- Birds took centre stage in A-League game at AAMI Park
As many Aussie sports fans will tell you, seagulls disturbing footy matches at AAMI Park in Melbourne is nothing new – but they were out in force on Friday night during an A-League match.
Hosts Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets played out an entertaining 2-2 draw, and late in the contest the flock of pesky birds became a talking point.
Jets star Lachlan Bayliss even struggled to whip in a free kick, with the seagulls taking centre stage near the sideline in comical scenes.
It didn’t take long for the bizarre vision to appear on social media, with plenty of fans seeing the funny side of the situation.
‘I hope they all paid for their tickets,’ joked one on X.
‘Nature taking over,’ suggested another.
Seagulls disturbing footy matches at AAMI Park in Melbourne is nothing new – but they were out in force on Friday night during an A-League match (pictured)
Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets played out an entertaining 2-2 draw, with the away side now on the verge of being crowned A-League champions
‘Someone should bring out a bucket of chips to distract them,’ offered a third.
The seagulls often turn up in large numbers for Melbourne Storm NRL home matches – and also at the nearby MCG for AFL fixtures.
Speaking post-game, Newcastle Jets coach Mark Milligan wasn’t worried about the seagulls – he has his eyes on more silverware.
After picking up a valuable point in Melbourne, Milligan feels there could be no better sporting script than beating arch-rivals Central Coast Mariners on home soil to claim a maiden A-League Men’s premiership on April 25.
His young side have already won the Australia Cup and claimed an Asian Champions League Elite berth in a remarkable rookie season for coach Milligan, the former Socceroos captain.
Newcastle will be premiers if second-placed Auckland FC, who are four points adrift, lose to the Mariners at home on April 19.
‘In all honesty, it couldn’t have been written any better for us,’ Milligan said.
‘This group still has so much growth to come, and we’ll see that over the next few weeks, and we’ll see it moving forward as well.
‘For right now, we are where we need to be.’
