Berisha and Bosschaart ignite post-match brawl

At Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, Brisbane Roar snatched victory from Sydney FC in the final minute of added injury time. But for weeks to come the talking point for Hyundai A-League fans, pundits, players and officials will be the never before seen argy bargy that erupted at fulltime.

Credit: Brisbane Roar

“It seemed to be between Besart [Berisha] and [Pascal] Bosschaart, but I’m not too sure what it’s about,” said Roar player Massimo Murdocca after the incident.

“I’m a small guy. I can’t really see that far, so I didn’t know what was going on in the back there [between Sydney’s defenders and Brisbane’s forwards].

“Bes has got to try and control himself a little bit. He’s a fiery character.”

In the moments before the game had ended the Sydney squad were dumbstruck at what had unfolded. Conceding two goals in the final minute of play, Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka was seen repeatedly checking his watch, perhaps questioning the five minutes of extra time that allowed Brisbane to steal the win.

Dutch Sydney FC defender Pascal Bosschaart was then reprimanded with a yellow card for some choice words said to referee Ryan Shepheard which may have been about the same issue or goalkeeper Liam Reddy’s cries for a handball by Shane Stefanutto.

But protests from Sydney were ignored and ten seconds later Shepheard blew the fulltime whistle.

Then, to what at first appeared to be a celebration or maybe even a gesture to swap shirts, Berisha proceeded to remove his shirt.

But when he eagerly beckoned Pascal Bosschaart to the tunnel on the visitor’s side, even pulling him by the arm at one point, it began to look far more serious.

As Berisha headed toward the Sydney area he palmed a member of the Sydney entourage before injured Roar player James Meyer blocked his way and bear-hugged the Albanian, attempting to calm him down.

And as is inevitable in team sports when a teammate is involved in a scuffle, it wasn’t long before the two player squads and coaches fell in behind when the push and shove began.

Players culminated on the sidelines beside the Sydney bench and fierce words were exchanged between players. Those that were clearly getting a little physical shoving about, included Michael Theoklitos, Nicky Carle, Ivan Franjic, and Pascal Bosschaart, who was also being prodded by the Roar fans in the stands beside the tunnel entrance. The peacemakers of the scene looked to be Matt Jurman, Mohamed Adnan, Brett Emerton, Terry McFlynn, and Mitch Nichols who was helpfully explaining it all in real-time to Sydney’s goalkeeping coach Zeljko Kalac.

What eventually helped the melee disband was Ange Postecoglou and his coaching staff who pulled his players away as the crowd perked up and the players returned to the pitch to shake hands with match officials.

Berisha was consoled by everyone in the Brisbane squad including the team mascot, but his grimace wasn’t faltering despite the elation he’d shown just a minute earlier when he headed the winning goal in injury time.

Credit: Brisbane Roar

In the aftermath of the unprecedented scenes an FFA official confirmed to the media that an incident report would be filed and the performance of referee Ryan Shepheard would also be reviewed.

Unsurprisingly neither Berisha or Bosschaart fronted the media after the game, though the latter was spotted having a sneaky cigarette outside the stadium, presumably to calm his nerves.

Postecoglou described the meeting as a “ripper” of a match, but like Murdocca was similarly unsure as to what sparked the kerfuffle after the game.

“Not a great way to end things, but at the moment from the little bit of information I’ve got, I don’t think there’s too much in it,” he said.

“We do a lot of things really well in our game but fighting isn’t one of them. We should leave that to other sports as far as I’m concerned.

“Bes shouldn’t have gone over there.

“I’ll address it with him, but at the moment I’ll let things die down."

Sydney FC captain Terry McFlynn was sheepish about what happened at fulltime.

“We’re not too sure what went on. We’ve just spoken about it in the dressing room and we can’t get away from our own performance,” he said.

“That’s all we’ll be talking about.”

Theories circulating are that the melee between Berisha and Bosschaart may have been in reaction to an exchange from their last meeting in Sydney where Brisbane were beaten 2-0, ending the Roar’s impressive winning streak at the time, and that since then, Bosschaart has not been very popular with the Brisbane players.

One thing’s for sure, Tunnelgate does not look like it will be forgotten any time soon. Complete footage of the fracas can be found in full, here.