As the October 2nd date for what will be the A-League’s first intra-city derby between Melbourne Victory and the Melbourne Heart looms, some traditionalist fans perhaps can’t be blamed for having a sense of what could have been.
Following the 2006/2007 season a game was played on a cold Wednesday night at Bob Jane stadium between South Melbourne and the Melbourne Victory. Despite absolutely no publicity, the match still drew a crowd in the region of 7000. As someone who went, the match certainly had the substance of a passionate derby, one of the most historically rich clubs versus the new powerhouse in the post-Crawford era and there was certainly plenty of fire in the belly of fans in the stands.
The cost of a fan’s stupid action in the stands was that the FFA were perhaps further inclined to opt for the Heart syndicate of investors and give them “exclusive bidding rights” in much the same way it has to the now faltering Sydney Rovers bid.
This was at the price of the Southern Cross bid, which unlike the Heart investors actually had some half credible links to community groundswell (through South Melbourne) that was distinct from that of Melbourne Victory, and potentially tapped into an element of the football fraternity who hadn’t yet embraced the A-League.
Now that Heart have been brought into the league by the FFA, the Melbourne football fraternity are left to reflect on what could have been, and put up with some bizarre behaviour coming out of the Heart administrators.
This is starting with some concerning policies regarding the seating arrangements (as alluded to in this fan blog by Matt Morris) where instead of simply giving the active fans an end each (the most practical and pragmatic option in what is an unprecedented and tricky operation) the Heart administrators have opted to move the Victory fans’ section.
While one can to a degree understand the administrators being reluctant to have their own small band of supporters heavily overshadowed in the stands by the largest fanbase in the A-League, one simply cannot understand the logic of allocating between 366-700 spots for Melbourne Victory fans when Melbourne have over 2000 fans with active supporter memberships.
This is a shame because firstly the derby is potentially being robbed of its full atmospheric potential, a virtue which left Eamonn Flannagan gushing following last season’s semi final at the SFS.
This unfortunately only serves to undermine the event itself and the A-League in general given the impact that a vibrant atmosphere has for matches, as Adrian Musolino observes.
In a troubled season where many crowds are down and there is some negative publicity, the A-League needs to take maximum advantage of every opportunity it gets.
The dynamic also goes against the grain of the FFA’s “Fan Made” marketing campaign for the season – similar to how the ANZ Stadium seating arrangements in the pre-season games versus Everton ran contrary to this message, which Mike Tuckerman discussed.
The situation does nothing to fill fans with confidence that the FFA are becoming more constructively proactive as opposed to reactive.
The issue also raises some security concerns, because a surplus in the region of 1000 to 1500 fans who normally support Melbourne actively means these fans are then compelled to stand in an area intermingled with fans who would like to enjoy the derby event passively and sitting down. This needless tension can possibly lead to tension that can spoil the occasion for both types of fans and arguments.
Thrown into the mix is the fact that there will probably be more police officers than usual at AAMI Park, and many of them will perhaps be charged up given many would understandably not know what to expect which impacts on how they handle situations.
As Mike Tuckerman observes, the relationship between some officers on the ground and some A-League fans isn’t necessarily smooth, so it is unfortunate that the distasteful policies of the Heart administrators have resulted in a situation where the special event may be remembered for events off the pitch for the wrong reasons instead of the right reasons – ironically, what was trying to be avoided in opting against the Southern Cross consortium.
All of this raises further questions regarding the security advice the FFA are receiving and the inability to proactively preempt possible points of tension in the lead up to big A-League games.
All of this is further compounded by some rather bizarre suggestions coming from Heart CEO Scott Munn, as Michael Lynch reported in The Age concerning the issues in the lead up to the derby. Heart came into the A-League describing themselves as a club which was supposedly oriented towards the “traditionalist fan-base” of football fans. The Heart followers in the first game dubiously tried to articulate this through a pullover that was not well received in some “old soccer” quarters.
But it would appear football fans have voted with their feet and over half of the 11,000 fans who attended their first match have failed to come back. So far the are Heart breaking from their “traditionalist football fan” pitch and appealing to members of selected AFL clubs.
A bit odd then that Heart are forging links with and giving privilege to selected AFL clubs and their members, but Munn’s ideas of AFL-inspired medals and trinkets to go with a football derby is a complete contradiction of what the club was supposed to be about. Traditional football fans do not need such gimmicks to inspire passion and drama. Ironically, many do this via the active support Heart is working to limit.
Munn’s suggestions should be recognised as the Heart’s attempts to develop a legitimacy in Melbourne they don’t necessarily have in the Melbourne football fraternity.
Melbourne Victory CEO Geoff Miles was correct to spurn the idea, and not give the Heart administrators any kind of recognition. They simply have not earned their stripes over others such as South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights.
Chris
Guest
I am Victory through and through and I always hated South Melbourne- Always. I was happy that they got thrown out of the national competition. I was there that night when we played them at Bob Jane. We were laughing at them and besides we beat them comfortably, but as time has gone on, I have changed my mind. That night it was a Wednesday, it was freezing cold and they got about 8000 people to the game- with little to no publicity. Our supporters went after them and they went after us. There was no real problem although one of our supporters acted stupidly out of his hate for South Melbourne but overall it was a great night for football. Anyway alot of us who hated South now understand that they probably should have been the 2nd club in Melbourne. There is real passion between Victory and South Melbourne. The biggest club in Australia vs the most successful. But what have we got, we got Hearts and NO ONE CARES! The game will probably get 15 to 20,000 people but 90% of fans will be Victory and then there'll be some theatre goers who will go for the event- but we all have to ask, what happens in 5 years? The Hearts are not pulling crowds. AAMI Park is an expensive place to play I'd imagine, the bottom line may not be flash and the results on the park are leaving lots to be desired. I dont believe that Hearts will succeed long term. The passion for this contest isn't real. Its just a theatre act in a football arena. Hopefully one day this is rectified and the people who love the game get the derby they really want. Melbourne Victory vs South Melbourne in a national competition not this made up stuff with the Heart and on one last point, i just want to apologise to the South Melbourne people, I have bagged them and their club mercilessly, but the truth is they deserved better and the game deserved better than what we got with Hearts. Thats all!
