Notes from the 2025 AGM

This report contains the usual mix of fact, editorialising, and inadvertent blurting out of all the Club's secrets. 

Before getting into my hazy recollection two weeks after the meeting happened, it's worth reading the Club's own account of the AGM, as published on its website. It is unexpected, but welcome, that the Club has put out something which relates some details of what occurred at the AGM - it has not been the Club's usual habit to say much, if anything, about what occurs at its AGMs. Even if the level of detail is likely to be too thin to satisfy a person like myself, such a document is at least something which can (and has) now been independently archived for future reference. For example, it is worth noting that in that report of the AGM, the board has put forward its agenda for how it wants to run the Club. So, it talks about its significant investment in off-field personnel, in addition to its seeking to move closer to a full-time professional on-field environment for its senior men's program.

But let's not let the official spiel obscure the inadequacies. It remains an appalling detail that we had to wait almost two years for what is by law supposed to be an annual general meeting. At the end of the meeting the board apologised for that delay, and promised to hold the next AGM by the end of this calendar year. Of course, we've heard such promises before. I'm not particularly fond either of the way that the South Melbourne Hellas and South Melbourne FC AGMs were smushed together even more than usual, but at least the attendance was solid enough that we did not need to drag any players in from training to form a quorum, so that's a plus. There was also a healthy attendance from members of the board, which was also pleasing to see.

The quality of the minutes of the last meeting was also, by the board's own admission, poor. Worse, in context, was the quality of the financial report documents provided to members. Even putting aside the fact they were not made available to members prior to the meeting (as has been the practice and expectation in the past), it is plainly not acceptable for members to be provided to what amounted to a copy of the PowerPoint slides (which were not put up on screen due to a technical issue) in lieu of the actual detailed financial statements of the club. Whether or not most ordinary members (including your correspondent) understand the comprehensive audited financial statements that members are usually provided with is beside the point - the examination of the accounts, in their fullest audited form, is the right of every member.  

(for those who often ask this question, the Club noted that it will be using a new auditor if not for the next financial report, then for the one after, though not out of dissatisfaction with the work of the current auditor)

Insofar as the club's financial position goes, there were losses made across both the previous two financial years. The 23/24 loss was substantially worse than the 24/25 loss (the latter of which was not dire), mostly due to what has been described as a bad debt - namely money owed by the then major sponsor. Though not named on the night, it seemed to me to be a clear reference to a particular entity and person which have both since been caught up in the ongoing Shield Master Fund and First Guardian matters. As those matters are incredibly complicated and likely to be in the courts for some years to come, it would be inappropriate to say any more on any of that not only as a pleb part-time blogger, but especially as someone who works in and around the relevant courts where these matters are being dealt with. Those who are interested in keeping up with that saga can do so by reading the financial press. As a matter of workplace protocol, I preemptively declare conflicts of interest for myself when my job comes into contact with anything to do with Australian soccer; in my three and a half years in the job, it's come up more often than you'd think.

The financial position of the club is also hindered by the unsatisfactory performance of the social club. Co-president Andrew Mesorouni has made it one of his personal goals to overhaul the food service and social club experience, as referred to in the Club's own report. There are also improved deals with the tenants using the futsal court space, and hopefully announcements coming soon about new sponsors. Overall, the club's annual turnover remains at just over $2 million, so roughly where the club has been for a few years now. 

Expect that to change at the next AGM. The club has decided to go in a certain direction, which may bluntly be deemed as "go hard or go home", or more kindly as "taking more initiative". I consider it to be a form of accelerationism, where we get to find out what the ultimate future of this club is sooner rather than later. Either we wait to die slowly, or we find out if South Melbourne Hellas has the potential to become something bigger than what it has been for most of the past twenty years. People got a taste of the good life with the Australian Championship - big crowds instead of small ones, and a party atmosphere instead of a funereal one - and the Club has decided that they want more. And this is part of the problem with how relatively well the Australian Championship went for us, even in its stilted, demonstration form: people's expectations have been raised. The NPL experience looks even more sickly now. We know that while the NPL (and VPL before that) keeps us alive, it is also the thing that is slowly killing us. 

I suspect this is at least partly why the Club has ramped up not just the rhetoric on being a big club again and on "Hellas being back", but also why it has attempted to deploy the resources necessary to make that rhetoric a reality. So, we're in the OFC Pro League, and we've gone for a full-time professional setup on and off-field. We've hired and are in the process of hiring more staff - no more half-arsing it with a bit part office presence. No more having to work around the lives of semi-professional players. I think back to the club's Singapore Cup venture of 2010 and 2011. While small beans by comparison to what's going on now, the rationale behind this move is similar - we should be trying different things, and we have to try different things. The Singapore Cup runs weren't universally supported by our rank and file membership, but it's hard to say that at least the 2010 version didn't get people talking and thinking about the club in a different way.

This is a bold move, and part of the rationale for this I found particularly interesting - that we can't afford to say "no" to opportunities when they present themselves to us. Where the previous president, Nick Maikousis (who was thanked for his 30 years of service to the Club), said that we would not participate in the OFC Pro League if we did not receive outside (eg, government) funding, the current co-presidents have decided that the Club should self-fund its participation in the Pro League. To help cover the cost, the goal would is to get a cut of the not insignificant prize money on offer, as well as increase sponsorship by showcasing the club on a bigger stage. What other sponsor and grant opportunities may exist to take advantage of ventures such as this remain to be seen; but certainly part of the long-term goal is to eventually get a slice of the player transfer market by selling players to overseas clubs.

(there was also mention of the networking opportunities being created by this venture, not only with regional football powerbrokers, but also with different levels of government that we have previously had limited access to - one has to take all of this with a grain of salt, because most of us have no ability to verify anything that happens at such get-togethers)

The logistical considerations are enormous, and they can only be partly ameliorated by increased overall professionalism. Apart from the congested fixture (as covered by Manny last year, and which has only gotten worse because of the postponed game from the Auckland hub), there is the also the complicated player contract and registration protocols from having a side from the Asian confederation playing in the Oceanian confederation. While not referred to on the night, I am aware that a consultant has been assisting the club to make sure it has all its ducks lined up in a row on the regulatory front. The downside to that is, we are basically locked into this 23 man squad until the transfer window, with the exception of top-up players.

