Results have come in positive as a minor strain only. In line to play finals football! Thanks to everyone for their support! #smfc
— Milos Lujic (@MilosLujic) August 26, 2015
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Update on Milos Lujic's knee, from Milos Lujic
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
'Don't use it for styling your hair' artefact Wednesday - South Melbourne Hellas mirror
Monday, 24 August 2015
Moral premiers - South Melbourne 3 Northcote City 0
It would have been fitting had this match been played for the real league title, but this is 2015, not 2014, and this is Australia, where by and large we are compelled to acknowledge that due to strange and muddled concepts of tradition - and the necessity of keeping the other teams interested - this is not the true championship, not even a minor premiership (the PC New Football police won't tolerate that sort of language), but instead the 'premiership' as opposed to the 'championship'.
We did however get a shiny plate for our troubles, the Victorian slot for the NPL playoffs for the second successive year, as well as the right to claim some sort of moral premiership tag, having ground our way through injuries, suspensions, player departures and some would say a catastrophic FFA Cup appearance, to finish the season scoring bucketloads of goals and thus finishing on top of the table.
And while minor premiers have bombed out or been sunk by the near enough lottery of finals in soccer, in more recent seasons there's at least been the habit of teams finishing on top managing to go all the way and win the grand final as well, so for those who like omens, that's something for you to hold on to in the weeks to come. Me, being an allegedly staunch rationalist, I take no truck with such things.
We were a bit sketchy to start with - whether that was to do with nerves, or three games in eight days, or Northcote actually taking the game seriously, I don't know - but apart from one clear cut chance (a free header in the six yard box), and the odd mistimed run called back for offside, we were the better team. Soon Milos Lujic gave us the lead, and his second goal, a well aimed shot from a deep David Stirton cross saw us more or less seal the game. The biggest concern at that time was whether Tim Mala's yellow card would see him rubbed out for the next game.
If there was any doubt about the final result, Brad Norton put that to bed with his amazing goal from what looked like a mishit cross. Me, I choose to be positive about it and reckon that Norton meant to hit it that way, in line with his recent mostly excellent placement of the ball. A few weeks ago I likened his crossing form to snooker, and yesterday's goal was very much a case of eight ball in the corner pocket.
But then possible disaster struck. The game and the minor premiership wrapped up, Milos Lujic hurt his knee badly with about ten minutes of game time left. He spent most of the rest of the game getting treated behind the byline, and while the punters were duly stoked with the win, there was also concern about Milos, our finals chances, as well as our NPL playoff chances. South Melbourne Hellas may not be a one man band in 2015, but it's not easy to find, let alone replace strikers who score 20 goals a year.
That he limped off the ground rather than being carried off with a stretcher, well, that's the kind of thing we'd all love to think of as being a 'good sign', but almost none of us in the stands are doctors, and for the purposes of this example of speculative ignorance, those with doctorates in economics or knowing how to mix industrial chemicals, or literature (some day, maybe) don't count as doctors.
On the other hand, should Lujic miss some or the rest of the season, it will provide an opportunity to someone else to stand up, in the way that Leigh Minopoulos has stood up since being given a belated starting berth in order to solve the problem of what to do after Andy Brennan's departure. The man who will be tasked with filling that gap will probably be David Stirton, whose year has been affected by injuries and being played in positions which I don't think suit him - namely out wide - instead of up front.
The issue then becomes one of having to adjust to having a forward (whether that's Stirton or Minopoulos) who do not share the physical attributes of Lujic, including perhaps a change of formation. Would you play both Leigh and Stirts up front, and play Chris Irwin on the right wing? Or would you keep the crux of what we've been doing intact, and just tinker on the edges? Would the set piece arrangements need to change should Lujic, one of our three tall timber players along with Michael Eagar and Luke Adams, not play?
Update on Milos Lujic's knee, at this moment the most important ligament in Australia
Here's the latest goss on the state of Milos' knee from one of the more reputable people on smfcboard.
In two weeks time, at home against one of Melbourne Knights, Hume City or Pascoe Vale.
Crowd watch
How good was it having a game at 3:00PM on a Sunday afternoon? The sun was out, more families were in attendance, and there were even more young people in Clarendon Corner, as well as a good turnout by the usual assortment of people in that area.
Mind you, there was disagreement in the ranks about how many people actually did attend. My regular supplier of the realist crowd count said 600, while another reputable source said about 700. That seemed about right to me, though others said something closer to 1,200 would be more accurate. That's a hell of a discrepancy, but since they never release the numbers, let alone complex breakdowns of the demographics attending (that's a trade secret I suppose) it's really up to you, the reader, to decide which number you feel more comfortable with.
Nick Epifano to Perth Glory?
Good luck to...
South junior Andrew Mesorouni (wait, does he have the same name as his dad?), who has signed up with Getafe in La Liga. Interestingly this was done with the cooperation or assistance of Genova International Soccer School and Morris Pagniello - is this a hint towards whatever that 'partnership' or 'relationship' with Real Madrid is meant to be? And where's the player training compo?
Congratulations to...
Olympia Warriors on securing their first senior league title since 1996. The team includes former South defender Jake Vandermey, and future South player Luke Eyles (who won the Tassie league's rising star award). We'll be playing them in the week after the grand final in Melbourne.
The nanny state strikes again
Things could be worse!
Win, lose or draw, we get to see South most weeks of the year. What about those people who want to see Manowar tour Australia?
Final thought
After all that angst, we didn't need to worry about the Bentleigh vs Oakleigh result at all. Thought processes need to change need to change when your team becomes competent.
We did however get a shiny plate for our troubles, the Victorian slot for the NPL playoffs for the second successive year, as well as the right to claim some sort of moral premiership tag, having ground our way through injuries, suspensions, player departures and some would say a catastrophic FFA Cup appearance, to finish the season scoring bucketloads of goals and thus finishing on top of the table.
And while minor premiers have bombed out or been sunk by the near enough lottery of finals in soccer, in more recent seasons there's at least been the habit of teams finishing on top managing to go all the way and win the grand final as well, so for those who like omens, that's something for you to hold on to in the weeks to come. Me, being an allegedly staunch rationalist, I take no truck with such things.
We were a bit sketchy to start with - whether that was to do with nerves, or three games in eight days, or Northcote actually taking the game seriously, I don't know - but apart from one clear cut chance (a free header in the six yard box), and the odd mistimed run called back for offside, we were the better team. Soon Milos Lujic gave us the lead, and his second goal, a well aimed shot from a deep David Stirton cross saw us more or less seal the game. The biggest concern at that time was whether Tim Mala's yellow card would see him rubbed out for the next game.
If there was any doubt about the final result, Brad Norton put that to bed with his amazing goal from what looked like a mishit cross. Me, I choose to be positive about it and reckon that Norton meant to hit it that way, in line with his recent mostly excellent placement of the ball. A few weeks ago I likened his crossing form to snooker, and yesterday's goal was very much a case of eight ball in the corner pocket.
But then possible disaster struck. The game and the minor premiership wrapped up, Milos Lujic hurt his knee badly with about ten minutes of game time left. He spent most of the rest of the game getting treated behind the byline, and while the punters were duly stoked with the win, there was also concern about Milos, our finals chances, as well as our NPL playoff chances. South Melbourne Hellas may not be a one man band in 2015, but it's not easy to find, let alone replace strikers who score 20 goals a year.
That he limped off the ground rather than being carried off with a stretcher, well, that's the kind of thing we'd all love to think of as being a 'good sign', but almost none of us in the stands are doctors, and for the purposes of this example of speculative ignorance, those with doctorates in economics or knowing how to mix industrial chemicals, or literature (some day, maybe) don't count as doctors.
On the other hand, should Lujic miss some or the rest of the season, it will provide an opportunity to someone else to stand up, in the way that Leigh Minopoulos has stood up since being given a belated starting berth in order to solve the problem of what to do after Andy Brennan's departure. The man who will be tasked with filling that gap will probably be David Stirton, whose year has been affected by injuries and being played in positions which I don't think suit him - namely out wide - instead of up front.
The issue then becomes one of having to adjust to having a forward (whether that's Stirton or Minopoulos) who do not share the physical attributes of Lujic, including perhaps a change of formation. Would you play both Leigh and Stirts up front, and play Chris Irwin on the right wing? Or would you keep the crux of what we've been doing intact, and just tinker on the edges? Would the set piece arrangements need to change should Lujic, one of our three tall timber players along with Michael Eagar and Luke Adams, not play?
Update on Milos Lujic's knee, at this moment the most important ligament in Australia
Here's the latest goss on the state of Milos' knee from one of the more reputable people on smfcboard.
Initial prognoses (without a scan) on Milos was a strained MCL. He's getting scans on Tuesday to clarify.Next game
Highly doubt he'll play again this season if he's done a grade 1 or 2 medial. Fingers crossed its just jarred and when the swelling goes down he'll be ok!
In two weeks time, at home against one of Melbourne Knights, Hume City or Pascoe Vale.
Crowd watch
How good was it having a game at 3:00PM on a Sunday afternoon? The sun was out, more families were in attendance, and there were even more young people in Clarendon Corner, as well as a good turnout by the usual assortment of people in that area.
Mind you, there was disagreement in the ranks about how many people actually did attend. My regular supplier of the realist crowd count said 600, while another reputable source said about 700. That seemed about right to me, though others said something closer to 1,200 would be more accurate. That's a hell of a discrepancy, but since they never release the numbers, let alone complex breakdowns of the demographics attending (that's a trade secret I suppose) it's really up to you, the reader, to decide which number you feel more comfortable with.
Nick Epifano to Perth Glory?
Word is Epifano is close to a deal with Glory. Should go through this week
— Adam Howard (@adamOsaussies) August 23, 2015
No confirmation on whether this is true or not, but current Glory CEO Peter Filopoulos (you may remember him from such posts as 'just who is the biggest South fan around?') was pretty coy when asked directly. No indication either on when exactly Epifano would leave South for Glory in the even that Glory did sign him up. After the finals? After the NPL national finals?Good luck to...
South junior Andrew Mesorouni (wait, does he have the same name as his dad?), who has signed up with Getafe in La Liga. Interestingly this was done with the cooperation or assistance of Genova International Soccer School and Morris Pagniello - is this a hint towards whatever that 'partnership' or 'relationship' with Real Madrid is meant to be? And where's the player training compo?
