Auckland FC Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Sydney FC v Auckland FC
Kick-off: 7pm Saturday 12 April
Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
Travelling supporters with a reputation for being "trouble" contributed to an "isolated" incident that lead to the hospitalisation of a football fan following Saturday's A-League game between Auckland FC and Western Sydney Wanderers at Mt Smart Stadium, according the Auckland club's chief executive.
Tensions rose between opposing fans during the round 25 match that ended in a 1-all draw and police said an Australian national was taken to Middlemore Hospital and underwent surgery for facial injuries sustained in an assault.
A 46-year-old man was arrested at the stadium over the incident.
Police were continuing to conduct enquiries into the assault, and any charging decisions.
Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker said the incident was "unsettling".
"It did happen at a match where the opposition fans came on mass, and also have a reputation for for causing some trouble. But in no way are our fans completely free of any blame either in the small numbers that it did happen," Becker said.
"We feel this isn't the Kiwi way this isn't the way that Auckland FC is going to accept fan behaviour, and we're going to identify anybody from our side who was involved and have them banned from the stadium."
Becker said the club had been contacted by local fans who had witnessed anti-social behaviour on Saturday.
"If you see that sort of behaviour at a public event you're going to be a little bit rattled from it. So we've reached out to those who have reached out to us."
Western Sydney Wanderers FC said in a statement to RNZ they were aware of an incident involving one of the club's travelling supporters.
"The club has been in direct contact with the supporter involved and is currently liaising with local authorities and relevant stakeholders to thoroughly review the matter.
"Western Sydney Wanderers are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all supporters and we will continue to provide full support to the individual affected."
The A-League treated supporter misconduct seriously and clubs were considered to be responsible for the actions of their spectators and active fan groups.
Becker said the club would work to ensure there were no repeat incidents of unruly behaviour.
"We definitely are going to do a review of our security and policing of games where there is a large number of fans travelling from teams that have this kind of reputation.
"We've had nearly, I think it's over 200,000 fans through now, across the season at 11 previous home games and no incidents anywhere like this. In fact, nothing that I know of, this is the first time it's happened, so probably the stadium and all of us were taken a little bit unawares, but now we'll certainly be reviewing that.
"As a nation we're really good at sitting next to the opposition fan, having a good bit of friendly banter and then accepting who wins or loses on the day.
"You can see that through we've [
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/532419/new-zealand-s-a-league-clubs-don-t-want-trouble-in-the-stands played Wellington Phoenix], who are obviously most obvious rival, three times this season and we haven't had a single incident. So we're all incredibly disappointed that this happened at one of our home games."
A-League clubs have been sanctioned for fans' bad behaviour previously.
In 2023 Melbourne Victory was fined $450,000 ($NZ487,730) and had several sanctions imposed on it following a violent pitch invasion that left a player injured.
Victory fans invaded the pitch during the A-League derby against Melbourne City, resulting in the match being abandoned.
In addition to the fine, the club was handed a suspended 10-point deduction that automatically triggers each and every incident of "serious supporter misconduct" over three seasons - ending next season.
In 2017 Western Sydney Wanderers was fined $20,000 for bringing the game into disrepute after Wanderers fans had displayed an offensive banner during a match against Sydney FC. Following the incident the Wanderers imposed 18-month suspensions on 14 members of their active supporter group - the Red and Black Bloc.
Fans lets off smoke flares at A-League clash between Auckland FC and Western Sydney Wanderers. Photo:
The number one item on the list of prohibited items on Auckland FC's match day information was flares.
The A-League banned pyrotechnic flares after incidents in Australia.
However, smoke flares (smoke bombs) the second item on the banned list were regularly let off by fans in Auckland supporter group The Port including on entry to the stadium on Saturday.
Western Sydney Wanderers fans also let off an orange one in the away fans section.
Cans, another item on the prohibited list, can been seen being thrown between fans in videos posted on social media from Saturday's match.
Becker said The Port had worked with the stadium and were "actually allowed some safe smoke to be brought into the South Stand, but it ticked off a bunch of health and safety documentation and everything that needs to go through".
"My understanding is the one that the Western Sydney Wanderers fans brought in was contraband smuggled into the stadium."
Auckland FC are guaranteed finals football and will host at least one post-season game and Becker said they were ready for an influx of opposition supporters.
"We're going to make sure that all of our fans are safe and that our our atmosphere is as friendly and fun.
"Hopefully this [incident] is just a one off that never happens again. We'll make sure we've got the stadium set up in the right way, or even more so than we normally do."
Auckland FC have two road games before they are back home for their penultimate game of the regular season against Perth Glory on 27 April.
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