Published: 09:03, 24 October 2025 | Updated: 09:03, 24 October 2025

Passersby walking through a drizzly Kingston, south-west London, on a gloomy January morning would have been surprised to see a horde of broadcasters, suited, booted, and positively gleaming as they preened themselves on the grey pavement outside the local Crown Court.

If you overheard their chatter, it wouldn’t take more than a second to catch that distinctive Australian twang. A couple stopped to ask what the commotion was about and were left visibly confused by the reply: ‘It’s about the captain of the women’s football team. Her name’s Sam Kerr.’

They walked on, wondering who on earth she was and how they had all ended up here, on the other side of the world. Then a black van with blacked-out windows pulled up around the corner, sending the television crews rushing once they realised they had been duped.

‘Sam, Sam. What do you think of racism, Sam?’ one of them shouted, thrusting a microphone towards Kerr’s face as the footballer hurried past the throng, shielded by her burly bodyguard.

It’s been less than...