Congratulations to...
Olympia Warriors on securing their first senior league title since 1996. The team includes former South defender Jake Vandermey, and future South player Luke Eyles (who won the Tassie league's rising star award). We'll be playing them in the week after the grand final in Melbourne.
The nanny state strikes again
Lakeside security keeping us safe from. Umm drums. pic.twitter.com/BgREuIuxpO
— Ian Syson (@IanSyson) August 23, 2015
Things could be worse!
Win, lose or draw, we get to see South most weeks of the year. What about those people who want to see Manowar tour Australia?
— Con Tsiolis (@HellasHeadbanga) August 20, 2015
Another 12 months without the chance to burn a viking ship on these shores. Final thought
After all that angst, we didn't need to worry about the Bentleigh vs Oakleigh result at all. Thought processes need to change need to change when your team becomes competent.
Thursday, 20 August 2015
Home town points decision - South Melbourne 5 Hume City 2
The result of this match I think flatters us a little bit. Much of the early play from both sides was sloppy and borderline panic strewn. The final scoreline does not also provide a proper indication of how hotly contested much of this match was, and that Hume had blown at least a couple of very good chances to score when the scoreline was tighter, and also conceded some atrocious and atypical defensive errors to gift us a couple of goals.
Once again, an unchanged starting eleven, though it looks like we can call off the search party for Jake Barker-Daish, as he was back on the bench after mysteriously disappearing for a couple of weeks there. Milos Lujic's pass to Nick Epifano for the opening goal was very good, though it's a distant second for the sheer comedic theatrics of Michael Eagar's goal - his first for the club - which may or may not have involved a backheel which somehow crept over the line following a shambles of a goalmouth scramble.
The goal that Hume pulled back was not undeserved, though the fact that we once again hit back pretty quickly (via Lujic) was quite reassuring. Less reassuring was Nikola Roganovic's kicking which was quite wonky, though it was still better than the moment where he left a shot go seemingly out for a goal kick only to have it clatter onto the post. It was those moments of good fortune that while not guaranteeing us the win, made us look more dominant than we perhaps were.
Epifano's second for the night finished the game off for good, and it was an absolute pearler, the equal of his go ahead goal against the Knights in the Dockerty Cup earlier this year. Iqi Jawadi's goal for 5-1 was another case of 'what were they actually trying to achieve there' for the Hume defense, as Jawadi's relatively tame shot was seemingly saved only for it to end up crossing the line somehow, or at least enough to convince the officials to award the goal.The last portion of the game saw Hume dominate possession as we backed off, and Marcus Schroen scored with an excellent long range shot to beat Roganovic in goal.
While not wishing to piss on anyone's parade - it was a good win, and it was a lot of fun to watch, like many of our recent matches - much of the general play from our end could be tightened up, and I expect that Hume will improve on that performance come finals time. Still, it was mainly good signs, but as far as the minor premiership race goes, a job only half done.
Next game/Copperoos/doing the sums
Northcote City Hercules at home on Sunday afternoon in the final round of the season. Rather than the under 20s being the usual curtain raiser, as per last year the Victorian Police Soccer Club's Copperoos will be taking on a team of former Socceroos (including several former South players) for the Tony Clarke Memorial Shield.
As for the sums for the main game, it's pretty straightforward. The win over Hume has seen us take top spot from Bentleigh on goal difference - in fact we have a ten goal advantage over Bentleigh, who play Oakleigh this week. Unless Oakleigh completely capitulate, all we'll need to do to finish first and clinch the Victorian NPL national playoffs spot is match Bentleigh's result, though winning our game will almost certainly do the trick.
We can't finish lower than second on the ladder, so we will be having a week off in the first week of the finals regardless of the result on Sunday - but of course you'd rather finish first to get that national NPL playoff spot, and succeed in winning it so you can book your automatic FFA Cup spot. You know, for those who care about that sort of thing.
Epifano silliness (let's pick on someone completely at random)
Now the task of winning the minor premiership has been made a little more difficult because Nick Epifano did a very silly thing and retaliated with a sort of stamping/kicking out motion when provoked(?) by an opponent after a foul during the first half. While he was very fortunate not to get more than the yellow card that he received from the referee, the yellow card he did collect has apparently seen him rack up five yellow tickets, and thus he will miss the round 26 game against Northcote.
But lest that be the end of that stupidity, we also read this pearler of a post on smfcboard.
Now South of the Border is hardly Nick Epifano's biggest fan, nor admittedly his most forthright enemy, but I'd like to think that if nothing else this site has acknowledged that whatever the divergent opinions are among the supporter base on this matter, his actions have cast a pall of sorts over the season. However in their haste to make political mileage of the situation, some people, like our friend above, have committed such rank overreach when there's absolutely no need to do so. Whether anyone likes it or not, despite his cuntery Epifano has actually been in the best form of his South stint. He's scoring regularly, he has scored important goals, and he's working harder than ever on the defensive side of his game. None of which excuses any of his prior behaviour, but let's not start inventing shit for the sake of it. There's also the following things to consider.
Heritage for sale
Replicas of the modernised red vee heritage jerseys designed by BLK which were used for our regrettably brief FFA Cup run were on sale last night at the merchandise stall, sans the FFA Cup badge. I bought one, which set me back $90, and I assume that those that weren't snapped up last night will still be available for purchase on Sunday - though you may want to contact the club just to be sure. Next step, to get replica versions of our 1960s Bristol Rovers style kit done up, with long sleeves of course.
Incendiary devices
I don't know what exactly we're paying Blue Thunder Security to do at Lakeside. I went to the game more or less straight after work, so I had my bag with me, but did they actually bother checking it at the gate? Nope. If they had, they would have come across some incendiary materials far more dangerous than your run of the mill firecracker or nautical flare. Emile Zola's Germinal (one of the greatest novels of all time) may seem to be on the face of it a very long and detailed novel about a miners' strike in northern France during the Second Empire period, but within its pages lie the seeds of revolution, even if some theorists will claim that Zola's depictions of the various competing socialist ideologies in the novel are beholden to hostile contemporary bourgeois attitudes. One wonders how many of the other 329 patrons at the ground on Wednesday night managed to smuggle in contraband materials? Also, I'd like to think that if Souvarine was involved in Australian soccer, he would see that just because you've blown the present to pieces, it doesn't necessarily follow that what comes after will be better than what exists now - it might force him to reconsider his political theorising.
Let's solve two problems at once (hey kid, you want some candy?)
Yesterday there were many futile attempts to convince a couple of the youngest members of Clarendon Corner to start a chant. At the same time, there were several people throwing around lollies at each other, which is an incredible waste of sugar and food colouring. Why not instead use those lollies to convince the children to start a chant?
Bugle blues
The toumbeleki man is better off sticking to the toumbeleki, which is he quite proficient at, rather than struggling to play his bugle.
Boxing
I was fortunate enough to be offered two free tickets to a big night of boxing last Friday - big in the sense that this is an attempt by the sport to get back into the mainstream, with consistent and continuing free to air coverage for the first time in 30 years. In that sense, I could only feel that as a boxing novice that it was, if not quite a disaster, then it was at least a familiar reminder of why boxing has fallen away as a mainstream television sport in Australia.
It was an unusual set-up for a fight night. The venue was the Melbourne Pavilion, a tarted up reception centre in Kensington. Outside the crowd waited to be let in from across the street, almost all men, most of them wearing black suits, neat casual or t-shirts sporting the logos of various gyms, many of them with tattoos, and more than enough with shaved heads. My instinct was to try to avoid direct eye contact, and even the appearance that I was trying to eavesdrop.
Once inside, I noticed the ring near the entrance and table seating being the norm, or perhaps even only option on offer - I didn't notice anything resembling general admission, unless there was standing room near the bar. It's an interesting slant, trying to go upmarket the way the promoters did, providing three course meals (all very good quality), and a steady supply of booze. The problem with that approach though is that it may work for those who are ringside - and who have paid the highest ticket prices - but those at the back of the room don't get quite the same value for money. Not that I was complaining, I mean how can you when your ticket is free, but the impeded views due to the room's pylons made it a less than stellar viewing experience. And while there were plenty of television screens to view the action on when the fighters moved into the unsighted areas of the ring, it felt like being at a rugby league game - more attention paid to screens as opposed to the real action being performed by real people in front of you. The never-ending flurry of service staff also diminished the viewing experience.
That second ticket I had been given? It was supposed to be used by an actual boxing fan, but he couldn't make it. Offers to take up the ticket on Twitter and Facebook were either ignored, or used as a source of mirth, and the ticket went unclaimed. I'd like to think that it was purely boxing's loss of cultural cachet that was at fault, but I can't rule out the daunting task of being seated next to me for five or six hours. It was hard to tell which was the greater dissuading factor.
On my table at the back of the room are the most obvious examples of boxing's working class. The Smith family from Newcastle, mum, dad and sister, were there to support Richard. Later, from the Central Coast, Jai Opetaia's girlfriend, along with his sister, arrived on to our table. Also on my table was a fighter from Port Macquarie named Will, along with his trainer whose name escapes me. Will was meant to fight on the night, but two days previously his opponent had apparently broken his hand doing pad work - one wonders how hard his opponent was hitting those pads. Though a professional boxer, Will's main line of work is in building highways, while his trainer is a butcher. They train around their work schedules, in the great Australian working class boxing tradition of tin sheds, back yards and training around punishing six day a week work schedules. Will was enjoying being in Melbourne, but you could tell he was restless, that he wanted to be in among the action. During the fights, his trainer positioned himself so that he could talk through each bout with Will. They'd both taken time off work and not getting appearance money because of the cancelled fight, so they try to make the most of the hospitality on offer and the chance to learn from those on display. I didn't ask, but I suspect that Will is Indigenous, and throughout the evening I wished that Joe Gorman was here instead of me, because he could write this story better than me, and some of the others, too, because there was a rural and regional New South Wales state of mind at my table that he'd better understand.
The outcome of the first fight, between heavyweights Haysem Abdallah and Ace Tarau - allegedly both debutantes, though I could have sworn I'd heard that Abdallah had a 16-0 record; maybe as an amateur? - was predictable. Tarau came out and looked lively early on, but it was clear he didn't have the tank to last four rounds, and he didn't last two. The second fight between light heavyweights Trent Broadhurst and Affif Belghecham from New Caledonia was, I think, meant to be something that Broadhurst would win and win well, but after a wonky start his opponent held his own and lasted until the end of the six round fight. I couldn't help but feel that Broadhurst would be disappointed with not being able to look more effective against his journeyman opponent.
