Please do noit ask me how South in the Suburbs went today...

...though one person said it was enjoyable. I was at home, playing Gauntlet on my xbox 360 in order to get 'the reach level 100' achievement. I'm not sure I should be publicising this fact. But then again, Gauntlet is awesome.

South Melbourne 5 Lalor Florina 0

Better. Much better. A little bit more intensity, and a lot more polish and class. Most if not all of the goals were tap ins, but that doesn't matter, because the foundation play was better. Our final group game is on Tuesday, against provisional league outfit Keon Park

Fernando makes Futsalroos preliminary squad

It's been a long time between drinks for the Futsalroos, since their failure to make the world cup a couple of years back. They have a new coach now, for starters. And he's picked two whole Victorians in a squad notorious for its dominance by players from New South Wales and the ACT. One of those players is our very own Fernando De Moraes, who has been selected as part of the preliminary squad to take part in the AFC Futsal Championship ASEAN Zone qualifiers at the end of February. If they do well enough there, they qualify for the AFC Futsal championships in Uzebkistan in late May. If they can make it out of there in the top four, probably, they'll go the next world cup. I think.

Anyway before those massive dreams of a South player that isn't Patrick Kisnorbo being on the world stage can come about, firstly Nando has to make the team that plays in the zone qualifiers and you can follow the trail from there. Of course, we wish him all the best in his endeavours, and we'll try and keep you updated. 

By the way, this news was sourced from the good people of whatever this awesome website is. I think I used it heaps for some of my Futsalroos OzFootball research back in the day.

K-League side Daejeon Citizen to tour New South Wales

Now Daejeon Citizen aren't the hottest ticket in town, even from a K-League point of view - they mostly seem to struggle. Still, as a pre-season opponent, they're a notch above much of what exists here, surely? Anyway, they're touring New South Wales late this month and early next, playing something like five matches over a 2 week period. When I heard about this, I was naturally intrigued - how did this arrangement come about? Well, the answer is, according to one reliable Sydney source (even if he is an Olympic fan), via Football New South Wales. Typical. One federation can manage to bring out a (presumably) quality team for its local sides to have a good hitout against, maybe get a little publicity. While our federation sends our state team on bogus trips to Tianjin, for which they don't even keep track of the scores and the squads. It's great.

South in the Suburbs on Sunday

1pm-4pm at Vanilla, Eaton Mall, Oakleigh. Was reasonable fun last year, and I expect it to be so again this year. Not sure if South of the Border will be present, yet.

Some people think I may be overreacting

Of course our season, the main part of it, is not over. It hasn't begun yet. The point being though, that performance was shithouse. And what's more, we've embarrassed ourselves on a global scale. One of the recent hits to this blog has been from some French betting blog.  Some of the translated comments from that site. 

There may be had too paris before this match live on the taste of the book. I know they have safeguards to prevent the abnormal things.

Result: 2-2 apparently.

Absolutely, however you found that teddy?

c good thing we did not have live so if the result says is correct teddy

indeed, thank you teddy. Huge section

Other matches for today?

 

Absolute Fucking Disgrace! South Melbourne 2 Essendon United 2

Firstly, well done to Essendon United. They certainly deserved the draw; hell, I wouldn't have begrudged them the win. They ran and hustled and put their bodies on the line. They showed no fear and played clever football. Simple stuff, but effective. It makes you think what Altona East could have done if they'd given a shit last week.

Now, in about a month's time, I'm going to be put to sleep for an hour or two, and have my wisdom teeth taken out. I'll wake up groggy, I won't be able to nuts, seeds and fried rice, I'll be doped up on whatever pills they give me, it'll cost me a mint, I'm going to have to have to miss the South season launch, but I can guarantee it'll be a far more pleasant experience than having to endure that crap.