(No, Manny Aguek, whose move to Thailand has hit a stumbling block, is not coming back, at least not in the short term).

The congested fixture will mean that we will be fielding weakened lineups in several early season NPL games. Though not discussed in detail, it's quite clear that the experience of those of us who attend NPL games will suffer. It is a concern among several of us regulars that apart from the threat of a slow start to the NPL season putting us behind the eight ball - and you only have to look at Melbourne Knights' relegation last year to see how one really bad year can see things get away from you - that so much emphasis is seemingly being placed on the Pro League and Australian Championship. There are three (now four) local/home games at the start of the year (Pro League) and three at the end (Australian Championship) which matter, and the rest is something merely to be endured in the mean time.

Aside from this change of direction, there were other matters discussed. A report on our women's teams, on the power chair and blind teams, and complaints and comments made about the treatment of life members, and the ongoing issue of the quality of the catering in the social club. These are not illegitimate things to bring up, but in the greater scheme of things, these are all minor issues. I am reminded of something that former president Maikousis once said, that the Club's board needed to get to the stage where it could focus on strategy, while delegating day-to-day operation of the club to staff to help implement elements of that strategy. If Maikousis' approach (at least outwardly) was to temper expectations on a range of issues (we will get there, but we have to be patient), the current co-presidency has decided to speed things up. If the previous approach, at least in regards to the Australian Championship and/or National Second Division, was at least pretending to try and live by the maxim that a rising tide lifts all boats, then this approach also departs from that - now there's an emphasis of trying to stay ahead of other similarly placed clubs. So while other clubs are out there spending on player wages, we're out here to trying to offer players a complete package.

I came out of this meeting concerned and very much lacking in confidence that we could actually pull this off. It seems too bold, and just too much. That many games? That much cost? And yet I also felt energised by the meeting, because one of the easiest things for the Club to do - and it has done this a lot over the past twenty years - is just drift. Granted, there have been times where great energy has been directed at specific tasks (the last A-League bid comes to mind), but often the result of that is (at least perceived) neglect of the week-to-week business of the Club. There have also been occasions where we have been momentarily decisive (getting Chris Taylor in with his Thunder players), but none of that spoke to a long-term strategy. In some respects, so much of what we've tried to do is shortcut our way to a better South Melbourne Hellas. Our keener involvement in trying to build a proper National Second Division, the Pro League, the move to full time professionalism - that feels like a club trying to build some actual scaffolding for the first time in a long time. But will the experiment last long enough to attach something permanent to said scaffolding?

Thoughts on the OFC Pro League so far - (Guest post by Manny)

Thanks to Manny of Blue and White Views for offering up this piece. My AGM thing will be up by Thursday.

South have now played five games in the OFC Pro League (OPL) and fans finally have a sense of what the competition is about. With the NPL Victoria season about to start, as well as the Melbourne Circuit of the OPL around the corner, I thought I'd take a second to reflect on South's season so far, and how I think the OPL may impact the club in the short and medium term.

 

South on the pitch at the OPL

 

One of the big questions about the OPL ahead of the competition's launch was regarding the standard of football that it would present. So far, the product on the pitch has probably ranged from NPL Victoria level when the bigger teams are involved, all the way down to a lower VPL2 level when the smaller teams are involved. South certainly hasn't played remarkable football throughout this competition; however the team has largely met expectations and remains the only undefeated team in the competition.

 

The first three games of the competition were due to be played in Auckland, where South kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 win against Tahiti United. South probably looked the better of the two teams on individual quality but were not convincing in their performance, needing a 98th minute free kick from Mesourouni to seal the victory. My read of this first game was that South simply struggled with its many new players and weren't at their best largely due to a lack of chemistry. This was not unexpected so early in the year, however there is real concern about the quality of some of these new recruits.

 

The second game against the Solomon Kings was postponed due to poor weather, but the third game saw South dominate the bottom-of-the-table team, PNG Hekari, 5-0. There wasn't much to read into this game from a South side owing to the opposition's lack of quality, however the game did highlight the importance of the OPL in improving the level of football in Oceania; teams like PNG Hekari will certainly improve over the course of the competition.

 

The next three games of the competition were played in Port Morseby, in extremely hot and humid conditions. As such, pretty much all of the games here saw a slower pace, and fitness was often the deciding factor in matches. South's fourth competition game was a 3-3 draw against South Island United. It was a disappointing result partly reflecting some poor keeping from new signing Shalamanov-Trenkov (who lost his spot for the next two games), but also disappointing due to the lack of on-filed cohesiveness. From a team standpoint though the difficult hot conditions take a little sting out of the performance and buys the team some leniency.

 

South however lose some of that leniency in their fifth game against Bula FC where we secured a 1-1 draw. Despite dominating the play for almost the whole game, Bula managed to look threatening on the counter and once they equalised South looked toothless in front of goal. A lot has been said about squad management recently but this game really underlined our lack of striking options after the departures of Aguek and Lavale to the A-League.

 

In the sixth game of the competition, South stormed home to a 5-2 victory against Vanuatu United in, to be frank, bizarre circumstances. By the end of the game Vanuatu ended with four red cards - three for players and one for their head coach. Also strange was the fact that South scored all five of their goals from set plays. It was a strange game also for the fact that Vanuatu still looked occasionally threatening with nine on the park, even scoring a goal to bring the game back to 3-2 before South sealed the result later in the game.

 

So overall what can we say about South on the pitch? Firstly, the headline results are OK. South is the only undefeated team in the league and finds itself second on the table behind Auckland. It is also true that South's performances have not been convincing. The team has not played the entertaining possession-based football we grew used to at the end of last year's NPL season and has instead built on a direct play style with a heavy reliance on set plays - Mikkola's throws are once again finding the spotlight. Individually as well, a few players are creating cause for concern. New recruits (with the exception of Swibel) have not impressed, specifically new goalkeeper Shalamanov-Trenkov (who has already lost his starting spot) and Coveny (who's erroneous pass gave Vanuatu a cheap goal).

