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Football Australia (FA) has handed down the "heaviest" sanctions ever seen in the A-League after a show-cause notice was presented to Melbourne Victory following the A-League Men derby pitch invasion on December 17.
Key points:
- Melbourne Victory will be fined $550,000 for last month's pitch invasion against Melbourne City
- The club has also been hit with a suspended points deduction that will last for the next three seasons
- Football Australia has ruled the derby will be replayed in April
FA found the club "brought the game into disrepute" when roughly 150 Victory fans stormed the AAMI Park field, attacking players and officials and causing damage to the facility.
The national governing body has issued an unprecedented fine of $450,000 — the largest-ever financial punishment in Australian football — in addition to an extra $100,000 in lost match revenue.
The fine sits alongside a suspended 10-point deduction for the club, which may be triggered by any future instance of supporter misconduct over the course of the next three seasons.
The suspended sentence will conclude at the start of the 2025/26 A-League Men season.
The financial penalties are split across several areas including reimbursing Melbourne City FC up to $150,000 in damages caused to the venue and equipment; a fine payable to FA of $150,000, a suspended fine of $100,000 if another pitch invasion occurs over the next three seasons; and a payment of $50,000 towards the costs of replaying the match, which was abandoned in the 22nd minute with the scoreline at 1-0 to Melbourne City.
The derby will recommence from this time, and with this score-line, in April.
In a statement later on Tuesday afternoon, Victory indicated they will accept the punishment and focus on "revitalising their match day experience."
FA's ruling also sees a continuation of the preliminary sporting sanctions handed down over the past three weeks.
Melbourne Victory will not be able to sell any tickets in the "active" areas during home games, while the first three rows of seating behind the goals at each "active" end will remain inaccessible for the remainder of the current season, as well as the potential finals series.
The primary active fan area of Victory's supporter group will also remain empty for the rest of the campaign, with any tickets already sold in these areas to be cancelled.
The club will also not be allocated any seats for away games, with any current ticketholders set to be relocated to other parts of the venue, while megaphones, drums, and flags will also be banned for active fans.
"The sanctions we have issued against Melbourne Victory are the heaviest in the A-League era," FA CEO James Johnson said on Tuesday.
"These sanctions are reflective of our desire to remove this behaviour, and those that perpetrate it, from our game.
"The field of play is sacred, and the safety of our players and match officials is paramount. Those individuals who illegally entered the field of play, caused damage, and verbally and physically assaulted players and officials, crossed the line.
"We have worked closely with Victoria Police to identify these individuals and will continue to do so to ensure that those that display anti-social and criminal behaviour at football events are not involved in our game in any way.
"I can sympathise with the vast majority of fans and the broader football community who were sickened and hurt by the actions of those individuals.
"The sanctions imposed on Melbourne Victory are a necessary step to ensure we create an environment where we place football first, and our community can enjoy matches."
Johnson confirmed that police investigations were ongoing as more individuals were identified.
To date, 17 people have been issued with footballing bans — some for several years, others for life — while a number of spectators are also the subject of criminal charges.
One Melbourne City supporter who allegedly threw a flare is also being investigated.
Tensions between active fans and the administrators of the A-Leagues were already high after the Australian Professional Leagues' (APL) decision to sell the grand final hosting rights to Sydney, with the pitch invasion detracting from what were largely peaceful protests conducted by other active fan groups across the leagues.
The derby incident has also prompted FA to establish a taskforce, whose terms of reference are yet to be defined, which will work to establish measures "to stop anti-social behaviour at A-League matches".
FA will work with the APL, Victoria and New South Wales Police, and venue security groups to clamp down on the use of flares, to review security measures as they pertain to banned supporters, review training for active fan group liaisons and marshalls, and explore the further use of technology to identify and enforce bans in stadiums.
Instead of slapping Victory with an immediate 10-point deduction, Johnson said a suspended punishment presented a more powerful deterrent for future behaviour, with the club and fans having to self-police over the course of the next three years.
The deduction will be triggered if any future match is suspended due to club supporter conduct, including pitch invasions and assaults of coaches, players or match officials.
Johnson also suggested that bigger punishments could be looked at in future to curb this type of behaviour across the A-Leagues, including reviews of club licences and transfer system bans.
None of the sanctions handed down will affect the A-League Women's team, though questions remain over how the club and the league will prevent potentially banned fans entering women's games in smaller stadiums with fewer checkpoints and security resources.
Melbourne Victory is able to appeal the determination, which Johnson says FA can then take to FIFA for further review.
"The scenes at the Melbourne derby were the worst witnessed in Australian football during the A-League era," Johnson said.
"We cannot let this happen again in our game. 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. We want them out of our sport."