The Adelaide Crows have apologised after a football was given to a nine-year-old fan after star Josh Rachele wrote ‘f**k the Power’ on it.
The Sherrin bearing the phrase was one of several that Crows players kicked into the crowd as part of a common post-match practice in the AFL.
Rachele and his teammates had just beaten their hometown rivals Port Adelaide in a one-point thriller when the ball was punted to spectators on May 1.
The Power are Crows’ biggest footy enemy and the bad blood between the sides has been a huge feature of footy for decades.
Rachele also wrote ‘Rash xx’ on the footy, referring to one of his nicknames, before it was caught in the crowd by Russell Palmer.
Palmer then gave it to his granddaughter Mackenzie, nine, who barracks for the Crows.
Josh Rachele is pictured celebrating with fans after beating Port Adelaide on May 1. A ball he wrote ‘f**k the Power’ on was kicked into the crowd and given to a nine-year-old girl
The Adelaide Crows have apologised for Rachele’s actions (he is pictured with partner Cartia Condo)
Footballs are often kicked into the crowd to be souvenired by fans in a long-standing AFL tradition. The Crows have offered to replace Rachele’s ball with another Sherrin that has been signed by stars from the club
Mackenzie’s father Justin Palmer called the message on the ball ‘pretty disappointing considering they’re role models and you’ve got kids at the game’.
‘Obviously my dad quickly got a pen and tried to write ‘back the Power’ instead of ‘f*ck the Power’, because she’s only nine years old,’ he told News Corp.
Justin Palmer said the Crows offered her another ball signed by players as a replacement.
A club spokesman said Rachele’s words were ‘clearly not appropriate’ and that the matter had been raised with him.
‘Their behaviour in this instance was disappointing and regrettable, and we have apologised to the person who brought it to our attention,’ the spokesman said.
Rachele wrote the phrase on the ball just days before he warned footy fans about the effects of insults launched at players because a troll told him to ‘end your life please’ after the Crows’ win over Richmond on May 11.
‘Messages like these are never welcome. Words have meaning, words have impact,’ Rachele wrote on Instagram.
The angry fan’s message surfaced after Rachele kicked the final goal in his side’s 98-61 win at the MCG.
Moments after his kick went through, the 23-year-old infuriated some Richmond fans by making a ‘hanging up the phone’ gesture.
On Monday, it was revealed that the person responsible for the disgraceful comment to Rachele is a student from Melbourne’s elite Brighton Grammar School.
Brighton Grammar, which charges annual tuition fees of more than $60,000, made the pupil apologise to Rachele.
The boy has also faced disciplinary action, but it is unclear if he was suspended.
