Melbourne Victory recently won the final of the Australian A-League in a fiery encounter with the Adelaide something-or-others, much to the delight of the Victory’s fans. This is all quite novel for me as the Victory and the A-League were started in the time that I was away from Australia, so to see ‘diehard’ fans spring-up in 6 years is quite baffling.
More baffling still is the penchant for Victory fans to sing during games, and more so, brag about their singing. The soccer-supporting nation I left was not one of chanting and witty puns, but one that watched the game and only became vocal when they thought an unjustice was done (which was often).
Ive spoken to some other Victory and soccer supporters here and their responses have been mixed. Some believe that singing is part of ‘football’, while others follow my line of thinking in that the fans seem to be emulating the culture of the English mob; which is a very odd group to take social etiquette queues from.
No mistake, the English Premier League have done wonderously well in exporting their game and developing allegiances from all over the world. I heard a while ago that after “hello” and “goodbye” that “david beckham” were the most understood English words in China. This is magnified when you consider that the level of competition within the EPl is so unequal, meaning your team isnt going to achieve much until a billionaire from overseas comes along.
So why adopt this way of life? What is the appeal? Melbourne fans may brag that they are the loudest and sing the most, but does that make them the biggest fans or the biggest wankers?
Sport in Australia is a very serious business. People are passionate about it, watch it, participate in it and talk about it. When they go to watch it, they care. As ‘laid-back’ as Australians are, they can sit through a 5-day Test match with concentration and comment on the over that changed a session that changed a test. In the words of a Melbourne band: “This Is Serious, Mum”.
There is a certain harbour city to the north of Melbourne, which shall remain nameless (hint: it has an opera house), that is associated with having fickle sporting fans and a populos more concerned with appearance than substance and where this sort of behaviour would seem more acceptable, but not Melbourne.
With the possibility of a new A-League team being launched in Melbourne that is also looking to differentiate itself from the Victory, I think that looking at Melbournes deep sporting history and creating something with substance would be a great start.
Amen.
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