South Australia’s largest independent sporting magazine, The SA Footballer, has come under fire from the Indigenous football community after a “contentious” post on social media about January 26.
The post wished followers a "Happy Australia Day" and celebrated the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson as "the day our magnificent country was founded".
The South Australian Footballer Magazine has been operating for 28-years. It's the main go to for content about grass roots football across the state.
Many in the Indigenous football community, follow the magazine and their social media accounts for match results, player signings, league announcements and live game broadcasts.
Following the outlet's post on January 26, hundreds took to Facebook to express their views, with some calling it "disgusting" and "culturally insensitive", while others disagreed and told members of the Indigenous community that it was "time for Aboriginals to forgive and move on."
The SA Footballer's post on January 26, 2021. Source: Facebook.
President of the Kilburn Football and Cricket Club, Dale Agius said the magazine should refrain from posting it's political views on Facebook.
“We have people who are offended by this day, we have people who don't understand the full process of this day," he told NITV News.
“The SA Footballer went ahead on the platform it uses to promote a certain agenda, whether they like to admit that or not, that's what happened, and the way that it was received by the community is that it was pushing a certain agenda over another in a non-inclusive format."
In response to the many comments on the controversial post, the SA Footballer author told its followers to "take" their "political views to a politician." 
When contacted by NITV News on Wednesday, the magazine's Managing Director Luke Hosie said he did not think for one moment that the post would cause such offence.
The SA Footballer's comment about political views and sport, next to a comment from one of it's followers. Source: Facebook.
The January 26 post was remarkably similar to one from Mr Hosie last year, that also celebrated the arrival of the first fleet and took aim at “left-winged minorities” who were "trying to rewrite history."
Mr Hosie claimed his Facebook page was hacked last year.
The magazine has now deleted the January 26 post and released a statement.
"We did not think for one moment that this post would cause offence, and was done with only good intent and without any malice," it read.
"After receiving feedback that the post was deemed culturally sensitive to Aboriginal people, our team removed the post.
"We apologise for any offence caused, and will ensure that we’re more culturally sensitive moving forward."
