Football Australia hand out final punishment to Melbourne Victory for violent pitch invasion
Football Australia has handed down its final sanctions on Melbourne Victory following the disgusting scenes at the Melbourne Derby in December.
More than 150 Victory fans stormed the field at AAMI Park as their side took on Melbourne City.
City goalkeeper Tom Glover was on the end of an alleged assault by a man wielding a metal bucket
Glover was left with a concussion and needed stitches as a result of the blow.
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Football Australia had already given out two life bans, with 15 others receiving bans ranging from life to 10 years.
Now, Football Australia Chief Executive James Johnson has announced the final punishment for the club in the wake of the incident.
The club will face financial sanctions totalling up to $550,000, including $450,00 in fines and damages and $100,000 in lost revenue due to the sporting sanctions imposed.
Additionally, the club will be required to block access to select seating behind the goals and areas of the North End of AAMI Park to registered club members for the remainder of the 2022/23 season.
The club will also not be allowed to allocate club supporter seating at away games for the remainder of the season.
Victory also faces a suspended 10-point deduction in the league which will be triggered for each instance of ‘serious supporter misconduct’ during the current season and the next three seasons.
Johnson slammed the scenes calling them ‘the worst witnessed in Australian football during the A-League era’.
He said: "We cannot let this happen again in our game. So we believe that a strong sanction, both financial and also sporting, is warranted and justified in these circumstances.
"These sanctions are reflective of our desire to remove this behaviour from the sport, and in particular those that act in such a way, and we want them out of our sport."
He also explained that the suspended point deduction will put the onus on the fans to not let anything like this happen again.
He said: “If a spectator runs onto the pitch, there is an assault, there will be an automatic ten point deduction, and if that were to occur, that would destroy Melbourne Victory's city.
"So the logic is to put the responsibility on the spectators to help us in to help the club are self regulate, because should any of their colleagues do that, there are catastrophic damages for Melbourne Victory."
In perhaps an extraordinary move, the game will be replayed in April starting from the 22nd minute when the incident occurred.
The scoreline will start 1-nil to Melbourne City.
Football Australia will also set up a task force that will look at curbing such behaviour, including flare use, and review of active supporter tickets.
Jayden Collins