I don't care if half our boys were reserves. My anger would not be abated even if it was the full reserves. The 2nd best reserves outfit in the state should still be able to comfortably beat a just promoted state 3 team playing their first game for the year. But did we go in for 50/50s? Were we at the fall of the ball? Could we complete five metre passes with any sort of consistency? Could we shoot even half decently from the 6 yard box? No. Did we attempt ridiculously ambitious passes through a clogged up midfield and over a bumpy field? Did we cponstantly give the ball to small players with their backs to goal? Does this sound so much of the past three seasons? Yes.

For fuck's sake, I even offered their keeper $50 and whatever credit's left on my myki card. Fine, it's a cup game, upsets happen, I get that. It happened to Oakleigh last year vs Lalor in the 3rd place playoff last year. And that's who we play on Saturday. But that was criminal. To barely create any chances? To give up goals so easily? To play with the ball like smartarses when we were still at 2-2? Fuck that shit.

Will the merch be in by round 1?

You better believe it. No new stuff for me this year, except perhaps for a scarf. And maybe bite the bullet and splash out for a team of the century poster, get it framed and all that.

Team of the Century coach, Manny Poulakakis, has passed away

There are few bigger names in the South family. As already mentioned on smfcboard by others, it was great to have him at the 50th anniversary gala ball. I'm just going to use the official site's spiel, because it gives you the gist pretty well. My condolences to the family.

The entire South Melbourne FC family wishes to extend its deep condolences to the Poulakakis family on the passing of club legend and Team of the Century coach Mr. Manny Poulakakis, who passed away late on Monday night.

Mr. Poulakakis was an icon of South Melbourne FC, coaching the club in four separate stints, from 1961-64, 1969, 1972-73 and 1976. In a remarkable coaching career at Middle Park, Mr. Poulakakis managed South Melbourne FC in 126 league games with a 55% winning rate. He will forever be remembered for being at the helm of South's Victorian State League championships of 1962, 1964, 1972 and 1976, whilst also capturing the AMPOL Cup in 1976.

Regarded as one of Australia’s greatest coaches, Mr. Poulakakis was conferred the prestigious award of coach of the South Melbourne FC Team of the Century in 2002, and will always be celebrated as one of the major individuals in shaping South Melbourne into such a dominant playing force in Victorian and Australian football. He was also recently inducted into the South Melbourne FC Hall of Fame at the 50th Anniversary Gala Ball.

South Melbourne FC President Leo Athanasakis, speaking to smfc.com.au, remarked that “the passing of Mr. Poulakakis represented the passing of a true Club legend, and his smile and presence will be severely missed by the SMFC family. I wish to pass on my condolences on behalf of everyone at SMFC to the Poulakakis family. We will miss him dearly."

South Melbourne 2 Altona East 0

Pretty poor first half, though to be fair, the opposition created nothing of note. Second half much improved despite some atrocious finishing. We were gifted our opening goal, an opposition keeper stuff up early in the second half, and from there on we were squarely in control of the game. I also saw bits and pieces of some other games, some guy semi-randomly try and punch out another bloke, and ended up directing some lost souls towards the venue - what they were doing out at the Western Oval is anyone's guess. Souvlakia not great, hamburgers not too bad. Next up Essendon United on Thursday night.

South's Hellenic Cup defence begins tomorrow

At Yarraville, against Altona East, 5pm.

Radio Free South Melbourne

Before you criticise the mainstream press, and the FFV, and Neos Kosmos, and whoever we can point a stick at, we should be creating as much of our own content as possible. That's what I said back in 2008. And have been banging on intermittently ever since. So they made a better website. They made weekly email mailouts. They created a youtuibe channel. And now they've made SouthRadio. Download the first of hopefully many podcasts here.

I could give copious advice on what to fix up, what works, what doesn't. But what's better is that there are people in the club who seem to 'get it'. It may seem a bit highhorse from me to seemingly take the credit for this change in attitude, but if I was part of the philosophical push in this direction, then I am glad. And if I wasn't, then I'm still glad, because this so the right thing to do, a simultaneous reaching out to everyone, big up yours to the mainstream press, and another thing to show we don't have to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves all the time.

