Man has skull fractured after being attacked with didgeridoo outside MCG
A 25-year-old man says he “could have died right there and then” after being brutally attacked with a didgeridoo outside the MCG on Saturday night following Saturday’s Dreamtime AFL match in Melbourne.
The man was leaving the venue after the Essendon v Richmond clash when he was suddenly jumped on by two men at around 10.40pm.
“Two guys came from nowhere with a big stick and a didgeridoo and that is when they started attacking us,” he told Nine News from his hospital bed.
Dramatic footage of the incident shows the man being struck by a stranger and knocked to the ground before regaining his balance and then collapsing again.
“Even watching the footage when I got hit, it looked like I fell and hit my head on the ground as well so I could have died right there and then,” the injured man said.
The Essendon resident has been left bloodied and bruised, with a fractured skull and broken nose.
But his family are just grateful he is still with them.
“Maybe one more blow, he might have died,” his grandfather told Nine News, saying his grandson wasn’t one to go out of his way to look for trouble.
The victim said he’d never seen them before the completely unprovoked attack.
“[It’s] weak to even carry around something and wanting to use it as a weapon and running away.. [it’s] just weak, cowardly,' he said.
Two other men were also injured in the attack which police are investigating.
The assault was only one incident of many during a night of violence at the AFL where 70,000 people had gathered to celebrate the annual ‘Dreamtime at the G’ match.
Alcohol a factor in MCG crowd behaviour, police say
More than 50 people had to be evicted from the stadium for offensive behaviour including discharging a missile and breaking onto the field.
A 21-year-old man is facing charges for biting a police officer, while a 36-year-old man was charged for punching another officer who caught him urinating outside the grounds.
A 19-year-old woman was also arrested over an alleged assault at one of the gates before the match, while two 31-year-old men were slapped with $363 fines for running onto the ground during a quarter-time break.
Spectators have described the atmosphere at the game as “feral” and "scary”, saying there was “a real anger in the crowd.”
Victoria Police have blamed the increased violence on “pre-loading” of alcohol before the match.
“It was disappointing to see so many spectators engage in disruptive behaviour,” Inspector Jamie Templeton said.
“We did see what appeared to be higher levels of alcohol consumption and aggression.”
“It was noticeable that ‘pre-loading’ of alcohol prior to the game was significant in contributing to more incidents of poor crowd behaviour than usual.”
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