Football Australia under pressure to issue lifetime bans for Sydney fans who made Nazi salute

Football Australia is trawling through video footage of the crowd at Saturday night’s Australia Cup final in Sydney after some fans “displayed the Hitler salute”.

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies has called for Sydney United 58 fans who displayed Nazi symbols and salutes at the match to be given lifetime bans.

A record 16,461-strong crowd gathered at Commbank Stadium to watch Macarthur FC beat Sydney United 58 2-0.

But the match was overshadowed when some Sydney United supporters booed the pre-match welcome to country and the national anthem, sang fascist songs, displayed symbols associated with the Ustaše and made Hitler salutes visible on camera.

The Ustaše was a fascist group that collaborated with the Nazis during the second world war and participated in war crimes, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide including the establishment of the Jasenovac concentration camp where Jews, Serbs, Roma, other minority groups and political opponents were murdered.

The state Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive, Darren Bark, condemned the display of Nazi symbols and salutes during the game “in the strongest possible terms”.

“These vile symbols and salutes have no place in modern Australian society,” Bark said on Sunday.

“They represent the ultimate manifestation of evil – an evil which led to the murder of millions of innocent civilians during WWII, including 6 million Jews and thousands of Australian diggers who lost their lives fighting against the Nazis.

“Reprehensible conduct such as this causes immense distress to the victims of Nazi crimes and their descendants, whilst undermining our cohesive multicultural society. The fact that the welcome to country and national anthem was also booed last night underlines