Be Where You Belong - South Melbourne 2 Moreland City 1

Another new season, and another year of supporting this club. Though my commitment and interest has wavered between extremes since my first game circa late 1992, here I am, a touch over 30 years later, still doing this thing. Not quite as hardcore as the majority of the past 17 years or so, because life comes at you slow, then fast, and all of sudden you're a semi-regular working man. That's why I rocked up to the game in a suit and tie, because someone thought it would be great to have us stay back late in order to try and find a suitable court date some time this year in which to finally sort out who's responsible for bringing prawn white spot disease into Australian waters.

Anyway, I got to the ground early enough to get a seat at a table in the social club, but not necessarily early enough to grab something to eat. Though at $20 for any meal that wasn't a box of chips, one has to wonder if it's worth the bother. At this stage it looks like I'm eating more food at home or away from our ground, because while the cost of living crisis is certainly getting out of hand, it's no one's responsibility to single-handedly keep our social club operation afloat. Maybe consider providing some smaller, more affordable options; or even just having the kitchen open after a game. I don't know, I'm not a business person; I'm just a middle-aged pleb working an entry level admin job.

(And who's idea was it to not have the drinks tent outside the social club on a warm summer's day, with the kind of crowd that would make it economically worthwhile? So much for the match day experience.)

So on the face of it, it's another year of complaining from me, so at least we've settled into the usual South of the Border routine. But 30 years. Seems like a long time. Strange to think that some of what we would still call the newer faces in around Clarendon Corner have been around the club for 10 or 15 years. It's strange also to think that this season might be our last in this league that we thought we'd never get out of (and still mightn't); we've dedicated songs to this interminable existence (even managing to exchange "NPL" for "VPL"), and yet maybe this is it. And thus 18 seasons in, we can pay tribute via song to the hope that we might be getting somewhere; a league for you and me perhaps.

It could theoretically be worse. If you discount the starting point of the merger which created Moreland City as we know it in the early 1990s, then people involved with that entity have been waiting to get back to this level for 60 years. 

(Moreland City is an early 1990s merger of Moreland Park Rangers and Coburg. Moreland Park Rangers was a merger between Moreland and Kew Park Rangers. Before they moved to Kew in the 1970s, Park Rangers were founded as an offshoot of South Melbourne United in the mid-1940s. Moreland itself was an early 1930s breakaway from the then Brunswick club, which folded a few years later. So in some ways, you can make the argument South Melbourne Hellas and Moreland City are distant cousins.)

1962, the last season any club affiliated with today's Moreland City was in the Victorian top flight, was a very ling time ago. Moreland won just one game that year, while South won the first of its many state titles. They brought enough people to Thursday's game to make it interesting, and their side gave it a red hot go; well, they gave it a go until they scored, and then sat back, and copped two goals thanks to heinous defending. But it's not our job to hand back gifts like that, most of the time anyway - see Wallen's miss of the season, which should have been a contender for being a successor to that Fernando goal. He even asked the ref for permission to take the shot!

Anyway, the two goals we scored weren't exactly top drawer material. The first came when from their own goal kick, three Moreland defenders went to mark Ajak Riak, leaving the centre corridor open, lost the header coming back the other way in any event, leaving Alun Webb to slot a one on one. The second goal, one of many corners, this one finished off by Pat Langlois who was allowed to run and jump at the ball as if it were a training drill. 

Of the new players on show, Ajak Riak looked... actually OK. As long as his coaches, teammates, and to a lesser extent the crowd acknowledge that he's not Harrison Sawyer, he could be useful. He's naturally more mobile than Sawyer, can shoot hard, and seems to have a trick or two up his sleeve. Everyone says he's raw, and that might be true, but he also seems to know where to move and how to time a run. At the very least, his mere presence might mean fewer aerial long balls, and perhaps some lower through balls. Danny Kim didnt have a great one. Ali Suleimani probably wasn't out there long enough.

Of the regulars, Ben Djiba was excellent, especially considering his lack of match fitness. Jake Marshall was as solid as ever, and Max Mikkola was busy. Missing three or four potential starting eleven players - Jankovic, Painter-Andrews, Schroen, Hancock - didn't end up making too much of a difference. But it's only one game, and against a team everyone is expecting to be in the bottom three or four, no disrespect intended.

