Pakenham United walked from the pitch during its round seven game against South East United in Men’s State League 5 South football on Saturday amid claims of racism.
Football Victoria is investigating the incident.
The game at IYU Recreation Reserve in Pakenham was nearing half-time – with scores locked at nil-all – when United coach Liam McCafferty noticed his captain Vincent Makota had become agitated and trying to get the attention of the referee over an alleged racist remark.
Makota then made his way to the sidelines, where McCafferty greeted his visibly shaken player.
“I told him I was happy to call the game if nothing was being done about it and I would back him 100 per cent,” McCafferty told the Gazette.
“We agreed to walk off and every single player in our team supported the decision.
“We stayed in the changing rooms and some of them were obviously upset.
“We calmed down and then went for a walk…out the back on the grass.
“We didn’t go back out, the game was abandoned.
“I’ve been involved in football for 31 years now, and I know it happens in the game, but I’ve never been on the pitch when it’s happened before.
“In 31 years that’s the first time I’ve been involved in something like this directly.”
A highly tactical game was soon turned on its head, roughly seven minutes before half time.
“It was turning out to be a brilliant game,” McCafferty said.
“I went in to play a specific way tactically, and he (South East coach) set up his way, and I pay respect to him because it was two well organised teams trying to enact the manager’s message and get all over each other.
“It was a really nice game, and then a couple of tackles on the edge of the box, strong tackles, but ball-winning tackles, and then things happened from there.
“It was an ugly incident…you just can’t do that.”
United has since sent a detailed document to Football Victoria (FV), outlining its concerns and detailing the alleged incident in full.
“There are a lot of more important things in life than football and if we lose three points, which at the moment we have done, we’re happy to lose three points and protect our players and stand up for what’s right,” McCafferty said.
“We won’t be walking away from this.
“Football Victoria has a duty of care, and so do we, to keep racism out of the game and to protect our players and protect the wider community.
“Our badge says honour, respect and discipline…and we stand by that.
“The solidarity shown speaks volumes of the lads, and that’s the biggest positive we can take away from a very negative situation.
“This is a place where diversity and ethnic minorities are unequivocally welcomed.”
Football Victoria confirmed it had received documentation from Pakenham United regarding the alleged incident.
“We have received a report from Pakenham United that the players walked off the pitch due to an alleged racial slur,” a FV spokesperson confirmed.
“Going forward, Football Victoria will email both clubs, asking for a response and asking for clarity on what occurred.
“Once we receive the responses from both clubs, the discipline department will determine if a charge is applicable, and if it’s too serious for Football Victoria then it can be referred straight to a tribunal.
“Those tribunal members will then decide the appropriate action to take.”
While not prepared to comment on the incident specifically, the FV spokesperson said the organisation had a zero-policy towards racism.
“It’s completely unacceptable, there’s no room for that in the sport, and we want to kick it out of our sport.”
