of us big, boofy blokes understanding the whole thing, and having any empathy, is that most of us had more than our fair share of behaving like drunken dickheads, even if not, mercifully, when someone had a body-cam trained on our every move and utterance.
But with the editor firmly commanding me into the same yonder mine-field as he did a year ago, let’s go in anyway.
By now, most of what happened is beyond dispute.
The legal case was not whether it was her or the butler wot done it. We know she did it, because we could all see the worst of it, before our eyes. So it was less about the facts of the matter, and far more about the correct interpretation of said facts, M’lud, after all is put in context.
Up one end of the interpretative spectrum is former Kangaroo, North Sydney Bears prop Marty Bella, who before the verdict commented: “SPEWING IN CAB, REFUSING PAY TO CLEANUP, SMASHING WINDOW. […] KEEPING CLASSY KERR STYLE.”
Australian soccer player Sam Kerr leaves Kingston Crown Court after being found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment.Credit: Getty Images
(Let’s face it, things are grim when a league prop from the 1990s is saying your Saturday night behaviour is appalling – not that I recall Marty Bella writing anything similar about well-documented, and much worse leaguie behaviour over the years?)
Up the other end was the vastly experienced London legal denizen, Epping Boys High’s very own Geoffrey Robertson, who wrote a piece for the Herald on Tuesday headlined “I was a London judge. Sam Kerr’s case should never have gone to trial.”
Robertson’s theme helped crystallise the thoughts of many of us, and it boiled down to: Geez, whatever you think of what she did, is it really worth pods of legal-beagles barking at each other, a judge, a jury, a threat of actually going to PRISON?
In the more eloquent words of m’learned friend, Geoffrey, “Prosecutors initially thought that [Kerr’s] insult had caused no ‘alarm or distress’ and refused to take the case to trial. But one officer, 11 months later, made a statement that he had been. This has resulted in an eight-day trial costing the UK taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds, for words that (as heard and seen in the video) had no apparent impact at all.
“What will surprise most London lawyers was that this was ever brought to trial. Similar cases are dealt with by a caution involving no criminal finding or else by a short hearing in a magistrates’ court, probably resulting in a fine or a conditional discharge.”
And right in between those two views on either end, sat the jury and the judge themselves.
Their final verdict: “Not guilty of racially aggravated harassment.”
Sam Kerr celebrates after scoring a goal for Australia.Credit: Getty Images
If you are going to have laws against racial harassment, it shouldn’t matter whether the target of racially aggravated harassment is black or white as, to quote the dictum, “the law is blind”. On the other hand, in the real world, no one can argue that being called a “white bastard” – when white people have not suffered centuries of oppression jut for being white – has anything like the sting as being called a black bastard.
So, free to go, and all even on the card?
Not quite. It is indeed far and away the most important thing that Sam Kerr has been found not guilty. But the judge was not done.
“I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation … that has a significant bearing on the issue of costs,” he said. “Behaviour which she herself had to accept by virtue of video recording.”
Translation: you are free to go, but I am very unlikely to rule that you can send your huge legal bills to the Metropolitan Police, because you are not blameless in this affair. The fact that Kerr has announced she won’t be pursuing costs might be equally translated to “Fair cop, Guv.”
As to whether Football Australia will restore Kerr to the on-field captaincy, the legal problems have been removed – and it’s certainly a big start that she ain’t in prison. The non-legal stuff is more problematic. When I wrote about this a year ago, I noted that there’s a lot more to being captain of a national team than tossing the coin and making speeches in the huddle: “It is an ambassadorial role of great importance, and can only be held by those who, firstly, are seen to represent the national values; and secondly those who obviously enjoy the full confidence of their sports federation. Right now, neither condition is fulfilled. Kerr’s curse is that her reputation will remain under a cloud until she can either provide an explanation right now that convinces the lot of us, or the court process completely exonerates her – and even if the latter happens, that is a year away.”
And here we are. Her explanation seems to have convinced about half of us, and the court process did indeed mostly exonerate her.
But, the captaincy?
The fact that Kerr is a superstar of the game is beyond dispute, and I have equally written that for this long-time soccer denigrator, she was the first one to truly make me understand what everyone was on about, and just how fabulous a spectacle it could be to watch, at least when she was on the field!
Again, the captaincy?
When it all happened, Greg Baum made the point that if Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins had been charged with the same thing, his feet would not have touched the ground before he was out of the job. And the same obviously applies now. Had Cummins just gone through such a court case he would not even be in the team, let alone a contender for the captaincy. Yey in Cummins’ long and storied career, he has never had to face the things Kerr has, or had the same kinds of fears.
And I am advised by younger friends, “that on Instagram and TikTok, Sam Kerr is getting more love than ever. She is enjoying more loved today than she was last year by the target audience of the Matildas: young women.”
In the end, I suspect Football Australia will swallow their misgivings – including their rage that their superstar never gave them any warning of the coming charges – and ultimately restore Kerr to the on-field captaincy.
That’s it.
Let me know if I’ve lost a leg.