South 0 Greens 2

Bentleigh played quite well and should have won by more. Overall, it was a rather lacklustre performance from us, with several starters not out there. Didn't create much and when we did we once more lacked the killer touch.

I wish the tennis would just go away forever

A small group of mostly young local Croat fascist sympathisers acted like tools on the way to the Australian Open on Monday. They got rightly slammed in the press for their dickhead behaviour. But Linda Paric, spokesperson of sorts for the Australia Croatia Community Services committee, thinks they're being hard done by. Of course, the local press isn't always the most culturally sensitive institution in the land. But when the offending party drapes itself in Croatian insignias and performs obvious Nazi salutes... I'm not sure how you can defend that in the way that she does. But Linda has a stab at it anyway. And of course, the reason I mention Linda Paricand this incident is because she's found a link to... South Melbourne Hellas. Zeus bless her.

A couple of years ago soccer fans caused serious damage to shops and public infrastructure after their team, South Melbourne, lost a game. No, they were not Croatian because if they had been all the headlines would have identified them as such. They remained identified as soccer fans.

Now I don't know what games or groups she's talking about. Maybe the Hellas Fan Club? But as a collective and mostly even as individuals, they haven't been to South games for a fair while now, since mid 2007, and there were no reports of South fans running amok in the streets as South fans. Is she referring to the South - Preston idiocy of 2005? No running down the streets in that one. Is she referring to the water polo and/or tennis incidents of a couple of years or so back? If she is, that's not soccer and therefore nothing to do with us. Or is she referring to the late NSL era stupidty that was the smashing of several Clarendon Street shopfronts, which the now semi-apocryphal stories say were actually Melbourne Knights fans running from the police?

I don't think she actually knows which game she's talking about. Instead of trying to play the boys will be boys angle, or the you're making people hate Croatians angle, maybe she should have just said, these are a minority of thugs that don't represent the broader Australian Croatian community. But then you'd get other types of phone calls, and it might make you look within yourself, and ask the question, where did these people come from? For the sake of balance, I think the following passage quoted from the Geelong Advertiser (a much better article than some of the nonsense being peddled) by Paul Saric is far erudite and encouraging, and it's a message not just limited to Croatian youths

"My message to them would be to be proud of what you are, be proud of your heritage and yourself and family but by expressing yourself like that doesn't mean you're a bigger Croatian," Mr Saric said.

While trying to find tender information for Lakeside's redevelopment

I stumbled upon this passage from the Parks Victoria website.

The Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Albert Park 18 Hole Public Golf Course and Driving Range, the Bob Jane Stadium (home of South Sydney FC) and several ovals are also located in the park.

Makes one weep, perhaps.

But anyway, I did find out some tender info, courtesy of the Major Projects Victoria website. These are some of the people who'll be working on the project.

• H2o Architects - architect
• Felicetti Pty Ltd - structural/civil engineering
• Irwinconsult - engineering and ecologically sustainable development services
• LandDesign Partnership Pty Ltd – landscaping
• Sports Turf Consultants - turf consultants
• Tiger Turf - synthetic turf contractor
• Ten Buuren Irrigation Design - irrigation consultants
• Traffix Group – traffic
• Wilsmore Nelson Group – certification
• Architecture & Access - disability access.

Of course, we already told you some time ago that H20 Architects were on board. Interesting, perhaps, that Tiger Turf got the job for the synthetic pitches, upon which work has already started, and are due to be completed early this year. Here's all I could readily find on the State Sport Centres Trust, our beckoning landlord of sorts. Enjoy.

North of the Border - The Sydney Olympic REVOLUTION

I've never been to Sydney. From the self-imposed seclusion of my study room, pretty much anything east of the West Gate Bridge and on the wrong side of Laverton Market's hot jam donut truck seems just plain weird, and the further out I go, the weirder it gets. Mildura; Morwell; Canberra; the Gold Coast, and every Forbes, Warwick, Narrandera and West Wyalong that you stop at along in the way. All bonkers.