The third fight was interrupted by the dinner service and it was too hard to concentrate on both eating and trying to watch the fight. The fourth fight was between Richard Smith and local boy Joel Camilleri. This was a good, even battle though Camilleri, who sported a large Maltese/George Cross tattoo on his back, gave Smith too many of the early rounds, and Smith held out well enough in the second half of the bout to win the fight. He's now apparently looking at a title fight, hopefully in Newcastle. His parents were chanting and cheering throughout the bout - it's the most atmosphere that there will be in the venue all night. Smith's father will thank me repeatedly, but when I tried to congratulate him, he waves it away, saying it was all Richard, who'd given up an electrician's apprenticeship in order to give boxing a proper go, to see how far he could take it, to make sure years down the track that he had no regrets about wondering 'what if?'. The thing about cliches is that it's easy to scoff at them until they're right there in front of you.
The first of the televised bouts was Jai Opetaia vs Rob Manual, a 39 year old former rugby league player who has lost all his previous bouts. This one, too, went the same way. I thought to myself that this is not a good look for the televised product, but worse is yet to come. More heavyweights follow them, Lucas Browne who had 21 wins and no losses to his name, taking on Julius Long who was 16-17-0. Long is a tall man - over seven foot tall - but from the outset his main goal is to try to frustrate to his opponent, whose performance perhaps betrays his record, as the fight looks sloppy and uncoordinated. The derision comes not only from the crowd in the room, but from the internet as well. Though Long has a brief moment in the third or fourth round where he rattles Browne, he's soon back to retreating, and Browne finally knocks him out in the dying stages of the ninth round.
In trying to get a bit of background on Will Tomlinson, it appears that earlier this year he was found to be out of his depth when taking on a Mexican fighter, being mauled on the way to a bad loss. This then was an attempt to bounce back against an opponent I assume was brought in to provide a challenge for him, someone which would make Tomlinson earn his win and look good doing it, but otherwise not expected to beat him.
In the first round, Filipino Adones Aguelo played cautious, and neither fighter makes inroads. But from then on, it's Aguelo who surprises everyone, cutting Tomlinson repeatedly, and chasing him around the ring, being the more aggressive boxer. Tomlinson looks out of sorts, and though he manages to get back into the bout later on, Ageulo is still holding his own and putting together the better moves. Even though I thought Ageulo had clearly been the better fighter throughout almost the entire fight, I had a feeling that he'd get dudded on the decision. I know that my opinion certainly comes from a novice position, but there were more than enough Australian boxing fans across the internet both dismayed at the result, but also for the fact that it reinforced boxing's bad reputation for dodgy results. The crowd at the venue, too, seemingly knew the result which was going to be handed down. There was little celebration or acknowledgement of the judges' decision, and most beat a hasty exit. If this was meant to be boxing's plea to the Australian sporting public to once more be seen as a credible sport, it was not a good start.
Things could be worse!
You could be John Frusciante during the mid 1990s.
Final thought
Did you know the NPL1 trophy is bigger than then NPL trophy?
Once again, an unchanged starting eleven, though it looks like we can call off the search party for Jake Barker-Daish, as he was back on the bench after mysteriously disappearing for a couple of weeks there. Milos Lujic's pass to Nick Epifano for the opening goal was very good, though it's a distant second for the sheer comedic theatrics of Michael Eagar's goal - his first for the club - which may or may not have involved a backheel which somehow crept over the line following a shambles of a goalmouth scramble.
The goal that Hume pulled back was not undeserved, though the fact that we once again hit back pretty quickly (via Lujic) was quite reassuring. Less reassuring was Nikola Roganovic's kicking which was quite wonky, though it was still better than the moment where he left a shot go seemingly out for a goal kick only to have it clatter onto the post. It was those moments of good fortune that while not guaranteeing us the win, made us look more dominant than we perhaps were.
Epifano's second for the night finished the game off for good, and it was an absolute pearler, the equal of his go ahead goal against the Knights in the Dockerty Cup earlier this year. Iqi Jawadi's goal for 5-1 was another case of 'what were they actually trying to achieve there' for the Hume defense, as Jawadi's relatively tame shot was seemingly saved only for it to end up crossing the line somehow, or at least enough to convince the officials to award the goal.The last portion of the game saw Hume dominate possession as we backed off, and Marcus Schroen scored with an excellent long range shot to beat Roganovic in goal.
While not wishing to piss on anyone's parade - it was a good win, and it was a lot of fun to watch, like many of our recent matches - much of the general play from our end could be tightened up, and I expect that Hume will improve on that performance come finals time. Still, it was mainly good signs, but as far as the minor premiership race goes, a job only half done.
Next game/Copperoos/doing the sums
Northcote City Hercules at home on Sunday afternoon in the final round of the season. Rather than the under 20s being the usual curtain raiser, as per last year the Victorian Police Soccer Club's Copperoos will be taking on a team of former Socceroos (including several former South players) for the Tony Clarke Memorial Shield.
As for the sums for the main game, it's pretty straightforward. The win over Hume has seen us take top spot from Bentleigh on goal difference - in fact we have a ten goal advantage over Bentleigh, who play Oakleigh this week. Unless Oakleigh completely capitulate, all we'll need to do to finish first and clinch the Victorian NPL national playoffs spot is match Bentleigh's result, though winning our game will almost certainly do the trick.
We can't finish lower than second on the ladder, so we will be having a week off in the first week of the finals regardless of the result on Sunday - but of course you'd rather finish first to get that national NPL playoff spot, and succeed in winning it so you can book your automatic FFA Cup spot. You know, for those who care about that sort of thing.
Epifano silliness (let's pick on someone completely at random)
Now the task of winning the minor premiership has been made a little more difficult because Nick Epifano did a very silly thing and retaliated with a sort of stamping/kicking out motion when provoked(?) by an opponent after a foul during the first half. While he was very fortunate not to get more than the yellow card that he received from the referee, the yellow card he did collect has apparently seen him rack up five yellow tickets, and thus he will miss the round 26 game against Northcote.
But lest that be the end of that stupidity, we also read this pearler of a post on smfcboard.
buffalo cup Joined: 10 Jun 2008 Posts: 2574 Location: Everywhere, Somewhere and Nowhere  |
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Now South of the Border is hardly Nick Epifano's biggest fan, nor admittedly his most forthright enemy, but I'd like to think that if nothing else this site has acknowledged that whatever the divergent opinions are among the supporter base on this matter, his actions have cast a pall of sorts over the season. However in their haste to make political mileage of the situation, some people, like our friend above, have committed such rank overreach when there's absolutely no need to do so. Whether anyone likes it or not, despite his cuntery Epifano has actually been in the best form of his South stint. He's scoring regularly, he has scored important goals, and he's working harder than ever on the defensive side of his game. None of which excuses any of his prior behaviour, but let's not start inventing shit for the sake of it. There's also the following things to consider.
- We haven't actually won the minor premiership yet.
- Even if we do, it's not a fully fledged title, unless you've started using A-League classifications.
- Whether we win or lose the title in the long run, his fingerprints (good and bad) will be all over this season anyway.
Anyway, quite how Chris Taylor will set up the team in Epifano's absence will be interesting to see - will Chris Irwin get an unlikely start, or will David Stirton get a much needed run? Will they swap Leigh Minopoulos onto Epifano's side in order to make room for either of Irwin or Stirton?
Heritage for sale
Replicas of the modernised red vee heritage jerseys designed by BLK which were used for our regrettably brief FFA Cup run were on sale last night at the merchandise stall, sans the FFA Cup badge. I bought one, which set me back $90, and I assume that those that weren't snapped up last night will still be available for purchase on Sunday - though you may want to contact the club just to be sure. Next step, to get replica versions of our 1960s Bristol Rovers style kit done up, with long sleeves of course.
I don't know what exactly we're paying Blue Thunder Security to do at Lakeside. I went to the game more or less straight after work, so I had my bag with me, but did they actually bother checking it at the gate? Nope. If they had, they would have come across some incendiary materials far more dangerous than your run of the mill firecracker or nautical flare. Emile Zola's Germinal (one of the greatest novels of all time) may seem to be on the face of it a very long and detailed novel about a miners' strike in northern France during the Second Empire period, but within its pages lie the seeds of revolution, even if some theorists will claim that Zola's depictions of the various competing socialist ideologies in the novel are beholden to hostile contemporary bourgeois attitudes. One wonders how many of the other 329 patrons at the ground on Wednesday night managed to smuggle in contraband materials? Also, I'd like to think that if Souvarine was involved in Australian soccer, he would see that just because you've blown the present to pieces, it doesn't necessarily follow that what comes after will be better than what exists now - it might force him to reconsider his political theorising.
Let's solve two problems at once (hey kid, you want some candy?)
Yesterday there were many futile attempts to convince a couple of the youngest members of Clarendon Corner to start a chant. At the same time, there were several people throwing around lollies at each other, which is an incredible waste of sugar and food colouring. Why not instead use those lollies to convince the children to start a chant?
Bugle blues
The toumbeleki man is better off sticking to the toumbeleki, which is he quite proficient at, rather than struggling to play his bugle.
Boxing
I was fortunate enough to be offered two free tickets to a big night of boxing last Friday - big in the sense that this is an attempt by the sport to get back into the mainstream, with consistent and continuing free to air coverage for the first time in 30 years. In that sense, I could only feel that as a boxing novice that it was, if not quite a disaster, then it was at least a familiar reminder of why boxing has fallen away as a mainstream television sport in Australia.
Homer: I miss my couch.
Joe Frasier: I know how you feel. You lost the couch. I lost the heavyweight championship.
Homer: Heavyweight championship.There's three of those. That couch was one of a kind.
- The Simpsons, "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?"Everyone knows boxing's problems, and what's more, that they will never be solved. The fact that in the time since Homer Simpson noted that there were three heavyweight champion belts - 23 years ago, if you can believe it - that even more have been added is just the tip of a very large iceberg.
