AS a battle of cross-town foes it failed to captivate, yet the Melbourne derby still stole a march on its rivals in the AFL on Saturday night.

The city’s third derby of the season dragged in 40,042 fans at a packed Etihad Stadium, another validation of the world game’s scintillating Australian summer.

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After Timmy Cahill’s goals, #InAngeWeTrust, the pulsating Asian Cup final and the wonderful afterglow of success, perhaps another epic was too much to hope for.

Any prospect was killed off as a clinical Victory poured three goals past a City side that huffed and puffed then utterly failed to deliver.

But as an AFL journalist attending his first Melbourne derby, the 3-0 result was only part of the theatre on a night that had everything.

Marriage proposals at halftime (Natalie said yes to Diego, she cried as the cameras rolled).

A riot of colour and movement and activity and energy, as the controversial Victory fans on the North Terrace started chanting half an hour before kick-off and literally did not stop for 150 minutes.

Let’s be honest, it was a fan experience with so much more vibrancy and atmosphere than what the AFL stumped up last year.

Beach balls flitted across the heads of fans, 70s-style flags and crepe paper flew in the stands and the chanting and singing and banner-waving just kept rolling on.

media_camera Not sure you’d get that drum into an AFL game. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

AFL football is officially chasing the world game’s tail, at least from a fan engagement perspective.

This week alone Essendon cut its cheer squad in half to provide room for an “Active Area” that will coordinate chants and generally spice up the atmosphere.

Geelong can’t even get some of its Simonds Stadium fans to take the knitted blankets off their knees, let alone stand and chant and roar for an entire game.

On Friday Carlton boss Steven Trigg admitted his envy at Victory’s North Terrace and has met his cheer squad to ask them for more.

The one problem with so many AFL games — nine a weekend for half a year — is that the atmosphere can lose some snap and crackle, especially with high prices and low-scoring football.

A handful of them every weekend feel flat and half-hearted, especially with crowds abandoning many Melbourne fixtures for legitimate reasons in 2014.

media_camera Hawthorn’s cheer squad fires up. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The elephant in the room, of course, is the flares those North Terrace fans continue to let off when Victory scores.

Victoria police abhor them, they must surely dissuade families from attending and as recently as November a child and woman were burnt by flares at a Victory game.

If Victory fans don’t break chairs and don’t shout abuse and don’t light flares, they give police no excuse to swarm around them as they did as soon as the flares started glowing on Saturday night.

Then all the media can talk about is the undoubted support the loyal fans provide the Victory players, not the damage those flares inflict upon soccer’s reputation.

media_camera When soccer passion boils over. Picture: Colleen Petch

Australian coach Ange Postecoglou was feted by the crowd pre-match and yet it not just the Socceroos playing with spirit and dare and adventure.

We believe in the style of football he is promoting, a spirit of industry filtering down through the A-League.

The diving and time-wasting those in the cheap seats were once so keen to criticise is virtually non-existent.

It has been replaced by the muscular play of stars like Besart Berisha, the dazzling boots of Fahid Ben Khalfallah and the exquisite crosses of Gui Finkler.

media_camera Port Adelaide fans have raised the bar for AFL fan engagement. Picture: Sarah Reed

Will this take over as the dominant code in Melbourne in 20 years?

Of course not, but it is closing in with a bullet, especially given June’s World Cup qualifiers and the arrival this year of superpowers Real Madrid, Roma and Manchester City.

Melbourne’s sporting fans don’t have to choose any more — they can love Victory or City as much as they support the Blues or Hawks or Pies.

Now we wait and see what the AFL has in store with its fan engagement measures this season

Because the gap between it and the A-League’s best is as wide a gulf as between Victory and City on the Etihad Stadium pitch.