Football Australia has taken the first substantive steps in tackling the scenes of violence that forced the abandonment of Saturday’s Melbourne derby, issuing Melbourne Victory with a “show cause” notice in the wake of the club’s fans assaulting a player, referee and camera operator.
The notice gives Victory 48 hours to show any mitigating factors over what seems likely to be a hard-hitting range of punishments for the pitch invasion which FA CEO James Johnson described as “horrific” and which sparked global headlines.
Saturday night’s match was abandoned after fans from the Victory active area stormed the field at AAMI Park, with Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover and referee Alex King injured when hit by a metal bucket wielded by a pitch invader.
FA’s investigation, as the competition regulator, is running in parallel with that of Victoria Police into potential criminal charges, with images issued on Sunday night of a series of individuals police want to speak to.
FA officials reviewed footage from the match and received detailed incident and match reports from the Match Commissioner, King and his fellow match officials, AAMI Park management, and the Australian Professional Leagues.
Having pledged to move swiftly in handing down sanctions, FA has a range of punishments at its disposal once Victory’s response has been received, including fines, the loss of points and having to play games behind closed doors. FA must also decide whether the game will be replayed.
“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,” said Johnson in a statement on Monday morning.
“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.
“Our football stadiums must be safe places for our community to enjoy the game they love and our players and match officials to ply their trade. Football Australia had a responsibility to intervene as soon as the match was called off to ensure this matter was addressed with the full regulatory and disciplinary powers at our disposal.
“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.
“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.”
Victory managing director Caroline Carnegie said the club was devastated by the behaviour of a section of the crowd.
“I’m disgraced and appalled at what happened last night,” Carnegie told reporters.
“We’ve tried to work with our fans in a number of different ways to make sure that they can be here to support the club and do it in the right way.
“I think last night shows us that we’ve come to a point in time where what we’ve been doing probably hasn’t been as successful as we’d like and we just can’t condone what went on.
“There’s only so many ways I can say it but the behaviour was appalling and we’ll stand up and be part of that investigation and see what happens as a result.”
“Financially it’s devastating for us if we don’t get our fans into a stadium or we don’t have our fans doing what they do best,” Carnegie said.
“But the people we don’t want around aren’t true Melbourne Victory fans because if they were, they wouldn’t have hurt the club the way they did last night.
“They wouldn’t have hurt the league and the sport.”
Two games at AAMI Park on Sunday went ahead without incident, as Western United hosted Western Sydney and Victory’s A-League Women team played Newcastle.
On Saturday night, both sets of fans had planned to walk out at the 20-minute mark as part of a protest towards the APL’s decision to sell the next three grand finals to Sydney. Fans of both clubs had been throwing flares.
But the situation escalated when a flare hit and injured a television cameraman, before Glover picked up another flare off the ground and threw it back.
Fans then rushed the pitch including the intruder carrying the metal bucket, which hit Glover, who was concussed and required stitches, and King, who also had a head gash.
The game was suspended for about 45 minutes then abandoned.
The APL released a statement saying the events “demonstrated that a small minority of people with criminal intent hide within our game”.
“This is a watershed moment for our game that demands a zero tolerance for the incidents that we witnessed last night and the kind of people that perpetrated them,” the statement said.
“Our clubs will work deliberately and exhaustively, hand-in hand with law enforcement agencies, and with Football Australia – as the game’s regulator – to ensure that our game can never again be used as camouflage for criminals.”
Glover will also be under the microscope for his role in the incident.
City said the goalkeeper was taken to hospital on Saturday night with “severe lacerations” to the face and suffered concussion.
