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How this innocent act by a Tottenham star broke one of Aussie sport’s most controversial unwritten rules

Tottenham Hotspur stars have breached one of Aussie sport’s biggest unwritten rules on Tuesday night in Melbourne simply by handling an AFL football.

Thousands of fans ventured down to AAMI Park for the side’s open training session, excited to see manager Ange Postecoglou and superstars like Son Heung-min.

Spurs are in town for Global Football Week, where they will take on Newcastle in a friendly which has been described as pure ‘madness’ by Alan Shearer, with the fixture also facing criticism from England boss Gareth Southgate.

 

In the past, visiting foreign clubs often posed for photos with iconic Sherrin footballs – but Football Australia clamped down on the practice because it promotes another code.

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That didn’t stop a footy fan throwing a shiny red Sherrin onto the pitch after Spurs star Brennan Johnson beckoned for him to throw the ball to him as the team walked around the park.

‘Ange! Ange, this is for you!’ screamed the fan as he lobbed it over the fence.

Seconds later the Spurs player kindly tossed it back back into the crowd.

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In 2022, Manchester United star Marcus Rashford posed for a photo with a Sherrin that was posted on the AFL’s social media accounts.

Furious Australian football expert and TV commentator Lucy Zelic called out Football Australia for not preventing the ‘f***ing embarrassing’ image.

‘Can someone tell me what the point of this is?’ Zelic fumed on X.

‘Is Marcus suddenly going to switch codes and sign for an AFL side? Go and pat a koala, meet with proud members of our Indigenous communities and spend time with grassroots FOOTBALL clubs.

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This is just f**king embarrassing.’

‘This is a blatant PR exercise that Marcus was told to do, nothing more. Cross-code promotions are a waste of time. They should be appealing to FOOTBALL fans,’ she added.

‘As a code, the AFL and its representatives have done nothing but s**t on football time and time again.

‘Who could forget in 09′ when we bid for the WC (World Cup) and (former AFL CEO Andrew) Demetriou refused to give up Etihad for an INTERNATIONAL tournament. Agreeing to be part of this stupidity is just insulting.’

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