Melbourne Victory fined $550k and threatened with 10-point penalty for further fan violence

As we heard a short time ago, the sporting sanctions include a suspended ten point deduction “which may be triggered for each instance of serious supporter misconduct”.

“If a spectator runs onto the pitch, there is an assault, there will be an automatic ten point deduction, and if that were to occur, that would destroy Melbourne Victory’s city,” says Mr Johnson.

“So the logic is to put the responsibility on the spectators to help us in to help the club are self regulate, because should any of their colleagues do that, there are catastrophic damages for Melbourne Victory.”

Football Australia chief executive James Johnson is providing a breakdown.

He says a $150,000 penalty has been imposed, alongside a further suspended sentence of $100,000.

“There’s damages that were caused by the Victory spectators to LED boards throughout the stadium that amount to $150,000 Australian dollars.

“There will be an additional $50,000 that will be paid to the APL for the replay of the match, and there is a future loss of ticketing revenue as a result of the sporting sanctions in place, which will be a minimum of $100,000.

“That is how we get to the total number of $550,000 in financial damages.”

Mr Johnson says Football Australia will establish and manage a taskforce and “include various stakeholders and experts from the Victoria and NSW Police, and hosting venues”.

The terms of reference for the taskforce will be “defined soon” and will include:

• developing measures to curb flare use and reduce entry of flares into venues
• explore areas of improvement for security and policing venues
• review supporter liaison and Marshall training use
• review of active support ticket and member requirements and the review of supporter marches pre-match

Football Australia chief executive James Johnson says today’s sanctions are “reflective of our desire to remove this behaviour from the sport”.

“The scenes at the Melbourne derby were the worst witnessed in Australian football during the A-League era,” he says.

“We cannot let this happen again in our game. So we believe that a strong sanction, both financial and also sporting, is warranted and justified in these circumstances.

“These sanctions are reflective of our desire to remove this behaviour from the sport, and in particular those that act in such a way, and we want them out of our sport.”

Football Australia says that the Round 8 match between Melbourne City FC and Melbourne Victory FC in December will be replayed in April from the 22nd minute.

“It will start with a scoreline being 1-nil to Melbourne City, which was the score and the exact minute that the match was abandoned,” Mr Johnson says.

The financial sanctions total $550,000, comprising $450,000 in fines and damages and $100,000 in lost revenue due to the sporting sanctions imposed.

The sporting sanctions:

• Require the club to block access to select seating behind the goals and otherwise restrict seating in the North End of AAMI Park to registered club members for the remainder of the 2022-23 A-League Men season and 2022-23 A-League Men Finals Series; and
• Include a direction that no specifically allocated club supporter seating at the club’s away games will be provided for the remainder of the 2022-23 A-League Men season and 2022-23 A-League Men Finals Series.

“The sporting sanctions include a suspended ten (10) point deduction which may be triggered for each instance of serious supporter misconduct during this season and the next three seasons, ending at the conclusion of the 2025-26 A-League Men’s season,” Football Australia says.

Football Australia chief executive James Johnson is speaking now.

He says December’s incident “shocked” the football community.

“In parallel with the individual judicial processes, Football Australia also issued Melbourne Victory with a show cause notice on 19th December,” he says.

“The club  responded to the show cause notice on 21 December, and provided further information for Football Australia.”

Mr Johnson says “Football Australia has found that Melbourne Victory has brought the game into disrepute, following the unacceptable actions of the club’s active supporters during the match”.

He says it is not the first time FA has taken issue with Melbourne Victory.

At 1:00pm AEST/2:00pm AEDT, Football Australia chief executive James Johnson will deliver the final determination and punishment after the Melbourne Derby pitch invasion.