This is the question for administrators of Melbourne Victory, whose ongoing problems with the club’s fans continue to plague the A-League powerhouse.
First of all, Colorado Rapids a founding MLS franchise, have an unsavoury history between administrators and supporters that has sent once-record attendances on a massive downward spiral.
It has led them to going from the one-time best supported team in the MLS to now being a bit of a minnow as more forward-thinking franchises like Seattle, Portland and even rivals Salt Lake City take the notoriety as clubs with strong cultures and high attendances.
Of course in today’s MLS, lessons have been learned and today’s Colorado team are reminiscent of those lessons where supporters are not only first, but supporter culture is also celebrated rather than admonished.
But if you go back 12 years to 2002 the ‘rebranded’ Colorado you see today are nowhere to be seen. In 2002 the Rapids, in their sixth year, are having their watermark year with average crowds of 20,000 and a record attendance of 60,000 – sound familiar?
Well, it didn’t last and a lot of that is a direct result of the administrators of the day.
With large crowds came a paranoid mentality about active support, and club administrators began persecuting their active supporters with strong in stadium restrictions that went as far as relocations based on simply complaints from Johnny-come-lately fans.
The then-quite large supporters group didn’t even last the season out with club administrators forcibly moving them from their favoured stadium position and restricting their movements and culture.
After 2002 not only did the supporters groups disappear but so did the record crowds in the ensuing years. In 2005 the Rapids had no active support and their crowds dwindled.
In 2005 three new supporters groups were founded however the persecution continued as the club constantly had its hand in supporters’ business and persecuted supporters for any incident.
Two of the three and one other group founded in 2007 disbanded in 2009, fed up with club intervention.
Not even a championship year in 2010 could help with record low attendances.
Of course since 2010 and the successes of other MLS franchises built around their supporters groups attitudes have changed in not only Colorado, but league-wide.
Now Melbourne Victory, has been infinitely more lucky but at the same time continues to make the same mistakes as the Denver-based MLS club.
Where Colorado went wrong was its frenetic paranoia about how its supporters were received by both other supporters and the local media.
They are now extremely bullish about on the side of their current third generation of active supporters.
Melbourne continues to kowtow to any and all critics of its active supporters and their culture.
Where any incident brings about a bout of hysteria on behalf of the AFL and cricket agenda-driven media, Melbourne and for that matter the FFA continue to behave as if they’re at the mercy of these ultra-conservative tabloid magazines.
So much so that they’re actively and willingly persecuting supporters as a result.
Supporters however are growing ever tired of this attitude being taken by the administrators of our game who seem incredibly oblivious to not only history, but also their very own and most vital benefactors.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I don't agree with the on-going seemingly never ending protest by the NT. I think it's time they try and reach a compromise with the club and get back on the terrace regardless. But I strongly feel they have a point to make. @Fuss. Didn't you just use your 4 friends as a source for your point of view? Which is 0.0018% i think of total MVFC members.
mahonjt
Guest
And a final point - I don't go much for the argument "if you disagree with the NT you are not educated about the issues". I was an NT member in years 1 and 2 before the kid came along (indeed I was at the inaugural UNION meeting to form it and have the scarf to prove it). I have never missed a home game and as a life-long football fan don't need educating on this situation. IMO a few of the NT need some education in life. Watching your beloved national football league collapse under a commercial and political tsunami teaches you a thing or two about how to support a team, a league and a game. Most NT members couldn't even remember these bad times. They have a 'entitlement mentality' run amok.
mahonjt
Guest
Top post.
mahonjt
Guest
Many of us 'families' were single members before the kids, buy memberships we cant afford to ensure all the kids have a seat into the future. Turn up to each home game. Purchase merchandise every 3 moths because we keep feeding the kids. Constitute the great majority of members. Love the team as much as anybody. More self-indulgent rubbish from a 'wannabe hool' with no basic understanding of demographics and what it takes to build an inclusive, sustainable football club. Just for the record - how much football revenue (beyond the A-League) is driven by families playing football? Final question - who introduced you to football and financed your participation for years (if you've ever played the game)?
SeanC
Guest
Agreed, I've been an MVFC member since season one and I regularly travel to Europe where I have attended English league games The wanna be ultras here have no idea how good they've got it policing wise....
