Former Socceroo Craig Foster has written to the Football Federation Australia chairman regarding the "disgraceful" treatment of the game towards one-punch victim Angus Chance.
Chance, a promising player from Dulwich Hill FC, was just 20 years old when he was viciously attacked by a teammate three years ago after confronting him over racist comments made towards three Japanese trial players.
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The assault left Chance hospitalised with severe facial injuries that required reconstruction. He has also been left with permanent nerve damage in his face.
Chance's teammate, Nathan Bowden-Haase, was charged with assault and grievous bodily harm for his attack and was sentenced to 20 months' home detention in late 2018.
Now 23, Chance recently revealed that Football NSW had fought him every step of the way in what has turned into an ugly legal battle after he was not covered for any medical bills, which have tallied over $90,000.
Foster wrote to FFA chairman Chris Nikou asking how the sport's governing body plans to assist the youngster, adding that he intends to take the matter to FIFA's Human Rights Advisory Board.
"The disgraceful treatment by the game itself has led to lasting psychological and financial harm to Angus and his family," Foster wrote in the letter addressed to Nikou.
"Despite the fact that Angus is an incredibly brave young man who should be rewarded for protecting the inclusive values of the game, he has been ostracised, his teammates distanced from him and his family bled of hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs.
"As the largest, and most diverse sport in Australia, football has a fundamental responsibility to respond in the strongest terms to racial discrimination, to audit its own systemic and institutional barriers and promote individual action to eradicate racism in all its forms.
"What value are #StopRacism campaigns, slogans and banners held up before games by players if, when a brave (young) player takes personal, peaceful action to promote racial equality on or off the field, it costs him his physical, psychological and financial wellbeing?
"If the game cannot support a young player who so bravely acts at great personal risk to protect others, in this case his Japanese colleagues, how can it possibly aim to contribute positively to a more just society.
"A good ally to people who experience racism is someone who actively recognises and addresses racial inequality around them – whether it's at school or in their workplace, in their community or online, or among family and friends.
"It is staggering that the game of football could possibly treat a (young) player in this manner. His conduct is a model for the expression of both policy and the purported values of the game.
"I anticipate writing to the FIFA Human Rights Advisory Board about his case in an attempt to find the justice that Angus deserves and has been denied."
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