Which brings us to Sydney Olympic. Before you say, 'well, who gives a toss', a little patience. They were not a nothing club. Sure, they were always pretty much in our shadow, but they had their successes, and like us, have found themselves out of the national league limelight and dealing with the fickleness of Greekdom, and hell, anyone else that may have been attached and now isn't, for all the excuses which have been done to death.

So while we've been going about our business of trying to find a sustainable direction, one that isn't dependent on the severely waning generosity of the local Greek community (who, to give them their due credit, bailed us out numerous times over the years), and it seems the brains trust have fixed their mast to carry the combined winds of the government placating us for 40 odd years and the youth cloning programme designed by Tom Kalas, other former clubs, too, have had to deal with the reality of what it's like to be just one step down from the top, with next to no prospect of return.

As stated in a previous edition, the Melbourne Knights have decided to build a Bob Dole like path to yesteryear - as is their right - but what of Olympic? Well apparently, they're having a REVOLUTION. It seems quite important for Olympic's fans, those publicising this REVOLUTION, to herald the REVOLUTION in capital letters (mostly in FourFourTwo's forums, the most stridently pro A-League forums I know of) to emphasise the (in a Jack Black voice) sheer awesomeness of the REVOLUTION, man!

Springer security > Kosta security

What exactly the revolution (with apologies to those who love upper case, bit there is only so much I can bear) entails, is a trickier beast. Now, I'm both lazy and a lousy researcher, a pretty winning combination for failing eight subjects in a row and dooming yourself to sitting in your pyjamas watching Ricki Lake for about 2 years in a row, a ritual broken only by the fact the they didn't show it and Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Hey you, yeah the tranny, give Steve a kiss, and Steve running away, and the crowd going Steve! Steve! Steve!, on weekends - where was I? Kinda lost my train of thought there - oh yeah, but there doesn't seem to be much more to it than some kind of bizarre and quite sudden burst of enthusiasm. So what is there?

Firstly. there's talk about sweeping changes in the board room. Now at South, if you asked, I could kinda tell you what that means, but nothing has emerged to tell me what it means at Olympic. Then you have the birth of their new ultras group (website not working at time of writing) which according to the group's Facebook page (where your admission is subject to approval) is simultaneously a new group and in their words 'the most dominant supporters group in the entire NSW Premier League'. Bravo lads. They, or he, also go on about how 'true passion can not be defined' but have a stab at it anyway.

Harder than Olympic's ultras? Probably.

But honestly, unless they're seeking to destroy your club by getting you docked points for brawling and fined for misuse of emergency flares, ultras groups are just another part of the income stream, albeit one that likes to oversell its importance more than others. And most of the crowd, in this country anyway, won't ever be ultras. So that means you have to find a way to get the plebs to your games. Or at least get them to buy season tickets which makes it less important for them to turn up every week because you have their cash already. In Victoria, South, Preston, the Knights, even the Bergers and the Georgies, make a pretty big deal about membership. The attention to detail varies, but it's a central platform of the revenue stream. In New South Wales, as far as I can gather by a quick perusal of several NSWPL sites, it's not so important. In fact, it's difficult to find any club that seems to give a toss about membership at all.

I suppose when you've got revenue streams from the pokies, it makes things different. Still, membership can help you see how many people are interested. And by that of course, I'm referring to real world interest, not 'look at me, I clicked on a Facebook button and now I'm all like, a soccer fan and stuff' kind of thing, of which there has recently a bit of internet brinkmanship between us and Olympic. So where's Olympic's membership drive located? Oh it's on their front page - but you have to call the office for more details. Why should they have to do that? Maybe because their membership forms are tucked away in a sub section on the far right of their web page, and which should probably be ignored, because they're from last year and all.