 

I think overall though fans need to give the team some leniency. We need to factor the unfamiliar international travel, the searingly hot conditions in the Port Moresby games, and the challenges in absorbing all the new squad members. Considering the standard of competition and that the first six rounds of the OPL could almost be considered an extended pre-season, the team will need to see improvements.

 

What next on-field?

 

The next lot of games represents a clear step up in competition. The next round of OPL will be held in Melbourne and will see up play ladder leaders Auckland, as well as mid-table teams South Island and Tahiti United. This represents our toughest circuit of the competition. Not that all teams (six of which were formed just for the OPL) have a few games under their belt, I would expect the rest of the OPL to present a higher level of on-field play. Travel and even match-day conditions aren't really an excuse anymore.

 

However we are also about to commence our NPL season with Avondale up first. With the increased competitiveness of the NPL this year (enter George Cross, Bentleigh and Melbourne City) as well as the unconvincing performances of our new OPL recruits I think it is clear we can't compete on both fronts and will need to prioritise one competition, and considering the threat of relegation, I think we need to prioritise the NPL.

 

So what needs to change? Well I think the first thing that needs to change is squad continuity in the NPL. Unlike the OPL where we have seen huge squad and match-day turnover I think we need to see a strong starting XI in the NPL week-in-week-out which can develop chemistry and produce cohesive performance which simply haven't occurred in the OPL. We also need to rethink our attacking play or risk reverting to a set-piece heavy 'Esta-ball-lite' which our OPL performances have teased. This simply won't cut it in an NPL considering the increased physicality of our opponents. Let's consider our best XI (per my thoughts)

 

Lopez

Lampard - Eliopoulos - Jankovic - Painter Andrews

Mikkola - Giannakopoulos - Pasquali - Uchida

Bonada - Swibel

 

Play style wise this squad is more capable than our squad at the end of last year, and chemistry wise we haven't really seen this squad so far in the OPL. That says to me there is upside on what we have seen so far in the OPL but also suggests our pre-season has probably been less than optimal by way of our inability to train as one squad. On our 'pre-season' as far as I am away our results have been underwhelming. The South 'B' team of first team players left in Melbourne and reserve players likely to fill the gaps when the OPL overlaps with the NPL have not impressed our online fans and offers a worrying sign for our ability to compete in both competitions. Overall… even after watching five South games this year I feel like I have no idea what we will serve up against Avondale in round 1!

 

Off-field OPL

 

So… now to the off-field stuff. I think off the bat, FIFA and the OFC have done a fantastic job in the organisation and presentation of this league. The broadcast is exceptional from a production perspective (multiple HD cameras!) and a distribution perspective (FIFA+ has been great for me)! The OPL will improve football in the region as the competition is delivering higher competition to pacific footballers and access to professional governance and training. Commentary, refereeing, VAR, stadia - I could go on. The whole competition is a big thumbs up - of course this is entirely dependent on sustainable funding which about the long term - I believe there is none. (I can't be bothered with this conversation for now….)

 

I'll also add that South's participation is also a huge thumbs up - from the perspective of the OFC. Why? Yes, I think Wellington Phoenix could have (nay probably should have) taken our place, however we need to recognise Australia's importance to the OFC - and heck even New Zealand specifically. Economically, politically, and socially Australia is critical to the Pacific (it's one of the reasons I believe South have been able to secure federal funds to participate in this comp) but from a football perspective Australia is to the Pacific what Europe is to Australia. The most realistic next step for elite Pacific footballers, coaches and referees is the A-League or even the NPL. Australia also represents the largest nationality represented in the competition, not via South, but via other clubs who have called on Australian coaches and players. South offers a critical bridge between the Pacific and its largest football opportunity and already we've seen the Australian football community, (let's be honest, largely through South) pay attention to this competition - maybe not a broad basis but outlets like Football360, Round Ball Australia and communities on Green and Gold FC, and Reddit.

 

Now, finally from a South perspective, the OPL is a huge platform for the club. The South brand is being shared across the Pacific, and the club can do international community work (as we saw them at a PNG school) and offer players and staff professional experiences in the form of travel, match-day experience and broadcast media. However, these benefits are completely contingent on external Funding either via the Federal government (which may not be available in the long term) or FIFA (who don't want to fund an AFC based team). These benefits must also be balanced with the practical challenges of overlapping competitions. We will only know at the conclusion of this season how the OPL will impact our NPL season and vice-versa, but it is clear squad management, logistics, fan experience and even competition integrity are under pressure. The jury is out on this one.

 

A few thoughts.

 

I think that in the long run the OPL will have to be relegated to a reserve’s competition for us, unless there is some sort of unprecedented pickup in economic benefits or fan interest of which I see no real chance for either. I know this thought is a little blunt, and maybe not to ambitious but I'm a simple guy and I like simple answers.

 

I think this will align with Auckland's approach and allow us to clearly define what the OPL is (development) and what NPL is (priority) which benefits to fans, the club, and the individual leagues. So, let's say we take the Auckland approach - this will require a change in our registration rules but essentially, we would play our reserves in the OPL with an allowable of three first team squad members each game. We can also bolster this squad with OPL specific signings which I think we need to be more targeted with in the long term. Specifically, I think the OPL is a great opportunity for the club to recognise Australian Indigenous cultures and provide footballing opportunities to first Australians. However, as I alluded to earlier, the jury is still out on all of this and maybe the OPL looks different next year!

 

In conclusion

 

Geez, it's been a crazy month already… and we haven't even started the NPL yet!

2026 membership and public transport updates

First, yes, my AGM report is coming. But for now, other things.

Memberships
At last, memberships for the 2026 season have been made available. You have to head to the Intix site to purchase them if you're doing so online. 

All membership cards will be digital now, via the Intix app, unless you choose to purchase a physical membership card at the additional cost of $5.

Overall value seems to have gone down again. Both the season ticket and social club memberships now only guarantee access to NPL Victoria matches - so no Dockerty Cup, Australia Cup, or even any Australian Championship matches. For the record, the OFC Pro League, run as a FIFA/OFC event, exists outside our control, and memberships are irrelevant for that.

Social club members at least get a $40 merchandise voucher, and two NPL general admission tickets to bring along a friend (which don't count for the Preston home match), as well as voting rights.

