Slovakian international and Sydney FC import Robert Mak says playing without fans is the unfortunate but necessary reality facing Melbourne Victory, based on his own experience with crowd violence in Europe.
Football Australia (FA) is expected to provide an update on impending sanctions for the A-League frontrunners on Friday, having already flagged potential points deductions, heavy fines and fan lockouts after issuing another eight individual bans from last Saturday’s pitch invasion.
As first reported by the Herald and Age, Victory playing the rest of the A-League season behind closed doors has been given strong consideration by FA.
Mak is all-too familiar with playing in front of empty stands during a 12-year career throughout Europe that was punctuated by crowd violence when he played in Greece.
The 31-year-old was at the centre of a particularly ugly saga during 2016, when a controversial call against him triggered a pitch invasion by PAOK supporters that saw riot police called in to quell the violent scenes.
The club was issued multiple month-long fan lockouts during Mak’s stint there as punishment for violent pitch invasions that targeted players and rival supporters by hurling stadium seats and flares.
Speaking ahead of Sydney FC’s Christmas Eve derby against Macarthur, Mak said lockout punishments and lengthy individual bans were one of few measures that helped control violent crowd behaviour.
“When I was in Greece it happened almost every weekend,” Mak said. “It was normal there and we played without fans. That was the punishment if the fans could not control themselves. It was not every team, [just] the teams that could not control their fans, they played without their fans.
“Of course you play football for the fans. You play for the kids, families and the people who like you football. You don’t like to play with empty stands. We had this [during the pandemic] for two years. We know how empty it was and how bad it was.
“But if fans want to do these things, they will do it anyhow. They shouldn’t be allowed in football. It happens in so many countries, it’s happened here and hopefully it will not happen ever again. If you don’t speak about [serious punishments] then it will happen again next week. It will [keep] happening.”
Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover was concussed when fans stormed the pitch on Saturday night.Credit:Getty
Mak said it was only natural that “every player is scared afterwards to come on the pitch and play in front of these fans” when confronted by scenes from Victory’s abandoned clash with Melbourne City, whose goalkeeper Tom Glover was assaulted along with referee Alex King and two security guards.
A crowd of around 10,000 is expected at Allianz Stadium for Saturday’s Sydney FC-Macarthur fixture.
NSW Police have met with officials from both clubs this week while FC and leaders of active support group The Cove have also held discussions on crowd behaviour.
The famed fan-base boycotted last week’s Central Coast trip in protest at the A-League’s decision to sell off grand final hosting rights, but will be back in full voice on Saturday.
Sydney FC coach Steve Corica spoke of his club’s zero tolerance for flare use by fans, and urged supporters to move on from the grand final saga that has dominated the game since Australia’s impressive World Cup campaign.
“We’re lucky because we’re in Sydney, but we can definitely understand (the frustration),” Corica said.
“We want to grow the game and we need money to do that. The decision has been made and we need to move forward. We don’t want what happened last week in Melbourne to happen ever again in Australia.
“We’ve had no trouble at Sydney FC (in the past and) we spend a lot of time with our fans to make sure that they’re well-behaved and we have good communication with them and NSW Police.”
