Hope they leave the flares at home.
Just came across this on the Age website,seems the victory lads
are warming up for the new season.
A flurry of flares, including one which hit a player, have put at risk practice matches between A-League champion Melbourne Victory and local Victorian Premier League clubs.
Last night's game between the Victory and former NSL powerhouse South Melbourne was played before a crowd of more than 7000 at Bob Jane Stadium, but was marred when a flare hit a South player in the head.
Victoria Police said today up to 12 flares were lit during the game and one person charged on summons for assault and a further four for bad behaviour.
Fourteen people were also evicted.
Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley told Melbourne radio station SEN today it was both frustrating and disappointing to see these sorts on incidents.
"We hate to see these sorts of incidents occur and we're doing as much as we possibly can to eradicate it," Buckley said.
Buckley said this latest episode of poor crowd behaviour could spell the end of the Victory playing games against local teams.
"I think it does," Buckley said.
"We actually took a punt and supported Melbourne Victory in playing this game and South Melbourne as well ... And then you have a number of individuals who just go and ruin it for everyone."
Melbourne Victory chief executive Geoff Miles said the club had a "zero tolerance" attitude towards flares.
"Clearly, we want to make sure that there's a strong message sent there, and look, we'd struggle to think that they are real fans of the game if that's how they want to behave," Miles said today.
He said the club was comfortable with the security arrangements at Bob Jane Stadium, which was South Melbourne's responsibility given it was their home ground.
"Obviously taking in of flares to grounds was an issue last night but there were searches at the gate," he said.
Miles hoped last night's fracas did not spell the end for matches between the Victory and local teams - and South Melbourne in particular - which he said were important to their pre-season preparations.
"We'd want to take stock on that, but I've got to stress that there was not trouble between fans of both clubs," Miles said.
"The key issue is the flares."
South Melbourne was one of the most successful clubs in the old NSL before the competition collapsed in 2004.
A winner of four NSL titles, it chose not to apply for the lone Victorian A-League license when the A-League was founded in 2005, but has expressed a desire to bid when the competition is expanded.
South Melbourne football director Jim Marinos refused to comment on the incident, referring all questions to the FFA media department.
While the club went to ground, the player struck in the head by the flare, midfielder Andrew Bourakis, blamed Melbourne Victory supporters.
"I think South Melbourne has been under a lot of scrutiny in the past in regards to crowd behaviour and crowd control and all that sort of thing and I must say the guys last night were absolutely fantastic," Bourakis told SEN.
"So in this case it was actually the Melbourne Victory fans."
"It was just one of those unfortunate things where I was behind the goals near the Victory stands and, you know, they've let loose."
AAP
what pisses me off is the fans who throw flares in general and at players, this is not good at all (except when olympiakos fan hit toti in champions league game)i like the idea of flares to pump up the crowd etc they are not dangerous in these cases but when people throw them it is dangerous to everyone on the stadium. Also when people throw them it gives flares a bad name and now the a-league will go all out to stop them,
i think 3-4 flares in a crowd of jumping fans chanting is beautiful
To quote a Tard fan:
It really isn't funny anymore.
Never has been.
If you're at the football, you're there to watch football.
If you want to sing and play with sparklers, join a choir and do Carols By Candlelight.
Now, flares at a Team Wellington game... that could be amusing.
June 22, 2007 12:00am
FOOTBALL Federation Australia, fed-up with the lighting of flares during games, may consider stripping Melbourne Victory of premiership points,
A security guard was injured and 14 people ejected during a pre-season match against South Melbourne at Bob Jane Stadium on Wednesday night.
Police said 12 flares were lit during the game, with one hurled from the stands clipping South Melbourne player Andrew Bourakis.
Four people are expected to be charged on summons with assault and behaviour offences. Six were evicted for possessing flares.
The behaviour took the shine off an excellent crowd of 7500 fans, who saw Victory win the game 5-1.
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley, tired of flares being ignited at A-League games, would not rule out stripping Victory of premiership points two months before the start of the season.
"There's a range of sanctions open to us," Buckley said.
"Clearly we can fine the club if we think that's appropriate, we can ban people from the venue and at an extreme end we can deduct points.
"All those things have to be considered."
Buckley paid tribute to Victory's fan power and on-field prowess, but said Melbourne had earned a reputation as the league's trouble spot.
"Melbourne games aren't the only games where we've had situations with flares, but in terms of the number of flares that go off, there's substantially more in Melbourne than anywhere else," he said.
"We've been successful at curbing incidents at other cities but there seems to be an element in Melbourne that haven't got the message, and don't seem to want to get the message, that this isn't going to be tolerated.
"They're doing their club and the game a disservice."
An FFA investigation is under way, with league officials studying video footage of the game.
"We have the police reports and we're waiting on a report from the club and the venue, and once we've got those details we'll determine what steps we'll take," Buckley said.
The incident is a major blow for Victory, which yesterday threatened life bans for fans caught with flares.
Chief executive Geoff Miles said he was disappointed the actions of a few were halting the growth of the club and the game.
"There's no doubt our supporters certainly aren't impressed with any incidents of flare throwing and there's no doubt they would be upset to think some people might have thrown flares," Miles said.
"There's a real strong sense from our supporter groups that this sort of behaviour is not a part of Melbourne Victory.
"We believed that flares were probably a distant memory but last night showed there's still a few people who want to try that."
check this out though.....
greece must win in order to qualify for world cup, machlas scores a goooooooooooaal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Nl2rwd8QU
i think this video is beautifulWPFC_OR_DEATH2007-06-23 01:39:42
blown out of proportion
Wtf has ethnicity got to do with this? Do you know for a fact the clown who threw the flare was Greek or Italian? Most bizarre post ever
Meanwhile South were mince on the night, but it was good too see BJS rocking again for the first time in years.
there are more "fanatics" in the greek community than in the general australian population. look at the "friendly game" the ausys played against greece im almost 100% sure that 95% of the greek/greece suporters were born in Australia and they were the ones who took flares, of corse there were not as many as the above incedents as im told the government/police went out of their way to fix that game and not allow banners/flags etc but i saw about 5 during the game
also all the 2-3 greeks i know on this site have suggested flares,
How is it a fact? That's a farcical statement. I've been to enough South games over the years to know that the stereotype is a million miles away from the reality. In fact I can't remember one this season because, it may surprise you to know, they're trying to get rid of the troublemaking idiots. All the flare action the other night was coming from YOUR fans - stop passing the buck onto other clubs.