What I found most interesting about the new members form in particular, was that it required two already existing Olympic members to back a new member up, basically agreeing that the prospective member is suitable for the task. Since there were apparently, and this is probably way off but let's go with the only number I have been given, only 250 season pass holders/members last year, if they're using the same system, it really a very limited network of people to be giving out endorsements. Still, one bright spark from up Belmore way reckons they've already got 150 people signed up in one week, and thus (again, their words) crowds of 4,000 will become a regular sight at Olympic's home matches this season.
And let us not get started on this whole Stelios Giannakopoulos, $100k for 5 games nonsense, which now Oakleigh is either trying to emulate or steal. I'm not against the idea outright, because there are always extenuating circumstances. One of these is that Olympic itself won't pay for it, it'll come solely from sponsorships, and it'll be sponsorship money that, rightly or wrongly, wouldn't be made available for other purposes. If he came for a whole season, thereby boosting attendances at grounds year round, as well as being an actual part of the team; or to a lesser extent if it was a guest appearance attached to some sort of broader promotional programme, I'd be more sympathetic. But again, from an outsider's point of view, this isn't revolutionary, this is reactionary. This is the stuff that Australian soccer has been doing for years, and is still doing, because for some reason the game and the clubs on their own terms are not enough to consistently bring in the punters.
The whole operation seems desperate and strange. If it comes off, especially long term, all the naysayers, including me, will have egg on their face. But for the moment it seems to be, in the words of noted scholar Chopper Read, a case of no food in the fridge, so let's repaint the house.

South to be acknowleged as 20th century Oceania's greatest club

Apparently FIFA botched their Centenary celebrations by not having this casual soiree in 2004, so they're making up for it by acknowledging our awesomeness - and that of some other pissant no name clubs, I think one of them's called Royal Madrid or something - by inviting us to dinner and handing out some golden trinkets.

The other clubs to be invited are Penarol (Uruguay), Asante Kotoko (Ghana), Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and CD Saprissa (Costa Rica). The body which made up the criteria is the FIFA recognised, International Federation of Football History & Statistics. 

Full media release on the South website. They've been sitting on this one for a while, and they're all very excited, and rightly so. Of course, people from all angles are putting their own spin on this honour, but that's the way the game's been played. I'm going to try and enjoy it for what it is, on its own terms. 

And once more for good measure - South Melbourne 2 South Hobart 1

Much improved performance from the visitors from their 7-0 thrashing last year. The game was played in very windy conditions, and Hellas' best midfield players didn't play. Petrovic from way out and Gasparis with a nice angled finish in the first half, with South Hobart pulling one back in the 2nd. It wasn't a particularly pretty game to watch, and we didn't create too many chances, but we defended well enough I suppose. Confirmation during the brief post match speeches that we're going down to the Apple Isle next year, from South Hobart coach Ken Morton. Call me cynical, but we'll see what scuppers that plan within the next 12 months.

South Melbourne 4 South Hobart 1 beta

This was more a scratch match kind of deal. There were a small smattering of senior Hellas players in the ostensibly under 21 line up, and according to the report from Walter Pless' blog, South Hobart mostly fielded a youth line up as well, putting on some senior players on the 2nd half. The game itself wasn't too crash hot from Hellas. There were some nice touches, but there was also some fairly sloppy play. We lead 3-0 at half time, but it wasn't like the visitors didn't have some of their own chances, poor finishing letting them down. They were a bit more up for it in general, and they out in several borderline strong/rough tackles. They scored the final goal of the match. Goalscorers for us, Ahmet Turer, Gianni De Nittis, Joe Keenan, Yusef Yusef. Andy King was the man with the consolation goal for the visitors.

During the match, I asked someone with some responsibility if we could go down there next year. He said it's already been agreed to. So now we have twelve months of feverish anticipation; will it yield disappointment or the return of South on the road? Who knows. Of more immediate concern is tomorrow's ridgy didge game between the senior South Melbourne and South Hobart sides, kick off at 5pm.

Also, be like me, buy your membership. I bought me a South Gold, partly for extra cash that goes to the club, partly because there are elections scheduled for this year.