Next game
Green Gully away on Friday night. Gully lost to Oakleigh last night, but since everyone is going to lose to Oakleigh this year, that's not much to go on.

AGM
Do we even need to have one? I think we've had enough of them. Anyway, legally obligated corporate governance is for wimps.

NSD News
A few clubs have made expression of interest announcements about their intentions regarding the NSD. We're not one of those, yet.

On the streams
Not as bad as Paramount+, or so I'm told
There are saving graces of sorts to following a club in this league, and not a higher one. You get to see your team in person every week, if you so choose. You don't have to deal with VAR. And you don't have to deal with what people tell me is a very substandard streaming service. NPL TV has its problems, but it is apparently not as bad as the streaming service that the A-League relies on. Still, that doesn't mean that one can't complain. Stuck at home, with not much to do, I've been flicking through a few games this week, and look... there's only so much that can be done about about grounds with poor elevation, poor sight-lines, poor sun position. But camera operators can still, ideally, make the correct choice about what to film. So, player coming off the bench or a corner being taken? Thank goodness that Abraham Zapruder SMFC TV had its own reverse angle camera in place to capture Langlois' goal. Elsewhere there were the usual breaks or delays of the stream kicking in. Now that goal clips are being added to social media, it's troubling to see some clips producing content that is unusable, because of its frame skipping quality. 

But my biggest bugbear with NPL TV coverage - commentators who yell at me, the viewer, in the mistaken Brian Taylor inspired idea that volume = excitement - was missing this week, and for that I am glad. Thus I enjoyed seeing North Geelong embarrass Bentleigh; Altona Magic and Hume score within 30 seconds of each other; 10 man Port snatch a draw against Avondale; the Bergers going down at home to Dandy Thunder; and St Albans demonstrating that maybe attacking will get you further than playing deeper than 2013 Southern Stars.

Final thought
Look, this is just something that occurred to me, for no reason at all, and I'm certainly not here to tell people how to live their lives; but maybe some people would allegedly be better off with a raspberry lemonade instead of the limitless (at least compared to what's available to the plebs) alcohol available in the corporate box. That's especially the case if consumption of that plentiful booze only encourages certain people to allegedly pursue silly internet beefs on real world terraces, when they could be building the stadium they allegedly promised to have ready several years ago now. Allegedly.

Unwatchable / Unwatched - Mill Park 0 South Melbourne 2

Well, I was going to miss the first ten minutes of the broadcast of the Greek Community Cup final, because of "errands". Then I got home, and tried to watch from about 12th minute onward, only to be met with persistent issues with the stream, which kept dropping out. During this period we scored two goals, of which I might have seen the second, though I think that's where the feed went a bit cuckoo. Then I gave up on it, and I went to the supermarket for my main weekly shop. So it goes. At least the real stuff begins this week.

Here comes the Aldi NSL...

Disclaimer - a good chunk of what follows assumes that South Melbourne will be a successful applicant for a national second division.

Well, knock me down with a feather, it's finally here. Or somewhat more precisely, just over there, somewhere between reality and social media clamouring.

The other week Football Australia announced that expressions of interest for the National Second Tier were now open. The competition format isn't settled yet, as that will depend on the level of interest from prospective parties. Assuming that enough clubs are capable of competing in a league competition, the NST competition would be a standalone tier between the A-League and NPL, with promotion and relegation happening only once the NST had become "mature". If not enough suitable clubs are found - a minimum of ten - then we're looking at a Champions League style, post-season group format.

Participating clubs would be required to withdraw their senior team from their state NPL competitions.  You'd hope and assume that our upper age youth team (the 20/21/reserves) would still play in their NPL competition.

(but there's also this requirement: "investment in and operation of a full talent development pathway within their club structure", whatever that means)

Among the concerns I've seen is what happens if the whole thing falls over after a year or two - what happens to us then? Do we get straight back into the NPL competition, or would it be a complete mess like after the dissolution of the National Soccer League? 

The first thing to remember is that in 2004 there was overlap between the end of the last NSL season and the beginning of that year's Victorian Premier League season. That wasn't an issue that couldn't be overcome - it's just there wasn't the willingness (hello fridge magnets!) from some people to make the effort. The other thing to remember is that it's not 2004 anymore. Let's assume for argument's sake that this thing gets up, at least for one season., but then goes belly-up. There were changes made to the rules after the 2004 debacle in the event of something similar happening to an A-League team. While you could never rule out colossal stupidity on the part of a governing body to stuff something like this up, you'd like to assume that such provisions would be carried over to the NST; especially since the eventual goal is to implement promotion and relegation.