It was an unusual set-up for a fight night. The venue was the Melbourne Pavilion, a tarted up reception centre in Kensington. Outside the crowd waited to be let in from across the street, almost all men, most of them wearing black suits, neat casual or t-shirts sporting the logos of various gyms, many of them with tattoos, and more than enough with shaved heads. My instinct was to try to avoid direct eye contact, and even the appearance that I was trying to eavesdrop.
Once inside, I noticed the ring near the entrance and table seating being the norm, or perhaps even only option on offer - I didn't notice anything resembling general admission, unless there was standing room near the bar. It's an interesting slant, trying to go upmarket the way the promoters did, providing three course meals (all very good quality), and a steady supply of booze. The problem with that approach though is that it may work for those who are ringside - and who have paid the highest ticket prices - but those at the back of the room don't get quite the same value for money. Not that I was complaining, I mean how can you when your ticket is free, but the impeded views due to the room's pylons made it a less than stellar viewing experience. And while there were plenty of television screens to view the action on when the fighters moved into the unsighted areas of the ring, it felt like being at a rugby league game - more attention paid to screens as opposed to the real action being performed by real people in front of you. The never-ending flurry of service staff also diminished the viewing experience.
That second ticket I had been given? It was supposed to be used by an actual boxing fan, but he couldn't make it. Offers to take up the ticket on Twitter and Facebook were either ignored, or used as a source of mirth, and the ticket went unclaimed. I'd like to think that it was purely boxing's loss of cultural cachet that was at fault, but I can't rule out the daunting task of being seated next to me for five or six hours. It was hard to tell which was the greater dissuading factor.
On my table at the back of the room are the most obvious examples of boxing's working class. The Smith family from Newcastle, mum, dad and sister, were there to support Richard. Later, from the Central Coast, Jai Opetaia's girlfriend, along with his sister, arrived on to our table. Also on my table was a fighter from Port Macquarie named Will, along with his trainer whose name escapes me. Will was meant to fight on the night, but two days previously his opponent had apparently broken his hand doing pad work - one wonders how hard his opponent was hitting those pads. Though a professional boxer, Will's main line of work is in building highways, while his trainer is a butcher. They train around their work schedules, in the great Australian working class boxing tradition of tin sheds, back yards and training around punishing six day a week work schedules. Will was enjoying being in Melbourne, but you could tell he was restless, that he wanted to be in among the action. During the fights, his trainer positioned himself so that he could talk through each bout with Will. They'd both taken time off work and not getting appearance money because of the cancelled fight, so they try to make the most of the hospitality on offer and the chance to learn from those on display. I didn't ask, but I suspect that Will is Indigenous, and throughout the evening I wished that Joe Gorman was here instead of me, because he could write this story better than me, and some of the others, too, because there was a rural and regional New South Wales state of mind at my table that he'd better understand.
The outcome of the first fight, between heavyweights Haysem Abdallah and Ace Tarau - allegedly both debutantes, though I could have sworn I'd heard that Abdallah had a 16-0 record; maybe as an amateur? - was predictable. Tarau came out and looked lively early on, but it was clear he didn't have the tank to last four rounds, and he didn't last two. The second fight between light heavyweights Trent Broadhurst and Affif Belghecham from New Caledonia was, I think, meant to be something that Broadhurst would win and win well, but after a wonky start his opponent held his own and lasted until the end of the six round fight. I couldn't help but feel that Broadhurst would be disappointed with not being able to look more effective against his journeyman opponent.
The third fight was interrupted by the dinner service and it was too hard to concentrate on both eating and trying to watch the fight. The fourth fight was between Richard Smith and local boy Joel Camilleri. This was a good, even battle though Camilleri, who sported a large Maltese/George Cross tattoo on his back, gave Smith too many of the early rounds, and Smith held out well enough in the second half of the bout to win the fight. He's now apparently looking at a title fight, hopefully in Newcastle. His parents were chanting and cheering throughout the bout - it's the most atmosphere that there will be in the venue all night. Smith's father will thank me repeatedly, but when I tried to congratulate him, he waves it away, saying it was all Richard, who'd given up an electrician's apprenticeship in order to give boxing a proper go, to see how far he could take it, to make sure years down the track that he had no regrets about wondering 'what if?'. The thing about cliches is that it's easy to scoff at them until they're right there in front of you.
The first of the televised bouts was Jai Opetaia vs Rob Manual, a 39 year old former rugby league player who has lost all his previous bouts. This one, too, went the same way. I thought to myself that this is not a good look for the televised product, but worse is yet to come. More heavyweights follow them, Lucas Browne who had 21 wins and no losses to his name, taking on Julius Long who was 16-17-0. Long is a tall man - over seven foot tall - but from the outset his main goal is to try to frustrate to his opponent, whose performance perhaps betrays his record, as the fight looks sloppy and uncoordinated. The derision comes not only from the crowd in the room, but from the internet as well. Though Long has a brief moment in the third or fourth round where he rattles Browne, he's soon back to retreating, and Browne finally knocks him out in the dying stages of the ninth round.
In trying to get a bit of background on Will Tomlinson, it appears that earlier this year he was found to be out of his depth when taking on a Mexican fighter, being mauled on the way to a bad loss. This then was an attempt to bounce back against an opponent I assume was brought in to provide a challenge for him, someone which would make Tomlinson earn his win and look good doing it, but otherwise not expected to beat him.
In the first round, Filipino Adones Aguelo played cautious, and neither fighter makes inroads. But from then on, it's Aguelo who surprises everyone, cutting Tomlinson repeatedly, and chasing him around the ring, being the more aggressive boxer. Tomlinson looks out of sorts, and though he manages to get back into the bout later on, Ageulo is still holding his own and putting together the better moves. Even though I thought Ageulo had clearly been the better fighter throughout almost the entire fight, I had a feeling that he'd get dudded on the decision. I know that my opinion certainly comes from a novice position, but there were more than enough Australian boxing fans across the internet both dismayed at the result, but also for the fact that it reinforced boxing's bad reputation for dodgy results. The crowd at the venue, too, seemingly knew the result which was going to be handed down. There was little celebration or acknowledgement of the judges' decision, and most beat a hasty exit. If this was meant to be boxing's plea to the Australian sporting public to once more be seen as a credible sport, it was not a good start.
Things could be worse!
You could be John Frusciante during the mid 1990s.
Final thought
Did you know the NPL1 trophy is bigger than then NPL trophy?
Sunday, 16 August 2015
Bobble - Avondale Heights 0 South Melbourne 7
The bus arrived at the bus stop on Hopkins Street two doors down from Melbourne's best cannoli already about ten minutes late, and it didn't get much better from there, traffic circumstances making us lose more and more time. The driver tried to rectify this by flooring it on the open spaces of Military Road which took me by surprise, meaning that Gains and I ended up alighting a stop further down the road than we would have liked. Never mind, a short walk never did anyone any harm.
For those who haven't been here before: Doyle Street Reserve is the most Spartan of the current day NPL grounds, though at least they've fixed up a few issues this season. They've added what looks like a 100 seat temporary stand, a miniature green tool shed for a media box, and temporary fencing around the ground in order to be able to more effectively charge admission. They've also removed the (puts on A Current Affair voice) death trap goal posts, which were a source of much angst last year.
The surface though was still an unresolved issue. Forget what the typically aloof and sneering South fan might say, but there were others there who were shocked that this was an NPL venue. One was in awe because he had umpired cricket here during the summer, another because (and I could be getting this wildly wrong) he could remember a game against Western Eagles Polonia here just a few short years ago. Sometimes the pace of on-field progress outstrips that of of off-field progress
The bumpy surface on a small field was always likely to prevent an attractive brand of soccer being played. That Avondale had recruited (probably great expense) good ball players and ex-South men Francesco Stella and Massimo Murdocca given that their strengths would be limited on that surface always struck me as odd. In other years, South would struggle to play on these kinds of surface, but a more practical approach in recent years has done wonders.
So while Avondale tried to play the prettier football and aim their shots high at Nikola Roganovic, South was happy to play dinky little balls over the top to the forwards, and with a bit of help from the bumpy service managed to take a 2-0 lead into half time. While we looked good things to take the three points, I had a sense that we could be one piece of bad luck away from having the game open up again.
As it happened, it was Avondale which completely lost its nerve, conceding three goals in almost as many minutes, with a series of mistakes from former South goalkeeper Chris Maynard and his defence gifting easy chances to South. Andy Kecojevic's goal, finishing off a cross from former Avondale man Chris Irwin made it six late on, and provided a welcome addition to the goal difference tally.
With the result long sewn up, attention was being paid to the Northcote - Bentleigh game, then still at 0-0. When the news had come in via the Futbol24 app that Northcote had scored, the 'I-I-Irakli' chants came out from Clarendon Corner, only for the goal to be retracted second later; though it took some time for news to reach the raucous away support, who had made use of the playground at the western end of Doyle Reserve.
It was funny watching and waiting for them to realise that the goal had been a mistake (reminiscent of the final round of the home and away season in 2006 out at Green Gully Reserve, where someone mistook Altona Magic doubling their lead for Heidelberg equalising - I guess you had to be there). The situation became less funny when Bentleigh took the lead moments later, but what can you do?
The game finished when substitute David Stirton was brought down from behind in the box, and Epifano having been subbed off, Lujic slotting it home for his hattrick and the further erasure of one more nagging penalty taking demon. Not that we've played the crème de la crème of opposition in recent weeks, but we sure as hell could have played a lot worse. The team is starting to find its groove again, and at the right time of the season, too.
Next game + the run home
Hume City on Wednesday night at Lakeside. Hume beat Heidelberg 2-0 this afternoon to secure their finals place. Whether that makes them more or less dangerous in the run in to the finals I don't know.
Bentleigh are three points ahead of us, but with only one game left, against Oakleigh. Will Oakleigh use this game as a means of tuning up for their FFA Cup fixture against MetroStars, or will they go easy and save themselves any unnecessary grief? Strange things have happened in this fixture in the past. We now have the advantage when it comes to goal difference, and the chance to take top spot if we win both games no matter what Bentleigh does on Sunday. But Bentleigh have the tangible benefit of having won that extra game that we still need to win.
Heidelberg has two games to play, a midweek game against Green Gully, and a home game against the relegated Dandenong Thunder. Gully were eliminated from the finals race due to Hume's win today, but I wouldn't expect them to roll over. Meanwhile Melbourne Knights can't finish top, but they can still finish in second if we can't manage to even squeeze out a draw from our remaining two games, and they win their remaining fixture.
