December 21 – Football Australia has issued the first two of a number of lifetime bans it expects to hand out as part of its ongoing investigation into the pitch invasion that left a player and a referee injured during last weekend’s abandoned Melbourne derby.
The incident occurred just days after the A-League announced a deal to sell its men’s and women’s title-deciding Grand Finals to Sydney until 2025, a decision that triggered a major fan backlash.
Two Melbourne Victory fans involved in the pitch invasion have now been banned.
“The actions of these two, and others who are of interest to us, are completely unacceptable and those people and their behaviours will never be welcome in our game,” Football Australia’s chief executive, James Johnson, said in a statement.
“Football has a zero-tolerance policy to disruptive, destructive, violent and anti-social behaviour at its sanctioned events, and it will not tolerate behaviour that has the potential to threaten the safety or security of spectators, players and officials.
“These significant bans against these individuals are consistent with this position. Football Australia is working around the clock on this investigation to ensure that the scenes witnessed at AAMI Park in Melbourne are never repeated again.”
Police have now charged 13 people with offences in relation to the incident including violent disorder, criminal damage, public nuisance and riotous behaviour. All of those who have been charged have been bailed to appear in court on February 27.
About 150 fans in total ran on to the field during the match on Saturday night and more than 80 flares were set off inside the stadium. Bottles and poles were thrown at police officers and around $150,000 worth of damage was done to the venue.
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