Axel V
Guest
I hear that it'll be 1 week, or different day, but nothing official yet.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I thought I just heard that the derby will be postponed by one week.
Axel V
Guest
I assume you mean the Sydney FC A team? :D , The Sydney FC B team are currently at the bottom of the ladder! ;)
Axel V
Guest
NUFCMVFC, I always enjoy reading your articles on the roar, I find an article written by a fan writing about real issues far more interesting than the armchair experts that don't write about much other than the blatently obvious. Heart are a tumour in the Melbourne sporting landscape, that's all they are. All Victorian football fans wanted to create the best possible atmosphere and something special that has never seen before in Australia at AAMI Park for the first Melbourne 'derby', This was a really good oppurtunity for the A-League to showcase itself and ignite this season. The league is going through enough troubles as it is, and it doesn't help that the Heart are shooting Melbourne in the foot by deliberately being inconsiderate. And there has not been any advertisements for this game, and the tickets went on sale only 2 weeks prior to the fixture...And with the AFL Grand Final replay I'm not sure what's going to happen now, it might be a good thing for the game so that they can get their arses into gear.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
heh, heh, yes, good call everyone
Rusty0256
Guest
"Melbourne derby could be spoilt already" Prophetic headline if ever I've seen one.
Don
Guest
YOUTUBE Sydney Olympic Fc Goals. To see a football club with real history
danny
Guest
and now channel 7 are angling for a twilight grand final replay. that would DESTROY the derby.
danny
Guest
indeed. worst possible outcome for the a-league. from a week with potentially a huge volume of media space in the lead-up to the derby, now it will be lucky to rate a mention on friday. unlucky...
mds1970
Roar Guru
The evil AFL's anti-football conspiracy continues......
will
Guest
i too wanted south melbourne fc over melbourne heart but thats in the past and forgotten, lets move on now
whiskeymac
Guest
should be a truly interesting game - neither side has really set the season on fire yet but many are anticipating what we are all hoping is an atmospheric derby. will the MV supporters really be effected by some allegedly sort sighted seating arrangement s or will they just get there and make a racket and enjoy the chance to beat the newest rivals? i think the latter. lastly surely it wld be more conducive to the local game for the administrators to plan these events together and not believe in any false sense of righteousness because one team is 5 years older than the other? wld be better surely to accept that both have HAL status re: of an AFL or South Melbourne fan base?
Rusty0256
Guest
They say you only get one chance to make a great first impression. The first Melbourne Derby is critical on so many levels and the event management choices being made now will have massive impact on how good that first impression will be. How the two sets of supporters will be positioned (or allowed to be positioned) so they can 'bounce' off one another to create the sort of derby atmosphere we all know can happen, is of critical importance. The question is will it be allowed to happen by the actions of Heart management? So far, indications via Heart press releases and member emails giving a mish-mash of seating restrictions, it seems likely that Heart are doing all they can to dilute the reality that Victory outnumber their own supporters 3 to 1, the consequence being that we may not get the atmosphere the occasion deserves. I actually like the idea of non-active supporters mixed throughout the main body of AAMI Park but the ends should be clearly defined for the 'actives' with Heart in the South and Victory in the North. Yes there are going to be more MV than Heart; reality, get over it. It might inspire more Heart members to get involved with the actives to help balance things up for the next derby. Melbourne Heart management please note; your biggest opportunity to grow your supporter base is to do all you can to make the Melbourne derbies unqualified successes; but especially the first.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
This is a really well written article, and while I have disagreed with some points you have made in your last two, I find myself agreeing with much of what you have said here, in particular, two points: 1. the decision to shun South Melbourne (or a bid with links to Hellas), was not really fully thought out, and in fact, verged on pigheadedness. Accepting the Heart bid was about excluding the old ethnic soccer clubs forever - it was not based on a proper and sound selection process, and the opportunity to differentiate the Victory from a second Melbourne club has been lost, perhaps forever. 2. in the early days, I thought the Heart approach was to find points of distinction with the Victory, and one such point was to be a bit more continental in outlook, and to pursue the soccer purist who was not necessarily attending the Victory games. But when I heard that they were offering discounts to AFL members, this struck me as decidedly odd because the Victory already appels to AFL members - so there was one of the points of difference lost!! Also, I too recall that pre-season game against South Melbourne - and it beats me how the FFA could fail to see what was possible - the answer has been right there in front of their noses all along - as I said - pigheadedness.
constantine
Guest
melb heart and ffa are morons, just another example of how silly an idea it is to have afl folk running football
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
Go MVFC! Hopefully all turns out well, seem to have sold a few tix already apparently
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Sorry, I really can't understand what all the fuss is about. Some should stop and take a deep breath and get on with it.. This should however, be an interesting encounter---I shall be watching with great interest to see how the SFC B team :) go up against the Melbourne Victory.