Public transport guide
Boy, did my guide cop some stick on a Reddit thread last year. Fair enough, but remember, it's mostly a guide for me. If other people bump into it, that's their own fault. If they know how to get to a place with a better method, and with more detailed instructions, I'm not going to stand in their way.

To that end I've done the best that I could under the circumstances, given that some of these new and returning venues are just a pain to get to. We also have the Home of the Matildas to deal with again, which bothers some more than others.

One should note that the main change now, apart from the annual arrival and disappearance of venues from this guide, is the implementation of the Metro Tunnel. Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham trains will use it exclusively - they will no longer go through the City Loop. Frankston trains return to the loop for the first time in over a decade. For everyone else, it's as you were, but you if you do plan to use public transport in 2026, you better get your head around these changes.

Season 2026 begins. What, already? Yes.

The most important thing right now about the Oceania Pro League - HOW TO WATCH IT!
In order to watch our matches in the Oceania Pro League, you will need to download the FIFA+ app on to your phone. As far as I'm aware, there will be no other broadcast channels available to Australians to watch this thing. The good news for those who, like me, hate downloading yet another app, is that you can cast the stream to your TV, and even better, it doesn't seem like you need to sign up to anything to watch the streams.

I also had to download the Futbol24 app, which I've otherwise done without the past year or two, because it automatically adjusts kickoff times to my current timezone. 

EDIT:
It appears that the phone app's ability to cast to a TV won't necessarily work, in which case, just download the app direct to your Smart TV.

Several other less important things about the Oceania Pro League
This Oceania Pro League business is strange on many levels, but especially its quietness. The lack of hype, promotion, and social media spectacle in comparison to its utterly gauche opposite (in the form of the Australian Championship) is there for all to see. But rather than spend a lot of time writing about what to expect from this Pro League business, I was invited by a podcaster to give a South fan's perspective on the matter. I thought it came across OK, but as always, it is just one South fan's point of view, not the view of all South fans.

The first half of the podcast begins with South Melbourne general manager Strati Xynas explaining how South fits into this new league - including some details about the regional sporting diplomatic angle - as well as hinting towards the broader strategic direction the club is looking to take. It's actually rather encouraging to see one of our people talking openly and at some length, and without too much PR guff, about what the club's strategic direction actually is.

As for my contribution in the second half of the episode, it's the usual thoughtful, well-considered, and utterly lacking in personal grandstanding content that you've become accustomed to over the years, both on here and in person. 

But one of my brothers said I came across as smug! Can you believe such a thing? Me? Smug!

Anyway, you can watch this podcast here or Spotify or on Apple podcasts.

Caricature artefact Wednesday - Steve Kalogeros WEG caricature

The bloody things people have tucked away! I was doing my 100th daily refresh of smfcfans.net the other day, when I saw someone post a screencap of this, which was originally posted on Facebook.

Scene from I Play Soccer, a children's book
by Lorraine Wilson (best known for her
"Footy Kids" series. WEG illustrated the scene
which was partnered by the text:
"Soccer is better than football because it's not
as rough. Only the supporters fight."

Stratos "Steve" Kalogeros was a right-sided fullback who played with South Melbourne Hellas from 1961-1966, making him a member of the great Hellas sides which won four Victorian State League championships in five seasons (1962, '64, '65, '66). According to the discussion in that Facebook group, Kalogeros also coached juniors at South in the 1970s.

Dated apparently to about 1962, what's interesting about this caricature - apart from the appearance of the club's original red vee jersey and the original (?) club badge - is that it's by the cartoonist William Ellis Green. Better known by the handle WEG, with which he signed his illustrations, Green became famous for his posters celebrating the premiership sides of the VFL and later AFL. 

Beginning in 1954 and going all the way up to WEG's death in 2008, these posters became synonymous with Aussie rules in Victoria, which must have struck WEG as somewhat ironic, as I've been informed that he otherwise had no interest in sport. But for fans of the Victorian VFL/AFL clubs especially, the WEG poster was as much proof of your club's success as the unfurling of the premiership flag at the first home game of the following season; the kind of thing that would appear quaint to outsiders, but which was nevertheless intrinsic to the culture of the VFL and its supporters. 

(another Australian sporting example is painting the SANFL premier's colours on top of the West End brewery in Adelaide)

Thus, to have WEG produce a drawing of a soccer player, especially at this time, raises some interesting questions. Like, first of all, how and why did this come about? Also, how big was soccer in Melbourne at that time that any soccer player or club would warrant this treatment? Yes, it's true that South Melbourne Hellas, George Cross, and Juventus were pulling some very big crowds at this time, but it's still hard to imagine that any of them would have broken the mainstream sporting barriers back then, even if the popularity of WEG's posters hadn't really taken off completely until the mid-1960s.

Also, why Kalogeros of all players? There were surely more stylish and attacking players in that squad, like John Margaritis, or one of the Anglo-Australians like Ted Smith who'd also represented Australia in the past. I wonder if there were drawings produced for other soccer players of the time? Since the caricature lacks any Herald branding - the newspaper that WEG worked for - it's plausible that this drawing is from a private commission.

Having then contacted the WEG estate, his son-in-law John Enright got back to me, and suggested that this was indeed likely to have been a private commission - a not uncommon example of the kind of freelance work cartoonists would do outside their newspaper jobs. Unfortunately, WEG wasn't much of an archivist, and most of his drawings (and the stories behind them) are now lost to the aether. As for reproducing the work... Enright seemed to indicate that if we could get hold of the original (or I assume at least a good scan of it) we could reproduce this caricature - we'd just need to get the estate's permission, which Enright seemed to indicate would be pretty straightforward.

See also this Steve Blair caricature, by a different artist.

Just a quick word / fans grateful / 18 years

The blog being semi-retired now for a couple of years, I deliberately didn't compose an annual "thank you" post last year. This year, though, I would just like to take the time to single out a couple of individuals for their efforts this in 2025.

