A-League Melbourne derby abandoned as fan protest leads to on field violence

Yesterday evening's A-League Melbourne derby at AAMI Park was abandoned after fans invaded the pitch in an incident that also saw an attack on City goalkeeper Tom Glover.

With fans across all of yesterday's A-League fixtures staging protests against the Australian Professional Leagues (APL)’ decision to stage the next three grand finals in Sydney, Melbourne City and Victory fans at AAMI Park escalated their disruption by throwing flares onto the pitch.

With top of the table City leading the game, trouble erupted in the 22nd minute of the match when one flare appeared to hit a Network 10 cameraman, then took a turn for the worse when Glover picked another off the ground and threw it back into the stand housing Victory’s active support.

With seemingly inadequate security in place, around 200 Victory fans flooded on to the field of play, before a metal bucket used to dispose of flares was thrown in the direction of Glover, striking him in the face and drawing blood. Match referee Alex King, who was also injured and left covered in sand from the bucket, then pulled players off the pitch and suspend play, before it was later called off.

Football Australia denounced the events and promised action would be taken against those responsible, releasing a statement advising "following shocking scenes during the first half of the A-League men’s match between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City ... where fans from the Melbourne Victory FC end entered the field of play, Football Australia match officials have abandoned the match ... in order to protect the integrity of the match.

“Such behaviour has no place in Australian football, with a full Football Australia investigation to commence immediately, where strong sanctions to be handed down.”

Guardian Australia reported that there had been a tense atmosphere from the start of the game, with both sets of active fans planning to depart the game at the 20-minute mark as part of their protests. Both sets of fans started “fuck the APL” chants immediately after the preceding A-League Women’s game finished. Victory and City fans each unfurled banners pre-game and as the half unfolded, referencing their displeasure with the APL.

Victory issued a statement late on Saturday night, saying the club was “devastated” and to formally apologise to Glover, King and the camera operator.

This statement advised "the club unequivocally condemns the actions of fans at Saturday night’s match against Melbourne City at AAMI Park,.

“The actions that occurred, that saw spectators enter the pitch and injure a Melbourne City FC player, an official and a Network 10 cameraman, are not acceptable under any circumstance and have no place in football.

“This conduct will not be tolerated and the club, along with AAMI Park and Victoria Police, will undertake a full investigation into the incident. Melbourne Victory would like to reiterate there is no place in football for what was witnessed tonight.”

The players’ union, Professional Footballers Australia, welcomed the decision to abandon the game in Melbourne and called for the “strongest possible sanctions” to be applied to those involved in the violence.

It commented “the PFA has met with the players involved in tonight’s match and will continue to ensure they are provided with the full support and resources of the PFA.

“We acknowledge the courage of players, club staff and referees who came to the aid of each other in circumstances that no one should ever be exposed to.”

As of this afternoon, Victoria Police are reviewing footage of the pitch invasion with three alleged assaults are under investigation - to Glover, the referee and the Network 10 cameraman.

Victoria Police Inspector Jason Goddard confirmed that all possible charges would be pursued against any person who invaded the pitch, advising "if we can identify them, you can ... rest assured we will investigate that and we will prosecute where we can."

When asked about Glover throwing a flare back into the crowd immediately before the invasion, the Inspector Goddard advised “I’m not upset by anything at this stage when it comes to that” but added that all parts of the incident would be investigated.

Image: Melbourne Victory fans invading the pitch at AAMI Park yesterday. Credit: Twitter/Andrew Weiss.