Sydney FC in blue over new Melbourne Heart colours

DateApril 15, 2014 - 2:00AM 17 reading now



Dominic Bossi


Sydney FC have lodged a formal complaint to Football Federation Australia in response to an application from Melbourne Heart's new owners to rebrand the A-League team as a franchise of Manchester City, including a change of their playing strip from red and white to sky blue.

Melbourne Heart as we know them may have already played their last game as Fairfax Media has been informed that their new owners submitted a request to the FFA to make the club's name, logo and playing colours synonymous with the English Premier League giants. Under the application, the club will be renamed as Melbourne City, have a new logo and play in a sky blue jersey with white socks and shorts.

However, the proposed changes have not gone down well with the sky blue half of Sydney, with Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow lodging a formal complaint to the FFA due to the clash of identities. Barlow is unhappy with Heart's bid to play in a similar strip to Sydney FC, who have become so renowned with the colour that "Sky Blues" has become their nickname.

Colour clash: Melbourne Heart's new owners have applied to change the club's colours to Manchester City's sky blue, a direct clash with Sydney FC.
Colour clash: Melbourne Heart's new owners have applied to change the club's colours to Manchester City's sky blue, a direct clash with Sydney FC. Photo: Getty Images

"Sky blue is much more than just a colour for Sydney FC, it's central to our identity. Sky blue represents our club, our harbour city and is the traditional colour of NSW," Barlow said. "We're extremely concerned about the proposed use of sky blue by Melbourne Heart, and we've made our concerns very clear to the FFA."



Manchester City's bid to change the identity of Melbourne Heart is yet to be approved by the FFA, which owns the trademarks of all 10 A-League clubs. It's understood that the FFA is open to the possibility of the rebranding of the Heart, just as they were with Newcastle Jets changing their shirt colours from gold to red and blue following the takeover by Nathan Tinkler in 2010. Any move will be met with fierce resistance by Sydney FC, who are unwilling to share their colour and identity with another club in the A-League.

"In a competition with only 10 teams, the idea of two teams wearing sky blue is nonsensical especially when sky blue is so closely associated with NSW. I believe it's critical to the integrity of the A-League that clubs have identities that are also in representation of where they come from," Barlow said.

There has been a mixed response from Heart fans over the proposed name change to Melbourne City but a change of colours from red and white stripes to sky blue has been met by widespread protest including large-scale banners displayed at games. Heart's current strip was inspired by the colours of the flag of Melbourne, and banners reading "Keep Melbourne red & white" were on display at the final game of the season against Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.

"In football, club colours are sacred, and they should represent where a club comes from and not the identity of its owner," Barlow said. "Melbourne Heart fans understand and value the history as to why the club wears red and white, and understandably they would want to protest that."

It's not yet known what the new emblem will look like although Manchester City have shown their willingness to give fans some voice with other football investments, such as their MLS club, New York City FC. The New York club will make its debut in 2015 and play in a strip identical to Manchester City although fans were given the choice to select their new emblem which was recently unveiled and incorporated symbols of the city such as the five boroughs and the subway token.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/sydney-fc-in-blue-over-new-melbourne-heart-colours-20140414-zqune.html#ixzz2ytEA0j1Z

A formal complaint ? Seriously ?????? Imagine if man United put in a complaint that liverpool must change their colours due to United playing in red and therefore Liverpool must change as not to get people confused :lol: Barlow is an idiot

Yeah quite stupid, shows Sydney's insecurity :lol:

Barlow has to be seen like he is doing something . He is a incompetent ceo and only reason why travenchenko hasn't got rid of him is due to Barlow being his son in law

Well done Scott Barlow.

Well done ? Sydney can't be this insecure ?? Oh wait they complained that ccm were trying to play games in the north . Complained about wsw. Complaining about stupid shit . Ffs your club should be big enough to not care ffs

No prob, when a team comes in looking to wear red and black I hope you still feel this way.

So I imagine Melbourne Victory would have no problems with Bordeaux buying the Mariners and changing the colours and logo to fit their global brand.

