The 2025 season is almost here, and aren't we all just champing at the bit

Back when the fixture for the 2025 NPL Victoria season was released, no one was happy, as expected. And why would they be? First, it meant another season of NPL football for us, which after all the "hope" for the commencement of the National Second Division, is a serious letdown. Second, it also means that South Melbourne still exists as a going concern for at least one more season, which means allocating precious free time and mental energy into traipsing into Lakeside once a fortnight (for some people), and into a slew of suburban grounds (for fewer people) whose particular charms, such as they were, have completely worn off.

I was disappointed at the time to see some misplaced criticism on social media levelled at Football Victoria for not opening the season with a certain marquee fixture. Thankfully, the FV rep conversing with said complainants took the feedback with good grace, explaining that the fixture process was conducted in the same way it has been done for the last few years, and that it was actually South Melbourne's idea to do it like that.

But since everybody is meant to play each other twice anyway, and people have their eyes set on certain fixtures as a matter of course, does it really matter if South vs Preston doesn't open the season? The bigger issue is that outside of whatever game Preston plays in a given week, that there won't be remotely be as much interest in what any other team is doing. 

No right days, only wrong ones / no good times, only bad ones
So having opened with whatever that was above, let's look at what South's doing. Oh dear, oh my, oh goodness. Wait, let's not overreact. 

More Monday night games to open the season, as we, I guess, have to work around athletics' busy part of the year, and the need to get the ground fenced off quickly for the grand prix. Some people love Monday night football, but that's primarily when they live near the ground (e.g., Bulleen or Kingston). Since very few of our supporters live near Lakeside, it's seen as a chore to get to the ground. But our fans have made it clear that going to South games is a chore regardless of the date, whether that's because of an inconvenient day or time, the sluggishness of the food service, or the panel beating style of football on offer.

Most home games will be on Sundays at 5:00 PM - a traditional day, albeit not a traditional time. Still there were the complaints about that. What can the club do? Fridays you compete against the footy, as well as every other club (NPL and otherwise) that's got new lights and wants to show them off. Saturday afternoons you're up against nearly every senior men's team in the city. Saturday evenings have been tried, and rejected by our supporters. Sundays clash with juniors and family commitments. Maybe people just don't really want to come to South games? Maybe South is incompatible with the modern world?

New places / new old places

• Preston play their home games on Friday nights.
• Melbourne Victory youth will host us on a Monday night, at the Home of the Matildas

Other teams changing days and times
Speaking strictly from a South Melbourne point of view, there are a few changes to some customary away fixtures.

• Port Melbourne on a Friday night, instead of the more recent Saturday evening fixture
• Green Gully will be on a Friday night (Anzac Day)
  
• Hume City will be on a Friday night, as opposed to the usual Saturday night
• St Albans will be on a Friday night, as opposed to the usual Sunday afternoon.
• Heidelberg away will be on a Friday night
  

Public transport faction

Not good news on this front. Preston is not good for public transport. Ditto St Albans for Friday night (even though I'm accustomed to driving there), and Bundoora on a Monday night is just awful. 

Easter

2025 will be one of those freak years where the Orthodox and non-Orthodox Easter dates align, so there will be no issues here, aside from having to accommodate a potential cup tie.

NPLW Double-headers
There are five of them spread throughout the season.

As for the senior men's team, and perhaps the club as a whole
There is just no hype, no sense of our supporters looking forward to the season. Despite three seasons in a row where the team has been very competitive (apart from grand finals), including last year's Australia Cup run, people just seem over it. Yes, the style of football hasn't helped, and the signing of a physically like-for-like replacement for Harrison Sawyer suggests not much will change there. 

But it's more than that - there's no sense that things are going to get better. A mongrel NSD competition tacked on to the end of the year (for a gruelling ten month long season) has just made things seem even worse. However bad and uncertain things were at the start of 2005, the uncertainty then at least provided an opportunity for a belief that the ship could be righted, and for a little while at least, it was going OK. Twenty gruelling years later, everything depends on Preston sparking an interest in not just South, but the entire league. It's a big ask.