Melbourne Heart FC

Melbourne Heart

Full name	Melbourne Heart FC
Nickname(s)	Heart
Founded	2008
Ground	AAMI Park (capacity: 30,050)
Chairman	Peter Sidwell
Head Coach	John Aloisi
League	A-League
2012–13	9th (League) DNQ (Elimination Final)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Melbourne Heart FC is an Australian professional football (soccer) club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2008, the club has competed in the A-League, the highest division of football in Australia, since its inaugural 2010–2011 season. It is the 12th club to have played in the league. It plays its home matches at AAMI Park. From its initiation, Melbourne Heart was built on the philosophy of producing an attractive brand of football and a commitment to developing the growth of young Australian players. The club plays in the colours Red and White which are the traditional colours of the city of Melbourne and its flag.

History

Bidding process

After the dissolution of the National Soccer League in 2003, brought about by the Crawford Report. Plans were drawn up for a new revamped national competition to begin the following season. Two separate plans put forward by the Professional Footballers Association and Libero Consulting called for the new league to be established under the name "Australian/Australasian Premier League" with two Melbourne clubs to feature as foundation members of the competition. One to be playing in the North West of the city, and another to be playing in the South West of the city representing the two population loads of Melbourne.

Despite the calls for the new soccer competition to feature two clubs from Melbourne, in 2004 the Football Federation of Australia announced that Melbourne Victory had won the sole licence to be the only Melbourne club to compete in the new national competition of the A-League, as well as bankrolling some of the clubs shares and finances as the club was unable to raise enough capital. A 5 year moratorium was also established preventing any other Melbourne side from entering the A-league competition until the 2010/11 season, allowing Victory 5 seasons to entrench itself in the Melbourne market.

By 2007 the then Victorian Victorian Major Projects Minister Theo Theophanous put forward the idea of a second Melbourne franchise being formed to be a founding tenant at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, so that construction could go ahead as it was being prevented by the unwillingness of Victory to sign a full tenancy deal with the stadium, due to their contract with Etihad Stadium.

Speculation about a second Melbourne side progressed and on 12 February 2007, South Melbourne FC revealed that they were courting approaches from private investors with the prospect of being the second A-League club based in Melbourne. As part of the South Melbourne bid, the club was to be privatised and the bid name was to be 'Southern Cross FC'.

On 1 March 2008 former Carlton Football Club vice-president and businessman Colin DeLutis expressed his interest in a second Melbourne A-League side, with an approach to the FFA to become sole owner of the second licence with the bid name of 'Melbourne City'. FFA chief executive Ben Buckley raised the possibility of expanding the A-League from eight to 12 teams in May 2008, in readiness for the 2009–10 season. Buckley also revealed the existence of a third Melbourne bid tentatively known as 'Melbourne Heart' backed by Peter Sidwell, to compete with the two other bids of Southern Cross FC and Melbourne City. On 25 July 2008, the Melbourne City bid dropped out of the bidding process leaving the Melbourne Heart and Southern Cross FC bids as the last two bids standing. By September 2008 the Melbourne Heart bid was awarded exclusive negotiating rights for the league's 11th licence, beating out the South Melbourne-backed Southern Cross FC bid. Negotiations continued until Sidwell's group was awarded the licence to join the A-League's 2010–11 season by the FFA on 12 June 2009.

First Season, 2010–11

Main article: 2010–11 Melbourne Heart season

Melbourne Heart was the eleventh franchise to enter the A-League (at the time of its first season), and the twelfth to ever play in it overall. Heart started its inaugural A-League season against Central Coast Mariners on 5 August 2010, at their home ground AAMI Park, losing 1–0. The club's first ever goal was, bizarrely, an own goal scored by Ben Kantarovski in the Heart's second league game, a 1–1 draw against Newcastle Jets. Melbourne Heart's first win was a 1–0 defeat of North Queensland Fury, which came in the fifth round of their first A-League season on 4 September 2010. They contested the first ever Melbourne Derby against Melbourne Victory on 8 October 2010, and won 2–1. In the middle of their season, they went seven matches without winning (six losses and a draw) and over five hours without scoring a goal. This was turned around when they travelled to play Adelaide United and beat them 2–1 in the final five minutes, despite trailing at 1–0 for all of the second half up to that time. Heart finished their first season on equal points with Newcastle Jets, but behind on goal difference in eighth position. They failed to make it into the top six teams to reach the finals, despite sitting in sixth position for majority of the season.

2011–12

Main article: 2011–12 Melbourne Heart season

On 7 July 2011, the club announced it would take part in the inaugural Hawaiian Islands Invitational from 23–25 February 2012. The squad is set to be made up of emerging youth players as the tournament overlaps with the 2011–12 A-League season. Taking part in the Invitational will be Japan's Yokohama FC, South Korea's Incheon United FC and reigning MLS Cup winners the Colorado Rapids. Melbourne Heart drew against Busan IPark and lost 0–1 against Colorado Rapids.

