190 fans evicted from first ODI

Victorian Police have reported that an astounding 190 attendees were evicted from last Friday’s one-day game between Australia and England at the MCG.

Crowd behaviour which has been notably good this year took a turn for the worse as 106 people were ejected by police and a further 84 people were removed by security staff. This was in contrast to the Boxing Day Test at the same venue which had a higher crowd but only 39 people evicted as opposed to 77 from last year, reported the Sydney Morning Herald

Stephen Leane, the Victoria Police Superintendent, said that the majority of evictions had come from alcohol related offences.

“Alcohol continues to be a problem, with most of the ejections involving patrons caught smuggling alcohol into the grounds,” he said.

“There still seems to be some segments of the crowd who appear to be more interested in misbehaving and disrupting the enjoyment of others than watching the actual matches.”

On top of the evictions three people were also arrested by police. One for being drunk, one for possessing amphetamines and one for assault.

Despite the poor crowd behaviour, the police and cricketing officials are determined to eradicate hooliganism from the MCG.

“Victoria Police, along with Cricket Australian and the MCG officials, will review the security to ensure the next match scheduled for the MCG in February can be enjoyed by everyone,” Superintendent Leane said.

The latest reports of crowd behaviour are thoroughly different to the ones resulting from the successful Boxing Day Test just last month when Region One Superintendent Mick Williams praised the crowd for their exceptional behaviour.

“It doesn’t get much better than this. The crowd have behaved exceptionally well this year and it’s a credit to the organisers and the fans,” he said after the match.

“This is without a doubt the best results we’ve had for the Boxing Day Test and I think cricket fans should be very proud of their behaviour.”