THREE years on from a bitter colour clash stoush, Melbourne City will finally host their first sky blue derby against Sydney FC in Friday’s night’s top of the table clash at AAMI Park.
While City Football Group changed the Melbourne Heart name to Melbourne City, the other slice of their $ 11.25 million dollar rebranding was blocked.
CFG considered legal action against Football Federation Australia, who upheld Sydney FC’s protest against another A-League club wearing sky blue.
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After three years wearing a white home kit, which enabled Sydney FC to wear Melbourne City have finally unveiled their ‘City blue’ home strip, coinciding with a record-breaking four-win start to the season.
Midfielder Stefan Mauk, the only player to wear all three of the club’s home strips, declared it was only fitting.
“It will be nice to wear the City blue shirt against Sydney FC. It’s a huge game,’’ Mauk said.
“I was proud to be a part of the Heart days, and the club still pays tribute to the past. But the most exciting time was when City bought the club. Now we’ve got the sky blue jersey aligning with Manchester City and New York City.
“It’s not our main focus as players, but it’s an important step in the club’s evolution.
“Man City are top of the Premier League and New York City finished second in their MLS Conference, and the owners are backing us and giving us every chance of being successful here in Melbourne. They’ve done that since day one.
“Having ambitions to go back overseas, (CFG) is a big reason I returned, having links in the UK. They’re a very respected club and we saw what they’ve done with Mooysie (Aaron Mooy) and Brattsy (Luke Brattan).’’
Former Sydney FC chief executive Tony Pignata said they were dead against a City colour change in 2014.
“We were adamant that we should be the only sky blue team. It’s a 10-team league. We lobbied the first time and FFA agreed,” Pignata said.
“City changed their tracksuits, corner flags, it was creeping in. Then they lobbied FFA and they changed their minds. We were disappointed, but we moved on.
“We understand as league grows there will be more colour clashes.”
Mauk said there was all to play for at this early stage.
“It’s a massive game to show we mean business,” Mauk said.
“Backing up a great start with a win to go five points clear would be massive. It’s a good test for the players to see where we’re at.”
david.davutovic@news.com.au
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