A flock of seagulls brought Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets’ A-League match to a standstill after descending onto the pitch during a free kick in the 90th minute at AAMI Park
A top-flight football match in Australia had to temporarily halt after a swarm of seagulls began congregating around the spot of a free-kick in the closing stages.
The peculiar intrusion occurred during the A-League encounter between Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Friday (April 17).
In the 90th minute of the contest, seagulls abruptly swooped onto the turf.
They all flew near to where Lachlan Bayliss was preparing to deliver a free-kick.
The troublesome birds are infamous for pinching chips. However, they appear to have shifted their focus to football by encircling the free-kick taker.
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Their match finished 2-2, but despite the gripping action, it was the seagulls who captured the headlines after clips of the episode spread rapidly online. One X user commented: “Seagulls love their football!”
Another remarked: “Peak A-League when the pitch is covered by seagulls. Pure, unadulterated chaos.”
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Other supporters were making jokes about Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion, suggesting this is more akin to how their home fixtures should unfold.
Some more were also querying exactly why there were so many seagulls in that section of the pitch. Others speculated that certain fans may have hurled food from the terraces.
Despite the unusual spectacle, Victory manager Arthur Diles declined to acknowledge the seagulls in his post-match interview but did identify positives in his team’s draw. He said: “I think we deserve more out of these two games, and we got bit in the end.
The performance is something I’ve got to focus on, and the performance was good for a lot of that game, so that’s a pleasing sign.
“We want to play well as well, not just pick up points, but the points in the end should correlate with a good performance. When you don’t get the three points, when you feel like you probably can, that’s disappointing, it’s hard to take, but we’ll go again.”
Meanwhile, Newcastle Jets, who currently sit top of the A-League, also chose not to raise the issue of the seagulls.
That was despite the birds disrupting a late free-kick that could well have presented a golden chance to snatch all three points.
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