The name and logo of the A-League’s newest club was unveiled yesterday, with Melbourne Heart FC confirmed as the franchise’s name after much speculation and debate. But it was the striking red and white logo that captured much of the attention.
The logo certainly stands out when compared with other A-League clubs, and it confirmed that Heart will have red and white branding – a good contrast to the Melbourne Victory’s.
“We didn’t want to have a soft love heart logo,” said CEO Scott Munn. Rather, the “shield style logo will better resonate with football purists,” he continued.
While a strip hasn’t been released as yet, Munn confirmed that a red and white stripe design was the probable look the Heart will go with – sticking with football traditions.
Munn also reaffirmed the club’s desire to play exclusively at the new rectangular stadium on Olympic Boulevard in inner Melbourne.
“We have a preference to play every game there and that would be a point of difference between us and the Victory, who it seems will still be playing some games at Etihad,” he said.
Yesterday’s announcement also reignited the speculation surrounding a possible playing return for Mark Viduka, the former Socceroo who hasn’t played competitively since going his separate ways with Newcastle United.
Encouragingly, Munn confirmed that the club has been in constant discussions with Viduka.
“We’ve met with Mark and he’s been a fantastic resource; very open about sharing his knowledge of a how a football club should operate. Even if he doesn’t sign with us to play, he could still have a role at the club,” he said.
From my chat with Munn, there were two further points that were pleasing to hear.
Firstly, Munn stating: “We want to grow the overall pie of football fans in Melbourne rather than take Victory fans.”
This is a necessity – not just for the Heart but the A-League and football as a whole.
With Heart’s debut, the ‘one club per town’ A-League era comes to an end – giving the competition a proper derby, and also testing the codes ability to expand its fanbase.
Unlike the Sydney Rovers – who have the geographical differentiation option available to them, with well-populated football communities in the western suburbs of Sydney that can be tapped into – the Heart will have little differentiating themselves from the Victory.
Considering the Victory’s popularity and strong crowd figures, not to mention Heart’s debut coming off the back of the World Cup, all eyes in Version 6 of the A-League will be on how the arrival of the debutants impacts on crowds for the two clubs – particularly at the new stadium.
And as Munn hinted, the club’s determination to play all its home games in the new stadium could well be a huge trump card in their favour – especially considering how eager Victorian football fans are to get away from Etihad.
Rather than stealing fans from the Victory, Heart could well be borrowing them every second week, with the distinct possibility that Melbournians will show up to the home games of both sides.
As the club grows with time, points of differentiation will undoubtedly increase, splintering the supporter base.
The second encouraging point from Munn was confirming that the club would drive harder in terms of publicity and community development programs.
As I wrote on Monday, Heart appeared to be stagnating in terms of generating much traction, but Munn stressed the club has been working diligently and will be unveiling more to the public once this current A-League season is completed, particularly the strip and identity of its signings – currently standing at ten players.
Make no mistake, setting up shop alongside the most successful A-League club, in a city they’ve owned exclusively for five seasons, without a significant point of differentiation makes the Heart’s task incredibly difficult.
But the new rectangular stadium and Mark Viduka playing for them would significantly bolster the club’s profile and identity – an identity that we can finally link with a definitive name and logo.
Lorraine anstie
Guest
English soccer fan who was impressed with the HEART in the supporters in the 2-0 defeat to the Jets on Wednesday night. I'm going with them!
chris
Guest
I have to say I reckon bring on the Melb Heart fc hopefully hearts play creative good flowing football unlike Victory which doesn't and are useless without Thompson.
POG
Guest
Judging by the response here, Melbourne Heart is gaining momentum. Good to see a 2nd football team evolving from the Sports Capital of Australia. The introduction of Melbourne Heart to the A-League can only lift the standard of our football in Melbourne and ultimately in Australia. Welcome to Melbourne Heart.
Anna
Guest
i hate the new name it too soft. the logo is Ok but cant it be called to stronger like Thunder or something.
