I reckon all this talk of JVS and his connections with Ajax are interesting. The thought of a possible sister-club relationship would no doubt benefit us and the HAL in general. So I did a bit of checking into who Ajax is already affiliated with.

Obviously their most closely connected team is Ajax Capetown. They're an extension of a youth program in Capetown and play in the South African Premier Soccer League. Most notable player to come through the ranks here is Steven Pienaar.

The others are you more typical sister-club relationship where you often see players loaned between clubs etc. They'll also usually share scouting information where relevant. So here's a list of clubs Ajax are connected with:
Beijing Guoan (Chinese Super League)
HFC Haarlem (Eerste Divisie - Dutch 2nd div)
FC Volendam (Eerste Divisie)
FC Omniworld (Erste Divisie)
Palmeiras (Brazilian Serie A)
Stafford Rangers FC (Blue Square North)

So of these six clubs, three are Dutch and three are international. Of all these clubs only ONE of them has Ajax players on loan. Haarlem has something like 6 Ajax players (i can't read dutch and there are conflicting wiki pages) and currently sit in last place in their league. Other than that no sister-clubs currently have Ajax players on loan. Ajax have three Brazilians, one Chinese, one South Korean and one South African in their youth team. Their first XI does not contain any player from China, Brazil, England or South Africa.

In my opinion Ajax are the winners in these agreements with sister-clubs. We shouldn't expect Melbourne Heart to strike up an agreement and suddenly see three dutch boys running rings around the rest of the HAL. It's clear Ajax only like to loan their players to Haarlem. They'll probably take one of our best youth players. On a positive, we'll probably end up with another 5,000 fans simply because of the media coverage. But I don't think we should be expecting much more than that as it doesn't seem likely.

(i can't read dutch and there are conflicting wiki pages)

Melbourne Heart Syndicate Chief Executive Officer Scott Munn believes it is absolutely crucial the club establishes a visible presence in grassroots football communities throughout Victoria.

Outlining a commitment to boosting the game at a local level, Munn said he is keen for the club to use its resources and coaching expertise to assist junior clubs across both metropolitan and country regions.

“It is incumbent upon the club to consider the needs of the wider football community as we cannot afford to merely restrict our vision to the team’s efforts at Hyundai A-League level,” he said.

“Although the club remains in its infancy, we have taken on this project with the intention of transforming into a multi-faceted football institution.”

“The club is acutely aware of the challenges it faces and that this will not be a simple task, but our intentions are clear and will hopefully be appreciated by round ball lovers everywhere.”

With the playing squad beginning to take shape, the Heart Syndicate is in the process of finalising negotiations regarding its training and administrative facilities.

While the Heart Syndicate canvassed the option of splitting the two, Munn said the club will ultimately benefit by housing its football and organizational departments under the same roof.

However, Munn emphasised that the location of the club’s base wouldn’t restrict the scope of its planned projects throughout the football community.

“The trend of fans supporting a certain sporting team as a result of the area in which they were raised is diminishing. As we have seen in the AFL for example, the percentage of supporters who hail from the suburb their club represents has decreased exponentially over time,” he said.

“Of greater importance is the ability for fans to identify with the more intangible characteristics of a club such as its guiding values, principles and ideals.

He added: “The club though will of course seek to engage with the population immediately surrounding our training base as we will throughout the State.”

“It is imperative the Melbourne Heart Syndicate preaches the word of football and seeks to extend its reach during this incredibly significant year for the sport.”

Grassroots Community Crucial To Success

Melbourne Heart Syndicate Chief Executive Officer Scott Munn believes it is absolutely crucial the club establishes a visible presence in grassroots football communities throughout Victoria.

Outlining a commitment to boosting the game at a local level, Munn said he is keen for the club to use its resources and coaching expertise to assist junior clubs across both metropolitan and country regions.

“It is incumbent upon the club to consider the needs of the wider football community as we cannot afford to merely restrict our vision to the team’s efforts at Hyundai A-League level,” he said.

“Although the club remains in its infancy, we have taken on this project with the intention of transforming into a multi-faceted football institution.”

“The club is acutely aware of the challenges it faces and that this will not be a simple task, but our intentions are clear and will hopefully be appreciated by round ball lovers everywhere.”

With the playing squad beginning to take shape, the Heart Syndicate is in the process of finalising negotiations regarding its training and administrative facilities.

While the Heart Syndicate canvassed the option of splitting the two, Munn said the club will ultimately benefit by housing its football and organizational departments under the same roof.

However, Munn emphasised that the location of the club’s base wouldn’t restrict the scope of its planned projects throughout the football community.

