Thomas Glover has for the first time addressed the ugly pitch invasion that left the Melbourne City goalkeeper with a concussion and cut to the face.
Speaking to Channel 9 on Monday in his first training session since the drama, Glover admitted what unfolded was “disappointing for Australian football”.
Police vow to prosecute pitch invaders | 01:27
Glover touched on the Socceroos’ success in the World Cup and how City — and the A-League in general — was hoping to capitalise on the excitement it generated.
“The Socceroos were unbelievable,” he added.
“[We were] hopefully riding the wave of that, but a small minority kind of ruins it.”
Two men who were part of that small minority have since come forward after police warned they would be “knocking on a few doors” to try find those responsible.
“Investigations remain ongoing,” Victoria Police said in a statement on Sunday evening.
Both Glover and referee Alex King were injured on Saturday night after being allegedly struck with a metal bucket of sand.
Glover though will also be investigated for his role in the incident.
“The moment that a flare entered the field is the moment … that triggers the whole events,” FA chief executive officer James Johnson said.
Fans involved in chaos to be weeded out | 03:28
“We will be looking at it fairly and objectively and we’ll be moving swiftly on it.
“I don’t want to comment on the outcome … we need to go through the process. We are looking at the facts. We’ll look at it objectively and we will make a decision that we believe is in the overall best interests of the game.”
The game against Melbourne Victory was abandoned in the wake of the incident, with Johnson warning those responsible would “face the harshest of punishments”.
“It was disgusting behaviour and disgraceful scenes,” he told News Corp Australia.
Melbourne Victory games could be played without fans behind closed doors as FA considers the appropriate punishment for the club, having issued it a show clause notice.
A loss of competition points or financial penalties are other potential punishments, with the status and results of Saturday’s game to be determined at a later date.