First of all, I'd like to thank Hellas Johnny for providing me with lifts to and from various grounds in 2025. Even if he's a little bit too much like my late dad, in the sense of getting to a game way too close to kickoff for my liking (how long were we in line at the Dockerty Cup final?!), I'm appreciative of being looked after when trying to get to games in bad public transport locations, especially at night. A good thing we did eventually find your car in the back blocks of Reservoir though!

The second person I'd like to thank is Manny of Blue and White Views. The appearance of that website, and especially the fanzine, was a highlight of 2025 - indeed, prior to the turnaround in form under Sinisa Cohadzic, it may have been the only genuine highlight of the season. By the way, this is not an attempt to try and guilt Manny out of his own hiatus! The appearance of the fanzine in particular was evidence that someone in the fan base still cared enough to do something like that. Even better was seeing the interest of fans with their copies of the retro looking program, which was at the very least useful for helping identify who was out there for us without having to resort to clumsy attempts to dig for details on social media. And the collective digital and print output did is own thing - it didn't try and mimic halcyon days South of the Border, and was all the better for that.

Onward to 2026!

2026 senior men's fixture updated on blog

Manny's guess post the other day focused on the worst case scenario for the logistical nightmare we've signed ourselves up for in 2026. No need to retread that just yet,

This post is just to indicate that I've updated my fixtures page on the blog. Many OFC Pro League details are still yet to be finalised, including the venue(s) for the Melbourne circuit of that tournament.

One will notice a lot of Monday night home games, before eventually settling down into a 3:30 Sunday afternoon slot further into the season. Speaking strictly from an NPL perspective, there is one new opponent (Melbourne City NPL), and two new venues: Casey Fields (Melbourne City) and City Vista (George Cross). Apart from the away game against Preston being scheduled for a Saturday afternoon - because it falls on the Orthodox Easter weekend - there aren't too many surprises.

The other interesting thing about the fixture is that as far as curtain-raisers go, there are no senior men's/senior women's double headers this season. The women's team (and their reserves) will be predominantly playing home games on Saturday afternoons at Lakeside. The Sunday senior men's games will have the under 23s as the curtain raisers. The senior men/senior women double headers seem to go in and out of fashion at Lakeside, and I guess we're in the part of the cycle where we say damn the cost of match day operations, let's go for maximum occupation of Lakeside.

EDIT:
One of our eagle-eyed readers noted that our round 4 game against Bentleigh couldn't possibly be at Lakeside because of the grand prix. After checking the fixture list again, rather than hosting rights for that match being reversed, we will be hosting it at the Home of the Matildas.

More than a bit of waffle on idiosyncratic forms of Australian soccer chauvinism

This week, in posting nothing even particularly inflammatory, which I'm more than capable of doing - some of it was just quoting choice elements of news articles on social media about Western United's ongoing issues with its creditors - I was accused of being bitter. Me! Bitter! Well, yes, I am. Of course I am. But I would like to think that there's more nuance to my bitterness than a simple slur like "bitter" can allow.

Right from the start, I should note that it is self-evidently both stupid and pointless (a winning combination if I've ever seen one) to engage with arguments and commentary that appear to be made in obvious bad faith, or at least based upon only skimming through the compulsory texts set for the course. If I were being reasonable about the whole thing, and I like to think I'm usually quite reasonable, I wouldn't expect any of my social media or actual social interlocutors, occasional or otherwise, to have read South of the Border from start to finish (please don't ever do that); that includes not even at the very least the good bits that people used to once share to their friends and enemies with the phrase "Mav nails it again".

So, I understand why I might get lumped in with people who are genuinely more aggro and aggrieved about the state of Australian soccer and especially South Melbourne's place in it than I am. Being lumped in with the more obnoxious online South fans used to frustrate me more when I was more engaged with the work of writing about Australian soccer, but back then there was also the reassurance that someone might chirp up with a "well, Paul's not like the others". How smug did I feel after those moments! But time and passivity can erode even the most hard won reputation. That makes it sound like I'm crying for my "nice bitter guy" reputation even more than I cry for South's reputation, and I suppose there's some truth to that. 

My reputation, limited as it was to being the "thinking Australian soccer fan's bitter" - sort of like the Lloyd Braun of bitters - went to great lengths to differentiate itself from the boastfulness seemingly inherent to South Melbourne Hellas and its supporters. But time moves on, and my reputation is no longer of concern, because I pretty much don't write anymore. So if I'm not worth engaging with, as some of my recent deriders seem to believe, then my message to them is: don't engage! It seems so obvious, and yet that is the social media nicotine impulse, isn't it? Someone of no consequence has said something stupid or disagreeable (about Australian soccer! of all the things to get upset about!) on the internet, and they must be corrected and chastised, for the betterment of all humanity.

So the bad faith arguments persist. It's even more frustrating when both sides of the argument clearly don't think that their opponents are arguing in good faith. Of course, calling it an argument is giving such discourse far too much dignity and credit; there really isn't much meaningful discourse about the topic. Getting involved with the sickly remnants of this new dawn/bitter divide is stupid and pointless in part because the new dawn has won, and quite comprehensively. Some South fans - the ones I've recently been lumped in with - would disagree, but it's so clear that, the novelty of a short Australian Championship fling aside (I should write something about that, maybe), Australian soccer has for the most part been drawn in the new dawn image. Yet so much of the engagement on these topics (at least within my social media vicinity) remains based around winding other people up, or trying to score brownie points with your own side by making yet another histrionic comment on social media. 

Meanwhile, I thought that my trademark casual flippancy was positively urbane by comparison; perhaps such nuances aren't as appreciated as they used to be.

Now on to a much more serious allegation. In addition to being accused of being bitter (fair), I was also accused of hating the A-League (mostly fair), and yet also with being obsessed with that competition despite my seeming/apparent/feigned (take your pick) interest in it. Well, yes and no. It depends on the day of the week and how well the competition is doing. Being slightly less flippant about the topic, I admit that the worse that the A-League does, the more interesting it is to me. Right now, the Western United situation aside, the A-League is not particularly interesting to me. The A-League is generally doing fine, and has been for a long time. Sometimes it does better, sometimes it does worse. It's not perfect, sure: it loses money hand over fist, crowds go up and then down very suddenly, and the TV deal ain't worth much. But that's no different to most minor and secondary soccer leagues around the world, especially those dependant on corporate philanthropy to keep them afloat.

