Inaugural member Scott Fynmore still has the blue scarf he bought from Melbourne Victory’s first ever pre-season match against Perth in 2004.
“I signed up as soon as I could. Being from Melbourne, I jumped on board as soon as they announced it [the Hyundai A-League]. Bang, I was there.”
Now, 15 seasons later, Scott has built himself an impressive foundation. However, the passion for football was not necessarily a life-long affair.
“I grew up being an AFL kid, and had that love for AFL. Then I watched Australia play Iran in the 1998 World Cup Qualification match on the telly, and that was the first time for me seeing the MCG completely full, all barracking for one side, for Australia…and I just thought ‘wow’.”
Scott was all in, especially when it came to supporting the national team.
“The first ever football games I went to were Australia against France in a 2001 friendly, and then against Uruguay at the MCG in the qualifiers for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.”
Scott has even been fortunate enough to see a young Lionel Messi play when Argentina came to the MCG in 2007 to take on the Socceroos.
“I just love football now. That’s my game,” Fynmore said unwaveringly.
And he’s made sure to pass that love onto his three young sons.
“The first grand final we won in 2007, my wife was pregnant with our first child. That first child then went to the second grand final in 2009, where my wife was pregnant with our second, and then all three of our boys were at the 2015 Grand Final. They were literally born into it.”
The Fynmore boys rarely miss games.
“My dad jumped on board with us about four or five years ago, and we all go as a family now with three generations there. We jump on the train and in we head!”
With Scott’s wife being a big Hawthorn supporter, it works out well for the Fynmore family having AFL and A-League play in opposite seasons.
“My wife takes them to Hawthorn games during AFL season, and I take them to the Melbourne Victory games during A-League season. They just swap tops with the change of the seasons.”
While Scott found his love for the game a bit later in life, he has made sure to get his boys involved in playing the game from an early age, in addition to building their own memberships.
“All three of my kids play for Ringwood City. Roddy Vargas is now the technical director there, and I’ve still got his top from when he was my favourite player when he was running around,” Fynmore adds with a laugh.
“By the time I’d come to loving football, I was used to getting memberships with the AFL. So it wasn’t strange for me to buy a membership from the start. I wanted to be in from the ground.
“I like the fact that I’m an inaugural, 15-year member and there’s only 1500-2000 of us. You can’t just get that again…and I like the idea of my kids growing up and taking their mates to the football in many years to come.”
Even during what might be disappointing seasons, Scott is insistent that he and his boys are no fair-weather supporters. Instead, he sees each season as an opportunity to bring renewed hope, making the wins that much sweeter.
“I’ve got a team and I want to keep watching us play and do the best we can. It’s what I can go and watch and can spend two or three hours, screaming, cheering, pulling my hair out, or be utterly delirious with joy because we’ve won.
“You know? It’s the joy of the game. And it’s my team, so I don’t intend on walking away from it.”
This founding member is eager to see how his Victory team will bounce back from what has been a truly unprecedented season.
With the inevitable and necessary change to come back next season with resilience, Scott is keen to see Victory not only acquire talent but generate it.
“I want to see a young kid play, start at 16, 17 for us, and get to watch him at Victory for three or four years before we sell him for millions overseas and I get to watch him on telly,” Fynmore says pridefully.
“But whoever we put out on the park, if they’ve got the Victory top on, I’ll be going to watch them.”
