Australian soccer club in hot water over ‘fascist’ photo
From Instagram.
The O'Connor Knights Soccer Club posted photos to Facebook of players unwittingly posing underneath the portrait of WWII fascist Ante Pavelić
The club is affiliated with the Australian Croatian Club, which was separately fined in 2016 for discriminating against a member who opposed its nationalist symbols
There is no suggestion the players were aware of the historical significance of the portrait or its presence in their photograph
The Australian Croatian Club in Canberra has been embroiled in community controversy about its ongoing display of ultranationalist paraphernalia since it was established in 1968.
The club sponsors the O'Connor Knights — one of the two Croatian soccer clubs in the ACT National Premier League — which posted team photographs on social media on Tuesday ahead of grand final matches on the weekend.
In the photographs, taken at the Australian Croatian Club, players are unwittingly posing underneath a portrait of Ante Pavelić, the leader of the Croatian Ustaše movement that collaborated with fascist regimes in Italy and Germany.
The photographs were removed from the Knights' social media pages on Tuesday.
The ABC does not allege the players were aware of the historical significance of the portrait or its presence in their team photograph.
A spokesperson for the anti-fascist research organisation White Rose Society said Pavelić was responsible for hundreds of thousands of genocides.
"He [Pavelić] was responsible for the genocide of hundreds of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Romas and anti-fascists," the spokesperson said.
The Australian Croatian Club, in the ACT suburb of Turner, also sells merchandise with the slogan "Za dom spremni!" (For home — ready!) which is associated with the ultranationalist right-wing movement in Croatia, where the slogan is outlawed.
In 2016, the ACT Administrative Appeal Tribunal ordered the Australian Croatian Club to pay $63,000 in compensation to a man who was banned from full membership for his political views.
The case heard the club had rejected the man because he opposed its display of nationalist portraits, flags, emblems, and symbols.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson from the Australian Croatian Club said it "would discuss the portrait at its next annual general meeting in December".
Australian Croatian Club vice president Ivan Perić said the club was heavily involved in charity work, including providing second-hand soccer boots for Indigenous communities.
"You can see how much hard work we put in, there are eight teams in the premier league and two of them are Croatian-backed, and they're both in the top [grand final]," he said.
"Everyone's welcome."
The O'Connor Knights Soccer Club did not respond to the ABC's requests for comment.
The pictures were originally posted to Instagram to promote the club ahead of weekend matches.(Instagram)
ACT Football Federation's Capital Football said it was aware the team photographs had been circulating on social media.
The governing body said the photography had been removed by the time they contacted the O'Connor Knights.
"Capital Football celebrates diversity and multiculturalism in our game but maintains a zero-tolerance policy regarding discrimination hatred or violence on all legally recognisable grounds including race, religion, ethnicity, or political views," a statement said.
An ACT government spokesperson said it was not aware of any complaints made in relation to the football club's alleged conduct, and display of the portrait of Ante Pavelić did not appear to be prohibited under the law."
Taken from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-20/act-australian-croatian-club-ante-pavelic-portrait/102876238
