Melbourne Victory says the club is committed to rebuilding its fan culture after heavy sanctions were handed down by Football Australia on Tuesday following last month’s derby pitch invasion.
The powerhouse club was fined $550,000 and handed a suspended 10-point deduction until the end of 2025, which will be triggered should the club be subject to “serious supporter misconduct” again in the next three-and-a-half seasons.
Victory’s managing director Caroline Carnegie said her club would not appeal the penalties, and would now switch its focus to repairing the damage caused in the chaotic derby with Melbourne City, a match that will resume in April from the 22nd minute, with the score 1-0 in City’s favour.
“You would have been around the club after the match or the following day and seen the devastation on everybody’s faces,” Carnegie told Nine’s Today show on Wednesday.
“It’s absolutely not what we wanted to see for our club or for the game, and that’s why we’ve been really clear from the outset it’s not acceptable at Melbourne Victory, it’s not acceptable in football, and that’s why we’ll be doing everything possible to make sure it never happens again.”
Carnegie said attending Victory games should not be dangerous, but conceded the behaviour at the derby, which spilt onto the field, could not be tolerated again.
Access to seating behind the goals at the northern end of AAMI Park has also been blocked for the rest of this season and the finals series, while Victory fans will not be given allocated seating at away matches during that time.
“We’ve accepted everything that’s been handed down to us, and we’re just looking forward to moving from here and rebuilding everything we can to still bring the colour and noise and everything that makes Melbourne Victory and football unique to our games, but to make sure we do it in a way that is safe,” Carnegie said.
“We don’t think generally our games are unsafe, but we’ve got to make sure what happened at the derby never happens again.
“We’ve got to work with all of our members and fans to make sure what’s on the line for us, from a points perspective and also the suspended financial penalty. Having that for this season and three past it is a significant penalty hanging over our heads and we’ve got to make sure we put everything in place to stop it.”
While Carnegie conceded the sanctions would certainly impact the club, she said there was no thought to appeal the severity of the penalties.
“Obviously coming out of COVID, and I know we’re all tired hearing of it, but after three years with difficult sporting circumstances, being hit with such a large fine is absolutely not what we wanted to see, but neither is the conduct that occurred at the derby,” she said.
“We’re happy to cop the sanctions that have been provided to us, and we’re looking forward to moving past it and working with all stakeholders to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and of course working with all our wonderful members and fans who have never put a foot wrong to make sure we’re better and stronger moving forward.”
