Football Victoria’s stern warning over soccer violence

A stern warning has been issued to all soccer fans and players — from grassroots to professional — ahead of the season, after a rise in verbal and physical attacks at matches.

A rise in verbal and physical attacks at all soccer matches, from grassroots to professional, prompted the warning from Football Victoria. Picture: Robert Cianflone.

A concerning increase in verbal and physical attacks on the soccer field has prompted a directive from Football Victoria for fans and players to stamp out bad behaviour.

In a letter to more than 77,000 soccer participants across the state, Football Victoria president Antonella Care and chief executive Kimon Taliadoros on Friday detailed a rise in violent incidents at games and on social media, in the lead up to the 2023 season.

“We’ve seen disturbing altercations involving spectators, referees, coaches and players – threatening behaviour, verbal abuse and alarmingly, even isolated incidents of physical abuse,” they said in the letter.

“We’ve seen too many referees leave our game prematurely, too many young players driven away by the behaviour of adults, and too many fans who feel unsafe to attend the game they love.

“The damage anti-social behaviour does to our game cannot be understated.”

Ms Care and Mr Taliadoros called on every spectator to celebrate the game in “the right way” by choosing to be “supportive rather than critical”.

Football Victoria’s warning was made ahead of the 2023 season. Picture: Hamish Blair

“Only you can be the spectator that holds your tongue when you perceive a poor decision or penalty has been made, only you can consciously recognise that nothing you do or say will change a call once made, only you can discourage and refrain from anti social behaviour,” they said.

“With this level of support more children, more players, more referees and more volunteers will find reasons to stay in the game they love rather than being given reasons to quit.”

Every soccer club is required to have a dedicated supporter marshal on site to respond to complaints about anti-social behaviour.

Fans can also report incidents through a match incident report form.

Mr Taliadoros told the Herald Sun the directive was sent to remind the football community of their responsibilities on match day.

“This is a general reference to the uptick and frequency at this point in the season it’s just a reminder to everybody,” he said.

“People may be feeling more fragile as a result of Covid when you translate that into a grassroots sports environment, it makes those incidents more acute.”

Mr Taliadoros said grassroots sport had a no place for anti-social behaviour.

“It’s that level of expectation that we have and we certainly wish to take responsibility for our sport and it would be helpful to be respectful to each other, particularly for the children.”