South Melbourne vs South Hobart, 2010 edition

Once more we play host to South Hobart in a pre-season friendly. The two men and a dog that were there last year may remember us destroying them 7-0. Game is on Saturday January 16th, at 5pm.

Memberships for 2010 are available, and...

Olympic Park has finally been nominated as our relocation venue once the bulldozers move in and reshape Lakeside. I'm going to get me a South Gold once more. It's pretty good value I reckon. And after many years absence, we get a South Melbourne pen. Head here and check out the packages and stuff.

Something to do with buying a membership in 2010

What we think learned yesterday

Not much really. Games at Lakeside this year? Not many. Location of the relocation? Not for public dissemination, yet. Memberships? Soon. Merchandise? Soon enough. Hooped shirt ala Jim Marinis' beloved Queens Park Rangers, just for something different (and with the right kind of sponsor logo, would look very good)? Maybe some day. Red V as an away strip? Not on your life. Hooped socks? I'm the only one who cares, it seems. Cocktail parties? All the rage apparently. The furrowed brows, darting between offices and internal wrangling that goes on about every minute detail? Limitless. Dense elaboration of private conversations? Never.

Pre-season kick and giggle against Richmond

Was on yesterday. Several drinks breaks. 4-1 to South. Couple of guys apparently can take corners in still conditions, Keenan and Vasilevski. Fernando's one corner wasn't good. Stefaan Sardelic had a stint in goals and mad some nice point blank saves. Ahmet Turer looked good, but also copped a heavy tackle. One wonders why such tackles are put in during pre-season games. There was also a little but of argle bargle at one stage, but nothing major. Pitch looked to be in good nick after the Pan-Hellenic games farce.

Spirit of Gentleman

Another article on Goran Zoric at Police United, in Thai of course. I reckon South should sign an interstate or international player just so we can the get the airport photos. Last time we were at an airport was when the busload of Canberra trip fans sleepily greeted a mostly confused squad at 9am on Sunday morning. Gotta love their motto on the scarf but. 2010 Thai Premier League season starts March 6th.

2010 VPL Fixture out

So,  the fixture for the upcoming season is finally out. It's got typos, and absurd clashes. It's also got the N.T.C. - the National Training Curriculum - in there as well; speculation has been simmering during the offseason that the Victory's youth would be included, and it appears that at least some of the players from that squad will be participating in this scheme. 

So what does that mean? Probably trips to Darebin. In midweek. Not sure about their 'away' matches, which are also scheduled for midweek. Not that anyone makes a mint in this competition, but it's probably going to be like the AIS farce all over again on so many levels. Being a development squad, like the AIS, they'll probably be fielding squads whose quality will differ wildly from week to week, compromising the integrity of the competition. Like the AIS, they'll bring no more fans than a few family members. And like the AIS, their players will probably be likely targets for the A-League, including the Melbourne Heart franchise.

The behind the scenes people at South are reportedly quite unhappy with the draw. Altona away round 1? Northcote City gets it's wish to have their 50th anniversary game against us in round 3, which we were apparently in favpur of, and to which I have no objection. .The big drawing games, Thunder, Knights, Bergers, don't get their late summer/early autumn run at Lakeside - instead we get Bentleigh and Green Gully.  No mention of where we'll play our remaining home games yet - though the Olympic Park solution has appeared to be a fait accompli for some time now. Not sure yet either how many games we'll get at Lakeside - the general reasoning was for 2-3 at the most. And Sunshine Georgies away to finish off - I'll give them credit for that one, but it really was a no brainer.

Apart from the midweek shenanigans, there's an extra Friday night game, with the return of Bentleigh, which will please the drunken lout element. Newcomers Northcote have opted for Saturday afternoons. There's Monday night games, courtesy of the Georgies who are playing at Knights Stadium this year after they farewell Chaplin Reserve last year by losing to Preston, but we miss out on that because we play them in the final round. A few teams are seemingly having a bet each with the fixture, different days and times being thrown in without a clear sense of direction, other than perhaps skimping on lighting bills against smaller teams. And all our home games, except for some reason the Heidelberg match, are at 5pm. Which will probably result in traffic jams outside the MCG if we are indeed playing out of Olympic Park - but otherwise provide convenience for those of our fans who like to double dip. 

