Thugs rioting at Melbourne A-League games should be banned for life, Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu says.
Unruly soccer fans destroyed dozens of seats and lit flares at the Melbourne derby earlier this month, leaving a damage bill of thousands of dollars.
Flares were also set off at the Melbourne Victory game last weekend.
Mr Baillieu urged both Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart to work with Victoria Police to identify the offenders.
“I am a Melbourne Victory member myself and I am a sports fan, and I absolutely deplore what I have seen,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“It’s just ugly, unacceptable, and sends absolutely the wrong message.
“Any more the clubs can do should be done. We will give them whatever support is necessary.
“These people have got to be out of the door, never get in, not banned for six months or 12 months, never get in.”
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton said police were closing in on the offenders.
He said those responsible were known to police and had a history of disrupting public events across Victoria.
“They’re known to us as people that do this sort of behaviour,” Mr Ashton said.
“They do go out and try to cause disruption and not be focused on the event.”