Jen
Guest
Fussball ist Unser legend. Where have you been mate - on another planet ! I am a Melbourne Victory member and go to all home games as I have for the past 8 years. If you honestly believe that the atmosphere at games is no different without the north end you are walking around with blinkers on. The north end are pivotal to everything that is Melbourne Victory. The club should be doing everything in its power to protect its supporters reputation because as I see it there has been no flares, no smashing of seats etc etc by Melbourne victory supporters at all this year. Because a few Melbourne Victory supporters muck up with the WSW supporters 5 kilometres away - why is it that ALL active supporters are to blame. How can anyone in north terrace be responsible for the behaviour of all Melbourne victory supporters. Surely that is the responsibility of the police. Imagine if Collingwood cheer squad in the AFL were told that they had to have sanctions put on them like NT because a few dickheads mucked up - way out of their control - and no other cheer squads had these sanctions - do you honestly think Eddie McGuire and the board at Collingwood would just accept this and go along with it !!!!!! I can tell you now - NO WAY! Come on Melbourne Victory - show some loyalty and support for the NT - they give their all to Melbourne Victory !
Luke Gaskett
Roar Rookie
Well said Indio Thanks to everyone that added a comment and shared my article around it created discussion and got way more coverage than I could've imagined when I was putting it together. There will be more to come on this as I feel the crux of this issue is not greatly understood by the greater MVFC and a-league community. There are issues no one is denying that, but overall the penalty never matches the crime and more than often people like me are treated as guilty by association even though I do not even know who or why someone may commit a trespass. We have a situation that (despite Fussbal ist unser laben's protests) is at boiling point I'm also an 8 year member who will not be renewing for the next season if the issues are not resolved fairly and justifiably. Cheers.
Luke Gaskett
Roar Rookie
Excellent post couldn't have said it better myself.
nonnz
Guest
Good stuff ZB!
nonnz
Guest
Can confirm I have... but was a MVFC member before I was a family. Loyal biatch.
indio
Guest
Been a member of MV since 2005 .. Never been part of any active fan section of the club .. Im part of a large family group that includes kids, women, grand parents etc, around 20 of us .. We attended practically all home games since the beginning and quite a few away fixtures .. A couple of weeks bac,k for the first time since I've join as a game member, I saw MV fans leaving in droves at half time in the game against Sydney. I've never done it myself before, but upon the fourth goal being scored I told my self "this is rubbish, admin is taking us for a ride, they think we are fools and us blindidly rewarding their inept directorship of the franchise isn't helping" .. So I got up and left with a whole bunch of us, such was our disgust. From afar I can sympathise with both sides .. I do feel the club and FFA is over reacting and failing to protect part of the core support of the HAL and MV .. I find the police presence way over the top and security personnel poorly trained to deal with the idiosyncrasies of active football support .. From day one the club has been doing the shifty on fans ... Uses active support images to impress people into signing up, then a week from starting the season, when modt everyone has slready dole out theur hard earned for a membership, they decide to go all hard core on active supporters and introduce draconian new rules .. As far as I'm concerned that its the ultimate in deceit from a board that looks to be ultimately nothing more than a plastic franchise owner. They should have told everyone from the beginning what the ground rules were. Allow people to be fully informec begire they make up their minds whether to financially support the team without question. On the other side I respect the value NT adds to the spectacle with their committed, passionate and colourful support style. They make the rest of us prawn sangers look pathetic as fans (sorry but we are) when they are protesting and not singing for the team. But .. tthings have gone down that iare not appropriate, illegal and darn right destructive to the image of the club and the game. Last thing I want to do is for us to pander to the media and handeggball establishmen'st crusade to crucify football at every opportunity, as has been their wanton approach from day one at MV back in 2005. I'm afraid that you also have a responsibility, as all of us game members do, to help the club and the code by not giving these intolerant idiots the opportunity to undermine the legitimacy of our code existing as a veuable cog in the sport landscape of Melbourne. Both sides have to make amends .. Neither has a clean skin .. The sooner they start working together for the good of the club and game in Melbourne (not the pockets of the franchise owners) the better for everyone. At the moment we haven't got a coach, we haven't got a captain, we are playing rubbish, we havent got an active support worth speaking off and we have a inefficient and sus admin. This is no way to prepare for Manchester City taking over our opponents next year.
