Sydney not fearful of fresh fan backlash

The ugly scenes that led to the abandonment of the Melbourne derby following the controversial decision to sell-off the A-Leagues’ grand final hosting rights sent shockwaves across the globe.

But Sydney FC coach Steve Corica is doubtful there will be copycat incidents of supporter unrest as his side prepare for their first home game since the divisive decision was made public.

Football Australia handed out eight further supporter bans on Thursday in the wake of last weekend’s AAMI Park unrest, taking the total to 10, and is likely to hit Melbourne Victory with heavy sanctions.

The Sky Blues face Macarthur FC at Allianz Stadium on Christmas Eve, with Corica confident his own side’s fans will make their views known without resorting to violence and disorder.

Sydney’s own active supporter group The Cove are expected to attend the game as normal after boycotting their away trip to the Central Coast last weekend.

Corica said he sympathised with fans’ frustration at the grand final decision, even though his club shape as a potential beneficiary.

“We’re lucky because we’re in Sydney, but we can definitely understand (the frustration),” Corica said.

“We want to grow the game and we need money to do that.

“The decision has been made and we need to move forward.

“We don’t want what happened last week in Melbourne to happen ever again in Australia.

“We’ve had no trouble at Sydney FC (in the past and) we spend a lot of time with our fans to make sure that they’re well behaved and we have good communication with them and NSW Police.”

Corica said the Sky Blues took a no-tolerance approach to fans bringing in flares, with Sydney’s Slovakian winger Robert Mak saying misbehaving supporters would turn others off coming to games.

“You want to have full stadiums full of kids and families (and) when they see this, they think twice about if they come to football games, so we need to stop it,” Mak said.

“I understand the fans want to protest, they can put up banners, they can shout, whatever it takes.

“But to throw things at football players and run all over the pitch is just not correct.”