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A top-flight football match in Australia was halted after a swarm of seagulls invaded the pitch and descended on where a free-kick in the closing moments of the match was being taken. The peculiar seagull swarm unfolded during the A-League clash between Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park in Melbourne.

In the 90th minute, seagulls suddenly swooped onto the pitch close to where Newcastle Jets midfielder Lachlan Bayliss was preparing to take a free-kick. The troublesome birds had their attention turned to disrupting proceedings as they congregated around the free-kick taker.

The match ended in a 2-2 draw, yet despite the thrilling contest, it was the seagulls that truly stole the spotlight after footage of the incident spread like wildfire across social media.

One X user wrote: "Seagulls love their football!" Another commented: "Peak A-League when the pitch is covered by seagulls. Pure, unadulterated chaos."

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Other supporters poked fun at Premier League side Brighton, suggesting this is more befitting of their home fixtures.

Many fans were also puzzling over why such a large number of seagulls had gathered in that particular area of the pitch, with some speculating that supporters may have thrown food from the stands.

Despite the extraordinary scenes, Victory manager Arthur Diles neglected to mention the seagulls in his post-match interview, though he did find cause for optimism in his side's draw.

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He said: "I think we deserve more out of these two games, and we got bit in the end. The performance is something I've got to focus on, and the performance was good for a lot of that game. So that's a pleasing sign.

"We want to play well as well, not just pick up points, but the points in the end should correlate with a good performance. When you don't get the three points, when you feel like you probably can, that's disappointing, it's hard to take, but we'll go again."

Newcastle Jets, who currently sit top of the A-League, also chose not to raise the issue of the seagulls, despite their interference disrupting a late free-kick that could potentially have created a chance to win the match.