SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Melbourne Victory fan who threw a bucket of sand in the face of Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover during a violent pitch invasion at an A-League match last year was jailed for three months on Tuesday, local media reported.
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Glover was left bloodied and concussed after being struck in the face by the bucket as Victory fans stormed the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium pitch last December in protest at the sale of the playoff finals to Sydney for four years.
Alex Agelopoulos, 23, was sentenced to three months in prison by a Melbourne magistrate for his role in the incident and banned from attending any event at the stadium for five years, Australian Associated Press reported.
“You and your cohort have stained the very fabric of football in Australia,” Magistrate Rosemary Falla told him.
“There is no place for this type of offending in any sport, especially a sport you claim to love.”
Agelopoulos, who was also ordered to undergo random drug testing for 18 months following his release, was released on bail pending an appeal, ABC news reported.
His barrister Dermot Dann had argued against a custodial sentence, saying Agelopoulos had been addicted to the drug crystal methamphetamine at the time and since shown remorse.
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“He will forever be known as bucket man and will have to work hard to overcome that,” Dann said.
Football Australia (FA) handed Victory a total of A$450,000 ($290,000) in fines and “significant” sporting sanctions over the pitch invasion.
The match was abandoned after the incursion and completed almost four months later with City winning 2-1.
($1 = 1.5511 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Ed Osmond)
-TheStar