Soccer ‘baboons’ spark brawl

By Shaun Inguanzo
POLICE and the state’s peak soccer body are investigating an on-field brawl believed to have been sparked by a spectator grabbing a soccer player’s throat in Dandenong South last Saturday.
Football Federation Victoria (FFV) says the club found to have sparked the fight would face fines of up to $10,000 and could even lose competition points.
Saturday night’s senior FFV State League Division One match between Dandenong Thunder and the North Geelong Warriors at George Andrews Reserve was planned as a celebration of Dandenong Thunder’s new $80,000 playing lights enabling night matches.
A 1500-strong crowd full of families and junior players turned out to watch their senior heroes.
But with a scoreline of 1-1 and just two minutes remaining in the game, the evening turned sour after a boundary line spectator allegedly grabbed the throat of a running player.
A brawl then erupted with a swarm of spectators joining the fracas, and even entering the field.
The match referee ended play with scores tied at 1-1 and rallied players into clubrooms for safety reasons.
Dandenong Police attended the scuffle but no arrests were made, and according to club officials there were no injuries.
Dandenong Thunder club president Penno Husein said he was bitterly disappointed with the ‘baboons’ responsible for the end-of-match scuffle which also forced the match to a premature end.
Mr Husein said Dandenong Thunder had pressed assault charges against a spectator and had filed a version of events report with FFV for a forthcoming tribunal hearing.
He said he feared the club’s work promoting soccer’s image in a bid to attract more junior players would take a backwards step.
“We had 15 to 20 marshalls around the ground, we did the best as we could, but like I said you are never going to stop idiots disrupting things,” Ms Husein said.
FFV head of football operations Tony Persoglia said there were “fairly hefty” penalties for clubs engaging in brawls, with fines ranging from $1000 to $10,000.
Mr Persoglia said the referee had witnessed the scuffle and had filed an official’s report, and the FFV would collect statements from both clubs to put before the tribunal at a hearing expected next week.
Dandenong Ward councillor and Dandenong Thunder fan Jim Memeti said there was no room for brawling in soccer, and it placed “a damper on the evening”.