It was less than a month ago a bunch of SFC fans were having a cry on this forum about never getting the opportunity to wear their away kit. I just want to put that out there.

lol, how pathetic.

Not sure if I agree with another Sky Blue in the competition. Red has been identifiable with Melbourne Heart now they want to erase it because it doesn't suit there global branding.

Well done Barlow, keep fighting it till the end.

Whilst the dumbarses on here are trying to provoke all and sundry the fact is that we only have 10 professional football teams in Australia, not 80+ plus like they do in the UK so whilst there are only 10 teams it's stupid that a team should have exact colours especially when the team is already established with its own colours.

Exactly right. There are at least ten red teams in English professional football, but that's over an eighty team competition.

With a small, ten team comp it's a different matter. And Sky Blue isn't just a colour for us, it is the colour of NSW and part of our songs and chants.

A foreign team coming here and attempting to completely transplant itself is ridiculous and insulting.

Heart fans don't want sky blue, Sydney fans don't want sky blue for Heart.

And by the way, where the hell are Man City expecting to get new fans from if they have been so quick to alienate the current fan base?

Not ideal obviously.

But what do people want? New owners who can take the club, and possibly the league, to the next level. Or teams with different colours?

I think the point of difference- white shorts/socks v navy shorts socks is enough to differentiate. There is plenty that can be done with the trimming on the jersey to make them distinct even if the same colour is used. Could even be a slightly different shade of sky blue.
I don't necessarily think that Blackpool and Brisbane look too similar even though the "base" colour is the same.

Man City are using the Heart license to expand their brand (and possibly to shift costs to Australia to meet the financial fair play rules). So I would expect them to tap into the eurosnob market.

Would be an interesting fight. Sydney FC v Melbourne City.

I agree that Sydney have a claim to the Sky Blue colour as part of their identity but you can imagine the FFA were agreeable to this when City came shopping.

Hope Melb City retain their colours btw.

If Barlow wasn't Tratevenko's in law, he would have been lining up at centreline a long time ago.

Edited by SocaWho: 15/4/2014 08:23:04 AM

I don't think they are that concerned. A successful winning side, playing good football blended in with a bunch of high profile players will certainly get new fans along.

Despite all the debating i reckon they will
average more than 12k next year. Within 5 years be up to around 20k. They're an entity that knows what it's doing. I don't think they are too worried about alienating a couple of thousand fans.

Sydney FC vs Melbourne City, the billionaire's derby.

The Million Dollar Dud Derby.

-PB

Don't see a problem with Heart/City playing in Sky Blue.


Also, makes one less team in red for when Wollongong get a team. :cool:

Where are these fans to come from? If they convert 20K Victory fans then Victory will have almost none left. And I think the MV fans who weren't rusted on have already switched to Heart.

AFL fans? I don't think they're too keen on embracing a "foreign game", and certainly not to the extent of becoming regulars at home matches every fortnight.

And as for the bunch of high profile players, the salary cap ensures that they cannot buy premierships the way City, Chelsea and PSG have done over the years.

It'll still be a bunch of more or less average footballers with two marquees. They may get two incredible marquees but even that isn't enough for a title.

Well done Scott Barlow.
Those on here being critical of SFC attitude have no idea. A club's colours represent the area or city they are from - not the owners.
Who's to say if Man City will be around in the future? They could sell and move on and then what we change the colours again because a new owner wants poka dots?
FFA have the decision and this is a no brainer...there should be no chnage in colours. If they don't like it...sell and bugger off.

Like Adelaide already do?

The only person I know who actually calls them the "Sky Blues" that isn't on the SFC payroll is Simon Hill.

Not even close. Go away, little man.

No butthurt, just standing up for what's ours.

Like you would if the pension didn't transfer into your account every second Thursday.

Get a new picture mack. And try not to stretch the page next time.

This seems the simplest way for Heart to keep the original colours, and they can do as MV have and make a sky blue away jersey.