Heart aren't going too badly, one poor crowd doesn't signal the demise of the club. They've only been around for a few years, it takes time to build up that core support. SMSC had 30+ years to develop theirs and Heart are already a bigger club, with plenty of room to grow.

Lets not go backwards here folks. The NSL was a long time ago and even in the one in a billion chance SMSC was allowed to join they wouldn't attract the commercial interest and mainstream support to be sustainable. Meat raffles might have done the trick in the NSL but that wont cut it in a professional credible league like the A League

Another thing is all the SMSC fans on here seem like the rotten types who don't care about the A league and just want to see South be the top club again. All other A league fans are united by the desire to see the A league grow and succeed whereas South fans would rather see it fall apart so they can revive the NSL and its ethnic tensions. We need to ensure any club who joins the A league has a positive contribution to make to all of Australian football and not just their own communities.

You do realise some of the biggest clubs in the world play in athletics stadiums? secondly we see A league games played in rugby and afl venues every week so you cant really use that angle...technically the league only has 3 boutique football stadiums.

So, let's see if I understand your logic ..

.. you hate the A-League because it's a plastic league.

You have nothing positive to say about the A-League, but ...

.. if Sth Melb were part of the A-league, you would embrace the competition & it's no longer "plastic"?

Assumptions all round by everybody regarding the HAL and smfc fans

south wants to play at the highest possible level

south is capable to not only deliver but exceed expectations

South will give the Victory a true run for its money - not be a bridesmaid like the Heart are

even with an Athletics track - the fans will still be closer to what they are at Etihad stadium

Melbourne Heart have clearly not worked

smfc have pulling power with industry - fans - juniors - the opportunity is to have the 1st end to end club in the HAL with representation at all levels

Perhaps its the FFA that is not capable of housing a club like smfc

Southern Cross.

Hearts figures and crowds have been positively impacted with their favorable derby fixtures with the Victory - this year that layer of comfort is peeled away

they never took off - in a city of 4.5 million - they are an extremely thin line - infact they are a dotted line

Ha ha good one.:lol:

you defense is very thin

smfc has a pretty big stick my friend

Forgot to mention - MH will never play out of our stadium - nor have their offices in our stadium - ever

Edited by chris: 9/12/2012 06:32:53 PM

SMFC are no better. Their crowds were absolute rubbish from go to woe. Replacing one lump of shit for another isn't the solution.

No self respecting football team would want to play on a cow paddock.

To the OP - HAL is not going back to including mono- ethnic clubs.
Which is the only way SMFC could hope to surpass MH attendances - so troll all you like.
SMFC is irrelevant to the future of the game here, despite supporters like you, who were hoping for a poor TV deal to cause instability that you hoped mono-ethnic clubs could exploit in an attempt to get back into the spot light.
We respect the contribution of SMFC and the other clubs - but just like Hakoah, Polonia, JUST etc, SMFC supporters need to understand that your time in the sun is over, and your brand now longer fits with the direction of the HAL.
As an MV supporters, I am happy to admit even our crowd would have been down yesterday in those atrocious weather conditions.

runs are on the board - the fact that you even compare smfc with that imitation of a club called Melb Heart makes me cringe all over

MH are just a piece of paper called a HAL licence - and that's about it

smfc penetrates! - if you do not understand this - then you do not understand football

smfc represents a zone
smfc represents a segment
smfc has fabric
smfc is multicutural

MH are none of the above

No reason to lock it really, people are discussing the topic in a reasonable and well behaved manner, the premise of the question is fanciful and by commenting and accepting the premise of the question you are inadvertently keeping the thread alive and giving weight to the notion that somehow South Melbourne, despite all evidence to the contrary would be a better option than Melbourne Heart.

Last season of nsl v Heart currently

South Melbourne v Brisbane Strikers - crowd 7,250
Melbourne Heart v Brisbane Roar - crowd 5, 466

South Melbourne v Perth Glory - crowd 11,642
Melbourne Heart v Perth Glory - crowd 4,500

South Melbourne v Parramata Power (west sydney club) - crowd 10,005
Melbourne Heart v West Sydney - wont be 10,000 thats for sure

South Melbourne v Adelaide United - crowd 8,359
Melbourne Heart v Adelaide United - ??

South Melbourne v wollongong wolves (regional club) crowd 6,950
Melbourne Heart v Central Coast Mariners - crowd 6,357


Do you really wanna talk about core support? i have just given you factual evidence of the dying days of the nsl when it was almost amateur, certainly not on tv and most of the clubs knew they were gonna be thrown out, yet somehow smfc seems to have more mainstream appeal based on the above...and we didnt have MV to boost our figures!