What's really amazing is this is exactly what Steve from Broady said would happen!
Apropos of almost nothing, a paragraph on what 1984 title winning coach Len McKendry thought of soccer supporters and what they knew about the game.
Damnatio memoriae
Brad Norton has signed on for another two years, but the best bit of the relevant South Melbourne press release was undoubtedly the 'he who shall not be named' shenanigans:
Speaking of exile to barren lands
Jake Barker-Daish has not even been on the bench for the past couple of weeks. Makes you think.
Sport in Victoria: A History
A new book was launched last Tuesday in one of the rooms at the Melbourne Cricket Club, though I forget which one (for the record, I deliberately avoided wearing a collar. Also, the jam tarts were shithouse). Sport in Victoria: A History, edited by Dave Nadel and Graeme Ryan (who is also the publisher) contains 180 odd contributions from 80 odd contributors on many sports played in Victoria, as well as some sporting bodies, venues and events. I have three contributions in this book: men's soccer (written with Ian Syson), women's soccer soccer and a short section on South Melbourne Hellas. It's a bit pricey - close to $80 for the paperback edition, and a bit more for the hardback - so it's the kind of thing that unless you were an obsessive, would best serve perhaps a Fathers Day or Christmas present, or you could perhaps try and get your local library to order in a copy. The book's format is sort of encylopaedic, giving overviews of the different themes, and hopefully prompting further study and exploration for those readers so inclined. The book does have some nice images in it, and does a reasonable job of covering most of what you would expect to be covered in such a tome, though the omission of something like roller derby when rogaining and petanque have been included seems a bit odd - maybe in a second edition?
Things could be worse!
Didn't like Chris Maynard as a goalkeeper? Be thankful I'll never be selected for South.
Final thought
For those who haven't been here before: Doyle Street Reserve is the most Spartan of the current day NPL grounds, though at least they've fixed up a few issues this season. They've added what looks like a 100 seat temporary stand, a miniature green tool shed for a media box, and temporary fencing around the ground in order to be able to more effectively charge admission. They've also removed the (puts on A Current Affair voice) death trap goal posts, which were a source of much angst last year.
The surface though was still an unresolved issue. Forget what the typically aloof and sneering South fan might say, but there were others there who were shocked that this was an NPL venue. One was in awe because he had umpired cricket here during the summer, another because (and I could be getting this wildly wrong) he could remember a game against Western Eagles Polonia here just a few short years ago. Sometimes the pace of on-field progress outstrips that of of off-field progress
The bumpy surface on a small field was always likely to prevent an attractive brand of soccer being played. That Avondale had recruited (probably great expense) good ball players and ex-South men Francesco Stella and Massimo Murdocca given that their strengths would be limited on that surface always struck me as odd. In other years, South would struggle to play on these kinds of surface, but a more practical approach in recent years has done wonders.
So while Avondale tried to play the prettier football and aim their shots high at Nikola Roganovic, South was happy to play dinky little balls over the top to the forwards, and with a bit of help from the bumpy service managed to take a 2-0 lead into half time. While we looked good things to take the three points, I had a sense that we could be one piece of bad luck away from having the game open up again.
As it happened, it was Avondale which completely lost its nerve, conceding three goals in almost as many minutes, with a series of mistakes from former South goalkeeper Chris Maynard and his defence gifting easy chances to South. Andy Kecojevic's goal, finishing off a cross from former Avondale man Chris Irwin made it six late on, and provided a welcome addition to the goal difference tally.
With the result long sewn up, attention was being paid to the Northcote - Bentleigh game, then still at 0-0. When the news had come in via the Futbol24 app that Northcote had scored, the 'I-I-Irakli' chants came out from Clarendon Corner, only for the goal to be retracted second later; though it took some time for news to reach the raucous away support, who had made use of the playground at the western end of Doyle Reserve.
It was funny watching and waiting for them to realise that the goal had been a mistake (reminiscent of the final round of the home and away season in 2006 out at Green Gully Reserve, where someone mistook Altona Magic doubling their lead for Heidelberg equalising - I guess you had to be there). The situation became less funny when Bentleigh took the lead moments later, but what can you do?
The game finished when substitute David Stirton was brought down from behind in the box, and Epifano having been subbed off, Lujic slotting it home for his hattrick and the further erasure of one more nagging penalty taking demon. Not that we've played the crème de la crème of opposition in recent weeks, but we sure as hell could have played a lot worse. The team is starting to find its groove again, and at the right time of the season, too.
Next game + the run home
Hume City on Wednesday night at Lakeside. Hume beat Heidelberg 2-0 this afternoon to secure their finals place. Whether that makes them more or less dangerous in the run in to the finals I don't know.
 |
| Jockeying for position. The race for top spot is down to two teams, while Knights and the Bergers will still be looking to finish top two to earn a week off and get home ground advantage. |
Bentleigh are three points ahead of us, but with only one game left, against Oakleigh. Will Oakleigh use this game as a means of tuning up for their FFA Cup fixture against MetroStars, or will they go easy and save themselves any unnecessary grief? Strange things have happened in this fixture in the past. We now have the advantage when it comes to goal difference, and the chance to take top spot if we win both games no matter what Bentleigh does on Sunday. But Bentleigh have the tangible benefit of having won that extra game that we still need to win.
Heidelberg has two games to play, a midweek game against Green Gully, and a home game against the relegated Dandenong Thunder. Gully were eliminated from the finals race due to Hume's win today, but I wouldn't expect them to roll over. Meanwhile Melbourne Knights can't finish top, but they can still finish in second if we can't manage to even squeeze out a draw from our remaining two games, and they win their remaining fixture.
What's really amazing is this is exactly what Steve from Broady said would happen!
Apropos of almost nothing, a paragraph on what 1984 title winning coach Len McKendry thought of soccer supporters and what they knew about the game.
 |
| Excerpt from Paul Wade's autobiography, detailing one of the differences between Jimmy Rooney and Len McKendry. |
Brad Norton has signed on for another two years, but the best bit of the relevant South Melbourne press release was undoubtedly the 'he who shall not be named' shenanigans:
Norton was appointed as Vice Captain in 2013 but captained the side for most of the second half of the season following the exit of South’s captain that year. (italics added by South of the Border)Take that, dude, bloke, guy, whoever happened to be captain in the first half of 2013. Pretty childish if you ask me.
Speaking of exile to barren lands
Jake Barker-Daish has not even been on the bench for the past couple of weeks. Makes you think.
A new book was launched last Tuesday in one of the rooms at the Melbourne Cricket Club, though I forget which one (for the record, I deliberately avoided wearing a collar. Also, the jam tarts were shithouse). Sport in Victoria: A History, edited by Dave Nadel and Graeme Ryan (who is also the publisher) contains 180 odd contributions from 80 odd contributors on many sports played in Victoria, as well as some sporting bodies, venues and events. I have three contributions in this book: men's soccer (written with Ian Syson), women's soccer soccer and a short section on South Melbourne Hellas. It's a bit pricey - close to $80 for the paperback edition, and a bit more for the hardback - so it's the kind of thing that unless you were an obsessive, would best serve perhaps a Fathers Day or Christmas present, or you could perhaps try and get your local library to order in a copy. The book's format is sort of encylopaedic, giving overviews of the different themes, and hopefully prompting further study and exploration for those readers so inclined. The book does have some nice images in it, and does a reasonable job of covering most of what you would expect to be covered in such a tome, though the omission of something like roller derby when rogaining and petanque have been included seems a bit odd - maybe in a second edition?
Things could be worse!
Didn't like Chris Maynard as a goalkeeper? Be thankful I'll never be selected for South.
Ball kicked into crowd. @PaulMavroudis tries to catch ball like a man protecting his hat.
— Ian Syson (@IanSyson) August 15, 2015
My excuse is that the sun was in my eyes. If it was good enough for Peter Gavalas...Final thought
What else you gonna do on a Saturday? #ps4nplvic pic.twitter.com/5uRpLHo86K
— Paul Mavroudis (@PaulMavroudis) August 15, 2015
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
'Before the unpleasantness' artefact Wednesday - Tynan-Eyre Cup certificate of appreciation
Anyway, this certificate of appreciation comes from before 2002, specifically the year 2000, when South Melbourne beat Melbourne Knights 3-1 at the Veneto Club in the competition's final. South had earlier beaten Eastern Pride (2-1 at Green Gully) and Carlton (3-1 at Kingston Heath), and drawn against Melbourne Knights (1-1 at Knights Stadium)
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Happy, but not all the time - South Melbourne 4 Port Melbourne 2
I really don't know what to make of this game. We scored lots of goals, and could have had more, but how good was the opponent really? On the other hand, we kept them to few chances at the other end, and still managed to cop two goals. But there was also great resilience from the team to keep pushing and pressuring, and that created its own momentum and sense of purpose.
The team was unchanged from the Dockerty Cup win against Oakleigh, and so was the style. More numbers forward to help a formerly isolated Milos Lujic, who seems to have his mojo going again despite missing a sitter for his hat trick. Quite how he managed to get to the header from a cross that was in the air for an eternity, let alone manage to loop into the back of the net only the video will be able to say. His finish to put us in front for the third time, once again from one of many superb Brad Norton crosses, was excellent, but it was the cross that should be put on display for all the kids out there to learn and imitate.
By the end of the game Norton was so in tune with his crossing that it looked he was playing snooker and putting 'English' onto his crosses. There was one moment late in the game where you actually see the concentration on his face as he was about to hit a cross, angling his boot in such a way to get exactly the kind of spin he wanted.
How odd that Brad Norton of all players may become a cult hero, perhaps even future legend of the VPL era South? Yes there's a long to go on that front, but think of it this way: throughout all the tumultuous years during his South stint (2012-2015) he's the only one left. From derided and unappreciated, he has worked his way through form issues, and even the challenge of Shaun Timmins being brought into the side mid last year to essentially replace him (when other players would have perhaps thrown a hissy fit, and is probably playing the best soccer of his South career. He also seems to enjoy being around South, and seems to have plenty of time for the supporters. I'm still trying to get my head around it.