Melbourne Heart signed former rival Melbourne Victory player Fred on 20 June 2011, as a marquee player, he replaced Simon Colosimo as captain of Heart

On 1 September 2011, Heart added the addition of a youth team to the club, which will compete in the A-League's National Youth League. The youth team launched with John Aloisi as the inaugural youth team head coach, while highly respected Victorian coach Arthur Papas was his assistant.

In 2012 the Melbourne Heart Futsal team was founded. They play in the F-League which is top tier of Australian Futsal.

Melbourne Heart's first game for the 2011–12 A-League season was against Newcastle Jets at Ausgrid Stadium. Heart were defeated 3–2, after a goal by Byun Sung-Hwan in added time. Heart lost their first two matches in a row after being defeated by Perth Glory at home, however they then went on to get 21 points out of thirty, making them 3rd on the ladder.

On 4 May 2012, the Melbourne Heart Futsal team was founded. They will play in the F-League, which is top tier of Australian Futsal.

After their successful start to the first half of the season, Melbourne Heart only won two of their remaining matches, coinciding with the loss of Fred to injury, and Dugandzic, Aziz Behich and Jason Hoffman to international Olyroos duty, They finished 6th on the ladder, enough to make the finals, and had their best season in the club's history.

Heart's first final was against Perth Glory, where they were defeated 3–0 at nib stadium. On 1 February 2012, Melbourne Heart coach John van't Schip announced he was leaving the club at the end of the season due to family reasons.

2012–13

Main article: 2012–13 Melbourne Heart season

Melbourne Heart announced on 8 May 2012, that former Socceroo and youth coach John Aloisi, had signed as head coach for 3 years. During the off season Heart were stung by the transfer of several young key players in Curtis Good, Brendan Hamill and Eli Babalj. However key off season signings included Socceroos Richard Garcia and Vince Grella, and two VISA players in Croatian striker Josip Tadić and Swiss/Liberian defender Patrick Gerhardt.

Heart opened the season with a 2-1 win over rival Melbourne Victory. The first half of the season was plagued however by inconsistent performances which left the club languishing in last place at the end of 2012, due mainly to second half fade outs.

During the January transfer window, Heart lost a further two key players in Michael Marrone and Aziz Behich on transfers, as well as midfielder Vince Grella to retirement. They bolstered the squad with returning striker Eli Babalj and Dutch midfielder Marcel Meeuwis.

The new year saw more consistent results at home with 4 wins in a row, resulting in a gradual climb up the table. However, a run of poor results saw the Heart finish in 9th place out of 10 teams on the A-League ladder, their worst ever A-League finish. As a result of the Heart finishing second-to-last on the A-League ladder, their worst finish in an A-League season, Melbourne Heart veterans Clint Bolton, Simon Colosimo, Matt Thompson and Fred, were released by the Heart at the conclusion of the 2012-13 A-League season.

Name, colours and badge

In October 2009, an online competition held by the Herald Sun gave the public the opportunity to submit their preferences for the name of the new Melbourne team. The preferred names were released on the Herald Sun website on 13 November 2009. The four options were 'Sporting Melbourne FC', 'Melburnians', 'Melbourne Revolution' and 'Melbourne Heart FC'. Some pondered if 'Revolution' had some context considering its intimation to the Eureka Stockade, the closest Australia has come to revolution. The name of the new club was to be announced before the end of 2009, but this was delayed until early 2010 due to AFL objections to the use of the words Melbourne, Football and Club in the name. The Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation expressed concern that the name Melbourne Heart was too similar to its annual Heart of Melbourne Appeal, and lodged a protest with IP Australia in January 2010. The club's badge was lodged to IP Australia the same month by the FFA, and on 2 February 2010, the name of the club was announced as Melbourne Heart FC.

Initially, a colour scheme of either black and white, or red and white were the two options for the club. The eventual choice was red and white stripes, with a red sash on white for the away kit.

Kit

Melbourne Heart's strip red with white stripes on the front of the jersey with red shorts and red socks, the away kit is with a red sash on white, with white shorts and socks. The design for the team's third kit was chosen from entries submitted by fans, the jersey is grey with a red and white sash, the shorts are white.

Shirt sponsors and kit manufacturers

On 16 February 2010, leading financial institution Westpac teamed up with the Melbourne Heart for a three-year agreement believed to be worth close to $2 million. They are be their principal partner, the Westpac logo appears on the front of the 'Home' and 'Away' Melbourne Heart kits. The club also hosts 3 'Westpac' community camps, annually across regional Victoria. Drake International, Public Transport Victoria and BDO are the major sponsors of the club.

