Victory needs to start giving their fans credit

 
Davidde Corran Columnist

By , 4 Oct 2009 Davidde Corran is a Roar Expert

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Melbourne Victory’s relationship with its supporters has been characterised by some splendid inconsistency almost since day one of the A-League.

The club has given its supporters a record two premiership and championship doubles. In return Victory has received the cash flow that comes with the highest attendances and memberships in the country.

The difficult side of the relationship between both parties was most notable in season 3. Some fans protested over the restrictions placed on them at the Telstra Dome while others claimed they would tear up their memberships following Victory’s poor title defence.

Such highs and lows are somewhat understandable considering the teething process involved in a new league and club finding its feet.

Less reasonable were the comments from Victory chairmen Geoff Lord on Thursday when he launched the first shot in what will soon be Melbourne’s newest football rivalry.

”It’s all about community involvement and taking the game to the people,” said Lord.

”One of the things I would have changed with the so-called Melbourne Heartless is that it should have been located around Cranbourne or out in the outer suburbs where there is a need to take the game to the people.

”Sydney are doing it by taking the second team to west Sydney. I think the Government can still play a role in trying to build a support base for the new club in the outer south-east suburbs where there is a paucity of entertainment and top-level sport.”

Certainly Lord has the right to defend his club and look out for their best interests, but he got one thing markedly wrong. As Michael Lynch described in The Age, for Lord to say that the new Melbourne team will “cannibalise Victory’s supporter base” is to essentially call his club’s supporters vapid.

I just can’t imagine that numerous Melbourne Victory fans will be turning in their Melbourne Victory memberships to get on the Melbourne Heart bandwagon.

Yes, Victory has seen their attendances begin to dwindle and it’s a concern, but Melbourne retains a massive group of core supporters.

Victory’s support might only be five seasons old but that doesn’t mean their fans aren’t loyal. I’ve shared plenty of away victories at the Charles Dickens Pub in the Melbourne CBD with passionate Victory fans and such supporters wont disappear overnight.

Maybe Lord had a slightly different target group in mind with these comments. I’m thinking of the less loyal fans without memberships that have only been to a handle full of games throughout the team’s existence.

I still don’t think many of these ‘supporters’ will simply change sides, but if they do then Lord can have little to be disappointed about.

Victory has had five seasons to cut through to your average Melbournian. It seemed they were being successful early on but now that has to be questioned.

Melbourne may be the most popular team in the A-League, but they have also failed to reach their potential in attracting supporters.

No one’s blaming the club for the global economic crisis, but there are areas in which they could have done better. For example, Melbourne has been too distant from the media and thus their message hasn’t cut through to much of the public. A few pre-season friendlies against VPL opposition aside, there still hasn’t been enough interaction with grassroots football either.

Either way there are still enough sport lovers in Melbourne, even excluding any one-eyed AFL fans, for the two A-League sides to find strong supporter bases.

Melbourne Heart will force their more established inter-city opponent to raise their game when it comes to attracting fans. That can only be a good thing for everyone.

If Melbourne Victory see some of their part-time supporters swap colours next season it will be their own fault.

In the meantime Geoff Lord should give his club’s fans more credit.

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