Nick Epifano managed to get on the score sheet twice, once via a penalty (earned by Leigh Minopoulos) and once via a through ball delivered by Minopoulos, which had a very Phil Kessel to Clarke MacArthur kind of vibe to it, when they both still at the Maple Leafs. It's great to see Leigh not just playing, but also contributing. I like to think that I can get some of the credit for his turnaround in fortune:
Anyway this week Chris Taylor did make some substitutions, but he still found some way to fuck with people's heads. In fact, in an atypical occurrence of paranoia, I wondered if he was directly trying to get into my head, when with the game more or less sewn up with 15 minutes to go, by making subs in the 88th and 89th minutes.
Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the game was the way we handled the wet conditions. The second best part of the evening was Bentleigh drawing 1-1 at home to Avondale Heights, meaning that we've drawn to within three points of the Greens, while having played one fewer game - and then on Sunday Heidelberg drew 3-3 with North Geelong, giving us the edge in the run home for what used to be called the minor premiership.
Next game + the run home
We have Avondale Heights away on Saturday, our last away trip for the home and away season. It won't be an easy game, not just because of the doggedness of the opponent, but also because the ground is small and not usually in the best of conditions, which will mean we'll likely have a result to grind out here rather than something pretty.
Bentleigh, whose poor run of form recently has seen them drop several games and look much more vulnerable, have two games left, against Northcote and Oakleigh. It's hard to know how well either of those two sides will go or how much motivation they'll have considering neither can make the finals.
Should Bentleigh win both of those games, we'll need to win all three of our remaining games. We play Avondale away, Hume City midweek and Northcote in the final round. Not an easy sequence of games, but two non-finals sides and an erratic Hume City are better than many of the alternatives.
Heidelberg also has three games to play, but dropping points today to North Geelong has set them back a fair bit. They've got Hume, who still need a point or two to make absolutely sure of a finals spot, Green Gully midweek who are still trying to make the dash for an unlikely sixth placed finish, and Dandenong Thunder who will be looking to do anything possible to get themselves into 12th spot and thus into a playoff for relegation rather than automatically go down. The Bergers will need to win all three games and hope results seriously go their way.
While Melbourne Knights are equal on points with Heidelberg, they have only two games left to play and would need to do a Bradbury to finish on top.
Some thoughts on the people that were there, and those that weren't, and I promise not to talk about the social media numbers at all, OK?
If there were 1,200 people at the Dockerty Cup final last week (some say 2,000 but that's being generous) then a crowd of 370 for this fixture just a few days later is a touch disappointing, albeit par for the course for the 2015 season.
Of course one should take into account the fact that Port's home crowds are even worse, often struggling to reach 100, so the chances that they'd bring anything resembling numbers across the 4.5 kilometres from SS Anderson Reserve to Lakeside were slim, especially considering that they hadn't brought numbers to the City of Port Philip 'derby' in any of our previous meetings at Lakeside.
But back to us and what is really troubling about such a low attendance. Now we may all recall that the club performed a survey asking the supporters what day and time they preferred for their home kickoffs to be, with an apparent majority stating a preference for Sundays at 3PM, or 5PM. The board looked at the survey, scratched its collective head, and decided to go with Friday night fixtures because they thought that:
I'm not going to say that the decision had already been made, but it's hard not to be cynical about these things. Here were some of my thoughts at the time the survey was announced, all the way back at the 2014 AGM (so really, January 2015).
There should also be concerns for the following reason. Last Sunday for the Dockerty Cup final, more people turned up than did on Friday night when they had to pay entry at the gate as opposed to using their membership cards. The team, despite some traditional slowdown in the middle portion of the season, is also doing well. It won a championship last season lest we forget, has just come off a Dockerty Cup win, and is still well in the running for the NPL national playoffs and seemingly starting to find form at the right part of the year heading into the finals.
There was also no footy on in Melbourne on Friday night, so where was everyone? Or maybe that was everyone, at least from the point of view of the people who will turn up every week no matter what. If that's the case, then why not cater to those fans and play our home games on Sundays? Either that or just say 'look, we think that playing on Fridays gives us that much more of an edge of winning a championship, so with all due respect, since most of you are going to turn up no matter when we play, we've decided to play Friday night games'.
One and one makes two; two and one makes three; it was destiny
I am hearing things from all sorts of crazy different sources and I am starting to put two and two together. There has been some angst about the name 'South Melbourne United' being re-booted, in case it got used as a means to get a South Melbourne affiliate of sorts (so not really South Melbourne) into the A-League playing with a red vee jersey. But then there is also talk that there have been negotiations with the South Melbourne Women - and if you thought like I did that, 'wait, I thought we had established that were in a de facto relationship' - then that certainly might come as a surprise.
But what if instead of registering South Melbourne United as an A-League front, it was designed to go the other way? Several NPL clubs have set up 'community clubs' in order to maintain a broader junior base that's more participatory in outlook. Now one of the concerns for South Melbourne Women, should they apply for the Women's NPL which is due to start next year, is that like a men's NPL side they would lose many of their juniors. While women's soccer in Victoria has a track record of often being more about 'teams' as opposed to 'clubs', as an outsider, South Melbourne Women seem to be more at the 'club' end of the spectrum, and thus would lose something culturally important in the transition. Does a scenario where South Melbourne FC becomes the dual licence holder for NPL men's and women's football, while establishing South Melbourne United as a community club outpost overcome those problems to the satisfaction of all the parties involved (mainly the women not getting treated like garbage)? Are there enough facilities to cater for everyone adequately whether they play for a mens' or boys', womens' or girls', NPL or community club? What kind of impact will this have on other clubs in our local area?
The other danger of this of course is if the 'community club' decides at some point to go its own way, as appears to be the case with at least one version (I think the Sunshine George Cross affiliated community club). How our South Melbourne would manage to keep a relatively short leash on such an organisation remains to be seen. All of that of course supposes that my rank speculation has even the faintest whiff of truth to it. I may be just pissing into the wind.
Of course, all this speculation flies in the face of this comment (seriously, read it, it's interesting), which puts forward a fairly detailed idea of how South Melbourne United will be the front for getting back into the A-League.
Attention Lakeside Stadium maintenance people
The public address system is struggling during bits where music is being played, with the music fading in and out. It's been happening for a few weeks, and it's really starting to get annoying. Bad enough having crap music being played, worse when the speakers are playing up as well.
Things could be worse! - new segment
This segment in a nod towards the desire among some people for more positivity. Each week I'll be trying to find a way in which things 'could be worse!', to make us appreciate what we have. Suggestions are welcome, come see me at a game and let me know what you're thankful for as a South fan.
Great, that overseas football nonsense has started again. There goes my Twitter feed and my Facebook news feed.
The team was unchanged from the Dockerty Cup win against Oakleigh, and so was the style. More numbers forward to help a formerly isolated Milos Lujic, who seems to have his mojo going again despite missing a sitter for his hat trick. Quite how he managed to get to the header from a cross that was in the air for an eternity, let alone manage to loop into the back of the net only the video will be able to say. His finish to put us in front for the third time, once again from one of many superb Brad Norton crosses, was excellent, but it was the cross that should be put on display for all the kids out there to learn and imitate.
By the end of the game Norton was so in tune with his crossing that it looked he was playing snooker and putting 'English' onto his crosses. There was one moment late in the game where you actually see the concentration on his face as he was about to hit a cross, angling his boot in such a way to get exactly the kind of spin he wanted.
How odd that Brad Norton of all players may become a cult hero, perhaps even future legend of the VPL era South? Yes there's a long to go on that front, but think of it this way: throughout all the tumultuous years during his South stint (2012-2015) he's the only one left. From derided and unappreciated, he has worked his way through form issues, and even the challenge of Shaun Timmins being brought into the side mid last year to essentially replace him (when other players would have perhaps thrown a hissy fit, and is probably playing the best soccer of his South career. He also seems to enjoy being around South, and seems to have plenty of time for the supporters. I'm still trying to get my head around it.
Nick Epifano managed to get on the score sheet twice, once via a penalty (earned by Leigh Minopoulos) and once via a through ball delivered by Minopoulos, which had a very Phil Kessel to Clarke MacArthur kind of vibe to it, when they both still at the Maple Leafs. It's great to see Leigh not just playing, but also contributing. I like to think that I can get some of the credit for his turnaround in fortune:
@PaulMavroudis @cindyn Much better. Long live the bees 🐝
— Leigh (@LeighMinopoulos) August 4, 2015
Defensively the two goals we conceded, apart from coming from limited opportunities, were also irritating for the manner we conceded them. The first was almost a carbon copy of the goal we should have conceded against Oakleigh the week before, while the second saw Nikola Roganovic parry the ball straight back into play two times, and by the third time Port got sick of that particular game and decided they may as well scoreAnyway this week Chris Taylor did make some substitutions, but he still found some way to fuck with people's heads. In fact, in an atypical occurrence of paranoia, I wondered if he was directly trying to get into my head, when with the game more or less sewn up with 15 minutes to go, by making subs in the 88th and 89th minutes.
Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the game was the way we handled the wet conditions. The second best part of the evening was Bentleigh drawing 1-1 at home to Avondale Heights, meaning that we've drawn to within three points of the Greens, while having played one fewer game - and then on Sunday Heidelberg drew 3-3 with North Geelong, giving us the edge in the run home for what used to be called the minor premiership.
We have Avondale Heights away on Saturday, our last away trip for the home and away season. It won't be an easy game, not just because of the doggedness of the opponent, but also because the ground is small and not usually in the best of conditions, which will mean we'll likely have a result to grind out here rather than something pretty.
Bentleigh, whose poor run of form recently has seen them drop several games and look much more vulnerable, have two games left, against Northcote and Oakleigh. It's hard to know how well either of those two sides will go or how much motivation they'll have considering neither can make the finals.
Should Bentleigh win both of those games, we'll need to win all three of our remaining games. We play Avondale away, Hume City midweek and Northcote in the final round. Not an easy sequence of games, but two non-finals sides and an erratic Hume City are better than many of the alternatives.
Heidelberg also has three games to play, but dropping points today to North Geelong has set them back a fair bit. They've got Hume, who still need a point or two to make absolutely sure of a finals spot, Green Gully midweek who are still trying to make the dash for an unlikely sixth placed finish, and Dandenong Thunder who will be looking to do anything possible to get themselves into 12th spot and thus into a playoff for relegation rather than automatically go down. The Bergers will need to win all three games and hope results seriously go their way.
