Friendly result - South Melbourne 3 Green Gilly 3

Another day, another mystery pre-season friendly.

Lakeside @GreenGullySC v @smfc   Nice day for it ⚽️😎 pic.twitter.com/3hk7sqFlVM

— Cotsy (@Cotsy_) January 19, 2019

As for what actually happened during the game, to quote soccer-forum.net's "Hellas4eva":

Another good performance from South today 3-3 with Gully, backup keeper made 2 ridiculous howlers but outfield players did well again.

One other report I've seen is much more alarmist about the situation, singling out particular players in our defensive structures as being liabilities, but it's just friendlies, right? There's going to be a very long season of actual games that actually matter, so angst about seems almost redundant. But what do I know? I wasn't there and even when I am, I'm not sure my opinions are worth much.

Eventually the club's official social media arm deigned to regale us with some details on the match:

As we continue preparation ahead of our Round 1 clash away to Bentleigh Greens, we were held to an entertaining 3-3 draw today against Green Gully SC.

Both Marafioti brothers would find the back of the net, as well as Leigh Minopoulos. pic.twitter.com/7LVXIxmJoL

— South Melbourne FC (@smfc) January 19, 2019

Anyway, the reason for the ongoing clandestine nature of these fixtures is that our lord and master, the State Sport Centres Trust, has become much more clearcut (and/or punitive) about what is considered a "training session" and what is considered a "match", especially when it concerns sessions taking place outside our allocated priority period.

In other words, if we want to play what may be considered a "match" at Lakeside during pre-season, we have to pay the Trust extra simoleons so they can hire more staff, mark the lines, etc. Instead, to save a bit of coin, we've been hosting other teams in what you'd call "training sessions".

These are not advertised by the club, because if they were and all of a sudden a whole bunch of people turn up to watch - which was a common occurrence in recent seasons, because the weather was nice, etc - the Trust will put its bureaucratic foot down and claim that this was a match, and not a training session.

This is the reason why only friends and family, trusted insiders, and the few willing to try their luck at the side gate are allowed in, and why even our opponents on the day are asked not to promote these fixtures. Perhaps if we had a functioning social club, we could in theory open that up and make some money, but what are ya gonna do?

At least the taekwondo people are still making good use of our facilities. Someone has to, I suppose.

Warm up at @AustralianTKD High Performance Training Hub, supported by the @AISCombatCentre in Melbourne at @smfc and @VicInstSport for our categorised athletes from around the country @sportaustralia pic.twitter.com/P3vwALV32d

— Nick Sanders (@nickjsanders) January 19, 2019

Times are tough, and we've got to squeeze every penny. I hope the players aren't being asked to hitchhike to Adelaide next month or whenever it is they're meant to be going.

Meanwhile, at Middle Park
While we're celebrating our 60th anniversary, our neighbours Middle Park Soccer Club are celebrating their 50th, not a bad achievement for a club that started off as a railway workers kickabout.

And they'll be hosting some festivities at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday February 9th, and its open doors! As per the note on their Facebook events page:

To literally kick off the 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Parkers are hosting a Festival of Football at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday 9 February 2019. 

Opening proceedings will be some legends from esteryear.  

Dibbsy's Dynamos are going to be taking on Strati's Strikers in what is guaranteed to be match full of skill, pulled hammys and expletives. 

Following the old boys will be a tournament involving MPFC Seniors, South Melbourne U20s, Albert Park and Barnstoneworth United. 

Food and drinks will be available all day from the stadium canteen, so please come down for all or part of the day and have a drink, chew the fat with the old boys and cheer on the Seniors. 

Festival of Football @ Lakeside Stadium
Saturday 9 February 2019
10:30am - 11:30am Dibbsy's Dynamos vs Strati's Strikers
11:30am - 4:30pm MPFC Seniors Tournament

Might be worth a trundle down to Lakeside to check out our 20s play, among other reasons. You know, in a few weeks.

Another day, another match program
I recently managed to secure a physical copy of Green Gully vs South Melbourne 2005, from the regular season. And here is the digital copy for your perusal, back in the days when Gully was expecting 3,000 people to turn up to that fixture.

Fansvoice piece
I was recently asked to contribute something to a new site, focused on Australian soccer social media personalities. Not much new for people who are familiar with what I do.

2019 SMFC senior squad roster as of 19/01/2019
Canadian midfielder Ethan Gage has joined from Bentleigh.

Signed

• Dean Bereveskos (Bonnyrigg White Eagles) 
• Ethan Gage (Bentleigh Greens)
• Kristian Konstantinidis (signed until end of 2019) 
• Nick Krousoratis (Green Gully)
• Perry Lambropoulos (Port Melbourne) 
• Brad Norton (signed until end of 2019) 
• Kostas Stratomitros (Oakleigh Cannons)
• Gerrie Sylaidos (Northcote) 

Seen hanging around pre-season training

• Luke Adams 
• Manny Aguek 
• Ben Djiba
• George Howard 
• Amir Jashari
• Giordano Marafioti 
• Giuseppe Marafioti 
• Jake Marshall
• Andrew Mesorouni
• Leigh Minopoulos 
• Will Orford
• Nikola Roganovic
• Marcus Schroen 

Rumours which seem to have gone cold

• English striker in visa slot 

Injured

• Alastair Bray 

Out

• Rory Brian (Preston) 
• Matthew Foschini (Oakleigh) 
• Josh Hodes (Oakleigh?) 
• Christos Intzidis (who knows) 
• Milos Lujic (Oakleigh) 
• Oliver Minatel (Canada) 
• Ndumba Makeche (Penang FA) 
• Tim Mala (North Sunshine)

Unknown / MIA / Assumed dead from 2018

• Iqi Jawadi 
• Giorgi Zarbos