ozzieeagle

Getting exciting, the Membership packs for MV have started to arrive. MV sitting on close to 20K members 2 weeks before the start of the season.... Should come close to their target of 23K.

Just over 2 weeks away.

Finkler, Traore, Troisi, the New Chiliean defender and the fact that the youngsters are coming along, to be the big difference in MV's season this year. Hopefully Finkler and Traore stay fit.... I'm hoping that Traore does enough this year to secure himself a full Australian team berth, The most exciting left back I've seen in person since Kenny Samson. I love it when you've got backs that take on players and are more than capable of scoring.

Jon77

[QUOTE=ozzieeagle;10916651]Getting exciting, the Membership packs for MV have started to arrive. MV sitting on close to 20K members 2 weeks before the start of the season...QUOTE]

Congrats on being the second best supported club in the A League

As the song goes - 'Melbourne boys are now number two'

ozzieeagle

[QUOTE=Jon77;10916686] Lol... lets see the figures on day 1 and the end of the season....seriously this growth and new potential rivalry bodes well for the a league

Jon77

[QUOTE=ozzieeagle;10916690] We are capped at 21,500 by the stadium obviously so you are at an avantage there. Still 15,500 ticketed memberships plus extra supporters membership on top of that is preety damd good. We could have shifted 20,000 season icketed members I reckon if they haden't stopped selling them.

How many of MV's memberships are attached to season tickets meaning that it is a bum on seat for all home games?

East Sydney have around 8,500 season ticket members and 12,000 all in I think

From the Cave forum -
So this is the highest membership count in the club's history?

10K would be awesome Set their standards high those boys from the East

ozzieeagle

[quote=Jon77;10916763]
All of them, I dont think there is any other kind of membership Although I will admit in our case we have a family membership, which is the same price as two Adults and most of the time our Teenagers dont come.... Although I think my 15 yo is going to start coming again this season.... As long as he can do his own thing he said.... So maybe. 44 bucks per month 2 Adults and 2 Teenagers... not bad for all the home games and priority for Finals and Socceroos games.

BTW I didn't realise your missus was from Hobart, you considering living there one day ? I am

Hopefully they get an A league team by the time I retire. As long as it's not Heart.

ozzieeagle

Guys whats the WSW away bay hold, we are getting worried thats it's only 500 ? Our WSW tickets go on sale on 31st of October and there is a major debate on the possibility that quite a few MV fans might miss out.

Jon77

East Sydney usually get half up the upper and lower tier down one side and the small corner section when they come, usually around 2,500 I think.

For all others it is usually just the lower section that starts at the corner and ends well before the half way line, certainly wouldn't be more than around 800 I would think.

It is going to be hell trying to get tickets at Parra for some WSW fans never mind away fans. In the past away fans got around that by coming in the WSW areas, that will be even harder now, especially considering some WSW fans will be after the away area tickets!

I would think that some East Sydney and MV fans will miss out.

If I could get a job transfer to Hobart I would be happy enough.

ozzieeagle

Doubt if MV would get more than 800 for the first encounter in November, Victory fans usually travel in greater numbers towards the end of the season.... except for Adelaide for some strange reason.... just love to stir them.

Can think of a lot worse places to end up than Hobart.... Very civilised.

Brian Clough down under

Hi folks, 'East' Sydney fan here.

I live in Western Sydney and have done for 8 years since emigrating, but I followed Sydney FC from the start in 2005 and even had a season ticket for a few years, done away trips to CCM and Newcastle....so I feel like I can't suddenly change teams now, even though WSW are much closer! I have to stick with the sky blues I reckon, even though they've never inspired me over that period.

Got tickets for the Sydney derby the other day, for the big clash at the SFS. Will probably have to pick and choose the actual games I attend this season (toddlers at home plus work), but I was hoping to pop along to the occasional WSW game as well - going on what's been said on here that might be difficult now!

Anyway, Surry Hills or the city are much better places for a few beers than Parramatta!

Jon77

Disagree totally regarding pre match beers. Parramatta (The Woolpack) is WAY better than the hippy Surry Hills.

I have been around Sydney on and off since January 2002 and followed Northern Spirit in the old NSL but when the NSL folded I never went to one East Sydney FC game. From the time Spirit folded to the creation of WSW I didn't attend one football game in Australia. East Sydney FC never represented my view of a football club and I know many other felt the same way at the creation of it. Everything about the creation of WSW feels right, it feels liek a community club for the fans. Never had the feeling about East Sydney, perhaps if I had gone to a game I would have gotten in to it possibly.

East Sydney fans say they represent the whole of Sydney and welcome everyone. Yet on their forums / media outlets they call anyone living in the west a bogan and dole bludger. Personally if I live in the west of Sydney that isn't a club I would want to support.

