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Football Australia has found that Melbourne Victory Football Club (the Club) has brought the game into disrepute following the unacceptable actions of the Club’s active supporters during the 2022-23 A-League Men Round 8 match between Melbourne City FC and Melbourne Victory FC on Saturday, 17 December at AAMI Park, Melbourne.

After considering the Club’s response to the issued Show Cause Notice and the measures since taken by the Club, Football Australia has imposed significant financial and sporting sanctions.

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 has also determined that the 2022-23 A-League Men Round 8 match between Melbourne City FC and Melbourne Victory FC on Saturday 17 December, which was abandoned after 22 minutes, must be replayed in April 2023 from the 22nd minute. The recommencement score line will be Melbourne City FC 1, Melbourne Victory FC 0.

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 of the newly created 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.

For the return of active supporters in the 2023-24 A-League Men season, the Club is required to work with Football Australia and the APL to implement determined measures. This could include a requirement to ensure all active supporters to be valid Club Members, or allocated ticketing where tickets are sold in designated active supporter areas.

Football Australia Chief Executive Officer, James Johnson, said that the scenes at the Melbourne Derby were the worst witnessed in Australian football during the A-League era and that Football Australia would continue to work with the Club and the APL to ensure there is never a repeat of this conduct.

“Football Australia has found that the Melbourne Victory Football Club, through the inexcusable conduct of many individuals who entered the field of play from the Melbourne Victory Active Supporters section at the Melbourne Derby on 17 December 2022, has committed a serious breach of our rules and regulations,” said Johnson.

“The sanctions we have issued against Melbourne Victory are the heaviest in the A-League era. These sanctions are reflective of our desire to remove this behaviour, and those that perpetuate it, from our game. They also form part of a broader response to this incident which has seen seventeen bans issued against individuals to date, including three lifetime bans, and preliminary sanctions against Melbourne Victory.

“The field of play is sacred and the safety of our players and match officials is paramount. Those individuals that 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 those 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.

“We would like to acknowledge and commend the actions taken by Melbourne Victory so far,” Johnson concluded.

The Club has seven business days to appeal Football Australia’s Determination should the Club elect to do so.

Sanctions issued against Melbourne Victory Football Club: