Crows apologise – Adelaide Crows have apologised after Josh Rachele wrote an F-bomb message on a Sherrin that was handed to a nine-year-old girl after the Crows’ May 1 win over Port Adelaide.
A Sherrin bearing “f**k the Power” ended up in the hands of a nine-year-old Crows supporter — and it set off a fresh storm around Josh Rachele, just days after he publicly warned fans off offensive words.
The ball was punted into the crowd on May 1 after Adelaide Crows beat hometown rivals Port Adelaide in a one-point thriller. Rachele and teammates then followed a long-running AFL post-match tradition: kicking balls into spectators so they can be souvenired.
But instead of a clean message, Rachele had written the insult on the ball before it was tossed.
Rachele wrote “f**k the Power” on the Sherrin. He also added “Rash xx,” a reference to his nickname, before the ball was caught in the crowd by Russell Palmer.
Russell Palmer then gave it to his granddaughter, Mackenzie — nine years old and a Crows fan. Her father, Justin Palmer, said the message was “pretty disappointing” because “they’re role models and you’ve got kids at the game.”
Justin Palmer said he responded quickly, explaining that he “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 added that the Crows offered to replace the ball with another Sherrin signed by stars from the club.
Adelaide have now apologised. A club spokesman said Rachele’s words were “clearly not appropriate” and that the issue 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.
The incident landed with added sting because Rachele had taken a public stance against insults only days earlier. Rachele wrote on Instagram about the impact of cruel messages after a troll told him “end your life please” following the Crows’ win over Richmond on May 11.
“Messages like these are never welcome. Words have meaning, words have impact,” Rachele wrote.
That warning was made just days before the F-bomb scrawled onto the Sherrin made its way to Mackenzie.
The ball’s fallout also arrived while Rachele’s own on-field night was still being dissected. After he kicked the final goal in Adelaide’s 98-61 win at the MCG, he made a “hanging up the phone” gesture that infuriated some Richmond fans.
On Monday. it was revealed 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.
For Mackenzie and her family, the sequence has been harder to shake than any match result — a tradition meant to bring fans closer to the game now sits alongside a message that the Crows say should never have been there in the first place.
Josh Rachele Adelaide Crows Port Adelaide AFL Sherrin Mackenzie Palmer Justin Palmer Russell Palmer “f**k the Power” “Rash xx” Brighton Grammar School Instagram apology hanging up the phone gesture Richmond fans
Lol crows apologised, big shock.
I can’t believe they let a 9-year-old get the ball with that message on it. Like cmon, role model thing is real. Replace the ball and move on, but also why write it in the first place?
Wait so the dad wrote the “back the Power” thing? That sounds like he tried to fix it after the fact but still… if the kid already had it, doesn’t that mean the apology is kinda pointless? Also I feel like everyone’s acting brand new about swearing but it’s still dumb to do on purpose.
This is what happens when teams think they can do whatever after a win. Like yeah it’s tradition to kick balls to fans but why is there always some random drama. I’m pretty sure Port fans started it though, because it’s always ‘Power’ vs ‘Crows’ with yall. Anyway, apologising after the fact is kinda whatever, shoulda just not wrote the F word on it.