Police investigate spectator brawl during country Victorian football match

Victoria Police investigate off-field brawl during Ararat and Lismore-Derrinallum football match Mon 15 Jun 2026 at 3:56pm In short: Victoria Police is investigating an off-field fight at a football match in Ararat in Western Victoria on Saturday. The Mininera and District Football League will also investigate two on-field incidents that occurred at the same game. A spectator says he is sick of seeing "dreadful behaviour" at football matches. Victoria Police is investigating an off-field fight at a country football match in Ararat amid concerns about "dreadful" behaviour at grassroots sporting events. The incident occurred during the clash between the Ararat Eagles and Lismore-Derrinallum in Ararat, about an hour north-west of Ballarat, on Saturday. Footage obtained by the ABC shows what is understood to be an Ararat Eagles representative punching someone from the opposition as play continues on-field. An on-field club representative wearing a pink vest can be seen running into the crowd after the fight commenced. A small child is picked-up soon after. The Mininera and District Football League is also investigating two incidents from the match: an alleged headbutt and an attempted strike, both from members of the Ararat Eagles. The league will review the on-field incidents during its regular match panel review, and that the off-field incident would be discussed on Wednesday. Police confirmed they were investigating an alleged assault and were looking at CCTV footage from the ground. Spectator David* was at the venue, and said he had not seen a fight like that for 30 years. "One person has obviously said something and offended the other and he came up and properly assaulted him," David said. "Then the crowd just thought it was a free-for-all. "It's people's Saturday and they (people fighting) just ruin it…it's dreadful." David said he was "sick" of witnessing appalling behaviour at local football matches and that something needed to be done. "Their language is dreadful, so many swear words, and they don't care if women or children are around,"he said. "Unless people fix their behaviour up, they should be kicked out of the league. "There's a code of conduct when people enter the ground — all players are supposed to sign [it but] it may as well be in the toilet." Lismore-Derrinallum Football Netball Club said it had dealt with the off-field incident internally, and said it had "full faith in the league to handle the matter". The Ararat Eagles Football Netball Club has been contacted for comment. 'Behaviour is a learned thing' Federation University professor of sports science, Rochelle Eime, said it was sad to see disruptive or violent behaviour in community sports. "Behaviour is a learned thing in a social environment — what happens within a club is a ripple effect," she said. "It's what is sort of accepted within all levels at a club — positive behaviour snowballs and negative behaviours do too. "If they allow things to occur, then they'll occur again. "The buck stops with the leaders of the club." It comes after the ABC's ongoing crowd-sourced series exploring cultural issues in grassroots football revealed a sex offender was welcomed back to a western Victorian club months after being jailed for assaulting a 15-year-old girl on an end-of-season trip. *David's name has been changed to protect his identity