Families feared for their safety and a football game had to be abandoned after a brawl on the sidelines spilled onto the field in Perth's south on Saturday afternoon.
About 4:30pm, police were called to a fight at Medina Oval where the Kwinana Knights Football Club was facing off against Rossmoyne Amateur Football Club.
It is understood an altercation broke out between two groups of people on the sidelines, and a man involved in the fight then approached a player on the field.
"I don't know the reason as to why it started but some of them were antagonising the other group for ages," a witness said.
Related Content
The man attempted to throw a punch at one of the players and when the player refused to fight back, the man followed him around the field hurling abuse.
As the altercation continued, another witness said a second man arrived at the oval inside a four wheel drive and joined the fight.
"He jumped out of the car with a baseball bat, bottles, bricks and nunchucks," they said.
"Then they started throwing objects, and cars of innocent bystanders were being smashed... I was in the middle, but when the cars started being hit I decided I needed to move myself and my children extremely quickly- it escalated very fast."
Police then arrived at the scene.
"Bottles and rocks were thrown between the groups but not at police," WA police sergeant Andrew Maher said.
The game was called off as the violence escalated, and officers eventually arrested and charged a 27-year-old Orelia man with 'going armed in public so as to cause fear'.
Inquiries are expected to continue due to complaints of assault.
A Kwinana Knights Football Club spokesperson said it was important to note the incident was unrelated to the match.
"The Kwinana Knights Football Club would like to acknowledge that an unfortunate incident occurred yesterday on the sidelines during a break in play of the league game which in turn resulted in the game having to be abandoned," they said.
"This was a dispute between families in the area and had nothing to do with the football club whatsoever.
"We are disappointed that it happened at our ground as we pride ourselves on being a family-oriented football club and would like to ensure to everyone that this is not a usual occurrence."
Last weekend a kids' soccer match in Armadale was terrorised by three boys who rode a dirt bike across the oval, threatening people with a knife.
0 comments
New User? Sign up