One person was flown to a Melbourne hospital and two others were hospitalised locally after a "disgraceful" brawl at a soccer match in north-west Victoria on Sunday.
Mildura police said a referee was knocked unconscious during the contest between the Irymple Knights and the Three Colours Soccer Club.
Superintendent John O'Connor said the incident sparked a pitch invasion, where another referee was allegedly knocked to the ground and kicked in the head.
"It's really disgraceful behaviour," he said.
Superintendent O'Connor said a 30-year-old man from Colignan was charged with recklessly causing serious injury.
He said investigations were ongoing, and there would likely be "numerous other people" charged with affray.
"We had three people hospitalised and my understanding is one of them has been airlifted to hospital with a suspected broken jaw."
Superintendent O'Connor said detectives were working "flat out" to identify people involved to "bring them before the courts".
Incident 'out of the blue'
Representatives from the two competing teams both declined to comment.
However, Mildura City Soccer Club president Vince Pollifrone said the incident was "very upsetting".
"Our main concern is for the players injured and the referees," he said.
"That's the last thing you want to see."
Mr Pollifrone said the incident was completely "out of the blue".
The Sunraysia Football Federation was contacted for comment.
In a statement posted to Facebook, the federation asked anyone with footage from the incident to contact local police but to refrain from posting footage online, which they said could be detrimental to the police investigation.
