I moved to Melbourne a bit before the start of Melbourne Heart's second season

I had never really got into the aleague. I'd gone to a few Sydney FC games over the years with friends or family, but never was a fan. Was more just occassionally supporting the competition
#ALeagueGF

Victory had just signed Harry Kewell, which was very exciting and almost convinced me to sign up, but one of my friends from uni had been a member for the first season, so we signed up for Heart

For me it was mostly a social thing

What I really liked was that we almost always played Sunday arvo because we weren't good for TV ratings

Sitting in the sun on a Sunday arvo at AAMI Park was a nice way to catch up with friends

And despite the lack of history and all that, the derbys were always fun and I always felt invested in it

It always felt like Heart were spoiling the party for the competitions big powerhouse

Even if we didnt win, Victory always seemed put out having to share the city

When City bought the club, I continued as a member because it was still a social thing more than any commitment to the club

The early years of City were fun as they bought a higher quality of player (even if they did abuse some of the salary cap rules) and tried to play good football

Winning the FFA Cup was kind of the pinnacle for me

In recent years I was turned off by the style of football Warren Joyce played and the clubs acceptance of fan crackdowns by the FFA in response to bigoted media portrayals of fans

I havent followed the last few seasons

I will watch the final this afternoon and hope they win, but I think Citys issues are a reflection of the A Leagues issues

To me, the A League at it's best is the football version of t20 (I know that comparison will annoy people)

But I think that Im like a lot of people who are on the border of being loyal fans of the aleague or one of its clubs

I know the a league will never be the best quality, I don't ecpect that

And I dont want to watch a second rate attempt at youth development for the national team. Young players are better off going to Europe as early as possible

I want it to be entertaining and I want it to have a sense of community

The league needs to be restructured to encourage and reward attacking football, the fans need to have a bigger voice in the running of the competition, and we need to remove the nation and youth quotas for squads

Honestly, I will never love the aleague or one of its clubs the same way that I love Serie A and Milan

So maybe my views aren't relevant and I'm not a "real fan" (however fandom is being gatekept these days)

But whoever is supposed to be the a leagues target fan clearly isnt buying in atm either

I want the a league to be successful because soccer is my favourite sport and I want it to flourish in Australia and I dont think we can always rely on the grassroots popularity to prop up the chronically underperforming upper echelons of the sport