Ice-Phoenix
Guest
I reckon Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory sum up the spirit of our great city. Melbourne is after all steadily becoming the best city on the planet with so many people moving here by the truckload! Melbourne Heart shows the Heart of the People of Melbourne, for we are after all an happy-go-lucky, friendly bunch of people, and Melbourne Victory, because we are also competitive in a friendly way (unlike Sydney) LOL!!! I'm happy to get behind both Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart! Two Melbourne teams taking on the rest of The A-League, GO BOYS!!! And when they play each other, we can enjoy the match and not care who wins, coz both are Melbourne!!! GO VICTORY!!! GO HEART!!!
Red dog
Guest
I would like to see a stoke city home strip with a red and white vertical stripped shirt, white shorts (with red trim) and white socks with a small amount of red trim. For the away shirt, I'd like to see an all black strip (similar to evertons away strip), with horizonal red pinstrips for the shirt and a small amount of red trim on the shorts and socks. The advantage of white shorts and socks is that the Heart could wear their home strip against just about anyone, except adelaide and possibly brisbane. Go Heart.
Gustavo
Guest
I was upset they decided to stick with Heart.I like the logo it looks like an American army unit patch sort of.Rugby posts ..great. I'm still not convinced, in my book the name change comp was all bullshit so they lied already...I find it hard to support a team call Heart....Tart...Fart....Tard...lard.Theres no drive and aggression behind the name heart.What will the supporters call themselves? The Defibs The CPR.....Melbourne Heart CPR does have a ring The Stents The bypass The stands where the fans sit to be called The CCU.
Ken
Guest
Red and white stripes is good - should have called the team Saints then! Especially with the Portsmouth influenced Victory - would have been a great south coast derby!!!
Andy
Guest
Why are you guys calling them melbourne hearts? It's heart not hearts. People will support them for sure, anyone who never use to go to a-league will see the new club as a chance to get involved and is also good timing with the new stadium. Plus victory got a hell of a lot of people offside with the whole etihad issues etc. Oh and yeah "victory" is a shocking name, it just sounds so ridiculous. heart has a normal name, simple traditional colours and a simple logo, why the hell would you not go for them as opposed to melbourne victory who is just made up of a lot of diehard losers.
JR Salazar
Guest
This is great. Having a proper derby in Melbourne...with both teams sharing the same venue...this will be what Melburnian football fans want to live for.
Majara
Guest
In all the logo is kind cool and I agree with the Transformers FC comment and the fans being called Autobots - the name Melbourne Heart is still daft though
Art Sapphire
Guest
Axelv - unlike our ethnic pre-occupied friend, you have a brain :)
Chris
Guest
So do you think the stadium have the same effect on the Storms crowds? I didn't think so.
Axelv
Guest
I would have thought that the Navy blue would be more unmistakably aligned with the colours of Victoria, for just about any sport, the big V. V for Victoria, V for Victory!
Art Sapphire
Guest
Clueless post - according to you the Victory colours are Greek. Last time I checked the Greek colours are Royal Blue and White. I would be surprised if Greeks made up more than 10-15 percent of the current MVFC membership and I should know.
whiskeymac
Roar Rookie
melbourne swiss and scots takes umbrage at that suggestion.
Lazza
Guest
The only clear indication is that they want a high profile quality player. Everyone knows that the 'ethnic' route doesn't work unless you're happy with 5k fans.
Lazza
Guest
They've done some good work in the community and with the local clubs to try and increase membership. There's still a lot of goodwill following their success of recent years as well. The team are mostly competitive but just can't score enough goals since our marquee striker has proven to be useless. Without an owner it was always going to be difficult to recruit high quality players. A new regime is coming in soon so hopefully things start to improve. At least we are loyal and that's what all the teams need, 10K supporters who will support the team through the ups and downs. The glory hunters will top up the numbers later.
Melbourne Hearts = Croats?
Guest
And how could I forget - the attempts to target Mark Viduka to the club are a clear indication this club is going after the Croatian supporters in Melbourne. A clear clear indication.
Melbourne Hearts = Croats?
Guest
With the colours of the Melbourne Heart released - isn't it interesting. Hearts are Red & White, and you could maybe add a dash of blue to the livery somewhere - a perfect team for Melbourne's Croatian community to get behind. Whereas with the Victory - the Blue & White colours are unmistakably aligned with Melbourne's Greek community. You can forget about South Melbourne ever getting a run in the A-League - they'd have to get rid of the Victory!