A-League pitch invasion: Three men charged over AAMI Park pitch invasion
Police have released new pictures of men who allegedly took part in the AAMI Park pitch invasion, while three men have been charged over the violence.
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The images of 18 more AAMI Park pitch invaders wanted by police have been publicly released as the crackdown on Melbourne Victory soccer hooligans intensifies.
The latest release of more photos depicting the chaotic scenes on Saturday night comes as police Operation Astute lays its first three charges against the alleged thugs.
A 23-year-old Craigieburn resident, dubbed “Bucket Man” was charged on Monday after contacting police.
He has been charged over the bucket-throwing incident in which Melbourne City’s goalkeeper, Thomas Glover was struck in the head with a bucket full of sand.
He has been charged with violent disorder, discharge missile, intent to cause injury, recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault, invading the pitch, disrupting a match, public nuisance and riotous behaviour.
Another man, 19, from Meadow Heights, has been charged in relation to a separate alleged assault on Glover, as well as an alleged assault on a security guard.
He has been charged with violent disorder, discharge missile, three counts of unlawful assault, invading the pitch, disrupting a match, public nuisance, riotous behaviour, discharge and possess flare.
An Alphington man, 18, is the third man to be charged over an alleged separate assault on Glover.
He also faces counts of criminal damage to the venue, violent disorder, unlawful assault, entry to competition space, 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 Melbourne Victory-Melbourne City derby which left goalkeeper Glover and referee Alex King injured.
Investigators are continuing to trawl through CCTV images to identify each of the culprits whose antics resulted in the game being abandoned.
Police from Operation Astute have revealed:
BOTTLES were thrown at members of the Victoria Police public order response team.
ABOUT 50 flares were lit in the stands and at least three were thrown onto the field.
FOUR men were injured, including the goalkeeper, cameraman and two security guards.
A $120,000 damage bill was left behind.
Victoria Police on Monday warned those involved in the ugly scenes to make contact with police before they come knocking on their door.
“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 hunting between 150 and 200 men who stormed the pitch. .
The chaotic scenes, described by Acting Superintendent Jason Goddard as “shocking” have been beamed around the world.
Fans standing at the Victory end became irate when Glover tossed a flare thrown in his vicinity back into the crowd.
The police investigation has been moving quickly since being instigated at short notice in the game’s aftermath.
Offences being targeted include 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 clues on those responsible.
It is suspected the offenders would be regulars at Victory games.
Those groups have been urged by some Victory to tell police the identities of any members they knew who were involved in the chaos.
Alleged bucket thug hands himself in
It is undertstood the alleged hoodlum who threw a bucket filled with sand at the Melbourne City goalkeeper and referee turned himself into police.
Police have released a statement saying the man, who allegedly invaded the pitch at AAMI park alongside more than a hundred violent Melbourne Victory fans at the weekend, contacted authorities on Monday – more than 24 hours on from the incident.
The man was photographed at the 20th minute of the Melbourne Derby allegedly invading the pitch, wearing a navy buckehat and holding the metal bucket in question.
A second man also turned himself into police after an image of him wearing a Horda branded t-shirt and holding what appeared to be a flare was released to the public.
It comes as Premier Daniel Andrews says “shameful” hooligans who stormed the ground at AAMI Park will “feel the full force of the law”.
The stern warning echoes that of police, who said they will be “knocking on doors” imminently of those who stormed the AAMI Park pitch.
As police continue to hunt for key people involved in the shocking scenes at the Melbourne Derby, Mr Andrews condemned those involved for bringing shame to the sport.
“That’s not us,” he said.
“That sort of violence is not acceptable anywhere, it’s not a part of our way of life.
“I know that governing bodies, venue operators and Victoria Police, they’re hard out finding out those people.
“They will feel the full force of the law.
“Those sorts of scenes as part of sport, they’ve got nothing to do with sport.
“They are an insult to that game and it is a profound itself to every fan who goes along for the beauty of that game.”
Mr Andrews said it was up to the A-League and stadiums to decide whether to play some matches without crowds.
He said the vast majority of Victorians, including himself, were sickened by the pitch invasion and that they were particularly confronting because of Victoria’s history of peaceful major events.
“Those who are too weak and too cowardly to hand themselves in, they’ll be caught and they’ll be dealt with,” Mr Andrews said.
