It was posted, rather quietly and with little explanation on their Facebook page, that the Melbourne Victory supporters group the North Terrace would be ceasing their role as the organisational entity for the active Victory support.
According to their statement, no leadership will be present in the north end from now on, nor will any North Terrace materials, flags, banners and the like.
It appears – although only alluded to in the statement – that a disagreement between the supporters group and the club revolving mainly around the enforcement of allocated seating could be the cause for the retreat.
Satellite issues involving isolated – but inevitably magnified – incidents have also been mooted as contributing reasons for the exodus. A flare was ripped at the Melbourne Derby, and there were smatterings of shrill reports goggle-eyeing at some scuffle that broke out following the Adelaide match.
All very tiresome, not to mention nebulous in nature, to the point where any conclusions drawn from it aren’t worth considering. But, the NT statement also made very clear that any support attending future Victory games in that part of the stadium is very much not associated with their group, which casts their decision into a light of self-preservation. Perhaps they are erecting a stone wall between their group and any future nasty behaviour, the sort that the FFA has threatened to dock points over.
A message to their own rogue elements? Or perhaps it’s more a general statement of protest, that the sort of atmosphere the A-League has actively highlighted as a badge of honour isn’t compatible with the sorts of restrictions they feel they’re having to survive under, namely the allocated seating issue. These are just guesses because, honestly, it’s hard to say, based on what we have available.
But it is indicative of a general disharmony in football worldwide, between the increasingly corporatised clubs and FAs, sanitised by the financial pursuit of the mainstream ticket-buying public, and the supporters, coated in the residue of old, whose bellowing and rollicking might upset this new clientele.
The Sydney Derby is compared romantically to those that light up the Turkish or Argentinian leagues, but the moral panic that ripples out from flare incidents regularly approaches hysteria. Clubs want a fiery, incandescent atmosphere at their home matches, although not literally fiery and incandescent.
It’s also happening at the moment at West Ham, in the London Stadium, a resplendent ground I have recently been able to visit. Punch-ups have occurred in the stands, vast sloping shelves within which are a huge array of spectators are scattered. Before kick-off the crowd are told in huge emblazoned letters on the big screen to sit down in seated areas, knowing full well that some supporters will stand throughout the match.
Throughout the stodgy contest with Sunderland on Saturday, individuals would turn to look behind them, up through the tiered seating, urging people to stand and sing with them, turning away disgusted when they didn’t. They must peer around at the shiny white surfaces, the gourmet burger trucks, the premium lounges and lament this new sterile, palatable hell they’re in.
The issue causes internal fighting within the supportership, as much as it does between fans and clubs or governing bodies. Fans everywhere enjoy the quality of life upgrades modernity brings, or the increased transfer funds, but they don’t want the richness of history forgotten in the process. Heading into the London Stadium, you stroll past impeccably applied stencils, painted in club colours, of Bobby Moore. It occurs to you at that moment how woefully short a Banksy pastiche falls in eulogising the memory of God.
There are Melbourne Victory ultras out there who think a derby without a flare is like a birthday cake without candles. There are others, just as dedicated, who would back a Draconian witch-hunt to ban flare-rippers for life. The dissonance in play here is the same in principle to the fans who think that those who sit down for most of the match should be at home with prawn sandwiches, it’s just taken to the extremities of the argument.
This is not, I don’t think, simply a matter of not being able to have one without the other; cracking atmospheres at football matches can thrive under modern rules. The relentless roll toward a corporate future can avoid crushing the beloved – but grubby – past into the dirt. But the balance that must be teetered out between clubs, football associations, the police and vibrant supporter groups must be finely adjusted and entered into openly and cheerfully, or it risks being toppled into disarray.
This, peering as we must through the miasma, appears to be what has happened at Melbourne Victory, and one wonder how different the home games of the league’s best supported club will be without them.
SVB
Guest
Probably is to do with a status thing more than anything else.
punter
Guest
I have been going to the A-League for 11 years now & have taken my wife & now 2 grown up kids & yes I have seen some unruly spectators, however no more then any other sporting events I have followed over the years. I don't go chasing problems & have rarely seen alot of issues around me.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Was looking forward to the fight to get into the stadium, since we're all ultra's and all :(
marron
Guest
So not as good quality = dull to you? Hmmm. At any rate, some people - most even, I suspect - don't simply go from ground to ground in the hope of watching quality football. They have a team, and they stick with it, and if they've been sticking with it for several decades, they'll often stick with it even if they're being charged an arm and a leg to do so with little promise of winning anything. This is perhaps a bit silly but then so is watching grown men kick a ball around. Both are kind of at the heart of what football is about. Take one away and you don't quite have the full picture.