Holding this general opinion of the A-League's mostly adequate health, as an otherwise bitter South fan, doesn't always go over well with other bitter South fans, especially those who are of a similar age to myself. For some reason, it especially doesn't go over well with Ian Syson, who likely thinks it to be mere contrarianism on my part; some last vestigial limb of the much, much younger me's penchant of arguing for the sake of arguing.

But regardless of how healthy the A-League actually is, the A-League has been around for twenty years now. The National Soccer League was around for 27. How long until those of our people actually death-riding the A-League finally get the hint that the A-League isn't going anywhere? Again, I suppose the answer lies in the question of how close South is to getting into the comp at any given point in time - the closer (in our imaginations at least) that we are, say during a semi-bona fide bidding process, then the more viable the A-League magically becomes; the further away we are (most of the rest of the time), the less viable the A-League seems to be unless it dramatically reforms itself to such an extent that, conveniently, the involvement or inclusion of South Melbourne is able to solve some or even many of the competition's problems.

It's the rather absurd and persistent and hardly unnoticed irony that the A-League's biggest haters (at least from those outside the A-League tent) so desperately want to be a part of it. People pointing this out sometimes do so thinking they've found the winning bit of well-observed satire that will once and for all take down the whole "South Melbourne supporter who's obsessed with hating the A-League" faction. But it's not a new observation, and it's not going to do the trick, just like counting A-League crowds off a TV screen isn't going to be the thing that kills off an A-League team. 

But back to me and my particular position on the whole thing. I don't much care for the A-League both as it is now, and as it has been since its inception. To understand my position on the matter though, one must separate the on-field aspect from the off. I could not give a stuff about what happens on the field. It does not concern me. I wish no one involved with it either well or ill. I really, seriously do not care, except on the rare occasions I am in the vicinity of A-League programming or in-person discussion, and I mostly try to ignore it, with often poorly disguised petulance.

But I don't care for the on-field aspect for much the same reason that I don't care for most soccer leagues outside Victoria, whether here or overseas. I don't care for the A-League in the same way that I, as a Victorian fan of Australian rules football, don't care about the SANFL or the WAFL. There's no hook for me, no connection. I tried connecting with Victory way back when, but it just didn't take. It didn't resonate with me on emotional, aesthetic, political, moral, or on whatever other grounds you can think of. That experience of not-resonating helped me understand the point of view of those who could not (and not just would not) connect to South or any ethnic club, even though it really shouldn't have taken that first season A-League sojourn to make that empathetic realisation. All sorts of reasoning (some fair, some absolute rubbish) can be attached to trying to make sense of why one couldn't attach themselves to it, but really, you either feel it, or you don't. Trying to convince yourself that you care or that you should care is not a good sign.

Would I change my view on the A-League if South Melbourne was allowed to participate in it, as South Melbourne, with no gimmicks? I probably would, even with having to deal with VAR; after all, pretty much everyone has a price. But that change of view wouldn't be only, or even mostly because I am a South Melbourne supporter, though of course it'd be a large part of it: it'd be because including South Melbourne in the A-League would fundamentally alter what the A-League is about, even if South Melbourne was a small club within the competition rather than the medium-sized fish that it was in the small sludgy pond that was the NSL. The A-League would fundamentally change if any of the major old ethnic clubs somehow made the jump. If it was Sydney Olympic or Marconi or Preston who somehow got in instead of us, I still probably wouldn't watch the A-League. But I could acknowledge that there was a pathway, and a significant cultural shift within the code at that level because of the addition. If I were to remain resentful about South's ongoing exclusion, then the resentment, too, would have to take a different form. 

But there's no sign of that ever being anything other than a vague hypothetical. So, if I don't care about the on-field aspects of the A-League, and if South has basically Buckley's of getting into it, then why do I (or any bitter for that matter) pay any attention to the A-League as an organisation at all? The answer to that question is so obvious, that it's insulting to have to point it out; but since the people who bring this point up are either being deliberately obtuse about the issue, or are actually that ignorant, here's the answer:

Because I, and we, have to.

It's very much like living in Victoria as an AFL-hating soccer fan, and pretending that the AFL does not exist. Or even worse, being an AFL-hating soccer fan from outside of Victoria, who has no clue not just about how powerful the AFL is economically in this state. but especially how pervasive Australian rules is to this city on a cultural level. The game of Australian rules has grown up symbiotically with the city of Melbourne; to understand one is to understand the other. I bring this point up only because one of my interlocutors made a point of me being an AFL fan, as if that was not entirely normal for someone from Melbourne - even a soccer fan - to be.

But back to the A-League. While the A-League in Melbourne is not even close to reaching the heights of cultural relevance that the AFL has, unless you are being completely intellectually dishonest as an Australian soccer fan of certain "exiled" clubs, you can't pretend that the A-League and its current ownership and management do not exist. They exist, and they wield significant influence on the game as a whole, at both national and local levels. Outside of the Socceroos, and much more recently the Matildas, the A-League is the main (and most regular) showpiece of Australian soccer. It gets the bulk of the private investment dollars put into Australian club soccer. It gets access to the best available stadiums. It gets the most fans. It gets, however small it is compared to equivalent competitions from other Australian sports, more media attention than soccer leagues below it. The A-League teams and their owners wield, to varying degrees, greater influence with soccer's administrators at a national level, and with politicians more generally. 

Football federations have funded W-League teams, and promote the efforts of A-League teams - all private businesses, which are not members of their federations - on their social media channels. At a local level, clubs like South compete against the youth set-ups of Victory, City, and Western United for access to junior talent. At times we are forced to play against the youth teams of the A-League sides, which in the case of matches against Victory's NPL team, includes expending not insignificant amounts of time and money dealing with security concerns, because of the violence a minority of Victory's fanbase bring to this level. Western United, looking to temporarily solve its home ground issue, tried to play out of Lakeside apparently without even thinking to ask the already existing soccer tenant whether that would be OK. Second tier clubs lose players on the eve of finals series or right before a grand final to A-League teams, and who knows what the financial compensation for that is, if any. Weekly fixtures have to be worked around local A-League games, or at least the derbies and bigger matches.