Football authorities and police want the thugs responsible for Saturday’s shameful scenes to be weeded out of the game.
Offenders face lifetime bans, while sanctions against Melbourne Victory could include being suspended from playing matches, fan lockouts and heavy fines in the wake of the violent pitch invasion.
Victoria Police on Sunday announced a task force to probe the incident that caused Saturday night’s A-League derby between Victory and Melbourne City to be abandoned after just 20 minutes.
Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Jason Goddard said a team of investigators would be “knocking on doors” after setting up an operation to catch the culprits.
Superintendent Goddard, who was among 134 police at the game, described the terrifying incident as “shocking, disgraceful and un-Australian” and said no one who invaded the pitch would be spared scrutiny.
“I’m deeply shocked, upset, and quite frankly I thought it was disgraceful conduct by those who invaded the pitch,” he said.
Superintendent Goddard said police had set up Operation Astute with a team of detectives to investigate.
“We’ll be reviewing all the video footage and we’ll be looking at everyone who was involved,” he said.
Police vowed to pursue the offenders for breaching Victoria’s Major Events Act.
It means they face court action as well as the possibility of also being banned from other sports such as AFL, NRL and NBL.
Investigators are scouring CCTV footage to distil images of those who committed acts of violence as well as all patrons who stormed the pitch.
Superintendent Goddard said police had increased numbers at the stadium, with more rostered on to cover the AAMI Park crowd than were required at a capacity MCG match.
Football Australia said it would fast-track its own probes, issuing a show cause notice to Victory and threatening “heavy sanctions”.
Melbourne City could also be served with a show cause notice.
FA chief James Johnson said those responsible should not be referred to as fans, telling a media conference on Sunday he was “horrified” and “angry with the scenes we witnessed at AAMI Park”.
“This is an element that goes beyond football,” he said.
“This is an element that infiltrates our game and really try and ruin it for the people who love our sport.
“And it’s those people who we will be targeting in our investigation and they will be weeded out of the sport.
“We will be moving swiftly and we will be taking the strongest sanctions that are available to Football Australia.”
Mr Johnson declined to comment on possible punishments, with the stripping of competition points and playing games behind closed doors among the possibilities.
Victory managing director Caroline Carnegie said security was underprepared for the anarchic events.
“We had no reason to believe that there would be anything different that occurred,” Ms Carnegie said.
“We are devastated that something different did occur.”
The club admitted more needed to be done in the future to control crowds.
“We’ve come to a point in time where what we’ve been doing probably hasn’t been successful,” Ms Carnegie said.
Footage of the incident went viral on social media across the world, with many calling it Australian soccer’s darkest day.
Glover sustained a suspected concussion and nasty gash across his face after being assaulted by a Victory thug with the bucket, while the referee and a cameraman were also injured.
Up to 200 hooligans had stormed the pitch in response to the keeper throwing flares back into the Victory crowd after he had been bombarded with missiles.
Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie fronted the media this morning, strongly condemning the actions that unfolded on Saturday night.
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) December 17, 2022
Full press conference > https://t.co/F2sAjMJykIpic.twitter.com/1145GcD6Gu
In a statement the APL, which runs the A-League, said the events “demonstrated that a small minority of people with criminal intent hide within our game”.
“They neither understand nor love our game,” the statement said.
“What they do understand is how to use our game as a platform for their anti-social and illegal objectives.
“This is a watershed moment for our game that demands a zero tolerance for the incidents that we witnessed last night and the kind of people that perpetrated them.
“Our clubs will work deliberately and exhaustively, hand-in-hand with law enforcement agencies, and with Football Australia – as the game’s regulator – to ensure that our game can never again be used as camouflage for criminals.”
In a statement, Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust said 156 security staff were on duty for the match, up from the 82 that covered the most recent derby in April.
Every person entering the stadium had their bags checked and seven flares were confiscated before the game.
“The only way to effectively stop flares from entering the venue is to undertake physical searches of each person,” it said.
Security arrangements would be reviewed.
Victory fan group Original Style Melbourne released a statement saying it understood the “genuine sadness, anger and frustration at what happened”.
“The events which transpired, although uncontrollable, happened on our watch and we take full responsibility for that,” it said.
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