Anyway it is good to have an East Sydney fan around the place for a bit of banter so keep on posting.

Brian Clough down under

Come on, you can't seriously try and tell me that the Woolpack in Parra is better than The Clock, The Cricketers or The Foresters in Surry Hills? The Woolpack is typical of pubs in Western Sydney - bland, dull, lacking in character or atmosphere and full of bleedin 'pokies'. Fair enough, it's only 5 minutes walk to the ground for you, but it doesn't compare to some of those pubs in Surry Hills. Admittedly, there are some poncy bars in Surry Hills, but if you know where you're going......

Look, I'd probably be a WSW fan as well if i'd recently arrived in Australia, but as I got involved with Sydney FC back in 2005 I can't just suddenly be a turncoat. I've never felt a particular affection or affinity with them, but as they were the only team in Sydney I was determined to support them. I've bought a few shirts, scarf etc and been to a fair number of games, so I can't just suddenly start wearing black and red.

I understand the anti-bling thing, as that marketing exercise was ill-advised at best, but I honestly think that most WSW fans jumping on the bandwagon were simply too bone idle lazy to go to Sydney games, because it's further to drive, harder to park, or a longer train journey! I know soooo many people like that, who now follow WSW, yet they simply couldn't be bothered to go and watch Sydney at Moore Park because it took them too long to get there! Fair enough! I could be bothered however, and I used to go to 90% of games when I lived in Westmead, and I know a few other blokes who regularly travel from Penrith to watch the sky blues as well. I've now got a couple of toddlers, so it's harder, but I still get to around 8 or 9 games a season and I'll always watch on tv if i'm not there myself.

Ultimately, I'm not upset if they lose though. I used to watch Forest and England a lot back home and i'd be annoyed or upset if they lost (still am!), but Sydney doesn't conjure up the same emotions or feelings for me, probably because I didn't grow up with that emotional attachment. However, living here now, it's live football (sometimes), a few beers and a social, so it's the closest thing I've got to either The City Ground or Wembley!

Let's hope the season is a good, exciting one. I've got tickets to the derby at the SFS, but not sure yet which other game i'll be attending in the near future.

Jon77

Good post

I love Parramatta / The Woolpack pre and post game because it has the feeling of our town. A bit like in England when you go to whichever town it is you support and you have your own high street and fan pub and walk to the ground, Parramatta has that close community feeling that is hard to capture. It is not all about the number of pubs / bars, Surry Hills to me represents an inner city suburb with the only identity being the trendy / gay set. Maybe it is because many fans are transported betwene the station and the ground which means it is usually just a few pubs with East Sydney fans in it. In Parra the whole of Church Street is packed with WSW fans before and after the game and also Parramatta council do a great job of making us feel at home. They had the Parra town hall and all the shop windows red and black last season. When I went to the derby at Moore Park and then the Grand Final I thought it was all a bit sterile actually, especially out at the ground.

I am not trying to convert you to WSW but I think it is worth noting that the WSW support has many like me who never went to an East Sydney game, not as many turncoats as East Sydney fans think. No issues at all with you staying with East Sydney, I would probably have done the same as I understand that when you get in to a club and commit time and money to it then it would be difficult to walk away and support someone else.


I was actually living at North Sydney in 2005 when East Sydney started so would have been a very easy journy for me to see them play but I didn't. I moved to the Parramatta area in 2011 and hoped that a second club might be born in the west playing out of Parramatta and when it happened everything about it felt right.

Brian Clough down under

I suppose I'm just curious as to why you never even bothered to go and watch Sydney play - not even just once? Surely, a football fan would at least go and try it, once or twice? Especially as you were in North Sydney? Anyway, Parramatta to Central is only 30 mins, then you can do a decent pub crawl up Foveaux St!!

I think you've been lost to the dark side haven't you?

Jon77

2005 - 2007 were strange years. It was a period of moving between Australia and the UK a number of times and a serious illness to my mother in the UK, weren't sure how that would work out.

I was made redundant from my job the week after I found out my wife was pregnant which was rather stressful at the time and my wife was struggling a bit where we were at the time also.

I kept an eye on what was coming out of East Sydney in the media in 2005 / 2006 and I remember I didn't particularly like what I was hearing. Combine this with our personal situation at the time and I guess football wasn't on the radar so much back then.

I remember seeing fans with the blue shirts on heading to the game a few times and it did cross my mind about going but then other things always seemed to come up. After a year or two you don't feel part of it anyway.

These days things are so much more settled and happy for us and we do focus more on leisure time I guess East Sydney just passed us by due to 2005 being the start of major changes for us. Not excuses, just the way it was, sometimes things just get out of control.

Brian Clough down under

Fair enough Jon - some things are more important than football. Sounds like you've had a stressful time a few years back. I can relate to that in lots of ways.