Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers have both been charged by Football Federation Australia for bringing the game into disrepute after incidents which occurred between the two sets of rival supporters.
Head of the Hyundai A-League, Damien De Bohun declared “enough was enough” after rivals supporters clashed on Burke Street, three hours before Saturday nights match was due to kick-off, resulting in the hospitalisation of two men.
De Bohun announced this morning that Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory were to be docked three championship points which are to be deducted immediately if spectator misconduct continued.
“I’ve been fully briefed by Victorian Police over the recent days and they have demonstrated to me beyond any doubt that fans from both Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory were involved in unacceptable scenes in Melbourne on the 28th of December,” De Bohun said.
“For this reason we have taken the position today that effective immediately we will deducted three championship points from each of those clubs, suspended, until the end of the season which is contingent upon their fans behaving appropriately until now and then.”
In what’s perhaps a first for any international football league, deducting championship points for the action of supporters, De Bohun believes the punishment will act as a deterrent to prevent the “unacceptable behaviour” of anti-social supporters.
“What I can say is that any repeat behaviour of what we saw on December 28th would undoubtedly trigger the points being deducted.
“Its gotten to the stage now where anyone who chooses to misbehave from those two clubs, it will impact on the field, it will impact on your clubs and if you do really care about your clubs, cut it out get on with the real reason – we are here to support this wonderful game.”
The punishments handed down by the FFA are inevitably imposed to protect the ‘image and reputation’ of the game and would encourage “true fans to galvanise for the good of football.”
“Today we are saying that maintaing the Hyundai A-League is a safe, family friendly environment is of paramount importance.”
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat refused to comment on the issue this morning whilst Western Sydney Wanderers said they would review the FFA’s announcement.
Both clubs were made aware of the charges handed down by the FFA this morning and have until Tuesday January 7th to lodge an appeal.