While Melbourne Knights are equal on points with Heidelberg, they have only two games left to play and would need to do a Bradbury to finish on top.
Some thoughts on the people that were there, and those that weren't, and I promise not to talk about the social media numbers at all, OK?
If there were 1,200 people at the Dockerty Cup final last week (some say 2,000 but that's being generous) then a crowd of 370 for this fixture just a few days later is a touch disappointing, albeit par for the course for the 2015 season.
Of course one should take into account the fact that Port's home crowds are even worse, often struggling to reach 100, so the chances that they'd bring anything resembling numbers across the 4.5 kilometres from SS Anderson Reserve to Lakeside were slim, especially considering that they hadn't brought numbers to the City of Port Philip 'derby' in any of our previous meetings at Lakeside.
But back to us and what is really troubling about such a low attendance. Now we may all recall that the club performed a survey asking the supporters what day and time they preferred for their home kickoffs to be, with an apparent majority stating a preference for Sundays at 3PM, or 5PM. The board looked at the survey, scratched its collective head, and decided to go with Friday night fixtures because they thought that:
- The coaching staff and players would benefit.
- We would attract better corporate support
- It would allow the juniors to come to games after Friday training sessions
To that end, the club also stated the decision to play most of our home games on Fridays - though some of our games will be moved to Sundays - was in part motivated by the coaching staff's desire to optimise the recovery and training schedules of the players. This is despite 60% (a sketchily provided number) of our supporters responding in an online survey that their preference was for Sunday games. The hope that we would better attract corporate sponsors to attend on Friday nights was also expressed. Overall there was a lot of doubt in the room about the decision, but we'll see how it goes. In this writer's opinion, without the social club Friday nights just won't be a success, but they may as well try something different. Hopefully the games don't clash with Melbourne based Friday night AFL matches.As you can see, I had my doubts about the success of the Friday night venture from an attendance perspective (especially without a social club), but I was willing to give it a go and see how it would all play out. The move does not seem to have worked, at least not from the perspective of attendances. Not being the type to go around counting the number of children at games, I can't say whether we have attracted more of our juniors to attend, but one of our informants reckons that the corporate attendance was poor.
There should also be concerns for the following reason. Last Sunday for the Dockerty Cup final, more people turned up than did on Friday night when they had to pay entry at the gate as opposed to using their membership cards. The team, despite some traditional slowdown in the middle portion of the season, is also doing well. It won a championship last season lest we forget, has just come off a Dockerty Cup win, and is still well in the running for the NPL national playoffs and seemingly starting to find form at the right part of the year heading into the finals.
There was also no footy on in Melbourne on Friday night, so where was everyone? Or maybe that was everyone, at least from the point of view of the people who will turn up every week no matter what. If that's the case, then why not cater to those fans and play our home games on Sundays? Either that or just say 'look, we think that playing on Fridays gives us that much more of an edge of winning a championship, so with all due respect, since most of you are going to turn up no matter when we play, we've decided to play Friday night games'.
One and one makes two; two and one makes three; it was destiny
I am hearing things from all sorts of crazy different sources and I am starting to put two and two together. There has been some angst about the name 'South Melbourne United' being re-booted, in case it got used as a means to get a South Melbourne affiliate of sorts (so not really South Melbourne) into the A-League playing with a red vee jersey. But then there is also talk that there have been negotiations with the South Melbourne Women - and if you thought like I did that, 'wait, I thought we had established that were in a de facto relationship' - then that certainly might come as a surprise.
But what if instead of registering South Melbourne United as an A-League front, it was designed to go the other way? Several NPL clubs have set up 'community clubs' in order to maintain a broader junior base that's more participatory in outlook. Now one of the concerns for South Melbourne Women, should they apply for the Women's NPL which is due to start next year, is that like a men's NPL side they would lose many of their juniors. While women's soccer in Victoria has a track record of often being more about 'teams' as opposed to 'clubs', as an outsider, South Melbourne Women seem to be more at the 'club' end of the spectrum, and thus would lose something culturally important in the transition. Does a scenario where South Melbourne FC becomes the dual licence holder for NPL men's and women's football, while establishing South Melbourne United as a community club outpost overcome those problems to the satisfaction of all the parties involved (mainly the women not getting treated like garbage)? Are there enough facilities to cater for everyone adequately whether they play for a mens' or boys', womens' or girls', NPL or community club? What kind of impact will this have on other clubs in our local area?
The other danger of this of course is if the 'community club' decides at some point to go its own way, as appears to be the case with at least one version (I think the Sunshine George Cross affiliated community club). How our South Melbourne would manage to keep a relatively short leash on such an organisation remains to be seen. All of that of course supposes that my rank speculation has even the faintest whiff of truth to it. I may be just pissing into the wind.
Of course, all this speculation flies in the face of this comment (seriously, read it, it's interesting), which puts forward a fairly detailed idea of how South Melbourne United will be the front for getting back into the A-League.
Attention Lakeside Stadium maintenance people
The public address system is struggling during bits where music is being played, with the music fading in and out. It's been happening for a few weeks, and it's really starting to get annoying. Bad enough having crap music being played, worse when the speakers are playing up as well.
Things could be worse! - new segment
This segment in a nod towards the desire among some people for more positivity. Each week I'll be trying to find a way in which things 'could be worse!', to make us appreciate what we have. Suggestions are welcome, come see me at a game and let me know what you're thankful for as a South fan.
Carlton cheer squad looks smaller than Clarendon Corner.
— Paul Mavroudis (@PaulMavroudis) August 8, 2015
Final thoughtGreat, that overseas football nonsense has started again. There goes my Twitter feed and my Facebook news feed.
We watch the schemie element of society froth at the fanny and dribble at the helmet when fitba season comes around. Spastics #samerules
— Bruce Robertson (@_BruceRobertson) August 8, 2015
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Greek studs and disco kings artefact Wednesday - Heartbreak Kid mementos
In the old Lakeside social club, there were many memorable framed jerseys, as well as many of less worthwhile calibre. And yet the two frames included in this week's artefact segment were found not on a wall in the social club, but hidden away in a drawer. The two frames are signed mementos from the Australian film The Heartbreak Kid, which starred Alex Dimitriades and Claudia Karvan. The film is fondly remembered by sections of the Greek-Australian community, if for no other reason that it included Dimitriades in the role of a young Greek Australian stud (as opposed to Dimitriades' turn as the hedonist bisexual Ari in Head On, sometimes derisively called 'that poofter film') as well as for its soccer scenes based out of South Melbourne Hellas, which was one of the film's key sub plots.
The Heartbreak Kid was of course not the first bit of Australian film or television to feature South Melbourne Hellas. The still popular sitcom Acropolis Now would occasionally feature references to South Melbourne Hellas and soccer, including a whole episode centred on a Hellas player played by Russell Crowe. West Adelaide Hellas and Adelaide City Juventus also featured briefly in the now long forgotten Garry McDonald film Struck by Lightning.
For those who recall The Heartbreak Kid (and to a much lesser extent its soapy spinoff Heartbreak High) many would be surprised to learn that the film was originally a play set in a Sydney high school, covering much the same territory, albeit in a far more chaste manner. In the play there's desire, but no sex; there are class issues, but they play second fiddle to the puppy love of a student for his teacher. The movie in that sense has a harder edge. Without wanting to wax philosophical (because the film deserves its own thorough analysis) the migrant issues are portrayed in a much more brutal manner, along with the working class aspect as one of the results of moving the film's setting from Sydney (where the main Greek characters were Sydney Olympic fans) to working class inner Melbourne (the film shot at Prahran High), where Dimitriades' character is a talented player whose ambition is to play for South Melbourne Hellas, as well as (notably) Australia.
The film had several soccer scenes, including extensive filming of Middle Park. Sydneysider Dimitrides is a fine actor, but he ain't no soccer player, and thus for those scenes where his character is required to perform some soccer sequences - especially one memorable late night scene after breaking into Middle Park - Con Boutsianis was hired to be the stunt double, which explains the framed photo below.
Ben Hudson has noted on Facebook that "the producers wanted to hire Francis Awaritefe as a soccer consultant, but when they saw how poor Alex was as a player they decided the consultant also needed to be a body double - at which point they switched to Con Boutsianis because Francis couldn't manage it for some reason..."
All of which is, as usual, a very long winded way of saying when we do get the social club up and running, these would be a couple of very nice items to put on display.
Update 25/11/2018
Nice little insight by Leigh Tsoumerkas about the final scenes of the film.
Update 16/08/2019
 |
| 'Thanks for the use of your soccer field. Claudia Karvan' 'To everyone at Hellas, thanks! Alex. D.' |
For those who recall The Heartbreak Kid (and to a much lesser extent its soapy spinoff Heartbreak High) many would be surprised to learn that the film was originally a play set in a Sydney high school, covering much the same territory, albeit in a far more chaste manner. In the play there's desire, but no sex; there are class issues, but they play second fiddle to the puppy love of a student for his teacher. The movie in that sense has a harder edge. Without wanting to wax philosophical (because the film deserves its own thorough analysis) the migrant issues are portrayed in a much more brutal manner, along with the working class aspect as one of the results of moving the film's setting from Sydney (where the main Greek characters were Sydney Olympic fans) to working class inner Melbourne (the film shot at Prahran High), where Dimitriades' character is a talented player whose ambition is to play for South Melbourne Hellas, as well as (notably) Australia.
The film had several soccer scenes, including extensive filming of Middle Park. Sydneysider Dimitrides is a fine actor, but he ain't no soccer player, and thus for those scenes where his character is required to perform some soccer sequences - especially one memorable late night scene after breaking into Middle Park - Con Boutsianis was hired to be the stunt double, which explains the framed photo below.
 |
| 'To all the players and members of 'Hellas', thanks for all the help and support! Special thanks to Barry and of course, the Disco King himself, Con Boutsianis! Thanks once again, and good luck this season. From a friend. Alex D.' |
All of which is, as usual, a very long winded way of saying when we do get the social club up and running, these would be a couple of very nice items to put on display.
Update 25/11/2018
Nice little insight by Leigh Tsoumerkas about the final scenes of the film.
