Nazi salutes at football, swastikas on corflutes

Football Australia promises “strong and swift action” against fans who gave Nazi salutes and booed the Welcome to Country.

Football Australia is trawling through video footage of the crowd at Saturday night’s Australia Cup final in Sydney after some fans gave Nazi salutes and sang fascist songs at the game.

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies has called for Sydney United 58 fans who displayed Nazi symbols and salutes at the match to be given lifetime bans.

But the match was overshadowed when some Sydney United supporters booed the pre-match Welcome to Country and the national anthem, sang fascist songs, displayed symbols associated with the World War II Croatian fascist organisation Ustaše and made Hitler salutes visible on camera.

Football Australia has promised “strong and swift action” against what it said was a minority of fans caught performing apparent Nazi salutes and engaging in other anti-social behaviour 

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Darren Bark condemned the display of Nazi symbols and salutes “in the strongest possible terms”.

“The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies commends Football Australia for calling out these displays and urges the governing body to take strong action against any fan who participated in these acts, including implementing lifetime attendance bans. Football Australia should also work with Sydney United to address the concerning views which are venerated by some of its fans,” he said.

Nazi symbols were also used in Victoria this week when vandals defaced the corflutes of a Liberal Party candidate for the upcoming state election with graffitied penises and swastikas.

Donnie Grigau has referred eight campaign signs that were graffitied in the Bellarine electorate on Thursday to Victoria Police and said the vandalism was anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic.