Melbourne derby abandoned: Victory goalkepper Glover smashed after violent pitch invasion
Pitch invasion and player attacks have been a major theme of football in 2022. And another example of the same has surfaced online during the Melbourne derby in A-league.
According to a report by news.com.au Tom Glover, the goalkepper of Melbourne City team was attacked by a fan during the invasion and has suffered concussion.
Melbourne Derby Pitch invasion
This violent attack also led to the abandonment of the game as the player required stitches for his injuries. Furthermore, the referee of the game was also assaulted and escaped with a cut to his eyebrow.
The incident is said to have taken place during the 20th minute when the fans were said to walk out of the ground in their protest against APL, or A-league’s grand finale hosting rights.
From the very beginning of the game fans had been throwing flares on the pitch. The situation is said to have escalated when a flare hit a Channel 10 Camera operator.
Tom Glover suffer concussion after injury to head during invasion
Following this, the Victory goalkeeper Glover picked two flares and thew them in crowd. What followed next was chaotic to say the least.
The spectators rushed to the field in chaotic moment of frenzy and attacked Glover with a metal bucket that resulted in concussion and immediate bleeding. The referees were also attacked.
Security personnel immediately rushed the players out of the ground as fans took over the footballing pitch and destroyed goal posts and whatever was left at their disposal.
FA released a statement on Saturday evening, describing the behaviour of the spectators involved in the pitch invasion as “shocking”.
“Such behaviour has no place in Australian football, with a full Football Australia investigation to commence immediately, where strong sanctions to be handed down,” the statement read.
Ever since the APL has been announced the fans have been practicing protest across games. Even the games on Friday saw some silent protests, but nobody saw such a destructive protest coming.
