Jocularity aside, there's always two sides to any story and Merrick's take on Milicevic's outburst remains untold as I write this opinion piece. Until the newly appointed Jets coach sheds light on the subject, soccer fans will wait with bated breath.
However, that doesn't mean bullying doesn't exist in sport. Let's face it - it starts from the time you toddle alongside your siblings and carries on when you enter the sandpit in kindergartens, attend schools and university, join the workforce and end up in a retirement village.
Sport perhaps offers the best snapshot of one of the most despicable and cowardly forms of human behaviour.
From social to competitive to elite arenas, picking on others because they don't fit the prescribed parameters of engagement on the park or court is often a given.
Some of the most elite sport stars have reportedly acknowledged they were incessantly picked on as youngsters and even through to adulthood.
Multi-gold medal-winning Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, of the United States, reflects on peers making fun of him on account of his long limbs and big ears.
The most influential professional golfer of this era, Tiger Woods, became a target for his slurred speech and copped his fair share of racial slurs.
Tormentors even got to Ronda Rousey, a former American Olympian and cage-fighting champion, who became a target in the schoolyard for her weight before reaching stardom.
Hastings-born former All Black hooker Norm Hewitt's case is well known after it was turned into a documentary last year titled Making Good Men with Hollywood actor Manu Bennett.
Hewitt was a victim of bullying at home and ended up oppressing others, including Bennett.
The sad reality is it takes celebrities, amid exclamations of disbelief, to bring the subject to light. But there are many cases where people simply give in to coercion and their cases go unheard.
Bullying takes place in many forms and shapes on a daily basis.
It's not unusual for those who prey on others to form a gang mentality in driving out anyone who doesn't conform.
The predators know only too well that a good number will take a vow of silence or turn a blind eye for fear of becoming victims themselves.
Studies show males tend to lean towards physical intimidation while females traditionally opt for verbal insults through myriad medium, including social media.
But that's too simplistic an overview. Both genders can resort to aggressiveness by forming cliques, which includes refusing to talk to someone, excluding people from group activities and spreading malicious rumours about others.
Thanks to cyberbullying, the home is no longer a sanctuary from name calling, taunts and insults.
Regrettably team sport tends to be the worst environment to cultivate such prejudices.
The bottom line is not everyone is blessed with the same level of skills or knowledge.
When the person in charge mentions a flaw at halftime or after the final whistle in the changing rooms, a few will exchange glances in acknowledgement of the underachievers.
Silence in the locker rooms also makes witnesses culpable.
When coaching my children's cricket and soccer teams several years ago, I always emphasised the importance of how a team are as strong as their weakest links.
I also know of some parents who took their children out of teams and ushered them into individual codes, such as golf, rifle shooting, tennis or cue sports, to free them from the shackles of peer pressure.
It's bad enough going to face a cricket ball or tackler with butterflies in one's stomach, so why add the stress of trying to prove to one's own tribe one's sense of worthiness?
The scary thing is most bullies have been subjected to emotional and physical trauma in their own childhood, quite often from those close to them.
When appointing coaches and captains, teams can easily overlook the fine line between leaders instilling structure and discipline or mutating to an unruly Lord of the Flies culture.
Telling youngsters to "toughen up" or minimising their feelings isn't the answer to weeding out bullies who can disrupt the lives of entire families.
At the elite level, players have to take into account the impact retaliation on such cowards will have on their livelihood and the quality of life of their families.
For that reason, we can all learn from the Central U18 women's hockey team, whose values entail doing the little things that foster a sense of unity. That rules out the formation of cliques or any favourites.
It goes a long way in explaining why the young women are the best in the country in their age group and also the future of not just sport but in engaging in the all-important game of life.
