A footballer with a broken leg was left stranded for up to two hours after paramedics fled a suburban football match fearing for their safety.
Ambulance Victoria said the two-person crew left the field at Melton, in Melbourne's west, after being verbally threatened and intimidated by a group of people.
The player, Daniel Vasjuta, said the pain was "10 out of 10 for a long time" as he waited for treatment.
Melton South Football Club president Brendan Morrissey disputes the paramedics' claim.
He told The Ballarat Courier that one person, believed to be homeless, had yelled at the paramedics and the crew was offered assistance when they expressed concerns.
"I was there," he said.
Melton South was minutes into the third quarter of the Ballarat Football League senior match when Mr Vastjuta sustained a fractured fibula and dislocated ankle.
A triple-zero call was received at 3.47pm. Emergency demand was high at the time and paramedics arrived at 4.36pm.
Ambulance Victoria executive director emergency operations Mick Stephenson said the crew – a man and a woman – activated their duress alarm soon after.
A paramedic in Ambulance Victoria's communications centre was also verbally abused in a later triple-0 call, he said.
A second ambulance crew returned to the ground with a police escort and Mr Vasjuta was taken to hospital in a stable condition about 6.20pm.
"Paramedics need to treat patients in an environment where they are safe," Mr Stephenson said.
"There is no excuse for intimidation towards paramedics who had gone to care for an injured man.
"The behaviour of these people had unnecessarily delayed the patient's medical treatment."
Daniel Vasjuta says the pain from his broken leg was '10 out of 10' for a long time. Photo: The Courier
Mr Vasjuta said he was aware of the reasons for the delay in getting treatment.
"I heard that the ambulance got there and one person had said something to them to hurry up or something along those lines and he ended up leaving because he didn't feel safe," he said.
"I wasn't happy when I heard that. Just for my pain – I was in agony really."
Mr Vasjuta said he was without pain relief for much of his time in the clubrooms, except for some Panadeine tablets he was eventually given.
"I was just trying to stay calm but the longer it got I started to stress about not getting treated and that I might lose my leg or something like that," he said.
"But the trainers, family, friends and my coach Brendan Fevola did a really great job of keeping me calm and really helped me from going into shock."
Mr Morrissey said the only people waiting for the ambulance had been Mr Vasjuta's family and club officials.
He said he was disappointed paramedics had chosen to leave without treating the injured player.
The Melton South Football and Netball Club Past Players said in a Facebook post the man involved had no affiliation with the club and would be refused entry in the future.
The players group said club officials offered to escort paramedics to Vasjuta but they refused.
"A kid was left in clubrooms for over 3 hours with a broken leg and dislocated ankles for little pain relief ... It was bloody disgraceful and no parent should see there son like that," the post said.
The group first described the incident as "at the minor end of verbal abuse" but after criticism from other posts, it wrote "no one should be subject to any form of abuse".
Amanda Mills joined those defending the paramedics.
"Easy to blame ambos," she wrote.
"Those ambos have mothers who want to see them come home without broken legs too!"
The Ballarat Football Netball League said it was investigating the matter and would not comment further until inquiries were complete.
Ambulance Victoria is also investigating the incident.
Melton South lost the match to Sebastopol, despite five goals from former AFL star Fevola.
With the Courier