Losing Melbourne's Heart

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David Villa once again left his mark on the scoreboard and the table with a match defining strike that gave City a share of the points against Newcastle.

It was a pretty surreal sight to see David Villa celebrate that goal but that wasn't limited to his own presence.

All tiers of AAMI park were open and a 15,000 strong crowd cheered on Melbourne City in what is now their largest ever non-derby crowd and the only time the entire AAMI park has been open for an A-League game Melbourne Victory weren't playing.

It is a remarkable feat that shows how far the other Melbourne team has come but with change comes loss and the early rebirth of Victory's cross-town rivals has come at a cost of Melbourne Heart's identity.

As I watched Villa run arm in arm with Australian team mates it wasn't the goal that shocked me, it wasn't his presence, the sizable crowd or the open stadium. It was the colour.

Watching the game I felt like I could have been looking into any random crowd as a rainbow of colours unlike anything in the A-League filled the stands.

Red, white, royal and sky blues were all prevalent and further enriched by the standard mix you expect to see at all games of casual football fans and uninterested parties dragged to the game. Without allegiance and without any sort of colour coordination.

In less than a full off-season Melbourne Heart as we knew them disappeared replaced simply with a new badge and colour scheme.

Is it that simple? Is that all a club is? A marketing executive's project and accompanying merry-go-round of players and staff?

"No!" I heard you think. "A club is it's fans - fans are the only constant. Manchester United used to wear green and..." yeah I hear you.

"...just look at Cardiff City..." Ok now, that's enough.

"...even Liverpool used to wear blue and..." just shut up.

This current situation is simple. After only four seasons as Melbourne Heart - barely enough time to establish any real sort of legacy of success or culture - Melbourne Heart were sold and re-branded. Many players stayed and many staff stayed but ownership and identity moved on and with it went fans.

Not all fans but certainly some fans. Those who no longer felt a connection left most notably active supporter group Yarraside.

This situation pushed the idea of what a club is to it's absolute limits and the crowd today showed that.

The odd pairing of sky blue and red hurt the eyes and made me wonder, how long is the red going to stay?

If it only took one offseason to outnumber the red, how long until it's gone for good?

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