On 1 September 2011 ParkTrent was announced as the Melbourne Heart FC's youth teams primary sponsor. CEO Scott Munn said that the deal is the "largest ever National Youth League corporate partnership".

On 8 May 2012, along with the introduction of new head coach, John Aloisi, the clubs new kit supplier Kappa was announced. Kappa are on a two-year contract with Melbourne Heart.

Period	Kit maker	Front sponsor	Back sponsor	Sleeve sponsor	NYL team sponsor
2010–2011	Reebok	Westpac	PKF	Drake	N/A
2011–2012	ISC				ParkTrent
2012–2013	Kappa		BDO	AXF Group (Home)		Matchworks (Away)

Board

The following individuals comprise Melbourne Heart FC 's Board of Directors:

• Peter Sidwell
• David Kobritz
• Michael Catalano
• Patrick Prendergast
• Ghadir Razuki
• Jimmy Goh

FFA chief executive Ben Buckley raised the possibility of expanding the A-League from 8 to 12 teams in May 2008, in readiness for the 2009–10 season. One of 3 bids was Melbourne Heart owned by a consortium led by Peter Sidwell, his investor partners were property developer David Kobritz, local businessman Michael Catalano and entertainment promoter Patrick Prendergast. on 12 June 2009, Melbourne Heart were awarded the 11th A-league license, to join for the 2010–11 A-league season.

In April 2011, the club welcomed two new investors, Jimmy Goh and Ghadir Razuki to its board.

Stadium

Melbourne Heart's home ground is currently AAMI Park. Melbourne Heart's largest average season attendance is 9,553, while Heart's largest ever attendance for a single match is 18,479 against Melbourne Victory in round 12 of the 2011–12 A-League season.

Training facilities

Melbourne Heart bases its training and administrative facilities at La Trobe University.

Club culture

Rivalries

Main article: Melbourne derby

• Melbourne Victory-(The Melbourne Derby). Melbourne Heart's rival is Melbourne Victory. Although there are many state or regional rivalries, the Melbourne derby was the first and only inner city until the Western Sydney Wanderers joined the A-League in the 2012/13 season. The first match between the two clubs saw Melbourne Heart win 2–1 in front of a sold out AAMI Park crowd of over 25,000 spectators.

The rivalry became more intense in the third edition on 22 January 2011, when Victory's Kevin Muscat made a mis-timed tackle on Heart's Adrian Zahra, which earnt Muscat a red card and an eight-week suspension, and was the direct cause of a season-ending knee injury to Zahra. The rivalry has reached new heights off the field with rival supporters "declaring war on the streets" with a Melbourne Victory supporter group stealing a "Yarraside" banner and in retaliation, Heart supporters attempted to kidnap a Victory supporter in a reprisal attack.

Players

Current squad

As of 22 May 2013

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 6 DF Patrick Gerhardt 9 FW Dylan Macallister 11 MF Richard Garcia 13 MF Jonatan Germano 14 FW Golgol Mebrahtu 15 FW David Williams 17 MF Jason Hoffman 18 DF David Vranković (Youth) 19 MF Ben Garuccio (Youth)

No. Position Player 20 GK Andrew Redmayne 22 MF Nick Kalmar 23 FW Mate Dugandžić -- DF Sam Mitchinson (Youth) -- DF Jeremy Walker (Youth) -- MF Stefan Mauk (Youth) -- MF Iain Ramsay -- MF Massimo Murdocca

Internationally Capped Players

Player	Country	Caps	Goals	Years Active
Patrick Gerhardt	Liberia	2	(0)	2011–
Dylan Macallister	Australia	1	(0)	2009
Richard Garcia	Australia	18	(2)	2008-
David Williams (Australian association footballer)	Australia	2	(0)	2008-

Youth squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Alistair Bray 4 DF Andrew Mullett 5 DF William Abbott 6 MF Joshua Groenewald (Captain) 7 DF Ersin Kaya 8 MF Paulo Retre 9 FW Evan Batsis

No. Position Player 11 DF Andrew Cartanos 12 MF Philip Petreski 13 MF James Karvelis 14 MF Stipo Andrijašević 15 FW Zac Walker 16 FW Nicholas Epifano 17 GK Christopher Maynard

Notable former players

Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Melbourne Heart. For details of former players, see List of Melbourne Heart players.

