Fans invade the pitch resulting in a cancelled A-League Men's match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park yesterday in Melbourne, Australia. Photo / Getty Images
Fans invade the pitch resulting in a cancelled A-League Men's match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park yesterday in Melbourne, Australia. Photo / Getty Images
Football Australia boss James Johnson insists the sport is “safe” and its reputation can recover from the severe damage caused by Melbourne Victory fans who invaded the pitch and assaulted a player and a referee at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Johnson said he was “horrified”, “irritated” and “angry” with crowd violence at the Melbourne derby that resulted in Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover requiring stitches to a cut on his face after being attacked with a bin, match official Alex King being also being struck, and a cameraman being hit.
Once identified, the chief culprits are facing life bans, while serial offenders Melbourne Victory will be issued with a show cause notice.
Johnson also did not rule out Melbourne City having to show cause for any possible involvement their fans had in the riots.
A bleeding Tom Glover of Melbourne City is escorted from the pitch by teammates after fans stormed the pitch during the round-eight A-League Men's match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park. Photo / Getty Images
With FA no longer having “commercial interests” in an A-League competition now run by the Australian Professional Leagues, Johnson said it was a “good thing” FA could handle the matter as the competition’s regulator.
“We will be moving swiftly and we will be taking the strongest sanctions that are available,” FA chief executive officer Johnson said on Sunday.
“This is an element that goes beyond football, it’s an element that infiltrates our game, and that really tried to ruin it for the two million people who love our sport.
“It’s those people that we will be targeting in this investigation and who we will weed out of the sport.”
Johnson said the Victory’s previous offences, including punishment for the homophobic abuse of Adelaide United player Josh Cavallo, would be “aggravating factors” when determining the sanctions the club would face.
He also praised fans from other clubs for their “peaceful protests” at the APL board’s decision to sell the A-League grand final to Sydney for the next three years as opposed to the violent and unruly nature of Victory supporters’ objections to the sale.
“Football is very safe. Two million people play it week in, week out. We saw in all the other A-League games that were played over the weekend, peaceful protests, and that’s OK – fans have are OK to express their views in a peaceful way.” Johnson said.
Fans storm the pitch in protest during the round-eight A-League Men's match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park. Photo / Getty Images
“The way that some individuals conducted themselves at the Melbourne Victory game is not acceptable, and I think that is specific to that match.
“I don’t think that it is a reflection on the broader game. We’re the biggest sport country in terms of participants. This does not happen in local football. It doesn’t happen at national team level. It doesn’t happen at the NPL level, and it hasn’t happened in the other A-League games.
“I don’t think though that a group of individuals that participated in unacceptable behaviour in one match is a reflection of how the broader sport is.
“The small group of people, the 100-150 odd people that invaded the pitch (on Saturday night). they need to be the target, not the broader sport.
“We will be targeting those individuals and ensuring that they no longer participate in our sport.”
Johnson would not comment on whether Glover would face sanctions for throwing a flare back into the grandstand after it had been tossed at him.
“With Tommy, my focus right now is actually on his health because the kid has a gash down the side of his face with many stitches,” he said.
“I’m not thinking about action against Tommy at the moment. I’m in touch with him, and as we go through the process, we will look at every individual that was involved in it, and we will apply it objectively and fairly against the rules.”
