In the dying minutes of a nail biter of a Chelsea/Juventus match-up, Sam Kerr added a new role to her CV – matchday security, taking down a pitch invader who interrupted play to get a selfie. The body-check she delivered to the invading buffoon went viral and elicited roars of approval at Kingsmeadow Stadium and around the world, but it illustrates something troubling about the respect and care afforded to women’s sports.
When Juventus arrived in the mean streets of Norbiton, Surrey to face Chelsea in the group stage UWCL game, they almost certainly weren’t expecting to have their efforts disrupted by a goon intent on stealing the spotlight. The second half of the game, in which Chelsea and Juve were deadlocked in a goal-less battle of wills, was drawing to a close, and the stadium announcer had just reminded the audience not to expect the players to be available afterwards for selfies and autographs, due to ongoing COVID precautions.
But entitlement’s a hell of a drug, and one likely lad hopped the barrier at the South Stand and pelted into the middle of the field, circling the bemused players like an excited labrador and snapping a selfie behind an uncomfortable-looking Magda Eriksson. With no intervention from stadium security, the Australian striker and Matildas star took a run-up and shoulder-barged him firmly off his feet. The trespasser hit the grass to hearty applause from the crowd, and scrambled off the field with late-arriving officials in halfhearted pursuit. From the vantage point of the South Stand, it was hard to tell whether they were stewards or technical staff, clad in anonymous black coats. After a talking-to beneath the stadium screen, the fan was marched out of the premises, while the referee gave an unimpressed Kerr a yellow card.
The photo and video of the up-ended fan was all over the internet by the next morning: contempt for the pitch invader, fury at Kerr being carded, and delight at the sight of her decisively handing the fan his comeuppance. The referee wasn’t wrong to card her – technically her intervention could have warranted a red for violent conduct, and the yellow represented common sense in light of Kerr being the only person who actually offered any real intervention in the fan’s illegal antics.