MVFC Blog

Phil Chadwick from SportsAustralia.com has written an excellent article on the wildly disparate reports of last week’s game against South Melbourne FC by the Age and the Herald Sun. While the Age featured a match report under the headline “Melbourne Shows off its Class”, the Herald Sun painted a much bleaker picture, getting things rolling with the painful title: “14 Ejected after Soccer Fracas”.

It is true that flares were thrown and 14 fans were ejected. But this was by no means the only newsworthy thing that happened at the game. For one, the Victory played a solid game of football against the reigning Victorian Premier League champions. But even more significant was the popularity of the contest. As Chadwick pointed out:

It is mid-season for South in the Victorian Premier League, and pre-season for Victory. There was nothing riding on the game. Remarkably, on a cold, wintry Melbourne evening, more than 7,000 spectators turned up to watch.

That astonishing fact is worth repeating: Over 7,000 fans came out to watch a practice match, mid-week, in Melbourne, in winter.

Adelaide United struggled to equal that for a vital Asian Champions League game. That so many eager football fans turned out says a lot for the sporting and football culture in Melbourne. It says a lot for the solid supporter base of South Melbourne, and it says a lot for the growing relevance and credibility of football in this country.

Negative, one-sided reporting is hardly a rarity at the Herald Sun. When it comes to football (of the soccer variety), they appear to have been pissed off a long time ago. Maybe it’s because the Age has been a sponsor of the Melbourne Victory since the first season. Maybe it’s something more sinister. In any case, it’s bad news for the FFA and the Victory as they work hard at changing Australians’ mindset about football.