Some police stations were temporarily shut to allow hundreds of boots on the ground after flares were lit by some football fans ahead of the game. 

Rows of riot police and barricades were seen lining Swan Street as fans made their way to AAMI Park.

The night saw four penalty notices for possessing lit fireworks, one penalty notice for riotous behaviour, 11 evictions from venues and two cautions for trespassing issued.

In a letter to fans this evening, Melbourne Victory chairman John Dovaston said the scenes were “overwhelming and unacceptable”.

“Instead of promoting a fun and exciting spectacle of football, the extent of the police presence created fear amongst families and football fans alike,” he wrote.

“Over the past few days, while we haven’t spoken publicly, we have certainly been addressing this privately, while also collecting more information about individual and collective experiences to both shape our response, and to help us form a strategy to make sure we don’t see this in football again.

“We need to create and demand long-term change.”

Dovaston accused police of creating fear with their extensive presence, adding that the “disproportionate deployment” affirmed a narrative that allows a handful of people doing the wrong thing to overshadow the vast majority of good behaviour.

“There is a line between keeping people safe and creating fear in the first place, and we believe the latter is what occurred. This is not acceptable,” he wrote.

“We will not allow our members and fans to continue to be treated this way, and we have called on the Victorian Government and Victoria Police, along with all football stakeholders, including the APL and Football Australia, to work with Melbourne Victory to investigate how this occurred and to support us in making the changes we expect to the football narrative in order to support the safe and sustained growth of our sport and our Club.”

Victoria Police said it was disappointed with hooligan behaviour that left one officer hospitalised with minor injuries and others with flares thrown at them.

“Police are disappointed with the behaviour of some of the crowd in Swan Street, Richmond, prior to last night’s A-League grand final,” Victoria Police said in an earlier statement.

“In what should have been an exciting and vibrant night for our Melbourne soccer community, we saw a number of flares being thrown towards police members and amongst the crowd as supporters gathered in Swan Street before making their way to AAMI Park.”

The grand final clash between Melbourne Victory and cross-city rival Melbourne City in the A-League Men competition’s first derby season decider was a sell-out game.

A record of nearly 30,000 people attended AAMI Park, where Melbourne City beat Victory for its second championship win.