ABOUT SOUTH OF THE BORDER
This blog deals with the on and off field happenings of South Melbourne Hellas, and occasionally with issues beyond that. This blog was officially started in late 2007 (though materials predating that foundation date have since been added), after a failed takeover of the then dormant and now extinct South Melbourne blog, Park Life.
This blog is not affiliated with the club in any official capacity
The opinions expressed here - including the comments - are solely those of the relevant contributors, and are not necessarily the opinions of the broader South Melbourne Hellas community, and should not be construed as such unless otherwise indicated. Publishing of comments does not equate to endorsement of those comments.
All work by Paul Mavroudis unless otherwise indicated © 2007-
CONTACT US
South of the Border, as a sort of anarcho-democratic enterprise, encourages criticism, praise, corrections, and offers of assistance from all sources.
While of course you can leave comments in the relevant spaces, if you would like to go one step further and contribute photos, articles, comics, artwork and whatever else you can think of, contact me and I'll try my best to accommodate you. It doesn't even have to be from South fans, though if it has something to do with South, I'm obviously far more likely to use it.
The best way to contact me is via email, via blackmissionary@hotmail.com. You can also follow me on Twitter @PaulMavroudis.
This site looks awful because I have no design skills, and because this site was originally and primarily run from a nine year old Benq laptop running Linux. I have a better computer now, but it doesn't make that much of a difference.
CURRENT GUILTY PARTIES
Paul Mavroudis - Creator of this project. If it's not explicitly mentioned that someone else wrote stuff here, then in all likelihood it was me who probably did. Arts (Honours) graduate at Victoria University, having submitted a PhD that I'm still waiting for a mark on. Attended South games only intermittently due to various very stupid reasons from about late 1992 until 2004, wandered off into some strange land in 2005, and since 2006 has been far more dedicated.
It came to my attention in April 2011 that some of you were interested in my footballing pedigree. I've never played a junior game. I've never played a senior match. I've never coached. My experience as a player is based solely at a very social level. The highlight of my career was accidentally dribbling past about three players in a supporters match held at Lakeside Stadium a few years back. I was so surprised by this occurrence, that I fluffed a five metre pass at the end of the move.
FORMER AND/OR INTERMITTENT CONTRIBUTORS
If I've missed you, let me know what you did, and I'll see if you deserve to be among the pantheon
The Agitator - South fan and collector of Australian soccer materials. Gave us a ton of match programmes to scan and upload.
'Anonymous' - Several different people have submitted one off articles anonymously. Click here to see some of those articles.
T. Arvanitis - Within this post, 'T. Arvanitis of Murrumbeena' pleaded with South Melbourne's A-League bid people to show some humility.
Chris Egan - a Perth Glory fan who kinda missed the NSL, Chris provided an article on the wringer the Glory had been put through by the FFA since the end of the NSL, and a follow up six years later.
Peter Filopoulos - the current Perth Glory CEO and former South Melbourne general manager wrote a piece on his blog about what it was like behind the scenes at South Melbourne during the 1990s, covering sponsorships, coaching appointments, the nascent field of sports administration and the transition from Middle Park to Lakeside. He was kind enough to let us republish that post on South of the Border.
Cliff Hussey - Started up his own South Melbourne blog, before I invited him to contribute to this enterprise where he'd get more views. He wrote match reports as well as took footage in 2008, which I'm still very appreciative of. You can also visit his other blog, here.
Gains - provided the occasional photo and knowledge of cheap and mostly good dinner options. Also did this match report and this one for us when we couldn't make it because of personal issues.
Joe Gorman - Wrote this piece on the moral mess that is the National Club Identity Policy.
Roy Hay - the preeminent Australian soccer historian, we have used the occasional article published by Hay in other places, as well as scanning and uploading the contents of 30 odd match programmes he salvaged from FFV's archives.
Jankerpoulos - a mysterious disgruntled supporter, who wrote a scathing match report on a game we lost at Fawkner back in 2008.
'Jim' - had an interesting back and forth with the FFV some time back. Was it ethical publishing this correspondence? Probably not. Was it worth reading? I think so.
Kiss of Death - Starting in round 3, 2010, the anonymous Kiss of Death provided his/her/its take on how the weekend's games would go, all while building a tidy cult audience made up primarily of the movers and shakers of Victorian football. Its output has slowed to less than a crawl, however.
Manny - Starting in June 2013, this mystery contributor decided to send us the occasional comic strip, as well a bit on footballing polygamy. In 2024, he allowed us republish some posts from his own blog on here.
Josh McKenzie - did a match report for us when I had a doctor's appointment.
Andrew McTernan - aka GeordieHellas, a Newcastle United fan who started following South during his time in Australia, and continues to support the club now that he's back in the UK. On his departure from Australia in 2013 he penned a farewell piece on smfcboard, which he kindly allowed us to re-publish on the blog.
Billy Natsioulas - Former promising talent with Melbourne Knights during the very late NSL, championship winner in 2006 with South coming back from a horrible injury; he was hampered by injuries both during and after his South stints. Provided us with a heartfelt summary of what it was like to grow up supporting the club and then finding yourself playing for it, which I really appreciated.
Cindy Nitsos - We have used many of her match day photos, and the occasional incriminating one. As well as providing several comments whenever a particular former board member's name was mentioned, she has also provided jellybeans!
Pavlaki - Watches way too much cable news. Has provided the occasional photo.
Skip Fulton - Provided some 'around the grounds' material before I realised that he needed a bigger audience for his work, and thus sent him towards the official South site, FFV and Goal Weekly. I also sometimes use his photos here.
Southpole - Wrote this on smfcboard which I posted on here, indirectly got me a yellow card on smfcboard, provided several possible names for the fanzine that I wanted to get up but of course will never do.
Steve from Broady - During 2013, Steve from Broady provided match reports from the under 21s as well as match stats from seniors and under 21s matches. He also provided canteen reviews, which earned their own cult audience before they became an exclusive part of the South Radio show. He also provided frequent inspiration for discussion points via his addle brained theories on how things are, influenced by his youth, invincible belief that 'England's time is now' and the obviously substandard Catholic education system in Victoria.
Savvas Tzionis - While Savvas is most notable here for leaving many thoughtful posts in the comments section, in 2015 he also provided an article on his unorthodox journey in becoming a South fan, and in 2017 this piece on Roberto Carlos' visit. Check this label for more Savvas pieces and references.
Supermercado/Adam 1.0 - Never an official contributor to this blog, but I stole some of his South related pieces from some of his other blogs. These posts can be found under the 'Supermercado' tag.