At first, the NST will have a winter season, with a March 2024 start. Not a great outcome for those hoping to boost crowds by getting out of the winter soccer quagmire. I suppose if you're of the belief that merely being back in a (quasi) national competition will be enough to get people out of their boycott of what we do now, that's not an issue. For those who believe that winter and competing soccer (senior and juniors) and AFL seasons - in addition to ongoing degraded prestige - have a substantial impact on our current numbers, there's a lot more doubt about how many people would return, and for how long.

That goes also for the potential "revival" of old rivalries. Assuming that most of the NST's participants will be former national league teams - and throughout the process, that has been the main assumption of both NST supporters and detractors - will there really be enough and sustained interest? It's easy to point to classic/pinnacle NSL matches with big crowds. It's also easy to point out matches where crowds were not so good. And away crowds for interstate travel - never a strong point in the old days, even taking into account much higher travel costs - well, I'm not sure how many even the "big" clubs will be bringing to an interstate match. 

There's additionally a requirement to have access to "a suitable high-quality match day facility 12 months of the year", which seems fair. I suspect that requirement is in place in the event that the competition eventually moves to a summer alignment. Such a requirement does pose an interesting question about how South's tenure at Lakeside qualifies. It's not that we don't have access to the venue 12 months of the year; but our winter priority period does muddy the waters a little, assuming an eventual summer switch. There's also the grand prix and other special events which sees our access to Lakeside curtailed from time to time. I'm sure it'll be fine, though.

I've also seen some contention about the requirement of squads being made up of players on professional contracts, being paid 52 weeks of the year. Some people have inferred that this will mean full-time (and thus non-affordable) professionalism, when it's not quite clear that that's the case. In Australian soccer, we tend to get too much confusion about professionalism means. There are two different concepts which should not be conflated: professionals vs semi-professionals, and professionals vs amateurs. The first concept is a social distinction, while the second is an administrative one. 

So we don't know yet how many, if any, NST teams will field squads made up of full-time professionals. It's got to be the aim at some point that full-time professionalism will be the default, as opposed to the exception. In South's case, at any rate, the club has long moved to a contract and payment system adhering to these standards (or so we've been told), in part to spread the payment load across an entire year, and to avoid contractual disputes (not always avoidable, but you know).

For those who come from outside the South supporters bubble - especially those who get most of their knowledge about the views of our fanbase from social media - it's hard to get the point across that the views of our supporters are much more varied than is actually the case. Those holding the view of getting into the A-League or NST at any cost are just one part of who we are as South supporters. So while on social media you see the gung-ho attitude of the loudest people, on our forum it's a lot more circumspect and cautious. 

Is this idea actually viable? Does our board really think that the NST's financial and attendance targets are achievable for us? How much of it is being driven by the fear that if we don't apply and get in, that we'll be left even further behind? But despite the many unknowns of an NST, we do know what we've had to put up with for the past 18 years, and thus it's a choice between two unsustainable competitions, one which is moribund, and the other which is, at best, untested. For us, it looks like "better the devil you know" is likely to give way to "swim, until you can't see land". 

What's the point of going out? We're just going to wind up back here, anyway.

Last night, in front of people that matter, South Melbourne 4, Essendon Royals 1. Video highlights make it all look like a bit of kick and giggle to be honest.

This Saturday, in front of people who can be bothered, it'll be South Melbourne vs Mill Park in the Greek Community Cup final. Why 1pm? Why at the exact same time as the 3rd vs 4th match Shield final? I don't know. Seems like a waste to even use two fields, when they could just chuck all four teams on the same field.

For your convenience - assuming you're not going to the match - the final will also be screened live on Channel 31, which I'm sure will disappoint those people who park themselves on their couch to watch ten uninterrupted hours of fishing shows. 

Set expectations to... - South Melbourne 1 Kingston City 1 (South won 5-3 on penalties)

This was the first chance I'd had this season to have an extended look at what our senior men's team has been doing. So far it's been highlight snatches of deliberately obscure friendly matches, which it would be unsuitable to use to gauge anything resembling form or style. Whether it's much better to use a Facebook stream watched on a phone while making and/or eating dinner to make the same judgments I would have done anyway, is an ethical-philosophical question I'm not particularly equipped to answer.