Lastly, the breaks. Orthodox Easter falls on the same weekend as Catholic/Protestant Easter this year, allowing the FFV to avoid dealing with one of the more unique cultural fixture concerns to the Victorian soccer calendar. The Queen's Birthday long weekend has been left open. And we all get nearly a month off in late June, early July, maybe for catch up games, or maybe because we'll all be sleep deprived after watching night after night of world cup action.

Round 1  

24 February 8:30 PM, N.T.C. vs South Melbourne, To Be Confirmed 

28 February 3:00 PM, Altona Magic vs South Melbourne, Paisley Park 

Round 2  

7 March 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Bentleigh Greens, Bob Jane Stadium

Round 3  

13 March 3:00 PM, Northcote City vs South Melbourne, John Cain Memorial Reserve

Round 4  

21 March 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Green Gully Cavaliers, Bob Jane Stadium 

Round 5  

27 March 7:00 PM, Dandenong Thunder vs South Melbourne, George Andrews Reserve

Round 6  

11 April 3:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Heidelberg Utd, Bob Jane Stadium  
 
Round 7

18 April 3:00 PM, Melbourne Knights vs South Melbourne, Knights Stadium

Round 8  

25 April 3:00 PM, Hume City vs South Melbourne, Broadmeadows Valley Park

Round 9  

30 April 8:30 PM, Richmond vs South Melbourne, Kevin Bartlett Reserve

Round 10  

9 May 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Oakleigh Cannons, Bob Jane Stadium
 
Round 11

16 May 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Sunshine Georgies, Bob Jane Stadium

Round 12  

19 May 8:30 PM, N.T.C. vs South Melbourne, To Be Confirmed

23 May 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Altona Magic, Bob Jane Stadium

Round 13  

28 May 8:30 PM, Bentleigh Greens vs South Melbourne, Kingston Heath Soccer Complex

Round 14  

6 June 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Northcote City, Bob Jane Stadium  

Round 15  

20 June 3:00 PM, Green Gully Cavaliers vs South Melbourne Green Gully Reserve View 

Round 16  

27 June 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Dandenong Thunder, Bob Jane Stadium
 
Round 18  

18 July 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Melbourne Knights, Bob Jane Stadium 

Round 19  

25 July 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Hume City, Bob Jane Stadium 

Round 20  
 
1 August 5:00 PM, South Melbourne vs Richmond, Bob Jane Stadium

Round 21  

6 August 8:30 PM, Oakleigh Cannons vs South Melbourne Jack, Edwards Reserve

Round 22  

15 August 3:00 PM, Sunshine Georgies vs South Melbourne, Knights Stadium

Let's see what's in the news today (flips page)

Canada stalls on trade pact. Ok, here's the 'real' news. Brought to you by me, a 'real' person.

Item! Some grumblebum has convinced Jesse Fink to write of how said grumblebum's painstaking anorak research has been ignored by the FFA. Cue people with no interest whatsoever in the actual details of the research itself using it to score smug political points.

Item! Patrick Kisnorbo's Leeds United has knocked off Manchester United in the FA Cup 3rd Round. Cue the disappearance of smfcboard's Manchester United demographic until someone remembered that one of our own plays for Leeds. Based on this one good performance, he's now being talked up for a certain ticket to South Africa.

Item! Will SBS show the VPL? Unchecked forum guff is suggesting that SBS is considering showing games from the NSWPL and VPL for some reason I can't quite figure out. Cue look out A-League scum mounia FFA this that and other and B-League guff in the wake of this story.

Item! Summer sucks.

Bouzouki Hero

Might as well start off the year with something less serious. Here is the famous Bouzouki Hero commercial.