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Ever since I came across a letter from Melbourne Victory informing me about how I can renew my membership on Sunday, I’ve been wondering how I’ll react on a personal level to having a new club in Melbourne. To clarify, I’ve been a Victory supporter since the club’s inception. I attended their inaugural game, and as soon as I had the income to sustain it, I became a member.
After I started covering football as a journalist, though, I half-expected the passion to start to ebb-way.
Each new season comes with fresh doubts as to whether I’ll still care. I guess I thought there’s only so many times in which you can be disillusioned by the reality of some people involved in your club before you start to become apathetic. Yet the freshly made marks on the table which I watched the 2010 A-League Grand Final on in a Florence hotel told a different story.
In a little over a week, the sixth edition of the A-League arrives and will bring with it a new element, both for the game at large and for me personally: Melbourne Heart FC.
The truth is, I’m torn.
My private allegiance to Ernie Merrick’s men isn’t in doubt, but the Heart fascinates me.
They have recruited some of my all time favourite Australian footballers, bring with them the promise of a “European” approach (hopefully one day we can start calling it “our” approach instead) and I’ve got personal friends involved with the club.
While I hope the Heart will do exceptionally well in their inaugural season and will also be buying a membership, I suspect their presence will matter little to how I feel about their city rival.
Yet I’m not sure the same will be true for all of the Victory’s fans.
I’m not referring to the kind of mass defections Geoff Lord was fearing when the Heart was given it’s A-League license but some will be shaken up.
A close friend of mine admitted to me recently he’s been considering jumping ship to the Heart. He’s never been a Victory member but we’ve shared countless match day experiences at Olympic Park and Etihad Stadium.
I came across a few Melbournians in South Africa who were considering the same thing.
At the end of the day those who do swap clubs will be the same ones who have been left disillusioned by many of the Victory’s off-field decisions over the last five seasons.
It might not be fashionable but can you really blame any Victory fans who start the A-League season in red and white next week?
It’s a myth that being a supporter is for life, especially when the whole league has only been around for a handful of years.
Still, I won’t be joining their ranks.
Earlier in the year, when the coaching staff at the A-League’s newest club would sort through the array of player resumes which were dropped in their mailbox, they’d put them into two piles: For the Heart and Not for the Heart.
The Victory might not have been around for long enough to make me entirely partisan but, once the club begins its competitive existence next Thursday at AAMI Park I’ll be for the Heart, but I’ll also still be For the Victory.
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