Yeah they did Victoria Police launched Operation Astute, leading to 35 people being charged with a range of offences including assault, violent disorder, criminal damage, riotous behaviour and discharging missiles. A further five people were issued with a fine, penalty notice or caution, four more were interviewed and released with the intent to summons and two were identified but unable to be located, including one male who boarded a flight for Europe shortly after the riot. Taking charge of the footballing portion of the investigation, national federation Football Australia issued a swathe of individual sanctions that included three-lifetime bans on any organised football activity and hit Victory with what its CEO James Johnson called the "heaviest penalties in the A-League era". These included over $AUD 500,000 worth of financial penalties covering fines and lost revenue, significant restrictions on crowds throughout the rest of the season, and a suspended 10-point deduction that will hang over the head of the club until the end of the 2025-26 campaign that will fall if the federation determines an incident meets the criteria of a "triggering event." Despite what I said a page back I didn’t end up going to a single game this season. Just as well really - Perth got humped 8-0 a couple of weeks ago by Melbourne City and ended up bottom of the league
One thing I will say is that although there’s rarely any trouble off the pitch, there’s a much bigger police presence at the footie games and they usually let the home fans out at the end before the away fans ( although they mingle anyway once outside). This of course is based on my experiences at Melbourne City home games and may be different at other stadiums. in comparison, I went to Ballarat a couple of weeks ago to watch an AFL game and there was three police officers there and there will often be five different sets of supporters at the main railway station in the city centre and no police presence there at all. Completely different atmosphere, mainly because Serbs and Croats don’t follow the oval footie ..
Victory comfortably saw off Man City in the first Melbourne derby of the summer. 3-0 inside half an hour, City once again are heading for another ordinary season..
Tough hard fought 1-0 win for Auckland FC against MacArthur. We struggled as the game went on and went completely into defense mode by playing 5 at the back with nearly 30 mins to go, but managed to hold on. Onwards and upwards for Auckland FC. 4 wins out of 4, 4 clean sheets.
6 from 6 for Auckland FC! 2 from 2 against the Nix! Finaly conceded a goal too, but that was going to happen sooner rather than later.
Auckland FC drop their first points of the season, a 2-2 draw against Melbourne City. City controlled the first half, and Auckland controlled the 2nd, with a few howlers from each keeper to share the spoils. Bring on Western Utd next week.
Auckland FC come back down to earth with a thud, losing 4-0 to Western Utd. Wellington Phoenix get smashed 4-1 by West Sydney. A bad week for the NZ sides.
