Football Australia left to write next chapter of Sam Kerr saga with captaincy call

FA can only kick the can down the road for so much longer and a bold decision will have to be made before the Matildas’ next fixtures in April. It has been more than two years since Sam Kerr’s night out in south London ended in a dispute with a taxi driver and soon afterwards a heated exchange in a police station. In the meantime the star striker has led the Matildas at a Women’s World Cup, added to the trophies and honours she has won with club side Chelsea, and been sidelined for more than a year with a serious knee injury.

Kerr also had a criminal charge stemming from that turbulent night in January 2023 hanging over her head, after she was charged with racially aggravated harassment for calling a police officer “fucking stupid and white”. That legal case finally came to a close this week when the 31-year-old was found not guilty, but the shock waves from the incident that gripped football fans and more casual observers on both sides of the globe are still to abate.

With the trial and what Kerr described in a statement as a “challenging period” now behind her, she can look forward to returning to the pitch within the next month for the first time since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in January last year. She continues to enjoy the support of her club and sponsors such as Nike, and is awaiting the arrival of a first child together with her partner, Kristie Mewis. But what the future holds for Kerr and the Australian women’s football team is much less certain.

Kerr has been the face of the Matildas for the best part of a decade and captain since 2019. Her lofty status in the national side, on and off the pitch, has been apparent since long before Kerr was handed the armband, and has helped her to play a critical role in attracting a new and younger generation of fans to women’s football and the broader game. Yet Football Australia is now left with a difficult decision to make on whether or not to strip their star player, and most marketable commodity, of the Matildas captaincy.

With Kerr out of action due to injury since the charge became public last March, FA has been able to wait and see how the case and trial played out before making a call. Since the jury’s verdict has been handed down, the governing body has only committed to supporting Kerr, stopping short of endorsing her future as Matildas captain and hinting at broader concerns. “Football Australia invests heavily in building the behavioural standards and expectations of all involved with our game, especially for all our national team players, where leadership comes with added responsibilities on and off the field,” FA said in a statement.

Sign up to Australia Sport. Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk. after newsletter promotion. FA can only kick the can down the road for so much longer. Kerr will miss the SheBelieves Cup later this month, when the Matildas play Japan, the US and Colombia, as she continues her rehabilitation with Chelsea. But a return to playing with the WSL club over the next month would leave her nearing full fitness and likely available for the Matildas’ next set of fixtures – a pair of international friendlies on home soil against South Korea.

If FA is waiting for Kerr to join a Matildas camp to discuss her role within the team in person, the decision on the captaincy might only be announced in the days before the first friendly in Sydney on 4 April. There are few, if any, other reasons to delay the decision until then. Kerr should have nothing more to disclose about her doomed night out in London – her inebriated state in the lead up to hailing a taxi and vomiting out of its window is now known to anyone with a passing interest in the case, let alone all that followed in what she has called a “traumatic evening”. But regardless of what happened in London two years ago, the Matildas captain still has much to explain for blindsiding FA when she failed to inform her national bosses of the charge and left CEO James Johnson and then head coach Tony Gustavsson to find out more than a year later through media reporting. FA’s trust in its women’s skipper must surely have been strained, if not left closer to a breaking point.

Whether Kerr even wants to continue as Matildas captain remains to be seen. For all of her inspirational and incredible feats on the pitch, she has rarely seemed to relish the off-field responsibilities that come with leading a national team. After a prolonged period under an intense spotlight, she could hardly be blamed for wanting to step away from any added attention. Kerr has also entered her 30s after first playing at an elite level 17 years ago, and is on the comeback trail from a second ACL tear, all while the national squad is going through a period of regeneration.

Kerr has been the shining light in a golden generation of Australian footballers who have won an Women’s Asian Cup and finished runner-up twice, reached the last four at a Women’s World Cup and an Olympic Games, and become the most popular team in the land. She will have a second opportunity to play a leading role in lifting an international trophy on home soil when the 2026 Asian Cup is held in Australia – it just might not be as Matildas captain.