AZ_RBB
Guest
They can sit there in the comfort of knowing that there aren't common folk there to disturb their peace.
DH
Guest
The fact that Arsenal can charge that much suggests the fans don't think their matches are dull.
marron
Guest
... o las trompetas, repiniques, y bombas de Western Sydney ;)
c
Roar Rookie
the "australian " authorities would be very happy with this conclusion
Greg
Guest
Garbage. The squadron dropped off massively prior to the wanderers game. How the wanderers fans got away with that is a joke. However,.that is not the reason the squadron is.now about 20 ppl. Maybe look at the comments made by the squadron after 2008 when they would shoot off over any and everything happening at the club pretending they were the voice of the fans. Newcastle has a brilliant, loyal and switched on following. They never needed someone to be the voice for them. All the huff and puff to get rid of Con and we were left with Tinkler.
MarkfromCroydon
Guest
Must admit, i would like to hear bit of Argentinian style chants. Dale, dale Melbourne Victory! Check out Velez Sarsfield fan pages if you want to hear some chants with a bit of rhythm and musical substance.
marron
Guest
Wait what Now we're supposed to be like the ultras in Italy or the barra bravas. Kaks, if you want to come to the game on Saturday night you have to go through me, and if the club complain I'll trash the joint. On second thoughts... I might just stick to what I'm doing.
CBR
Guest
I agree, the whole issue is taken to extremes by the media. Perhaps the authorities don't want to be seen as backing down in looking for alternatives but the active groups could get imaginative themselves. Instead of flares, maybe they could throw buckets of colourful chalk into the air.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Kaks It's an opinion site, we express opinions. I'm not saying it's an issue I would die in a ditch over (it's not). I am of the view, however, that a club like the Victory, a genuinely big club, with plenty of support, does not need segments of the NT, and will happily continue without them (just as its attendances and memberships prospered after the demise of the BWB).
Kaks
Roar Guru
Nobody is talking about 'ultra's'.
Arnold Krewanty
Guest
Yep. squadron bay 2 growing strong. Wsw game, away fans come in, cause trouble, we got shifted to oblivion. Now fenced off, with older squadron members kept at arms length thxs to gestapo. Yep. I can blame the ffa, and rightfully so. Tell me otherwise?
Kaks
Roar Guru
What I dont get is why people who arent in the active supporter groups, like yourself, care so much about active supporter groups. I mean, it doesnt affect people like you. People like you can still go to the game and watch/support your team however you want (although I doubt you would go as the A-league doesnt have the Juventus team of the 70's) - and the active support can do it however they want and face whatever consequences come of them. Yet here we are listening to people like you saying that the active support are all about themselves and are selfish and telling them how they should behave even though they dont care how you support your team. So why do you care? Can't wait for the "because they bring the game into disrepute" argument even though our game keeps growing - highlighted by the record attendance and increase in TV viewership. And I cant wait for the "they arent important argument" even though they are used in some way during any advertisement, and whether people like to admit it or not their vibrancy, noise and colour attract people to the league.
SVB
Guest
Pot calling the kettle black.
FrontRunner
Guest
See you say that now, but hordes of people and the media will always jump to the defence that "they're dangerous". They wouldn't be in production if they were legitimately a safety hazard. As for the only legitimate use, yes that's correct, can't argue with you there, i just don't see why then they need to be demonized so much. Doesn't cause safety concerns around the world, why should it do so here? Many fans enjoy the presence of flares but the only reason they don't support it is because it harms the club in the way of draconian measures, and to this all i can say is that the issue isn't of flare use but the entire country's perception of it. Again i ask, why not find alternatives?
CBR
Guest
My understanding is that the illegally of flares is that it is less to do with safety, and more to do with their only recognised legitimate use being for distress and emergency signalling.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
One of the four diegos talking on SEN now. His view is that overseas, the active support is 100% committed towards supporting the club, but in Australia, it's more this me, me, me, me, me attitude - it's all about me. I couldn't agree more.