These are mostly the inevitable logistical challenges of soccer in Australia, or any sport really. The big(ger) dog gets catered to better than those further down the pecking (or biting) order. Some of this stuff could be handled better, but being frank, if you're second tier, you're pretty much never going to be treated preferentially compared to those in the first tier. I doubt that it was much better in the past, and if it was, it probably wasn't because soccer's administrators and powerbrokers were more accommodating to their poorer cousins; it was probably just more down to being inept at exploiting that advantage or simply lacking enough leverage to better exploit the situation.

So there's logistics, but there's also culture. The A-League's varying degrees of success (at least during its early peak) have meant that soccer administrators at a state level have tried at various times to import and force changes upon lower tier clubs and structures in an attempt to emulate the success of the A-League. You can't use this or that name. We should introduce franchise systems of regional/suburban representation at the top of the state system, supplanting the existing club system. But there's also other, less official cultural elements which get less remarked upon. For example, when the A-League does good, it's obviously in spite of Australian soccer's ethnic past; when it does bad, it's just another example of how Australian soccer cannot get away from its dysfunctional (read: ethnic) past.

Examples of maladministration and bad ownership aside (which people don't really engage with too much), it's the hooligan aspect (which is much more visceral, and thus a lot more tangible to the ordinary punter) that generally gets the emotional juices flowing. It's been over twenty years since South and Knights were in the top-flight, and thirty years since Preston and Heidelberg were in the top flight; yet when Victory fans (for example) fuck up - most of whom would never have been to an NSL game, and would have almost no connection to those clubs - it's still our clubs who get dragged into the fray. "It's just like the bad old days", even though it isn't exactly like the old days.

(which is not to say that fans of "our" clubs haven't fucked up in the intervening periods; only to suggest that maybe there should be more nuance in the ongoing discourse of the Australian soccer violence problem)

Even when used as a positive comparative framing device, the existence of the A-League as a touchstone is unavoidable. The FFA/Australia Cup was built on the twin stories of reconnecting two disparate parts of the Australian club soccer ecosystem (with some going as far as to suggest it's part of a "healing" process), and the thrill of a lower league club upsetting an A-League one. When local and A-League clubs meet, it's at the lower club's home (except in cases where the local ground doesn't meet A-League player and broadcast standards), and the local club gets to show off a bit of its "authenticity", which apart from the tiresome Soccer Food Safari discourse, also inevitably paints the A-League clubs as somewhat "inauthentic" by comparison. And how can we run the Australian Championship without any reference whatsoever to the A-League? Both those running it and those watching cannot help but comment about the good, the bad, and of course the gap between the two competitions at every comparative level. 

Closer to home, the young supporters of our club, as well as the junior players and most of their parents, just do not have the same chip on their collective shoulder about the NSL, the A-League, and all the guff that those who grew up with a more glorious South Melbourne Hellas have. For them, it's an entirely different world, and approached that way. That goes for the majority of sponsors we have to woo, too, and the politicians. And those of us who do have that chip on our shoulder have to acknowledge that experience. We'll have fun among ourselves hating on the A-League, but at the same time, it's not the reason we exist, and I sometimes think some people outside the club want to push that idea - that our support of our club is secondary to our varying degrees of hostility to the A-League. For the most part, that's utter nonsense. If anything, those who prioritise hating the A-League over supporting South aren't really coming to many South games.

Going back to what kicked this whole thing off. Almost seven years ago to the day, the consortium behind Western United beat South and several other bidders for an A-League licence. They did this by bidding more money for the licence fee than most of their opponents, and by promising to build a privately owned, soccer-specific stadium, alongside an urban development project in Melbourne's outer western growth suburbs. The group behind Western United claimed they would be ready to start work on that stadium as soon as they were awarded their licence. 

Seven years later, apart from a local council-owned training venue posing as a national league stadium, the "shovel-ready" stadium project is yet to commence. Large amounts of land remains undeveloped in the vicinity of the mooted stadium. The entire senior wing of the club - men's and women's - has been put into hibernation. Their men's VPL side was removed from competition a week before it was due to participate in playoff matches which had the potential of seeing them enter the top tier of soccer in Victoria. Western United's main backers - including a former Socceroo - have been taken to court by various parties for failing to meet their dues. The creditors have included staff members of other businesses of Western United investors, as well as various suppliers and, most notably, the tax office. Famous athletes from a variety of sports have been revealed to have been investors of the team.

Maybe Western United will survive, maybe they won't. But put aside my self-interest in this matter by virtue of being a South fan, and a bitter one at that. Put aside the fact that I, as an almost lifelong resident of Melbourne's western suburbs and an Australian soccer fan, am at least nominally part of the cohort that Western United would have wanted to convince to support them. Put aside for a moment that United's most recent hearing in the Federal Court was just three doors down from a courtroom I was working in. Put aside even this nonsense. If you're at all interested in Australian soccer, and you don't think that the current travails of Western United are absolutely fascinating, regardless of the motivation for finding them fascinating, then there's something wrong with you.

No rest for the wicked (guest post by Manny)

Thanks to Manny of the now in hiatus Blue and White Views for this clear and concise overview of the upcoming fixturing challenge facing South Melbourne in 2026. 

Also, Manny - please upload the Australian Championship fanzine you produced to your website.


Fresh from our Australian Championship title it seems the true insanity is about to begin. This week the NPL Victoria released its fixture for the 2026 season, finally allowing South fans to understand what the club's 2026 season may look like as the OFC Professional League fixtures have also been announced. Well… here are the numbers…

 

South will play at least 43 games in 2026 across the two competitions from the 18th of January to the 29th of August. The final tally may be more though. Including Dockerty Cup games (6) Australia Cup Games (5) and Australian Championship games (9), NPL Finals (3) and OFC Pro League Finals (2) the club could play a total of 68 competitive games next year. I genuinely don't think there are any other clubs in the football world eligible for so many games… maybe teams in the English Championship if they make a run in all comps and some out qualify for Europe? Maybe?

