Heroic referee Alex King is set to return to the sphere as quickly as attainable regardless of being struck on the pinnacle by pitch-invading Melbourne Victory followers on Australian soccer’s evening of disgrace at AAMI Park.
Risking his personal security, King got here to the rescue of Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover, who suffered a reduce face being his by bin-carrying Victory supporter who was amongst about 150 folks to storm on to the pitch after 20 minutes of the Melbourne derby.
While Glover ended up in hospital, King was in a position to return to his residence state of Queensland on Sunday regardless of nursing a bruise on prime of his head.
Football Australia referees’ boos Nathan Magill stated King was “physically fine”.
“But obviously like most of us, a bit stunned abut the behaviour of 150 people who took it upon themselves to enter the pitch,” stated Magill after the pair met on Sunday previous to King’s flight again to Brisbane.
While referees have an obligation of care in the direction of gamers, Magill stated folks reacted otherwise in sure conditions
“This was a really unique situation … so credit to Alex for reacting the way he did, prioritising, Tommy Glover’s well-being despite it putting him in a difficult situation, he said,
“For those who don’t know about Alex, he cares about people. He just went over to Tom and thought ‘let’s get out of here together.
“It’s quite brave of him to try to help someone else out.”
Magill stated the incident had not deterred King – who has a FIFA badge – from refereeing.
“Kingy’s very determined to get back out there and not let what happened impact him because he’s keen to contribute to Australian football,” he stated.
“The next 24-48 hours is really critical in terms of how he feels, then we’ll continue to monitor him.”
Magill stated the assault of King would have an effect on refereeing numbers.
“It’s not a great look for the game. It impacts everyone, including our recruitment drive – that’s for sure,” he stated.
