Pitch invaders given good behaviour bonds and fined between $500 and $1800 each

A group of young men who stormed the pitch at AAMI Park have avoided conviction but have copped a serve from a magistrate for getting “sucked into that mob behaviour”.

A magistrate has denounced a group of pitch invaders who stormed AAMI Park labelling them “sheep” who were sucked in by “mob behaviour”.

Dozens of young men fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday over their alleged involvement in the pitch invasion of the derby match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory on December 17.

Magistrate Rosemary Falla denounced the group saying their actions, which caused nearly $300,000 in damage, placed players and match officials in harm’s way.

“The conduct itself is illogical, it’s unlawful,” she said.

The A-League fans were labelled ‘sheep’ for their involvement in the AAMI Park pitch invasion. Picture: Getty

“(I’m) trying to understand why it is a person who would otherwise be of good behaviour gets sucked into that mob behaviour, like sheep onto the field.”

“Those players, those officials, those security guards, they deserved to be safe.”

One of the men, Cameron Neubacher, told police he realised he had made a “severe error of judgement” after jumping the barrier.

“For some silly reason, and I don’t know why, but I thought it’d be fun to run out,” he said.

“I saw the chaos that was going on. I had a few drinks but wasn’t drunk.”

Alex “bucket man” Agelopoulos.

Mr Agelopoulos will face court later this year. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Another man Declan Stewart claimed he was caught up in the violence because of his allegiance to his club, prompting a rebuke from Ms Falla.

“True supporters wouldn’t have behaved in this way,” she said.

Eleven men including Neubacher, Stewart, Nicholas Conforti, Jack Haddrick, Muhammed Kutlu, Anthony Oudy, Eren Sele, Grigorios Theodoropoulos, Jake White, Hector Vigor and Benjamin Rogers pleaded guilty to invading the pitch.

Neubacher also admitted to a discharge missile charge for throwing a bucket of sand up into the air, while Stewart pleaded to an additional offence of possessing a flare.

The group, most of whom were on the field for only a few minutes, were given good behaviour bonds without conviction and received fines between $500 and $1800 depending on their level of involvement.

They were also banned from attending all professional football matches in Victoria for periods between one and three years.

Ms Fallas accepted the men had expressed remorse for their involvement and most were aged in their teens and 20s.

“It is a serious lapse of judgement as I’ve seen in all these cases,” she said.

The court heard a walk out – led by members of fan group Original Style Melbourne – was planned for the 20-minute mark to protest Football Federation Australia’s decision to sell the next three A-League grand finals to Sydney.

Just after 8pm, up to 150 spectators from the northern stands stormed the pitch, throwing bottles, flares, stadium chairs and metal buckets, after Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover threw a flare back into the stands.

Glover was left bloodied and required stitches after he was struck in the head with a metal bucket while referee Alex King, who helped the goalkeeper from the field, was also injured alongside a cameraman and security guard.

Victoria Police arrested and charged 38 people, with the majority of offenders handing themselves into police after their images were released to the media.

Others including Alex “bucket man” Agelopoulos, who is accused of throwing the bucket that hit Glover, will appear in court later this year.