Melbourne Derby fallout: Football Australia ‘not worried’ about hooligans at women’s World Cup

Football Australia boss James Johnson has responded to New Zealand concerns that Saturday’s disgraceful pitch invasion will create issues for the women’s World Cup.

Shockwaves from the A-League’s night of shame are rippling through world football, with New Zealand representatives questioning whether the women’s World Cup co-host should be concerned heading into next year’s tournament.

A disgraceful pitch invasion by more than 150 spectators which resulted in the assault of a Melbourne City player, the match referee and a camera operator made worldwide headlines, with the hooligans trampling on the massive goodwill built up by the Socceroos during their recent World Cup campaign.

Vision of Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover being hit in the head by a metal bucket and sustaining a cut that required multiple stitches and overnight hospitalisation for concussion have given the code a massive black eye just seven months out from the Women’s World Cup.

With Australia having submitted a men’s World Cup bid in the past and still keen to host the sport’s jewel in the crown, any suggestion of a hooligan element is disastrous.

Chaos: Fans storm the pitch. Picture: Getty Images

Saturday’s events prompted a Kiwi journalist on a Sunday Zoom call with Football Australia to question what the organisation would say to their World Cup co-hosts about the repercussions for the game in New Zealand.

Football Australia boss James Johnson has refused to call Saturday’s perpetrators “fans”, labelling them “an element that goes beyond football”.

“It’s an element that infiltrates our game and that really try to ruin it for the people who love our game. And it’s those people that we will be targeting in this investigation and who we will weed out of our sport.”

Football hooligan scenes in Australia ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in the country. https://t.co/RWpdzdQDHa

— Saddique Shaban (@SaddiqueShaban) December 18, 2022

This is disgusting. Shameful behaviour. Why on earth with FIFA ever allow Australia to host the World Cup with this sort of behaviour. #disgusting#unAustralianhttps://t.co/YFyGIwe923

— Cherine Spirou (@CherineSpirou) December 18, 2022

Perhaps fifa were right... Australia is not ready to host the world cup. https://t.co/yZ6INTNDIj

— Gavin (@g_mann43) December 18, 2022

Johnson said he was “not worried at all” about hosting the World Cup.

“I think that’s the biggest opportunity for the sport,” Johnson said.

“What we will see is two big bookends for the sport with the men’s World Cup having Australia play a key role and then we’re going to see another seven months of growth across the broader game from grassroots football to elite pathways to national teams as a result of having a men’s World Cup leading into the women’s World Cup, so that would be my message.”

Matildas captain Sam Kerr said it was a “very sad day for football in Aus(tralia)”.

“Hope all the boys & officials are ok. Hope that all the fans that went to actually support our beautiful game got home safe,” Kerr said in a Twitter post following the incident.

Very sad day for football in Aus. Hope all the boys & officials are ok❤️ Hope that all the fans that went to actually support our beautiful game got home safe.

— Sam Kerr (@samkerr1) December 17, 2022

But Johnson would say to his New Zealand counterparts that Saturday’s incident was not at all representative of the broader game in Australia.

“We saw in Melbourne at Fed Square, thousands and thousands of great football fans that came together to support the Socceroos and we saw this in other cities around Australia,” Johnson said.

“These are fans and these fans cannot be branded or painted with the same brush as those individuals that invaded the pitch (on Saturday) night.

“These are two separate groups. We have fans and then we have these individuals.”

The women’s World Cup is set to be the biggest women’s sporting event in history and will be held in nine cities throughout Australia and New Zealand from July 20-August 20 next year.

Johnson said Football Australia had been on the front foot, getting in touch with world governing body FIFA and the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) on Saturday night.

Football Australia CEO James Johnson. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

“I’m in touch with FIFA and the AFC as well, we made those communications (on Saturday) night as this was unfolding,” Johnson said.

“These things happen and they aren’t specific to Australian football and they’re not specific to football within sport in Australia.

“People that behave like this, I don’t call them fans and I will not call them fans.

“What’s important, I think, the public and for FIFA and AFC as well is what our response is like.

“And our response is very simple - there’s no place in our sport for this type of behaviour and those that participated in it will be weeded out and we’ll do it very quickly.

“I think that will give organisations like FIFA the confidence that when these things do happen, we’re a code and a country that can deal with them quickly, swiftly and strongly.”

Originally published as Melbourne Derby fallout: Football Australia ‘not worried’ about hooligans at women’s World Cup