Forgive my ignorance but I don't really understand the two teams in Melbourne from a Geographical stand point. I understand sydney has two teams one is the central city or 'east' city and one is the west. A fan can simply associate with the most local club. Heart and Victory seem to play in pretty much the same region and it seems like fans would just pick the club that was doing the best since they don't have a geographic preference (that I'm aware of). Can anyone offer some info on this, wiki doesn't clear it up.
Just to dissect this a bit RR, was there ever a clear reason why Melbourne 'needed' a 2nd team, given the geographical/identity issues which have been mentioned? I've never quite understood why there was a strong desire by the FFA for the Heart to exist (I'm aware I'm making some assumptions here, looking to be educated).
So purely a population issue? That's what I guessed and it obviously makes sense on that level, but is it enough to make the team sustainable? I'm not sure if that's enough to connect people to the club long term.
2 is a bit of a difficult number in a way. It's almost as though if it were one team (i.e. just 'Melbourne') that's fine as they're an immediately identifiable group, and if there are several (like AFL in Melbourne or League in Sydney) that's fine too, as each club is from an easily identifiable community, but by having two clubs you lose out on the identity of both the city-wide option and the more locally-based 'community' option. It's a tricky one to solve.
Fact is the derby games attract crowds and rate really well on TV.
You need a hook to make people feel part of the club and local geography is part of an identity. It's why I've always been against taking Phoenix games round the country - the whole hook of supporting the team was its "Wellington-ness", you take away that and you lose something. This isn't a team for people in Auckland