Sunday 3 August 2014

Back in the limelight

On one minute, off the next. Sunday the 29th of February 2004, the moment the light went out, the end of the National Soccer League, and the end of the limelight for the Melbourne Knights. Then on a cold June night in the heart of Melbourne in 2014 the light began to flicker, growing to full beam.

I don’t think anybody at the time actually realised how much it would all be missed, I definitely didn’t. That day in February 2004 will be one that I shall remember for eternity, a day that made me proud to be Croatian, yet sad to see that something so great had ultimately come to an end. For a group of guys that wanted to show the people we are a nation, we exist as a nation; we did a damn good job at it. From being expelled in 1972 to lifting back to back trophies in 1995 and 1996, the whole world knew about the Melbourne Knights, the Manchester United of Australia. Not only were we the best and most dominate side in the country during the 1990s, we were also the most successful Croatian club outside of Croatia.

After what seemed like an eternity of no activity for the club between the end of the NSL and beginning of the 2005 Victorian Premier League season, the club finally kicked off against Sydney United in what was the beginning the now annual ‘Friendship Cup’. Although no longer on the national stage, it was evident that the club was still somewhat relevant to the Croatian and football communities with some 2,500 people in attendance. Despite this, unless you were at the game or reading the local Croatian paper, you wouldn’t have known the result and more than likely that the match was even on. The club didn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account, and there was certainly no mainstream media interest. And it was going to get any better from there, with crowd figures slowly dwindling year after year, and interest from anyone other than the regulars almost completely lost, the future wasn’t bright.

Then at around 6am on Wednesday the 25th of June 2014 a light began to flicker. It wasn’t the lights from Times Square shining through my New York hotel window; it was the Knights twitter account. Being too nervous to even check the score updates on my phone let alone listen to the game live, I tried forcing myself to go back to sleep. To no avail I checked my phone 20 or so minutes later to find us up 0-1 thanks to a first half Tomislav Uskok goal. Making me even more nervous, I was desperate for time to pass, leading me to the bathroom for a long shower and shave before checking my phone again. I didn’t know what to think as I saw Shayan Alinejad pop up along with 0-2, being two goals up in the second half you would think gives you a very good chance of winning the match, but I had seen otherwise, way too many times. From that point I couldn’t help myself but to scroll down and refresh twitter every 5 seconds until the full time graphic appeared. This was when the twitter notifications went into meltdown. It was the first time the Knights had been trending and most likely the first time a state league match got trending in Australia. Not only was it trending on twitter, within minutes there were match review articles popping up on mainstream media websites, the result was even scrolling along the Fox Sports news feed. We didn’t just take the last qualification spot for the FFA Cup, we did it against our biggest rivals. They were in form and top of the table with only one loss for the season, whilst we boasted a heavily depleted and young squad. To top it off we did it away from home in front of a healthy vocal Knights contingent. And man it was news worthy! It was ultimately the first real mainstream media coverage we had since the NSL, aside from the Southern Stars scandal which saw us ravage them 3-0 at Knights Stadium on prime time evening news. 

Despite the interest slowing down in the proceeding weeks, the days leading up to the Round of 32 match saw a spike in coverage with the KnightsTV crew doing an outstanding job providing everyone with daily content, along with a number of news articles from various external outlets. The two hours my phone was off during the flight to Brisbane would have to have been close to the most activity our twitter account had ever seen in such a short period of time. With links to articles previewing the match, interviews with coaches, interviews with players, there was even a guide to betting with detailed reports on all 8 teams form going into the FFA Cup. But what was perhaps the most pleasing of all was knowing that Victoria was behind us, with a large number of clubs pledging their support for the Knights in the lead up to the match. By the time I got through it all just after lunch, my phone was all but dead and had to go on charge as I knew there was more to come. However being so caught up in the thrill of the lead up to the game, I didn’t even care to check it. We were about to take the national stage for the first time in just over 10 years, and what was all that mattered. 

At first the result left me streaming with anger, but as time passed it bothered me less and less. As I walked through front door back home in Melbourne, I raced to the Foxtel remote to watch the pregame show. I am unable to explain how it felt to see the Knights team line up on the screen, the hosts talking about us before the match, a live cross to our goal. All this together with the online media coverage, KnightsTV content in the lead up, all of our twitter activity, this was more than we even had in the NSL. We were back in the limelight and I was absolutely loving it. 

But there was one thing that stood out for me the most, the introduction video to the pregame show. The first ever broadcast for the FFA Cup, right around Australia, history was being made. And what did I see? What was the very first thing I saw that quickly caught my attention and more than likely the attention of rest of the viewers around the country? The very first logo of all the clubs. Our logo. The Melbourne Knights. The group of guys that wanted to show the people we are a nation, we exist as a nation. And God did it feel good.