Police identify four more A-League hoolidgans linked to pitch invasion
Police have identified more of the soccer hooligans who stormed the AAMI Park pitch during the A-League’s Melbourne derby.
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Police have identified four more of the soccer hooligans they are hunting.
Pictures of 10 men identified on AAMI Park CCTV were released by police, with six still yet to be identified.
It comes just a day after charging three men over the pitch invasion on Saturday night, including “Bucket Man”, as up to 150 Victory fans stormed the pitch during the Melbourne City-Melbourne Victory derby.
More to come
Inside the Melbourne Victory mob
Many of the violent pitch invaders behind the AAMI Park chaos can be revealed as members of extreme hooligan groups with a history of terrorising A-League and suburban soccer games.
Sources inside Melbourne Victory’s fan network told the Herald Sun those behind the violent pitch invasion on Saturday night include members of hooligan groups Horda, M3 and Nomadi.
They have about 100 members in total and style themselves as “ultras”, after the worst of Europe’s soccer thugs.
They sit in the first few rows of Victory’s North End active members area, behind the goal nearest to Olympic Boulevard.
Several are believed to have accessed the ground despite previously being banned by the A-League or the club.
The three groups are the most extreme factions of hardcore supporter group Original Style Melbourne (OSM).
Members of Horda (Spanish for “horde”), M3 and Nomadi often pose on social media with banners, some wearing balaclavas to conceal their identities.
Their offending mostly involves fights with rival teams’ hooligans and among themselves and throwing flares at other fans, players on the field and security, as well as during marches to matches.
OSM, including the ultra factions, meet at the Cricketers Arms Hotel on Punt Rd before games, with hundreds regularly seen marching to AAMI Park while lighting flares and singing Victory chants.
One recent OSM Instagram post said: “Death to the City Football Group” – aimed at rivals Melbourne City, which is owned by the global CFG based in Abu Dhabi and Manchester, England.
Many A-League fans stand in “active areas” for the vibrant atmosphere and chanting.
But one North End active Victory member said violent sub-groups began gaining traction there in early 2007.
“The group that has caused the most issues in recent years is definitely Horda, they are a bunch of extremists that have taken it too far,” he said.
“Almost at every game there is some sort of fight that starts that is caused by them.”
Another North End active member said he was cancelling his membership, adding: “There is violence almost every week at Victory games caused by the Horda group.
“When I would go to away games in Adelaide or Sydney the violence would be nowhere near as bad as what it has become, it’s not a safe place to bring your family.”
Horda has also been involved in violence at semi-professional soccer matches in Melbourne’s southeast.
Video footage emerged on social media in April of a brawl between Springvale White Eagles and Victory fans at the Serbian Sports Centre in Keysborough. The footage captured bottles being thrown by supporters towards a group trying to retreat, with one man screaming: “Run Horda, they’re running.”
Susie Alt, a Victory member for eight years, said she was “absolutely devastated” by the actions of a small faction.
“These people believe they are above the law and more important than our club or the game,” she said.
“I am not sure what Melbourne Victory can really do about these people. They are criminals, not supporters.”
OSM are the latest incarnation of Victory’s hardcore fanbase, replacing the North Terrace group which disbanded several seasons ago after getting off-side with the club over its use of flares and outbreaks of violence.
Four days before Saturday’s derby, disgruntled supporters first aired pitch invasion plans on OSM’s Instagram page.
OSM posted a statement last Tuesday demanding answers over an A-League decision to sell grand final rights to Sydney, warning a walkout on Saturday would “only be the beginning”.
“I think it would be a better idea if we all pitch invade because when we just left the stadium last time it did nothing, pitch invading will do something,” urged a Western Sydney Wanderers fan, who gained 44 likes for the remark from OSM followers.
Another hooligan fan suggested: “Pitch invasion at 20m (minutes)?”
‘Bucket Man’ charged as police target up to 200 more
Three hooligans involved in Saturday night’s soccer chaos face prison sentences of up to 10 years if found guilty of charges of violent disorder.
Operation Astute investigators on Monday released images of a further 18 pitch invaders wanted over the bedlam which erupted during the weekend’s match between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City.
It came as three men, whose images had been released on Sunday, were on Monday night charged with violent disorder, an offence which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail, after handing themselves into police on Monday.
One of the three, 23-year-old Craigieburn man dubbed “Bucket Man”, was also charged with recklessly causing injury. He is accused of throwing a bucket of sand at the face of City goalkeeper Tom Glover as fans streamed on to the arena, and faces other counts of discharging a missile, intent to cause injury, unlawful assault, invading the pitch, disrupting a match, public nuisance and riotous behaviour.
Another man, 19, of Meadow Heights, has been charged over a separate alleged assault on Glover, as well as an alleged assault on a security guard. He faces counts of violent disorder, discharging a missile, three counts of unlawful assault, invading the pitch, disrupting a match, public nuisance, riotous behaviour and the discharging and possession of a flare.
An Alphington man, 18, is the third man to be charged with assault on Glover.
He faces counts of criminal damage to the venue, violent disorder, unlawful assault, entry to the arena, disrupting a match, public nuisance and riotous behaviour.
The three men presented themselves to police stations on Monday and were bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on February 27.
The ugly scenes occurred at the 20-minute mark of the derby, leaving Glover bleeding and requiring stitches in his face and referee Alex King also injured.
Speaking at training on Monday, Glover said the incident was “disappointing for Australian football itself”.
Glover tossed one of the flares thrown on to the pitch back into the crowd, drawing the ire of the fans, who then invaded the pitch, but said he did not mean to instigate Saturday’s violence.
“My intentions were never to throw it (flare) over the fence,” he said.
Investigators are continuing to trawl through CCTV images to identify each of the culprits whose antics resulted in the game being abandoned.
Police from Astute have revealed:
BOTTLES were thrown at members of Victoria Police’s public order response team;
ABOUT 50 flares were lit in the stands and at least three thrown on the field;
FOUR men were injured, including a goalkeeper, cameraman and two security guards; and
A $120,000 damage bill was left behind.
Police on Monday warned those involved in the ugly scenes to contact them before they came knocking on their doors. “Police are continuing to trawl through detailed vision of the incidents, and those involved are strongly urged to make themselves known to police immediately,” a Victoria Police statement said.
Investigators are searching for 150 to 200 men who stormed the pitch.
The chaotic scenes, described by Acting Superintendent Jason Goddard as “shocking”, have been beamed around the world.
Fans at the Victory end became enraged when Glover tossed a flare thrown in his vicinity back into the crowd.
Operation Astute has been moving quickly since being instigated at short notice in the game’s aftermath.
Offences being targeted include a range of breaches from assault down to pitch invasion.
The operation is similar to investigations run in the wake of last year’s street bedlam at anti-mandatory vaccination protests.
Police will be looking at supporter groups for more clues on those responsible.
They suspect the offenders are regulars at Victory games.
Those groups have been urged by some Victory fans to tell police the identities of any members they know were involved in the chaos.
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