- Spurs players are in Melbourne for the friendly against Newcastle
- A simple gesture during training could be controversial
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Tottenham Hotspur stars broke one of the most important unwritten rules in Australian sport on Tuesday night in Melbourne simply by touching an AFL football.
Thousands of fans ventured to AAMI Park for the team’s open training session, excited to see coach Ange Postecoglou and superstars like Son Heung-min.
Spurs are in town for World Football Week, where they will take on Newcastle in a friendly that Alan Shearer has described as pure “madness”, and the fixture will also face criticism from England manager Gareth Southgate.
In the past, visiting overseas clubs have often posed for photographs with the iconic Sherrin footballs, but Football Australia has clamped down on the practice because it promotes another code.
A Sherrin football was thrown onto the field at Spurs players on Tuesday night.
That didn’t stop a football fan from throwing a bright red Sherrin onto the field after Spurs star Brennan Johnson motioned for him to throw the ball to him as the team walked through the park.
‘Ange! Ange, this is for you!’ the fan shouted as he threw him over the fence.
Seconds later, the Spurs player kindly tossed him back into the crowd.
In 2022, Manchester United star Marcus Rashford posed for a photo with Sherrin that was posted on the AFL’s social media accounts.
Furious Australian rules football pundit and TV commentator Lucy Zelic criticized Football Australia for failing to prevent the “f***ing embarrassing” image.
‘Can anyone tell me what the point of this is?’ Zelic angered X.
‘Will Marcus suddenly switch codes and sign for an AFL team? Go and pet a koala, meet proud members of our indigenous communities and spend time with grassroots FOOTBALL clubs.
The unofficial ‘No Sherrin’ rule is in place to prevent visitors from starting to promote a rival code (pictured, Ange Postecoglou with Son Heung-min in Melbourne)
Australian television star Lucy Zelic attacked the AFL’s image on her social media of Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford posing with a Sherrin footballer in 2022.
Manchester United star Rashford (pictured middle) also posed with members of several Melbourne sports clubs while in Australia.
“This is fucking embarrassing.”
“This is a blatant PR exercise that Marcus was ordered to do, nothing more. Cross-code promotions are a waste of time. They should be attractive to FOOTBALL fans,” he added.
‘As a code, the AFL and its representatives have done nothing but s**t to football time and time again.
‘Who could forget it in 09?’ when we bid for the World Cup (WC) and (former AFL CEO Andrew) Demetriou refused to give up Etihad for an INTERNATIONAL tournament. “Agreeing to be part of this stupidity is simply an insult.”
Spurs goalkeeper Gugliermo Vicario was also seen trying out football while visiting the Collingwood training centre, showing off his skills with the sherrin.