• John Aloisi
• Michael Beauchamp
• Aziz Behich
• Curtis Good
• Vince Grella

• Brendan Hamill
• Dean Heffernan
• Michael Marrone
• Josip Skoko

• Alex Terra
• Gerald Sibon
• Rutger Worm

Retired number(s)

Main article: Retired numbers in football

12 – Yarraside (Club Supporters)

Top goal scorers

Last updated 9 April 2013

	Name	Years	A-League inc. finals
1	Eli Babalj	2010–12, 2013–	12 (44)
2	John Aloisi	2010–11	8 (20)
=3	Mate Dugandžić	2011–	7 (30)
=3	Gerald Sibon	2010–11	7 (27)
=3	Alex Terra	2010–12	7 (43)
=3	Matt Thompson	2010–13	7 (82)
=7	Josip Tadic	2012–13	6 (22)
=7	David Williams	2011–	6 (39)
=7	Richard Garcia	2012–	6 (24)
=10	Nick Kalmar	2010–	5 (50)
=10	Golgol Mebrahtu	2012–	5 (14)

Game Record Holders

Last updated 9 April 2013

	Name	Years	A-League inc. finals
1	Matt Thompson	2010–13	82
=2	Michael Marrone	2010–13	70
=2	Clint Bolton	2010–13	70
=4	Aziz Behich	2010–13	63
=4	Simon Colosimo	2010–13	63
6	Nick Kalmar	2010–	50
7	Rutger Worm	2010–12	46
8	Jason Hoffman	2010–	44
=9	Wayne Srhoj	2010–12	43
=9	Alex Terra	2010–12	43

Records

Main article: Melbourne Heart FC records and statistics

(As of 8 April 2013)

• Record Win: 4–0 Sydney, 29 December 2011
• Record Defeat: 0–4 Brisbane Roar, 25 September 2010
• Undefeated Streak: 6 (17 February 2012 – 23 March 2012)
• Winning Streak: 5 (4 December 2011 – 29 December 2011)
• Winless Streak: 8 (4 January 2012 – 11 February 2012)
• Record High Attendance: 26,579 v (Melbourne Victory, 23 December 2011)
• Lowest Home Attendance: 2,754 v (Newcastle Jets, 8 December 2010)

Honours

Domestic

• A-League:
  • Champions (0):
    • Runners-Up (0):
  • Premiership (0):
    • Runners-Up (0):
  • Finals Series Appearances (1): 2011–12

Minor Trophies

Craig Foster Cup

• • Winners (1): 2012

End of Season Awards

Main article: Melbourne Heart FC end of season awards

Current Winners:

• Player of the Year: Clint Bolton
• Supporters Player of the Year: Clint Bolton Fred(co-winners)
• John Aloisi Golden Boot Award: Eli Babalj
• Clubman Award: Aziz Behich
• Chairman’s Award: Rebecca May
• Volunteer of the Year: Peter Bradley & Lloyd Clothier

All-time A-League win/loss (including finals)

Last updated 30 March 2013

Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Adelaide United	9	2	2	5	9	14	−5
Brisbane Roar	9	3	2	4	13	16	−3
Central Coast Mariners	9	1	1	7	4	12	−8
Gold Coast United	6	2	3	1	5	6	−1
Melbourne Victory	9	3	3	3	12	13	-1
Newcastle Jets	9	3	2	4	13	15	-2
North Queensland Fury	3	3	0	0	6	2	4
Perth Glory	10	3	3	4	10	13	−3
Sydney FC	9	3	5	1	14	8	6
Wellington Phoenix	9	2	3	4	10	14	-4
Western Sydney Wanderers	3	0	0	3	2	6	-4
Total	85	25	24	36	98	119	-21

Year-by-year history

Melbourne League History

Season	Teams	FFA Cup	Premiership Position	Championship Qualification	Championship Position	ACL Qualification	ACL Placing
2010–11	11	N/A	8th	DNQ	8th	N/A
2011–12	10	N/A	6th	Yes	6th	DNQ	DNQ
2012–13	10	-1	9th	DNQ	9th	DNQ	DNQ

¹FFA Cup scheduled to commence in TBA.

Position (Season)

Club officials

Administration

Senior Squad Coaching Staff Football operations manager: John Didulica Technical director: Ron Smith Head Coach: John Aloisi Assistant Coaches: Joe Mullen & Hayden Foxe Goalkeeping Coach: Peter Zois High Performance Manager: Martin Wollin Strength & Conditioning Coach: Tom Reddin Club Physio: Belinda Pacella

Youth Squad Coaching Staff Youth Coach: Joe Palatsides Assistant Youth Coach: Josip Skoko Goalkeeping Coach: Joey Didulica

Senior Staff and Board members Chairman: Peter Sidwell Chief Executive Officer: Scott Munn Director: Michael Catalano Director: David Kobritz Director: Patrick Prendergast Director: Ghadir Razuki Director: Jimmy Goh

Managers

Dates	Name	Notes	Honours
23 October 2009 – 1 April 2012	John van 't Schip	Inaugural manager
8 May 2012 – present	John Aloisi	First Australian Manager

See also

• Expansion of the A-League

External links

• Official Melbourne Heart Website