The A-League Men Melbourne derby has been abandoned for player safety reasons after fan protests turned into a pitch invasion in one of the ugliest scenes in the competition’s history.
Fans from the Melbourne Victory active area rushed the pitch soon after the 20-minute mark of Saturday night’s game at AAMI Park and Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover was left with a cut head and a suspected concussion after he was struck by a metal bucket.
Both sets of fans had been throwing flares onto the playing arena.
But the situation escalated when a flare appeared to hit a Network 10 cameraman, then exploded when Glover picked another one off the ground and threw it back into the stands.
Fans then rushed the pitch and Glover was struck by the metal bucket, which is used to dispose of flares, and immediately started bleeding from his temple, requiring medical assistance.
Players from both teams were quickly rushed down the tunnel and the game was paused before officials made the decision to abandon the fixture.
A devastated Network 10 commentator Andy Harper could hardly contain his emotion while waiting for a decision on the game to be made.
“There are a lot of football fans around Australia who feel like they’ve had their heart ripped out tonight by a group of anarchistic thugs who have proceeded to assault footballers and officials trying to celebrate the joy of football to the gathered group watching.
“It is just horrible. Disgusting. Uncalled for. That’s about all I’ve got.”
The incident was condemned throughout Australian football, with Matildas captain and Chelsea superstar Sam Kerr writing on Twitter it was a “very sad day for football in Aus”.
The incident was condemned throughout Australian football, with Matildas captain and Chelsea superstar Sam Kerr writing on Twitter it was a “very sad day for football in Aus”.
Socceroos star Craig Goodwin wrote on social media: “Extremely disappointing. Regardless of what has happened, this is not the way to respond and only gives the game a bad look”.
Socceroos and Central Coast goalkeeper Danny Vukovic said on Twitter: “Our game is in tatters. An absolute disgrace what happened tonight.
“Irreparable damage done. Darkest day for football in Australia.”
Former Adelaide United striker and current Network 10 pundit Bruce Djite told AAP it was hard to see how Australian football could recover and said FA needed to “throw the library at Melbourne Victory.”
Socceroos icon Mark Schwarzer said on social media: “Get these IDIOTS out of our game, they are not fans and they should never be allowed back ever again.
“What is wrong with people? It happens time & time again. We take a step forward & then 10 steps backwards, in this case 100 backwards… minority of idiots cause untold damage to our sport far to often.. name, shame, prosecute and ban for life those involved.”
Former A-Leagues player Michael Zullo described the scenes as a “catastrophe”.
“Ashamed, embarrassed, infuriated,” he wrote on Twitter.
“The damage done to our game tonight is inconceivable. All our hard work, ruined. We can only hope that those responsible are dealt with accordingly, and the individual that assaulted a professional athlete is thrown in jail. Disgraceful.”
Stefan Mauk, former A-Leagues midfielder, added on Twitter: “I cannot believe what I’ve just seen… every single fan that was involved should take a good hard look in the mirror and never walk into a football stadium again.”
A group of Victory fans hurled glass bottles and abuse at Matildas goalkeeper Teagan Micah when she was playing against them for City in January 2021.
Micah wasn’t surprised by the latest incident and said all she’d received was an “apology”.
“Melbourne Victory continues to ALLOW their fans to get away with this behaviour!” she said.
“It’s a disgrace!!”
There had been a tense atmosphere to start to the match with both sets of active fans planning to leave the game at the 20-minute mark as part of a protest towards the Australian Professional Leagues.
Fans across the competition were protesting the league’s decision to sell the next three grand finals to Sydney.
