Mr Curnow described a frenzy within the bay as the men struck each other, spilling into the aisles as bystanders tried to intervene. "There was women, children – innocent people getting hurt. Families were panicking," he said "It really snowballed. I had to almost shield my little brother from getting hurt". Mr Curnow said his father ran to get authorities to break up the violent scuffle. "The response was terrible. The fight was going on for two or three minutes before any security turned up at all," he said.

"They were verbally arguing for a good few minutes before it came to blows," he said. "Blind Freddy could have seen where that was going to go." "It was ridiculous, it took so long for them to turn up". Once police arrived, Mr Curnow said the drama continued as they attempted to wrangle the men from the front of the packed bay. He described the bay becoming swarmed with police and security, with bystanders becoming ensnared in the violence and some fighting police. "It was a sour end to what was a pretty good game," he said.

A caller to 3AW, Robin, also recounted witnessing "four full-on punch-on fights", claiming she'd seen people knocked out while sitting in the M12 bay of the Carlton members area. “Security didn’t react quick enough, so members of the public had to get in to stop these fights, including me," Robin told 3AW. "I haven't seen something so physical and so violent for many, many years." The woman, who is in her fifties, said she missed the last five minutes of the game because she had been involved in breaking up the fights.

Loading She estimated there had been five police and more than 10 security guards around that swooped on M11, M12 and M13 to break up the violence. Mr Curnow described seeing the Collingwood fan with a bloodied head and handcuffed outside the stadium as he left. No arrests have been made. Later in the evening, another fight broke out several hundred metres down from the MCG, near the Richmond Club Hotel.

One man was arrested and another taken to the hospital with serious injuries. These incidents come just a week after another ugly incident at the MCG where an intellectually disabled man was bashed after a Hawthorn-Melbourne match. A 34-year-old Baxter man was interviewed by police earlier this week, and was expected to be charged on summons with assault-related offences. Loading Victoria Police confirmed on Saturday evening they had attended multiple fights at the ground, with one man interviewed and released in relation to an alleged assault.

"Police and security attended immediately and prevented any further altercations," a police spokesperson said. "One man was treated for minor injuries and did not wish to make a statement but police located the alleged offender and have interviewed him in relation to the alleged assault." "No further complaints have been made to police at this stage." In March, three men were charged with affray and banned from all AFL matches for three years after their involvement in a brawl at the ground which was caught on video. Those three men were bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 4.