I think its fairly clear to see where the upside is.

If mods took that road every time this forum would have a dramatic decrease in thread numbers.

Where does SMFC penetrate exactly? Other than the Suvlaki and Kebab shops? Your club is tiny and the broader multicultural community doesn't care for it. You're living in the past mate.

How would you describe the Melbourne Heart???

I think it shows how far smfc have progressed that we dont need your types anymore, today i attend smfc games standing side by side with fellow aussies, poles, asians etc and yes greeks as well. You on the other hand were an smfc supporter, changed teams because you thought the club was gonna fold, and now you're bitter because its arguably the most financial secure club in the country and has left the ultra greek community behind...the fascinating thing is that you are so pro greek in your stance that it upsets you that smfc has progressed to this extent...instead of being happy for the club you have to call it irrelevant, are you sure you dont work for 3xy?:lol:

Another assumption - For a not for profit VPL Club with zero assistance and exposure we have a kickass Digital media Team - 35K tune in to our C31 program monthly -> best in the country and ground breaking - Active Partnership program with Olympiacos and Fragata FC in Brazil - First club in Australia to fully implement the FFA Carriculum - full time coaches and staff including GM and technical directors - data base of 5,000 active members - Ground breaking Youth Program......List is toooooo long and timely - go to smfc website and have a look

On the other hand Heart a whinging because they have no assistance from FFA - sorry mate but FFA's job is to govern - not run the clubs

Emerson - World Cup winner, former Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan, Roma player and current head of Fragata FC in Brazil Emerson speaks to SMFC TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ooHsoQMHXE&feature=youtu.be

Edited by chris: 9/12/2012 07:07:32 PM

Call me whatever you want but I think the OP has a point.

Fact is, whether you like it or not, Heart have so far failed to make much of an impact and pretty much live as a second thought to Melbourne Victory. It's poor when they rely on a sold out derby to bump up their crowd average. People say, 'oh, we just need good football, we just need results', newsflash, not every team can win in a season.

I think the southern cross bid was an interesting one. From what I understand, it took away the mono-cultural thing going on there and if you played them out of AAMI park, I think the derby that would have been created would have been a lot more dynamic than the one we have now. Even though its a different entity, you could have played off the history of South Melbourne. While the Sydney derby is based on geographical difference, this one would have taken a very different dynamic.

One of the most successful clubs of old v one of the most successful clubs in the A-league. It's a lot more inspirational and tribal than Melb Blue v Melb Red.

I think there would have been teething problems at first (troublemakers) but just like other clubs, with the help of the FFA, any problems would have been ironed out over time.

They have no culture let alone a multi culture - confused model and deployment all round

The bit that gets me is that we are labelled ss anti-heart, firstly Victory fans give them way more crap then what we do, i give them crap because they deserve it yet i still go watch them regularly, i would love to see Heart prove me wrong and grow from strength to strength, but its not gonna happen...the club needs a makeover or a change of venue...something that screams that they arent the poor little brother of MV born 5 yrs later.

and when i say i give them crap, from the get go they were absolutely moronic to only interview dutch coaches for the main job, coud you imagine the outrage if this was smfc in that position only interviewing coaches from Greece? sorry but thats a joke, they had Ange begging for the job and they laughed him off, they went and camped out at latrobe uni...sorry but the facilities are laughable out there...even last yr i wanted to defend them but they keep making mistake after mistake...eventually its gonna be fatal.

Nice cherry picking of facts there, no mention of the constantly paltry crowds over its 30 years in the NSL? SMFC had the backing of the Greek community and even at its peak was not going to be good enough for the A league. The Heart is a work in progress and has by no means peaked yet, with the new TV deal and FTA coverage in the pipeline the sky is the limit. Maybe in 10 - 20 years if the crowds are still down your argument might have more merit then.

So hypothetical here, if the Heart and Souths merged in someway and became a joint venture in the HAL would the supporters of each team continue to support the venture?

If well worked it would give both clubs what they crave, Souths a presence at the top of football in Australia and Heart a bigger fanbase, arguably the best youth system in the land and more corporate support.

Would help Souths shake the stigma of being a "greek" club.

As a neutral it makes sense to me but i have no connection to either club.

Melbourne Victory vs South Melbourne, now that's a derby!

Edited by Axelv: 9/12/2012 07:20:30 PM

LUV your work - numbers don't lie

worth mentioning smfc's numbers were in a busted comp and a much smaller fascility with no coverage unlike what the MH enjoy today