Although, seeing a few familiar faces in that part of the crowd nearest to the camera, I was reminded that the years have been kinder to some heads of hair more than others. Also, I didn't think it was actually shorts weather on Saturday, but there were people in the crowd wearing shorts. Always the big issues on South of the Border. 

What I can say is that of what I saw in the first half of this game, I wasn't terribly impressed. We were dog's balls. I understand that the field a was a little bumpy, and that there was a fair bit of wind, but that didn't seem to effect Kingston in any significant way, as they maintained possession and played the ball on the ground, while we either panicked and belted the ball long, or hit stupid short passes not on the ground, but at shin height. And that goal Kingston scored? Sure, our midfield may as well have not been there, but it was an entertaining move nonetheless. I'd like to see us score more goals like that.

Now maybe I overreacted on the forum with criticisms of the first half performance, and my observations of certain players when I completely wrote off this team's chances for season 2023 based on 15 minutes of footage. But I hadn't quite gone to the lengths of suggesting that we play the youth team (who had done the heavy lifting in this tournament thus far) in the season proper, and just tank the league season and save some coin doing so, ala when Ballarat Red Devils did the same in 2013 in state league 2 north-west, in the belief (later proven true), that they would get promoted to a higher plane (inaugural NPL season) regardless of results. 

(And how sobering it must be to see in that same table two teams we'll be playing against this season. Well, that's promotion and relegation for you.)

I mean, assuming we can find nine more equally deluded clubs to join us, we're already guaranteed a place in the National Second Division, no? Otherwise what would be the point of basically setting up the ideological and operational framework for the NSD if we weren't first cab off the rank? Don't answer that question; not because it might be uncomfortable to think about, but because it's a question for another day.

Anyway, the second half was better. Not that these things should matter, especially in a pre-season match, but you'd like to think we would be better than an opponent a division below us, consisting in part of players (at senior and junior level) that we'd discarded, alongside two former coaches who happened to be in the same dugout. Also, we are nothing if not fitness machines compared to everyone else at this point of the year, so we could at least expect to overrun our opponents.

I looked away for a moment, and Marcus Schroen scored. Looking later the replay, it was a very nice team goal, so whatever gasket I'd blown about our lack of aesthetics was really a waste of everyone's time and energy. Unfortunately the side couldn't win the game in normal time, but won a penalty shootout (with backup keeper Willem Lejeune between the sticks), using an inordinate amount of left footers to do the job (and right-footer Alun Webb who fluffed his line, but got a second chance thank to a letter of the law assistant referee).

The great tragedy of winning this game is that now we're in the final, against the much lower league Mill Park. Ideally you'd have wanted another NPL opponent, but they'd all either been bundled out (Oakleigh, Heidelberg), or never entered in the first place (Bentleigh, Port). So the dilemma here is play the full senior squad, or the youth team, or a mix of youth and fringe senior players, while fielding the stating eleven against another opponent in a friendly.

Pre-season news from far away places

Did you go? I didn't. 
Last Saturday arvo at Lakeside, our senior men drew 1-1 with South Australian side Campbelltown City. I don't if we played well or not. I suppose it doesn't matter.

Did you go? I didn't. (reprise)
On Sunday evening our under 21s team defeated whoever was representing Heidelberg 1-0, in the Greek Community Cup quarter finals. At least I had an excuse for not attending this game, as I was on a bus somewhere between Dunkeld and Port Fairy, for work purposes.

South fans everywhere but where you need them (but then again...)
Upon arriving at my Port Fairy accommodation, I struck up a conversation with the person in the apartment next door, who recognised my Hellas cap. Turns out he used to go to South games back in the day, and he spent the next few minutes reminiscing about Lefteri and the old grandstand. The next morning there was some ungodly yelling coming from that apartment, which possibly related to [redacted] plans gone awry, so maybe it's for the best that my new friend no longer goes to South games.

Another new keeper
Looks like we've signed another backup keeper, one Willem Lejeune. Apparently this is because Ben Ratajczak has suffered some of injury.

Next game
Barring some mystery friendly which you only learn about after the fact, our next pre-season match is against Kingston on Saturday in the semi finals of the Greek Community Cup. Kickoff is at 3:30, and this is a 90 minute match. Expect to see more senior players in action than has been the case for the tournament thus far.