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Football fans will no longer be able to gather at Melbourne’s Federation Square to watch the remaining FIFA Women’s World Cup matches following a series of security issues during the live site’s broadcast of last night’s Matildas semi-final.

Reports show that a group knocked down barriers outside the fenced fan zone, allowing hundreds more to enter the already crowded the FIFA Women’s World Cup Fan Festival site.

Footage of the incident, which happened shortly before the semi-final kick-off at 8pm AEST, appeared to show security staff standing by as hundreds of people barged in.

Flares were later lit in the area, which had already hosted 140,000 fans throughout the World Cup, contrary to site rules.

The decision to close the fan zone at Fed Square has now been made out of safety concerns, and follows what Victoria Police called a “challenging night”.

Victoria Police reported “a large, rowdy group of mainly male youths, part of the active supporter groups, discharge and throw a significant number of flares”.

Four males, aged between 16 and 23, were fined more than $960 each for possessing flares and police cautioned another 16-year-old for throwing a flare.

As a result, late today a Fed Square spokesperson advised “as a result of disappointing behaviour by a small group of people, Federation Square management has made the decision that there will no longer be a live site at Federation Square, due to safety concerns.

“It is clear that if there was a repeat of last night’s behaviour it would be unsafe for families, fans and staff.”

The spokesperson said the decision had been reached after discussions on Thursday morning between event organisers and Victorian police.

Vandalism causes train delays at Sydney Olympic Park
Fans leaving Stadium Australia (Accor Stadium) by train after last night's Matildas game faced significant disruption to their trips following vandalism at nearby railway signal box.

With more than 100,000 people leaving Sydney Olympic Park - football fan numbers being swelled by those who attended a Luke Combs concert at Qudos Bank Arena - train delays began almost immediately as people tried to make their way home.

The vandalism caused delays to trains which had to be diverted, adding about 20 to 30 minutes to each trip.

Sydney Trains advised on social media “due to vandalism of equipment at Ashfield, some trains are running late, may have changed stops, and journey times may take longer.”

In a statement released on this morning, Transport for NSW explained that it has “reported the incident to NSW Police, with investigations underway”.

“Specialist engineers were immediately deployed to rectify the issue and services were restored within approximately 90 minutes.”

NSW Police are understood to have arrested two men who allegedly broke through security fencing and into a relay room at Ashfield Station just after 10pm, where cables were cut and critical equipment including modems were damaged.

The Ashfield signal box operates six signals on six lines between Summer Hill and Ashfield, a critical part of the network to move passengers between Sydney Olympic Park and Central Station.

Sydney Trains Chief Executive, Matt Longland later explained “it's disappointing something like this could occur on the rail network during one of the biggest events our city has ever seen. Our staff worked hard to communicate information to passengers and keep them safe, as they have been doing throughout this event.

"We would usually clear a massive crowd like the Matilda's semi-final fans from Sydney Olympic Park Station within one hour, last night it took us two hours, I want to personally apologise to all our passengers impacted and thank them for their patience."

Image: Crowds at Melbourne's Federation Square last night. Credit: Facebook/Anthong Grima.

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