Owen Leonard: Melbourne Victory fans biggest sooks in sport
Melbourne Victory “fans” might just be the biggest sooks in sport after video footage emerged following a fiery altercation with police.
Opinion
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Seriously, Melbourne Victory “fans” might just be the biggest sooks in sport.
After Saturday night’s derby, footage emerged of a man being kicked out of AAMI Park following a fiery altercation with police at the Melbourne City supporters’ end.
Over the next 24 hours, sport’s great victims – supposed Victory fans – popped up from their nameless Twitter accounts and found a way to make it all about them.
They claimed that the surfacing of this video must somehow have been another conspiracy to bring them down.
Some professed that a tweet from this reporter sharing the footage intentionally failed to mention that the incident was at the City end – despite City polo shirts clearly visible to any viewer.
Others claimed that if similar footage were to emerge during an AFL match, the media would have stayed silent.
Nevermind vision showed a man appearing to resist ejection while police had drinks hurled at them, before another man comically jumped down from the stands towards them, landed on his back and could’ve seriously injured himself.
Nothing to see here, apparently. Instead, this was all part of the unfair, concerted effort to defame the Victory outlaws.
The irony is these same so-called supporters just beg for notoriety.
Take these excerpts from social media statements by active supporter group Original Style Melbourne – whose members stormed the pitch in December – in the lead-up to the derby.
“Time to stand the f--k up Melbourne!
“Deliver the atmosphere that we are famous for, and do not play into the hands of those who want us destroyed.
“Don’t give the anti-supporter mafia the excuse they are looking for, to attempt to destroy us again.”
But as soon as authorities and media afford these fans the attention they desperately crave, they scamper back into victim mode.
The media, police, stadium security, the A-leagues and Football Australia alike are all conspiring against them.
The club itself has said it has no real affiliation with the oh-so-tough-and-scary group.
Soccer fans outside AAMI Park last weekend told the Herald Sun they weren’t real fans and came along purely to cause trouble.
There is a sense that these young men find belonging through Victory and use the club to drum up the sort of “mafia” war fantasy they ridiculously believe they are now embroiled in.
Frankly, it’s a sporting travesty that a club with the potential to be enshrined in Victorian culture with the same might as some AFL teams, and once was, now rarely makes the headlines for its on-field feats.
But wait, that must be the biased media’s fault. And the A-Leagues’. And Victoria Police. And Melbourne Park security. Those dogs are all out to get us!
Back over to you then, Victory “fans”. The floor is yours. Send your anonymous abuse to reporters. Whinge about police presence. Complain about security.
Justify your riotous behaviour as retaliation for the A-leagues’ decision to sell off grand final rights.
As they saying goes, if you’re smelling crap everywhere, it might be time to check your own shoes.
Originally published as Owen Leonard: Melbourne Victory fans biggest sooks in sport
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