Nazi salute in Australian football match prompts immediate investigation

Football Australia has promised to act swiftly against fans accused of shouting over an Indigenous welcoming ceremony and making Nazi salutes at the Australia Cup final, prompting widespread outrage.

More than 16,000 fans were in attendance at Western Sydney Stadium on October 1 for the football final where Macarthur FC recorded a 2-0 win over semi-professional outfit Sydney United 58, Al Jazeera reports.

On October 2, Football Australia said it “strongly condemns” the incident while revealing that eight people were evicted from western Sydney’s CommBank Stadium.

“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 display of the ‘Hitler salute’,” the governing body said.

“Football Australia is working closely with the management of CommBank Stadium and New South Wales 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.”

It also acknowledged “unacceptable” crowd noise during a “welcome to country” ceremony acknowledging Indigenous people’s link to the land.