December 23 (Reuters) – Football Australia announced on Friday that Melbourne Victory have banned the sale of tickets for their home games until mid-January after a violent pitch invasion in the canceled Melbourne Derby.
More than 100 fans stormed the pitch during the A-League match between Victory and Melbourne City last week, leaving several people injured, including City goalkeeper Tom Glover and referee Alex King.
Police indicted more than a dozen people in connection with the incident, and the Governing Body issued a stadium ban on ten fans.
Additionally, Football Australia has frozen ticket sales for Victory’s away games within their home state of Victoria.
Football Australia said the measures in place until 15 January were put in place to “give immediate confidence to fans and attendees”, with further sanctions against the club to be decided after the show’s cause process ends. added.
Football Australia CEO James Johnson said in a statement: “Football Australia does not want to penalize football fans at this time.
“However, our priority is to ensure the safety and enjoyment of everyone inside the venue on matchdays and to ensure that unacceptable behavior by spectators is never repeated at a football match or event. We believe these measures will achieve this.”
Football Australia said it was also reviewing the behavior of Melbourne City supporters during the derby.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair, Bangalore; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
((Aadi.Nair@thomsonreuters.com;))
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.