Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover was left bloodied after being hit with a metal bucket in awful scenes
(Picture: Getty Images)Australia’s Melbourne football derby was abandoned amid horrific scenes on Saturday as a fan protest turned violent, leading to Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover being injured.
Spectators stormed onto the playing surface amid absolute chaos during the A-League contest between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park, with video footage showing former Tottenham ‘keeper Glover being struck by a metal bucket hurled dangerously by a pitch-invading supporter.
Glover was left with a cut and bloodied face, with his club tweeting that the player had likely sustained a concussion and was receiving further treatment to the wound in the dressing room.
Glover had stitches and was later taken to hospital for scans and follow-up checks.
Australian football hits rock bottom. Every fan needs to be named, shamed & banned for life. Disgraceful scenes.pic.twitter.com/TiZWlHhxjK
— Adriano Del Monte (@adriandelmonte) December 17, 2022
The bucket - used for disposing of flares - also appeared to strike referee Alex King, who was left covered in ash as he immediately suspended the game. The decision was then quickly taken to abandon it completely in the interests of player safety with police and security services required to restore order after a disgraceful episode in troubled times for Australian football.
Further video footage then emerged that seemed to show Glover throwing a flare that had been lobbed in his direction by fans behind the goal back into the Victory section of the crowd, from where the pitch invasion then came.
Flares had been thrown onto the pitch by both sets of fans throughout the evening, with one hitting a television cameraman.
Football Australia have now pledged to conduct a full investigation with strong punishments promised for those involved in Saturday’s disturbing scenes.
“Such behaviour has no place in Australian Football, with a full Football Australia investigation to commence immediately, where strong sanctions will be handed down,” they said in a statement.
In their own statement, Melbourne Victory said they were “devastated” by the scenes that had no place in football as they also pledged a full investigation and apologised to those affected including Glover.
“Tonight, Melbourne Victory Football Club is devastated. The Club unequivocally condemns the actions of fans at Saturday night’s match against Melbourne City at AAMI Park,” the club said.
“The actions that occurred, that saw spectators enter the pitch and injure a Melbourne City FC player, an official and a Network Ten cameraman, are not acceptable under any circumstance and have no place in football. The security and welfare of everyone involved in a football match is paramount and the Club will not accept this behaviour.
“The Club would like to formally apologise to Tom Glover, match official, Alex King and the camera operator as well as all players, officials and those who witnessed the appalling behaviour.
“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.”
A-League leaders Melbourne City had been leading a highly-charged derby 1-0 at the time of the incident after Aiden O'Neill’s terrific early strike.
Tensions had been running high all week ahead of the game, with fans from both sides having planned to walk out in the 20th minute to protest against the management of the A-League by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), particularly the recent controversial decision to sell both the men’s and women’s grand finals to Sydney in a deal worth a reported $12million.
The finals are normally played at the highest-placed teams’ home grounds.
Fans chanted “F**k the APL” throughout the game on Saturday night and directed their mounting anger at APL chief executive Danny Townsend, with protest banners visible in several areas of the ground that carried messages such as “When money talks, fans will walk”, “APL knows the demands, football for the fans” and “APL out”.
After the match was abandoned, the APL said: “The Australian Professional League (APL) is coordinating with Football Australia (FA) regarding the ramifications of these events.”
