After the highs experienced by Australian football during the World Cup in Qatar, they have been brought back down to earth by shocking scenes during Saturday's Melbourne Derby.
Melbourne City took on Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park in the Victoria city on Saturday afternoon, but the game would only last 20 minutes after a violent pitch invasion broke out.
Despite Melbourne City leading 1-0 thanks to an early strike from Aiden O'Neill, frustrations broke out among their fans, and goalkeeper Tom Glover was shockingly assaulted as supporters spilled onto the pitch.
Glover was struck with what appeared to be a large bin, before being escorted off the pitch as the referee frantically attempted to keep the players safe.
Plans were known ahead of kick-off that fans from both teams would walk out during the course of Saturday's derby, in protest against a recent decision to move the A-League grand finals to Sydney for the next three years.
The anger among fans, however, clearly boiled over into unacceptable territory, and it has left Australian football reeling.
Awful Melbourne pitch invasion has Australian soccer in shock
Video footage of the incident at AAMI Park was shared by Australian journalist Evan Morgan Grahame, which shows the shocking moment Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover suffered a blow to the head with a large object.
Absolutely unacceptable ugly scenes at 20 minutes at the Melbourne Derby. Glover got smashed by a bin by some fuckwit. Terrible. Game paused. As if Aus football couldn’t get any worse rn #MCYvMVC pic.twitter.com/zN8CMMEFVe
— Evan Morgan Grahame (@Evan_M_G) December 17, 2022
Photos shared on Twitter in the aftermath showed blood coming from Glover's face, and the goalkeeper understandably appeared in total shock, after seemingly being attacked by his own fans.
#melbournecity goalkeeper Tom Glover being led away dazed and bleeding after being attacked by invading #melbournevictory fans... this is a heartbreaking shattering day for the #Aleague and genuine football lovers. #MCYvMVC pic.twitter.com/ihMg4ZZZOp
— Robert Smith (@OnyaDon) December 17, 2022
The pitch invasion was sparked as a protest against the A-League's decision to stage the grand final in Sydney for the coming three years, a decision which has met backlash from Australian football fans across the board.
Walk-outs were planned at all A-League grounds for the 20th minute of this weekend's game, but the Melbourne derby descended into much uglier scenes, with the anger of the fans boiling over into unacceptable breaches of player safety.
The image of a player appearing dazed and confused after being violently assaulted by a football fan in a stadium is one that will linger long in the memory of football fans around the globe, but particularly in Australia. It has brought the footballing community in the city crashing down to earth after a World Cup which saw them shock Denmark and reach the last 16 for only the second time.
The Melbourne derby was abandoned after 21 minutes.
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