voj
Guest
Very well said mate, I totally agree. Being a 6th year member and attending almost every home and derby match possible along with an away trip here and there, I can't help but feel frustrated and disgusted by uneducated comments from people such as Fussball ist unser leben. I have followed the comments on the NT facebook page for a while now and can say that your (Armory) quotes are spot on about those who continue to bash the NT when really they don't have a clue what it's all about or the logic behind the protest. If people such as Fussball ist unser leben who can jump up and down on anyone regarding "evidence" about how the club have treated their own supporters - why don't they check the official responses from the club that are posted on the NT facebook page. Plenty of evidence there about restrictions towards growth of the NT, signs that cover advertising, tarps pulled in closer together to cause overcrowding - these are just some of the major points that were on the negotiating table. The club at first didn't even consider speaking with anyone from the NT reps. The second time around, the club sends some side representative to just listen to what the NT have to say. They have apparently removed some of the restrictions, and this is where some fans had become divided. I can go on and on about this, but will leave it short. I understand what the NT are all about and fully support them. They are the #1 fans this league has seen since day 1 and are the envy of all supporter groups and clubs across Australia. It's a shame the club has taken the wrong turn against their own fans who have made the club what it is today. I know I am not the only one acting alone in this, and won't be renewing my membership next season if the club continue to carry on like this. It's also sad that there are a lot of people like Fussball ist unser leben who believe they are the pride and joy of a club that will have an AFL support-like atmosphere if this continues. Get your head out of your arses, support the boys and the fans that made the club since day 1!
Armory
Guest
It's a joke to suggest fans aren't divided over this. But the sad fact is that the majority of MVFC fans (and people in general) are completely uneducated about the protest and seem to side with the club by default, and the longer the debacle goes on, the more they assume NT are being unreasonable and responsible for dragging it out. A lot of people don't even know there IS a protest! There are flaws with how the NT leaders have handled this boycott but I am in full support of them and never want to see this club fall into a lifeless, plastic gimmicky atmosphere that it will become without the terrace. I have all-too-often witnessed countless fans berating NT for not singing as if they are obligated to (while they themselves sit on the sidelines and do nothing) and telling them to adopt this wholly unquestioning "shut up, sing and support the boys" attitude. These are also the same people who tell NT to stop whinging, shut up about the new restrictions, and that they deserve this collective punishment - "if you didn't misbehave, there wouldn't be any trouble!" "You brought this upon yourselves!" "Stop making it all about you!" Yet they have the nerve to complain about how unfair it would be to dock 3 points and punish a whole bunch of innocent fans who had nothing to do with the brawl in the city! I almost have to laugh. Having attended the A-League since season 2, I will not stop watching, but I will likely stop attending live games if active support is destroyed. $140 is a lot of money for me and instantly becomes a waste when I can experience the exact same atmosphere from my lounge room couch, and better yet, not be rigorously searched, ID checked and treated as a criminal with a "guilty until proven innocent" mentality for crimes I have not and will never commit. Active support invests a huge amount of time, energy and passion to jump and sing for their club, choreograph and paint tifos, and provide football with a beautiful atmosphere without asking for anything beyond decent treatment in return, and the fact that we are treated ten times worse than any other supporter at the club is absolutely ****ing disgraceful. Of course MVFC is still happy to use NT in their ads though! Money can fix on-field disasters, but it cannot buy passion or the energetic love the terrace provides to our game. I can only hope that someone on the MVFC board sees sense, or is replaced by someone else who does, and North Terrace can flourish once again before it's too late.
Dom
Guest
Nice comparative piece there mate. It's hard to comment on exactly what is going on at the club because the northern terrace and the club are so far apart it's not funny...and it's driving away us regular members too. I wrote an article about this a while ago for another website and for it to be not resolved this far into the season makes it feel like a wasted season.
Kyle Stewart
Roar Pro
I thought you were one of the better commenters until this. Was a great read and showed a great comparison between the two situations
AVictory
Guest
Great post, couldn't have said it any better.
Football
Guest
The adminstrators have an AFL background and want to turn the beautiful game into AFL II with the lifeless crowds, the lame "cheersquads". I think anybody with an AFL background should be disqualified from any role relating with football.
clayts
Guest
I would imagine 'papers' like the Herald Sun. The Age also quickly becoming one
Joe
Guest
This article is spot on. Victory member for 7yrs - blind freddy can see the clubs disgraceful actions from round 1 have destroyed the atmosphere on game day. There's a growing number of long term 7,8,9 yrs members who are seriously considering not renewing memberships this yr. Regarding above comments where you can't notice any difference Fussball ist unser leben, mate you've got to be joking. Have a good look through both the Melbourne Victory and North Terrace facebook pages and comments since October.
Marc
Guest
Hahaha, Fussball ist unser leben get your head out of your ass fella, i'm not a member, supporter of MVFC nor do i even follow this sport, but it's quite clear for all to see that your club is broken & divided. It's a club hardly worth following if all they're interested in doing is breaking the backs of their most loyal fans.