South Melbourne Hellas vs Sunshine George Cross, April 1985

Another day, another week, another round postponed. But no sooking today, because we have a bit of a treat. 

As regular readers will know, I've been uploading old South videos on YouTube, usually one each weekday, over the past few months. There's been some great content in there, and there's still at least a couple of months' worth of uploads to go.

Today's upload is seventy minutes' worth of South Melbourne Hellas vs Sunshine George Cross at Middle Park, from the 1985 National Soccer League season.

I suspect that the footage is an original recording by SBS, intended for use in highlights packages (with possible commentary overdubbing) and news reports, and thus the reason for there being no live commentary (or TV graphics) on the video. 

It is also an unpackaged video; that is, it is not trimmed down to key highlights. This video begins midway through the first half, thus it is missing South's first goal by Charlie Egan. (it is also missing the lap of honour taken by ultra-marathon runner Yiannis Kouros before the game, a week after winning the Sydney-to-Melbourne race)

Unfortunately, there are also two glitchy bits embedded in the source tape which desynchronise the sound and vision. After the first glitch, the sound is ahead of the vision by about six seconds; after the second glitch, the sound is ahead of the vision by about 15 seconds.

But considering how much Australian soccer material has been lost over the years, it is remarkable to come across something as lengthy and as unadulterated as this. Just one camera, no intrusions from commentary, just the vision of the game and the ambient noise of the crowd. 

It's a slight shame that the sound isn't a little crisper to make out more of the discussions taking place within earshot of the camera position. All you can really make out are occasional comments by some kids (including one asking to get chips from the restaurant), occasional berating of the referee in Greek and English, and some conversation in Greek about "ψωμί με σάλτσες, με αλάτι και πιπέρι λένε πολύ". (basically, something about "bread and sauces, with salt and pepper, many say")

External to that, you can hear Lefteri's trumpet playing his regular tune, as well as the Last Post; classic/basic chants from South's younger fans, including ye olde "dig a hole" and "here we go", belying the British influence of "active" culture in Australia back in the 1980s; and you can also hear the ground announcer read out the halftime scores from the other round 7 matches. And yes, there are novelty horns and vuvuzelas in there, too.

You also occasionally get the thunderous sound of stomping and thudding on the grandstand, and the roar of the crowd when it goes in. Most times though, the quality of the atmosphere is social, cheerful, and communal, like people are out at a picnic. And I suppose on a nice day like that, it makes sense that it comes across that way. It feels almost antique; the crowd rises and falls of its own accord, but mostly ebbs at a low hum; but at the time is not disinterested in the game, with key moments eliciting the appropriate response of joy or anger.

Visually there are all the usual markers of Australian soccer from the early to mid -980s - a lack of shirt sponsors, for one, as well as the dress sense of the crowd when we get a look at them. But also the general attributes of soccer from back then, most obviously the backpasses to the goalkeeper, which are still jarring to me no matter how many of them I've seen through the course of uploading these videos. 

And you get a pretty good view of Middle Park and the city skyline as well at times. Anyway, it's a long video, and I don't expect anyone to watch the whole of it, but it is a valuable piece of archival footage nonetheless.