We were in the last scenes when they were training at middle park.. the VIS team was the team training in the background with him .. we were all in love Claudia karvin.— Leigh T (@leighchookoo) November 25, 2018
Update 16/08/2019
Update 16/08/2019 (second update)Yes we were in the background when he was training and he had run away.. most of were between 15 and 17 and were in love with Claudia karvin... @StevePana and I loved it... Alex wasn’t very good... I think we got paid 80 bucks for the day— Leigh T (@leighchookoo) August 15, 2019
I auditioned for that film. Picked me out of a school assembly. Had to look Greek and play football. Couldn’t act for shit. They chose him. From a rival school! The rest is history 🤣— Aussie Goona (@AussieGoona) August 16, 2019
Monday, 3 August 2015
Redemption, of a sort - South Melbourne 3 Oakleigh Cannons 0
 |
| South coach Chris Taylor and captain Michael Eagar lift the Dockerty Cup trophy, as the rain pours down. Photo credit: South Melbourne FC/unknown. |
I'm struggling to recall a South game with a more even performance from every player that took the field. While we weren't faultless, I'd argue that every South player contributed to the win yesterday, and that they were superior to everyone in their opposite position. Even with Oakleigh's relative abortion of a 2015 season, they'd still managed to get this far and were still a side comprised of several quality players - yet they struggled to penetrate the 18 yard box, and were left scrambling to defend our attacks on multiple occasions.
Even with the aid of a strong wind in the first half, Oakleigh weren't able to conjure up much to trouble Nikola Roganovic in the South goal. One long clearance from defence (actually a clever chip from midfield) saw Oakleigh beat the high offside trap, but Roganovic was quickly off his line and dealt with the oncoming attacker brilliantly (Lambros Honos hit it straight at him). For the rest of the game, the back four of Tim Mala, Brad Norton, Luke Adams and Michael Eagar were superb. Eagar in particular had an outstanding game,
The midfield, which this time included Matthew Theodore (replacing Jake Barker-Daish) and a start for Leigh Minopoulos (replacing David Stirton out wide on the right) never stopped running. Rather than the one dimensional, predominantly left wing attacking side we'd been for several weeks, we were a team that looked dangerous from whichever direction we attacked from. While we had the better of a relatively even first half, the main concern from an attacking sense was how isolated Milos Lujic was once again. All this was rectified in the second half, as the early goal was symptomatic of the way we'd run the game out, with numbers running into the box to support our star striker. Scoring goals from a corner also helps, but to be honest we could have won this game by a lot more. Some of our finishing once the game was settled could have been better, but at least we were well in front as opposed to having to play catch up as we'd had to do in some of the cup games leading up to the final.
In the room after the game, Roganovic still felt the need to apologise to supporters. What I would say to him is that his service in his brief time at the club has been exemplary as both a player and someone who feels part of the club, and that there are many, many former players and people involved with the club over the years who'd need to apologise before he does. And while it clearly sucks not having a social club, I'd like to say a big thank you to the players for allowing the supporters to share the win in the locker room after the game.
Speaking on behalf of myself, on a personal level...
I was pleased that we'd won the Dockerty Cup rather than some no name trophy or that light bulb trophy. Having been one of the people that fought for the return of the Dockerty Cup name and trophy - albeit this season in its stupidly truncated semi-final onwards only format - it was great to be able to lift the trophy in the change rooms as a supporter rather than as a historian during my sojourns to FFV HQ as part of the Historical Committee. It was even better to be able to share that experience not just with the players, but with other long serving supporters of the club. A pity that South's habit of breaking trophies was once again on display; having broken last year's NPL trophy, and the 1998 NSL trophy, yesterday this happened:
@PaulMavroudis nah we got him, never fear!
— Cindy N (@cindyn) August 2, 2015
Time to break out the Tarzan Super Grip I think.Update:
— Cindy N (@cindyn) August 3, 2015
The questions that keep you up at night, and then follow you into the next dayAfter the consistent appeal for an answer to Chris Taylor's questionable substitution decisions on Wednesday night, did Taylor make no subs in yesterday's game out of spite? Was there a great overarching plan somewhere in there that we just can not perceive, nor be trusted to comprehend?
Five years!
If the rumours are to be believed, when our board had claimed that we'd signed Chris Taylor for a 'long time', they weren't kidding. Five years?! That's almost as long as we've been waiting for a social club! Of course this could turn out to be either a masterstroke or disaster. Not wishing to judge (five years, what the hell?), I reckon we should all agree to meet at this spot in about five years time and see how it all worked out.
Next game
Back to league action, with a game against Port Melbourne at home on Friday night - please note that kickoff has been pushed back to 8:30.
Nick Epifano, born charmer
Nick Epifano was interviewed last week on the Sydney based Soccer Stoppage Time show, in what turned out to be a brief interview. The main presenter of the show appears to be a huge fan of Epifano, and is flabbergasted by the fact that he's not in the A-League yet. When he asks Nick that question, Nick replies with I don't know, guess I have to work harder, etc. Nick goes on to say that he owes a lot to Chris Taylor; that the Dundee United experience, although truncated due to personal reasons, was an eye opener in terms of what kind of professionalism is required to play at that level; some guff about the club's FFA Cup preparations (this was recorded prior to our loss to Palm Beach); and there being interest from Adelaide United and Perth Glory. Epifano doesn't make a very good interview subject; his answers are short, nervous and provide little prospect for elaboration. After the interview ended, the main presenter once again praised Epifano's footballing ability, took aim at the struggling A-League franchises that hadn't done their homework, and while acknowledging that there were some concerns about behavioural issues, brushed them aside.
Film review - El Cinco
The Melbourne International Film Festival has made a habit of showing some really interesting soccer films. Two years ago it was the North Korean film 'Centre Forward', while last year it was Romanian experimental doco 'The Second Game' (which I really regret not reviewing for this blog). This year it's 'El Cinco', an Argentine film about a professional footballer who has made the decision to retire. It's a low key and poignant film, but which also has several hilarious moments.
The portrayal of Argentine professional soccer in this film is almost unrelenting in its working class aesthetics. Paton's side, Talleres, plays in a dilapidated stadium; but then again, so do most of their opponents. Money is short, and wages are often delayed. His team mates are mostly, if not all, working class boys like himself, who seem to have few other prospects apart from being professional footballers. Playing in a match is at best a reward for the repetitive exercises and training sessions that have to be undertaken; at worst, they are a frustrating and unfulfilling experience. Adulation is there for the players, but more often than not they are employed as a way for the club's supporters to be able to vent the frustrations of their own lives.
As Paton dithers about telling his family and his team mates the news, he learns about the fate of those from his junior soccer days who never quite made the grade, and tries to fight a battle against anxiety and boredom that threatens to derail his post-football life before it begins - because as much as playing football is the chief means of his employment, it also makes up almost his entire identity as a person. Football is not only a job for Paton, but also his vocation - he knows little else of the world. The pending loss of the companionship and camaraderie of the change rooms are heightened by Paton's impending retirement.
If that sounds like all too much po-faced seriousness, then it should be clear that there are a lot of funny moments in this film as well. While Paton is usually quick witted, he can be undone by his own determination to get even with those who have slighted him (at one point a radio talkback segment goes very, very wrong). The supporters and club directors are always there to make a nuisance of themselves. The most comedic (and tragic) lines in the film though go to the team's coach, a slob of a man with little obvious football nous, who sometimes sleeps in his car and is always at a loss as to how to inspire his troops in their quest to escape mid-table mediocrity.
And as much as this is a film about soccer and the life of a professional athlete, it is also a film about marriage. As another review of this film has noted, the marriage portrayed in El Cinco is not a typical film affair. We are shown a relationship that is in the middle, not at its beginning or end; we are not shown a relationship in strife, but one that has its protagonists constantly renegotiating the terms of its existence. Paton's partner Ale is neither harridan nor long suffering saint, and this portrayal is aided by the excellent acting chemistry between Lamothe and Zylberberg.
The only two gripes I had with the film? The on field soccer scenes are pretty lame, but then again they almost always are; and the subtitles are a little wonky at times, which only makes you appreciate the quality of subtitling we get on SBS. There will be those, too, who will feel that this film doesn't really go anywhere, and that would be a valid complaint, if only that was not the purpose of the film - to portray working class life in all its low key mundaneness.
It's showing again this Saturday, and it's definitely worth a look for fans of good football films, and of course Latin American cinema.
Sic semper tyrannis
If the moderation of smfcboard is going to be more active, in terms of banning people and deleting their posts, the least we could do is have some clear rules set out for what the mods consider acceptable posting. It was bad enough when posts were being deleted because someone from the board demanded it, but the moment it becomes about posts being deleted because of an arbitrary matter of taste, then we've crossed into really dangerous territory.
I have received my share of criticism for my own vague comments publishing policy on this blog, because I've more or less allowed just about every nutbag to have their say over the years. This is based on my belief that the vast majority of my readers are sensible enough to post thoughtful commentary, even stuff that I disagree with and even items where I myself am the target of the post. I also trust my readers to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff for themselves, and that stupid posts reflect badly not just on their own authors but also the cause they seek to promote.
There are few more powerful tools of rebuttal against a person's arguments than their own words and the passage of time. I hope the moderators keep this in mind before pulling the trigger in future.
Remember this? Well, Mark Bosnich was in town on Saturday for Mornington's 50th anniversary, but I still had to pay for own crepes yesterday, and complain to people who've already heard all my complaints.
Around the grounds
Mummy, where does daddy go on Saturdays?
A trip to Bendigo was reluctantly knocked back; an opportunity to watch a tanking Collingwood was considered only briefly; so it was off to Paisley Park for the State League One North West Greek Derby between Altona East and Western Suburbs. And what a game it was! At least for the first 50 odd minutes anyway. East looked better than the ladder leaders, and took the lead when Gomer Pyle was given too much room to unleash a curling left foot shot from the edge of the box into the opposite corner. Then the little Japanese fellow blasted his shot miles wide on the goal line, and that's where things stopped going well for East. After a passage of play where East cleared desperately off the line, the keeper got up dazed and confused but continued. Suburbs equalised with a great free kick from out wide to go into the break level. The early parts of the second half saw East go down to ten men after a handball on the goal line. After the penalty was scored, East's keeper also got subbed off suffering from the concussion he got in the first half, and Suburbs made sure of it soon after with their third. Goals four and five were icing on the cake.
Final thought
I'm a worrier, it's true; but you'd worry, too, if you had people come up to you after reading last week's post after our FFA Cup loss and ask you to write something positive for once.
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