Victoria Police has released footage of a "vicious" bashing near the MCG that left a man with serious facial injuries and another with a broken arm after last night's AFL qualifying final in Melbourne.

At about midnight last night two men were walking in East Melbourne to catch a cab when they were approached by another group of men.

"There was just a little bit of a verbal banter … but we're not clear about what was involved there," Detective Senior Constable Ashlee Bull said.

"Early indications suggests that alcohol was involved from both sides."

The fight turned physical with a member of the larger group kicking one of the victims.

"The two victims then ran away, they made their way to a side street where they waited for several minutes, hoping that those males would clear off," Detective Bull said.

"When they returned to Wellington Parade to try and get that cab that they were after, that's when the incident has escalated and the assault's taken place.

"The two victims were knocked to the ground and further assaulted for approximately one minute.

"Following that, the offenders have fairly casually walked away from the scene."

The first victim, a 61-year-old father from Rosebud who was punched in the head about 17 times before being stomped on by one of the men, has suffered a fractured cheekbone.

His friend, a 45-year-old from Mount Evelyn, received a broken arm and facial injuries.

They were taken to the Alfred Hospital and police said the assault had left the pair "shaken up".

The offenders were last seen going their separate ways on Wellington Parade.

The attack was filmed by witnesses who later assisted the injured pair.

Detective Bull said the attack was "vicious".

"It's probably to the realms of the worst of what sometimes we see in these kinds of assaults, the stomping on the head, the kicking to the head," she said.

"It's brutal and it's certainly something that we need to be concerned about in our society."

She said police were confident the attackers would be identified.

"The best thing to do is to hand yourself into the police so we can get the matter dealt with."

Police are also urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.



The Richmond Football Club said it would not comment at this stage, given police were still working out what happened.