Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory

[RustyRef]

This is absolutely shocking, both a goalkeeper and referee assaulted and injured by fans "protesting" on the pitch. Hope there are severe sanctions issued off the back of this.

Game abandoned after spectator injures player

The A-League derby between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory is abandoned after a player is injured by a spectator during a pitch invasion.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[es1]

Apparently sparked by keeper throwing a flare back into the crowd

 

[socal lurker]

Apparently sparked by keeper throwing a flare back into the crowd

no pun intended?

 

[es1]

no pun intended?

If only I was that sharp

 

[RefJef]

Apparently sparked by keeper throwing a flare back into the crowd

Correct.

I’ve seen footage (on Twitter I think) from a fan filming from the side which starts before the footage on the BBC site (which is, I think, from the official broadcaster?)

A flare lands in the penalty area. Keeper grabs it off the floor and flings it backwards off the pitch and it ends up in the crowd, leading to the scenes we see in the clip above. Don’t think he (the keeper)meant to throw it into the crowd, just wanted it off the pitch, and it doesn’t condone what then happened, but does give some extra context.

 

[Russell Jones]

Whilst the actions of the Goalkeeper were foolish (and red card worthy had the match not been abandoned), in reality there were a large number of fans over the barriers even before he returned the flare into the crowd. This was a fully pre-meditated pitch invasion to protest at the moving of the A-League Grand Final to one dedicated location (rather than the top club hosting the match).