Harbour View: Where We Belong?

Call it an identity crisis? Call us homeless. The situation at the original Sydney A-league club is a complicated one. Eleven seasons on, Sydney Fc are in danger of being stagnant which is concerning if we were the only club in Australia’s largest city. However our younger brother are four years into their exsistence and growing rapidly to the extent we were outnumbered heavily in round one this season.

One of my main current frustrations is in regards to the rumoured formation of the third Sydney club/franchise in the Sutherland shire. When this came up, it seemed everyone at the club was up in arms claiming a significant part of the membership number comes from this region. That franchise still remains a real possibility however Sydney Fc have since done close to nothing to claim this area. In fact dare I say it, I encountered just as many Wanderers supporters as Sydney Fc fans on the way home from the derby last week. That tells me some people in this area feel alienated by the club with others not even knowing about our clubs exsistence. Indeed this isn’t a one off, one of the most common jerseys I saw at my local oval during coaching was you guessed it the wanderers. Once again this isn’t a one off, the north shore (another large association) despite being within “Sydney Fc territory” feels far from it apparently.

So there is the problem, What is the solution? Well, learn from our neighbours. The Western Sydney Wanderers did have the seven years to learn from existing clubs and by gosh did they take advantage of it. The club appears to be one big community where supporters have felt involved since day one. Oh what a contrast, considering walking from Central to Moore Park last season I heard comment after comment asking if there was game match day after match day.

This can be solved in my opinion by a home and yes it will cost money however if you asked Sydney fc members. I am pretty certain many would be willing to go without a marquee for a few years if it meant a purpose built club academy and if I’m being ambitious a purpose built stadium. From there you can build or in this situation sustain a club which lets be honest is lacking a home feeling. I love the club, Is it time to start asking if our owners do as well?

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