 

But here's where it gets crazier. South is currently scheduled to play in at least five countries next year - and the Australian leg of the OFC Professional League might not even be in Melbourne! That's right, due to a clash with the F1, the Australian Games of the OFC Professional League may be played elsewhere. With these games scheduled to be played in late February, we have just over two months to confirm the venue!

 

The other big question mark for fans was how the team will manage the overlapping competitions, with the OFC Professional League running from January to May and the NPL running from February to August. Well, I've analysed the fixture list to identify overlapping fixtures. I've prioritised OFC Professional League games and marked fixtures as 'disrupted' if they don't allow for three days' rest either side of match day. Using this method, I've identified at least nine disrupted fixtures in the NPL Victoria season with five early season fixtures theoretically contestable by the same squad we use in the OFC Professional League. 12 NPL Victoria games are fixtures for after the OFC Professional League concludes. Note, this analysis does not include the early rounds of the Dockerty Cup which may overlap.

 

Considering the high number of games we need more players. We also probably need another head coach. I don't really see a way around the fact that South will need to manage two separate senior squads. One to play in the Australian Championship and OFC Professional League, and one to play in the NPL Victoria. This will allow the 'summer' squad to play at least 23 games a year, and the 'winter' squad to play at least 26 games a year. But there are issues with even this simplified approach.

 

Firstly, our guaranteed place in the Australian Championship is far from a long-term guarantee. Secondly, even NPL football alone is becoming a 12-month operation, and the additional competition hinders our ability to construct and prepare a cohesive squad. Third, what the heck are fans meant to make of this? Even in the case we play our strongest squad in the back end of the season of the NPL, how are we meant to support the club? We can't go to most (if any) of the OFC Professional League games locally and we won't know if we're watching the reserves in the NPL. There's also the real issue of squad registration rules. If we have limits on squad sizes in either competition we will be forced to manage siloed squads. What does that do for team unity?

 

Pointing out issues is one thing though… based on the initial assessments what would I propose? Well, I've going to simplify the registration issue and assume we need 20 players in the OFC Pro League and 20 Players in the NPL. I think we need to try and manage one single squad of 30 players. 10 will be OFC exclusive (tier 2 players), 10 will be NPL exclusive (tier 2 players) and 10 will play both competition (tier 1 players).

 

A single head coach should run the program and be responsible for the OFC Pro League and part 2 of the NPL season. An assistant coach should be responsible for part 1 of the NPL season. The goals for the year should be to win the OFC Pro League and a finals spot in the NPL - at least for this year. If the OFC Pro League turns out to be a flop, in that it is a lower level of football than NPL Victoria, then in future editions we should fill our OFC Pro League squad with Youth players.

 

I don't know, I'm sure it'll be fun but after this exhausting season a January start, overlapping competitions and potentially 60+ games seems like a headache.

 

League	Round	Date	Team	City	Country
OFCPL	Circuit 1	18-Jan-26	Tahiti United	Auckland	New Zealand
OFCPL	Circuit 1	21-Jan-26	Solomon Kings	Auckland	New Zealand
OFCPL	Circuit 1	24-Jan-26	PNG Hekari	Auckland	New Zealand
OFCPL	Circuit 2	1-Feb-26	South Island United	Port Moresby	PNG
OFCPL	Circuit 2	4-Feb-26	Bula FC	Port Moresby	PNG
OFCPL	Circuit 2	8-Feb-26	Vanuatu United	Port Moresby	PNG
NPL VIC	Round 1	14-Feb-26	Avondale	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 2	19-Feb-26	Hume City	Melbourne	Australia
OFCPL	Circuit 3	21-Feb-26	Auckland FC Youth	TBA	Australia
OFCPL	Circuit 3	24-Feb-26	Tahiti United	TBA	Australia
OFCPL	Circuit 3	27-Feb-26	South Island United	TBA	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 3	28-Feb-26	Altona Magic	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 4	7-Mar-26	Bentleigh Greens	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 5	13-Mar-26	Green Gully	Melbourne	Australia
OFCPL	Circuit 4	15-Mar-26	Vanuatu United	Honiara	Solomon Islands
OFCPL	Circuit 4	19-Mar-26	Solomon Kings	Honiara	Solomon Islands
NPL VIC	Round 6	21-Mar-26	Dandenong Thunder	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 7	30-Mar-26	Dandenong City	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 8	11-Apr-26	Preston Lions	Melbourne	Australia
OFCPL	Circuit 5	12-Apr-26	Auckland FC Youth	Ba & Suva	Fiji
OFCPL	Circuit 5	15-Apr-26	Bula FC	Ba & Suva	Fiji
OFCPL	Circuit 5	18-Apr-26	PNG Hekari	Ba & Suva	Fiji
NPL VIC	Round 9	19-Apr-26	Oakleigh Cannons	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 10	24-Apr-26	St Albans Dinamo	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 11	1-May-26	Melbourne City	Melbourne	Australia
OFCPL	Playoff Stage*	6-May-26	TBA	Auckland	New Zealand
NPL VIC	Round 12	8-May-26	Heidelberg United	Melbourne	Australia
OFCPL	Playoff Stage*	10-May-26	TBA	Auckland	New Zealand
OFCPL	Playoff Stage*	13-May-26	TBA	Auckland	New Zealand
NPL VIC	Round 13	18-May-26	Caroline Springs George Cross	Melbourne	Australia
OFCPL	Semi-Final*	19-May-26	TBA	Auckland*	New Zealand*
OFCPL	Final*	24-May-26	TBA	Auckland*	New Zealand*
NPL VIC	Round 14	25-May-26	Avondale	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 15	30-May-26	Hume City	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 16	7-Jun-26	Altona Magic	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 17	19-Jun-26	Bentleigh Greens	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 18	28-Jun-26	Green Gully	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 19	5-Jul-26	Dandenong Thunder	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 20	10-Jul-26	Dandenong City	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 21	19-Jul-26	Preston Lions	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 22	24-Jul-26	Oakleigh Cannons	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 23	2-Aug-26	St Albans Dinamo	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 24	15-Aug-26	Melbourne City	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 25	23-Aug-26	Heidelberg United	Melbourne	Australia
NPL VIC	Round 26	29-Aug-26	Caroline Springs George Cross	Melbourne	Australia