“The trend of fans supporting a certain sporting team as a result of the area in which they were raised is diminishing. As we have seen in the AFL for example, the percentage of supporters who hail from the suburb their club represents has decreased exponentially over time,” he said.

“Of greater importance is the ability for fans to identify with the more intangible characteristics of a club such as its guiding values, principles and ideals.

He added: “The club though will of course seek to engage with the population immediately surrounding our training base as we will throughout the State.”

“It is imperative the Melbourne Heart Syndicate preaches the word of football and seeks to extend its reach during this incredibly significant year for the sport.”

I think the perfect gimmick for the Melbourne Heart is to have half priced admission for anyone with an AFL membership during august and september. There are a number of AFL fans who quietly have a look at football, this could bring in a number of new supporters to the game. This and giving tickets away to local clubs will ensure the club as a decent fan base. But really all the Heart need to do is not be melbourne Victory and they will survive.

The amount of antagonism held towards Victory is quite understated in Melbourne. I have friends who are massive football fans, live and breathe the sport, yet refuse to support the club for its perceived 'arrogance'. And these are individuals who did not feel disenfranchised by the Lowy Revolution. They loved the A-League concept, but were indifferent to Victory. However, that indifference soon transformed into distaste.

By positioning themselves as the community club, they appear on the right track. Just need to follow through.

In the meantime, I am just pleased to have another rival. Adelaide and Sydney were beginning to bore me. Can just imagine the supporter groups (one of 250, the other of <50) marching down Swan Street, chanting in opposition, with police cavalry at the ready.

Won't necessarily be epic, but definitely a culture shock for Melbourne.

I have received inside word that the name, colours and playing uniform have all been approved and now they are just waiting for the logo to be approved so they can announce it all in one go.
This should happen over the next week.

They sign Skoko?

No idea, thats all I got.

But that's the thing, how are they going to achieve this? Do kids clinics? Doesn't Victory do this as well? And how are they going to cover the whole of Melbourne with such limited resources?

Also this is exactly what Melbourne Victory have not done.

This stuff should have been done by Christmas. I can't believe how long it's taken to get things ready.

So they're planning to make the announcement during the Australian Open, which is immediately followed pretty much by the commencement of AFL Pre-Season and all its talk?

Brilliant Heart, brilliant.

Theres that word incumbant again

On another note - i hope they keep the name heart - purely for the reason many forumites will need to change their signature

This stuff should have been done by Christmas. I can't believe how long it's taken to get things ready.

So they're planning to make the announcement during the Australian Open, which is immediately followed pretty much by the commencement of AFL Pre-Season and all its talk?

Brilliant Heart, brilliant.


Lie.

The Victory have official charities in The Smith Family and Zaidee's Rainbow Foundation, and obviously have some kind of matchday deal with The Salvation Army. They're also doing work with the Leaseplan Carn the Kids program, which is up on the Victory website right now. The club has a Community Diary almost every month on its website. We've hosted and facilitated primary school football matches, the Melbourne Victory 5-a-side Program, just like you suggested. The club has regional roadshows in many parts of Victoria including Bendigo, Ballarat, and Traralgon. Players have joined forces with various programs in the past, including The Smith Family Christmas Appeal and the Good Friday Appeal. Last year the Victory teamed up with the TAC and Epworth hospital to help promote the Epworth ABI Cup before a Mariners game. Need I go on?

I'll be interested to see how differently 'Heart' approaches anything different than what the Victory has done.

What else do you want MVFC to do until you acknowledge something they've done?

Victory's work in the community might not be high profile but they've been doing it since day dot and to suggest otherwise is a pure lie, and you are twisting the truth to suit your agenda.

If many forumites have Melbourne Heart in their signature perhaps their support isn't going to be the problem many other forumites have been predicting :-k

I bet my left testi they have skoko, his lawyer is part of the heart board.

It's Thursday. Getting late in the week. If I have to wait another week I'm going to stab someone.

Sooo with you on this one... :evil: ...i soooo hope they announce something tomorrow or monday

Ok, to say they've not done anything is truly incorrect. Without doubt the Victory are viewed as a corporate club and their community links have not been adequate - or folk wouldn't be so disenfranchised with them. We can agree to disagree.

My point is the Heart are going to have to be imbedded in community life to get ahead... more so than what Victory have done. They will need a solid point of difference and from my conversations with football fans this is one area where they feel Victory have been poor.

Something was updated in the trademarks DB on the 14th of Jan - "14-JAN-2010    Accepted Applications for Registration of Trade Mark", and now the trademark for Melbourne Heart FC is in pending state. I'm not a trademarks expert but Benjamin previously mentioned it takes 3-5 days for things to show up in the DB online - meaning there should be an update to that today or tomorrow at latest. Hopefully that's all they are waiting on before announcing publicly.