Wednesday 6 March 2019

Fanatic of the Week no. 6 - James Belias

Last time I posted one of these back in 2017, I said that it was the last one that I'd found on the Wayback Machine that was still in working order... but I was wrong! I've found another one, and bless, it's from someone who still goes to games!

NAME:
James Belias

AGE:
21

SUBURB:
Buxton (home of the ‘Buxton Burger’). Actually, I live in South Clayton.

INTERESTS: 
Becoming the world’s greatest DJ and being the music editor of Lots Wife, the Monash Uni newspaper.

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS:
Racing Genk, Torquay United, AEK Athens, Hamburg and Oubasi Goldfields and Border Security. But South Melbourne are the number one priority and interest.

ARE YOU A MEMBER?
Yep.

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH? 
No idea, but I think I was going to the soccer before I could walk and my first words were probably a chant of some sort. Seriously, dad used to take myself and my two brothers to Middle Park as a weekly outing. Fanatasicm grew steadily…

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY? 
I remember going to the Grand Final in 90/91 and going bananas as a little kid, and repeating the process against Carlton in 97/98 and Sydney United in 98/99. Surely that is the pinnacle of supporting a club? Another great memory is seeing Paul Trimboli and Micky P at Chadstone Shopping Centre

Also, the World Club Championships was incredible too. Wish I went, but I went nuts at the TV. I’ll never forget the Vasco supporters before kick off against South. Amazing scenes.

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED? 
When we played Perth Glory at Lakeside on a Wednesday night. I forget which season, but it was a battle for top spot and we scored 2 goals in a couple of minutes to take the lead and finally win 2-1. A great night, and Jimoin the comedian was there going nuts for South!!

Another favourite game was against Marconi at Middle Park years ago. No idea which season, but Tsolakis scored a penalty and Awaratife added a corker seconds later to seal an impossible victory. (The Clash of the Titans – Season 1992/93).

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER? 
I can only speak of who I have seen actually play and all I need to say is that there’s only one Paul Trimboli.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE? 
There are too many things to list, but I like the way South caters for soccer fans in Melbourne and competes, I believe, quite well for the very competitive Melbourne sporting dollar. I think there are some great supporters doing great things for the club too.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE? 
I get annoyed at the way certain parties at South (both internal and external) cling to the Greek heritage of South. Sure the club has an ethnic history, and we should never forget that, but still referring to the team as ‘Hellas’, which means Greece, has been played for too long.

I also dislike the seats opposite the grandstand. They encroach upon the remaining standing area too quickly for my liking. I hate sitting and watching the football.

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM? 
I won’t dignify that with a response.

WHY? 
Coz South Melbourne are the pride of Victoria and the most famous Australian sporting club in the world! GO SOUTH!!!


THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME JAMES. 

15 comments:

  1. He had been absent from Twitter for a while .. until he retweeted Adams goal the other day.

    I notice James has two brothers like you, and is a Collingwood Supporter (I had to stop following him because he tweeted too much about them! LOL).

    Are you a also a DJ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My DJ dreams are limited to taking over the Lakeside PA.

      Delete
  2. I didn’t want to touch on this but I will. Jame’s attitude regarding the Hellas nickname is why South supporters are split on this. Another reason why we don’t have unity. The only way forward is for us to pick a new non Greek nickname and stick to it and perhaps we can start some new chants. I’m sick of all the division we have as supporters. We need to show the FFA we are progressive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is true that we do not have a 'nickname' along the lines of say 'Knights', 'Cannons', 'Greens', or 'Lions'. Somehow 'South' has become a sort of pseudo nickname.

      Even if NCIP was going to get thrown out, I doubt if any club will re-embrace their old Ethnic name.

      So what do we do? Leave things as they are?

      Back in 1996 I suggested Titans. It was shot down by everyone I know, including the club. Of course we then became (briefly) the Lakers.

      Delete
    2. OMFG! I love that. That's actually brilliant Savvas. As it has a tenuous link and it also is strong powerful and really means that we are giants of the game. I remember too Marconi and SM were referred to the clashes of the titans. Can you lobby the club please. South Melbourne FC - The Titans. I love it. Get this trending!!

      Delete
    3. Problem Gold Coast NRL team has that nickname. Not that that should be a problem overall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_teams_nicknamed_Titans

      Delete
    4. Kimon Trimboli8 March 2019 at 22:25

      Sorry Savvas your a nice guy and everything but this Titans shit is pretty rank. Why not "Ajax" or "Corinthians" or "Spartak" hehehe The club MUST - in my opinion at least - always remain as Sth Melb Hellas. South is an acceptable substitute for those fans who are so antihellenic they feel uncomfortable with our clubs name yet still want to feel like they belong. As for "anonymous" sorry to burst your bubble champ but "Hellas" is an english word, used in English-language chants by Australian soccer supporters of various ethnic backgrounds to honour the history and prestige of the greatest club in the country. It's 2019 already mate, assimilation happened while we where all looking elsewhere. If those outside the club chose to ostracize us on the basis of their perception of our identity there is nothing we can (nor should even want to) do... my 2 cents

      Delete
    5. Yep Kimon and we will forever remain stuck in the past and stuck in the NPL. Let us not all cry then when we continue to get overlooked.

      Delete
    6. 'Kimon', can you (or anyone?) provide a quick summary of how you connected your tv to the Internet for the NPL games?

      Delete
    7. I use the YouTube app on my Xbox, but that's probably not going to be a solution that works for everyone.

      Delete
  3. I’m not fussed either way. To be honest I am less inclined now then I was then. But I am curious to know the Croatians view on how their nickname Knights has been perceived after 20 plus years. Whet started as a ‘slave’ name is still around

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think 'Knights' is actually an acronym for something, and the 'H' is possibly something to do with 'Hrvat/Hrvatski. ECP may have coined the acronym himself, though he could've also been pulling social media's leg.

      Delete
  4. Kimon Trimboli9 March 2019 at 10:34

    Hahaha slave name. Considering their back of shirt sponsorship this year I think it's a safe bet that little Toby will be called Kuntakente the minute the ncip is canned.
    Maybe anon is right, perhaps we should insist all the board change their surnames too... make them more palatable to the people who have hated us from the minute we formed 60 years ago. Some of the players too... Gerry Sylvan, Leigh Masters, Kristian Konrads... After all I'm sure they don't really care about their family or heritage. Maybe Hellas can change to Southern Cross or was that not anglo enough for them last time?

    ReplyDelete
  5. So this lad is 21 years old but he was a kid at the 1991 Grand Final? Either you Greeks count years differently or he is a time traveller.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As noted at the top of the piece, this Q&A - as with others under the 'Fanatic of the Week' tag - is from 2001

      https://web.archive.org/web/20010717075201/http://www.southmelbournesc.com.au/news.html?oid=2000106882

      Delete

A few notes on comments.

We've had a lot of fun over the years with my freewheeling comments policy, but all good things must come to an end. Therefore I will no longer be approving comments that contain personal abuse of any sort.

Still, if your post doesn't get approved straight away, it's probably because I haven't seen it yet.

As usual, publication of a comment does not mean endorsement of its content.