Melbourne City are slowly but surely winning the hearts of Geelong’s football fans. More and more kids (and adults) are wearing the sky blue and white jersey around town and the club is making a concerted effort to build its relationship with the region.
The Victoria Patriots’ working group announced in January they would be bidding for a new Geelong A-League licence. A-League expansion was a hot topic at the start of the season, however interest has been lukewarm at best since the FFA met with A-League chairmen in February.
After all the initial excitement, fiscal reality has set in, meaning expansion hopefuls such as Geelong have had to temper their ambitions.
Meanwhile, Melbourne City have made significant strides into the booming Geelong market. The club offered discounted memberships for Geelong fans in the 2016-17 season and this will continue for the 2017-18 campaign. Kids in Geelong were offered $30 memberships for the current season and adults a 20 per cent discount, opportunities which were grabbed with open arms by local football fans.
This sort of gesture shows how serious City are about growing their brand in the region.
The number of registered football players in Geelong in 2017 is set to increase significantly from the record number of 3712 in 2016. It is a smart move from Melbourne City to take advantage of the increasing appetite for football in the region. With A-League football’s popularity growing and being more accessible, there is every chance Geelong people will grow impatient waiting for their own club and will jump on board the City bandwagon.
Showcasing the appetite for football in the region, more than 90 kids turned up for a school holiday clinic in January at Myers Reserve despite only a weeks’ notice.
“That just showed us how much passion there is for football in Geelong,” Melbourne City membership and ticketing sales manager Travis Davidson said. “There is plenty of enthusiasm in the region.”
Melbourne City ran a beach soccer tournament at Eastern Beach in Geelong in mid-January which proved very popular and there are plans to make this a regular event. City have also been active in encouraging Geelong football fans to come to matches.
There were two opportunities provided this season for Geelong girls to be mascots and ball girls at a Melbourne City W-League home game, including the grand final replay against Canberra. The young girls had a ball meeting female stars such as Erika Tymrak and Tegan Allen, with a few signing up to become City members and some even signing up to play football for the first time.
City’s 2016-17 W-League championship trophy was also on show at Geelong Galaxy United’s WNPL home game against Calder in Torquay earlier this month. Young girls from the region were shown what they could aspire to.
Breakwater Eagles kids also had the opportunity to play at half-time of an A-League game between City and Western Sydney Wanderers at AAMI Park during the previous season. City’s efforts to support Geelong football has well and truly been appreciated by local fans.
“It’s awesome that Melbourne City actively encourage soccer at the grassroots level in Geelong by holding skills clinics and fun days for juniors,” Geelong resident and City fan Fran Cunningham said.
“They obviously value their Geelong supporters with discounted memberships for fans willing to travel to Melbourne to watch them play. Providing more opportunities for Geelong kids to be ball boys/girls at both W-League and A-League matches and a willingness to mingle and sign autographs when in Geelong running clinics would be even better.”
City have also invited Geelong clubs to be part of their Club City program, which aims at building even stronger relationships with local clubs. By joining the program local clubs have the chance to access matchday opportunities for their juniors, clinics for local kids, coaching programs for local coaches and invitations to be part of City gala days. So far Geelong Region Football Committee (GRFC) clubs Breakwater Eagles, Bell Park, Elcho Park Cardinals, Golden Plains and Surfside Waves have taken up this opportunity.
The next step for Melbourne City is to bring both A-League and W-League games to Geelong. There is no reason why City can’t bring pre-season or FFA Cup games to town. While more difficult to do, there is also the possibility of bringing some A-League home games to Kardinia Park, a superb and modern facility.
City’s W-League team could play home games at Kardinia Park or even at Banyul Warri Reserve in Torquay, home of Geelong Galaxy United, to take advantage of the growth in female football in the region.
Geelong is capable of having its own A-League team one day down the track, and many locals will be hesitant to have a part-time club here, but for the moment cheering on Melbourne City is a very good alternative.
Justin Mahon
Guest
Victory played CCM for competition points in Geelong. It was a CCM Home game they sold to Vctory who in turn took the match to Geelong, they could have played at AAMI, but memberships had been sold already. So these FACTS and those outlined above by me and others telll us three things (1) Melbourne victory do a lot in Geelong (2) the CCM have taken more games to Geelong than Heart and (3) facts are important in writing a pursuasive text.
