Perth Glory and Melbourne City.
There can be few clubs in the Hyundai A-League who have shared a larger number of players than the men in purple and the Victorians.
We haven’t fully researched this* (*disclaimer), but it would be very surprising if more Glory players have either previously or subsequently played for any other club than City.
And it started from day one.
Glory’s first clash with the newly-formed Melbourne Heart took place at AAMI Park in August 2010 when the hosts still had something of a hipster vibe about them.
Head Coach John van’t Schip’s tan was glowing, Brazilian Alex Terra looked capable of well, terrorising A-League defences and Rutger Worm had the air of a guy who might well run an uber-trendy micro-brewery charging $25 for a pint when he wasn’t patrolling the left-hand side of Heart’s defence.
But the spine of the Heart side even then, had a very WA feel about it.
Simon Colosimo was wearing the captain’s armband having previously done so here in the West, Wayne Srhoj had swapped purple for white and red earlier that year, Dean Heffernan was destined to move in the other direction at the end of the season and ex-Glory youth player Eli Babalj was on the bench.
Since that day, the player traffic between the two clubs has never ceased.
If anything, it’s increased.
In the early and mid-2010s, Richard Garcia, Adrian Zahra, Jamie Coyne, Liam Miller and Jack Clisby were among those to make the switch in either direction, while this Sunday’s game between the two sides at HBF Park could feature a remarkable eight members of the Glory – City club.
Tando Velaphi, Ivan Franjic, Osama Malik, Neil Kilkenny, Bruno Fornaroli, Scott Jamieson, Rostyn Griffiths and Jamie Maclaren are all in contention to make the squad list for the Round 22 clash.
So if you love a game with more sub-plots and revenge narratives than an episode of MAFS, this is the one for you!
Kick-off is at 3pm, grab your tickets HERE.
#OneGlory