Melbourne Victory have been given until Wednesday morning to show why they should not face serious sanctions after some of their supporters invaded the AAMI Park pitch on Saturday night, leaving three injured and forcing the Melbourne derby to be abandoned.
Football Australia issued the club with a show cause notice after reviewing all available footage and imagery from the match. It also received detailed incident and match reports on Saturday night.
Melbourne Victory fans invade the pitch during the A-League Men’s soccer match between Melbourne City and the Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Credit:AAP
Sources with knowledge of the matter told the Herald and The Age that forcing Victory to play games behind closed doors is being strongly considered, potentially for the remaining 18 rounds of the competition.
The sanctions could also include financial penalties, loss of competition points or playing on neutral territory.
Football Australia CEO James Johnson said he was extremely disappointed in the misconduct of some people on Saturday night.
“What we all witnessed on Saturday night can only be described as horrific and conduct that is not consistent with the values of Australian football nor the expectations of our community,” he said
“I have personally contacted Melbourne City goalkeeper Thomas Glover and match official Alex King over the weekend. Understandably they are both shaken and are recovering from the injuries they received, and Football Australia has offered them both support.”
Glover was concussed and required stitches to a cut on his head sustained during the Melbourne derby when fans invaded the pitch. King also suffered a cut to his head after a fan appeared to throw a bucket filled with sand at Glover, which also hit King.
A planned fan walkout at the 20-minute mark, to protest plans to hold the men’s and women’s A-League grand finals in Sydney until the end of 2025, escalated when a flare hit and injured a Channel 10 cameraman.
Fans rushed the pitch and attacked Glover and King after the former picked up another flare from the turf and threw it back towards the stands.
“The offenders who entered the field of play on Saturday night, causing havoc and assaulting a player, official, and cameraman have no place in our game. They are not welcome, and we will do everything we can to identify them and impose the sanctions they deserve,” Johnson said.
“As we made clear on Saturday evening following the abandonment of the match, we will move quickly to properly investigate this matter and where appropriate, issue the strongest possible sanctions to the club and individuals involved. The show cause notice following our initial investigations is the next step in the process and will allow us to gather more crucial information before making our determination.”
Police believe 150 people stormed the pitch, and on Sunday evening released a series of images of people they believe can assist with the incident. A taskforce was set up to investigate the matter. As it stands, no arrests have been made.
Australian Professional Leagues chief Danny Townsend said he was confident police would ensure nothing like this would happen again.
“[The A-League has] got a job to do amongst our fans to ensure that we self-regulate any people out of the game that don’t have the interest of the game at heart,” he said on ABC radio.
“We’re really confident that a club like Melbourne Victory has a huge supporter base. And they are passionate. They love their game, they love the team that plays for them, they love the players that represent them, and they love football.”
Speaking to media on Sunday morning, Victory’s managing director Caroline Carnegie said lifetime bans may not be a strong enough punishment for the pitch invaders.
“It’s very difficult for us to suggest there isn’t a greater risk when you see what happened last night,” she said.
Original Style Melbourne – Victory’s main active support group – apologised in a statement, saying it condemned the actions of a “minority of active fans”.
More than 130 police officers were at AAMI Park on Saturday night for an attendance of 18,036 people. Acting superintendent Jason Goddard said there were more police at the derby than there would be for a capacity crowd of 100,000 people at the MCG.
Security and police presence at Saturday’s match was significantly increased once the event was deemed “high risk” when the fan walkout was flagged, with the Melbourne and Olympic Park Trusts deploying 156 security staff for the match. Only 82 security staff were used during the last Melbourne derby in April.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews described the event as shameful on Monday morning.
“I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Having said that though, I know governing bodies, venue operators, as well as Victoria Police; they’re hard at work finding those people,” he said.
“They will feel the full force of the law, as they should. Violence is never acceptable.”
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