Jackson
Guest
Great article. It is good to see City broadening their appeal.
Nemesis
Guest
Offering discounted tickets to Geelong fans means nothing. If Geelong fans are buying the discounted tickets that's the key indicator as to whether the Geelong community is embracing City. City have been operating for 7 seasons. They've not taken even 1 A-League match to play in Geelong. In fact, they've shunned Geelong and gone to Morwell & Woodonga. Of course Victory will only take Regional matches to Geelong. That's the very definition of the adjective "Regional" in the term "Regional round". Ideally the 5 teams who play the extra home match each year should be forced to play that extra match at a neutral regional venue. Victory seems to be the only club who does this properly every year.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
What do you mean no evidence? City have given discounted memberships to Geelong fans, many Geelong fans have signed up to be members. City are bringing clinics and beach football to the region. Geelong kids are given match day opportunities. The next step is to bring a game to Geelong. VIctory have not brought a home game to Geelong, they have always brought a regional game to Geelong.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Seek supporters where ever you can. It's not restricted to the A-league but NRL and AFL fans come from far and wide. While the City brains trust is busy recruiting, how about they spend some time putting in a bit of customer care towards their existing members! Try getting a response from head office on any number of matters. Sometimes I wonder ;(
Nemesis
Guest
There is absolutely no evidence to corroborate the premise of this article. If Geelong had embraced Melbourne City, the Geelong Council would pay Melbourne City to play at least 1 home match in the region as the council has paid Victory for the past 3 years. I think that contract has ended now. Victory pulls bigger crowds when playing in Geelong than City gets playing in Melbourne. City have played Aleague regional matches in Morwell & Woodonga. City probably have as many fans in Morwell & Woodonga as they do in Geelong.
Anna
Guest
Great idea from City. Why not get as many fans as they can!
saul
Guest
It's good that Melbourne City value Geelong Football supporters but it's a shame the FFA doesn't.
Janakan
Guest
Victory do some things but if you ask a large number of Geelong fans it seems restricted to certain local clubs. The point is City are open to everyone and have openly invited everyone. Offering discounted memberships for Geelong fans shows they are accounting for the difficulty in getting to melbourne. This is a great way of showing Geelong fans they care
Justin Mahon
Guest
So Victory take games for competition points and high profile international friendlies, take their Regional road show there every year, take their coaching clinics to local clubs and sponsor the inter schools school sports football competition for boys and girls and this is a token effort? Victory have a great following in Geelong and there is no reason to expect this won't continue.
Buddy
Guest
Forget their current name and the parent body....and I know that isn't realistic, but surely MCFC could do worse than to be based in Geelong? That at least would provide a real identity and stable support base. That is something that has never been there since the 2 incarnations to date. I'm onterested to understand why fans took up the cause? Mr Muscat and Berisha haven't always been around to dislike MV and there isn't the natural geography that the birth of WSW grew from.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Unrealistic mate...the local league is nowhere near prestigious enough to warrant thousands of fans going along. A league is the ultimate in this country.
Nemesis
Guest
Can't see why anyone from Geelong would prefer to follow a Melbourne team over a local team. If I lived in Geelong I'd be attaching my support to football clubs in Geelong, but watch ALeague as a neutral.
Janakan
Guest
Why should it be Victory's!? Victory play a token game a year. They only support one or two local clubs in the region. City have opened an invitation for all Geelong clubs. City provide Geelong specific memberships and have clinics open to all. They are dojng a great job.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Interesting article.
DB
Guest
If they were serious, they would try to team up with the Geelong Football Club with a bit of cross-promotion and the like.
Janakan
Guest
I hope City bring a few games to Geelong next year. Maybe a pre season game for the a league team and maybe regular season for W League.
AR
Guest
Nice puff piece. MCFC are doing their job in putting energy into a region that should be Victory's. But it does seem a tad strange that "Melbourne City" (which even borrows the coat of arms of the City of Melbourne) seeks support from a regional neighbour, one which has been a rival to Melbourne (the city) for 150 + years. I think it just muddles the identity of this franchise even more.