With a bandage over the cut he sustained after having a bucket thrown at him by pitch invaders Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover has called the horrific A-League scenes as “disappointing”.
Glover turned up for training on Monday having been attacked by hooligans at AAMI Park after he tossed flares thrown at him by unruly fans back to the fence during the derby clash with Melbourne Victory on Saturday.
Having also sustained a suspected concussion in the incident, it’s unclear when Glover shall be ready ot take to the sector once more.
Without stopping to completely deal with the ready media in Melbourne, Glover stated a “small minority” of followers had been guilty for the chaos.
“The incident is disappointing for Australian football itself,” Glover instructed the Nine Network.
“The Socceroos were unbelievable and (we were) hopefully riding the wave of that, but a small minority kind of ruins it.”
On Monday Football Australia points a present trigger discover to Melbourne Victory with giant penalties, together with the potential of followers being shut out of cames, looming.
That got here after Australian Professional Leagues boss Danny Townsend stated the violent pitch invaders who compelled the derby to be deserted shall be “made an example of”.
Speaking publicly for the primary time after Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover was assaulted by a Victory fan with a steel bucket when greater than 150 spectators stormed the AAMI Park pitch, Townsend referred to as it an “assault on the football family”.
Glover wanted stitches and will even have a concussion, whereas referee Alex King additionally sustained a minimize in the course of the scary scenes that started when the City stopper threw flares, which has been tossed onto the pitch, again in the direction of followers.
But the following invasion and assault on gamers and officers has been extensively condemned and will result in legal prices and penalties for each the Victory and Melbourne City.
Two males have handed themselves in after police pledged to ramp up their investigations into the wild pitch invasion.
Townsend confirmed that among the hooligans had been already banned from the stadium and the APL would work with police to establish how they gained entry, with extra bans looming for others discovered to have been concerned within the invasion.
“(It’s) not just an assault on a player or an official or a cameraman, it was an assault on a football family,” Townsend instructed Channel 7 on Monday morning.
“When families are compromised you get behind them and support them and make them feel better and not dampen their enthusiasm for doing the things they love and for me it wasn’t a reflection of football.
“We have to make examples of these people.
“If you make it clear that this is unacceptable in our sport and in society, then we will stamp it out.”
Townsend denied the invasion was linked to the APL’s choice to promote the A-League grand last to Sydney for the subsequent three years, a transfer that sparked fan walkouts at different video games throughout the weekend, albeit with out incident.
“What happened on Saturday was completely different. It was not linked at all,” he stated.
“The peaceful protests across the other clubs were absolutely a reflection of that decision, one we will work with those supporter groups over the next week to continue to hear and listen to them and make the right decisions on behalf the game.”
In the wake of the incident, Football Australia chief govt James Johnson conceded the sport had a problem with flares as each FA and Victorian police started investigations into Saturday’s chaotic incident.
“There is an issue with flares entering stadiums that we do need to look at,” Johnson stated.
“This does not happen at local football, it doesn’t happen at national team level, it doesn’t happen at the NPL (National Premier League) level what we saw last night, it hasn’t happened at the other A-League games.
“Football is very safe. We saw in all the other A-League fixtures that were played over the weekend peaceful protests, and that’s OK.
“Fans are OK to express their views in a peaceful way, but the way that some individuals conducted themselves at the Melbourne Victory game is not acceptable and I think that is specific to that match.”
Originally printed as Injured Melbourne City goalkeeper speaks after pitch invasion
