- Bucket Man has appealed his prison sentence
- He was given a prison sentence of three months
- But his lawyer says he is a victim of an 'injustice'
A violent football fan who became the 'face' of the AAMI Park pitch invasion is now trying to avoid jail over the incident.
Alex Agelopoulos, 24, appeared in the Victorian County Court on Tuesday to appeal a three-month prison sentence that his lawyer, Dermot Dann KC, said was “injustice”.
“He is the one who has been the face of this terrible incident,” he said.
“In a sense, he's transmitting the behavior of all of them… None of those other members have been sentenced to prison.”
Agelopoulos, dubbed 'Bucket Man' in the media after throwing a metal bucket that injured former Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover, was convicted in August after pleading guilty to violent disorder and disrupting a match.
Alex Agelopoulous has appealed against a prison sentence for his role in the chaos at AAMI Park
Agelopoulous was among a large group of fans who stormed the field. He attacked goalkeeper Tom Glover with a bucket
He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, followed by an 18-month community corrections order by Magistrate Rosemary Falla, who said he had 'besmirched the fabric of football in Australia'.
Immediately after the verdict, Mr Dann announced they would appeal and Agelopoulos was granted bail within an hour.
In a victim impact statement read out to the Magistrates' Court, Mr Glover said he had a “permanent reminder” of Agelopoulos' offending due to the scar on his right cheek.
He told the court he was now anxious and fearful in public and felt wary when he entered the field.
Outlining the facts of the case, prosecutor Andrew Grant said the incident occurred during the A-League derby match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory on December 17 last year.
He told the court that 38 people have been charged over the incident, the majority of which have already been dealt with.
Spectators planned to walk out after 20 minutes to protest Football Federation Australia's 'unpopular' deal to host the next three grand finals at Sydney's Allianz Stadium.
Instead, after Glover accidentally threw a lit flare into the stands, about 120 to 150 people from the north stand stormed the field at 8:06 p.m.
Several people, including referee Alex King, Mr Glover, a cameraman and two security guards, were injured during the chaos, which caused more than $200,000 in damage to the stadium.
Arguing that his client should not have been sentenced to prison, Mr Dann said Ms Falla Agelopoulos should not have imposed a harsher sentence than his co-offenders.
His lawyer says his client has been the victim of 'injustice' and says he has unfairly become the face of Australian football's darkest day
“It obviously cannot be rational or fair or just to single out one perpetrator based on his actions that have received maximum publicity while other perpetrators have remained under the radar,” he said.
“We say it is becoming clear that there is injustice in this case.”
Mr Dann pointed to the community corrections imposed on other offenders, who he said had played an equal or greater role than his client.
He told the court that his client had been branded in the media as a 'Bucket Man' and a 'thug' after the incident, and that this had weighed heavily on his view of himself.
The hearing was adjourned by Judge Mark Gamble to allow Agelopoulos to be assessed for a correction order. He returns to court on Friday.