Perspective - Green Gully 1 South Melbourne 0

I could rabbit on about the coaching situation, being winless in the league for several months, having no strikers, no AGM, and many other things, but maybe for one week we can focus on a bigger loss.

I was devastated, and I'm still in shock at the news of the sudden death this week of Con Shomos, longtime Hellas fan and friend to many of us at South Melbourne, especially those in proximity to what's left of Clarendon Corner and the various South forums. Con was as staunch a Hellatzi as you could find, but more importantly, Con was a terrific bloke, and you'd struggle to find anyone at the club with a bad word to say about him. 

When I first met him just under 20 years ago when I came back to the club after my lost weekend away from the game, Con was an older, moderate voice among the then much larger and much broader church that was Clarendon Corner, and he retained that unofficial role up to his sudden passing this week. Along with his late father, he had his sons with him, the youngest of whom would jump on you in the old social club. Being 15 to 20 years older than the majority of Clarendon Corner's early 20s cohort, Con had a broader perspective and a more mellow approach than most of us to the way the club was run. Even now, nearly 20 years on from when most of us met him, most of us were still playing catch up.

Con had a dry, subtle sense of humour, but it seldom if ever ventured into cruelty. More than once he managed to burst the bubble of my outsized sense of moral superiority, but I never felt bad when he did it. He was adept at being able to disagree without being disagreeable, something that I still wish that I was better at. He was generous in spirit and in action. His generosity was ordinary and expected, but no less valuable for its simplicity. Need a lift to the nearest station? Easy. Need some help to pack something away, or to set something up? If Con could help, he would. Need a sensible voice on the forums and social media to represent South fans? Con did his bit, without any grandstanding.

Need someone to volunteer to man the barbecue back in the days when Clarendon Corner would have its annual match against Original Melbourne 21? Con was your man. He was my captain when I played for CC White against CC Blue in the curtain raiser to the main game. He got members of Clarendon Corner employment at the company he used to work at, which maintained the copying, printing, and ID card services at local universities. Again, not an extraordinary gesture, but a gesture nevertheless done out of love for South Melbourne Hellas and its people.

For those of us at South who knew him well, he was variously an indoor soccer teammate, or a fellow gig goer and guitar enthusiast. He had a predilection for bands from the Aussie pub scene that many have forgotten, but he still kept an eye on what was going on in the now. He was a footy fan in the way many in Melbourne are, not quite as dedicated as the most fanatical, but still aware of who was doing well and who wasn't. Though Hellas was his sporting alpha and omega, Con had more than a soft spot for the Pies, and I'll never forget the 2010 Queen's Birthday match a few of us South people went to, and not just because it was also Gains' first footy match, which ended in a bloody draw. 

Myself, Con, and another Con, at South's 50th
anniversary gala ball at Crown Casino in 2009.

Con was an enthusiastic traveler to South's interstate and overseas sojourns, even as they became rarer following the end of the NSL. Those who shared the trips to Singapore and the Gold Coast certainly have their stories, but I'll never forget the 2008 Canberra trip where Con, who had driven up with his boys, hooked up a speaker to his car to play a recording of Lefteri's trumpet for the patrons at AIS Field 14. He was pleasant to sit and enjoy a meal with in the social club, as well as to sit with towards the back of our grandstand, where he was a fixture at our home games. He had his favourite players and the ones he didn't like so much, just like the rest of us, because he was one of us. He will be missed.

My sincerest condolences to all of Con's friends and family, especially his three boys, Nathan, Nicholas, and James.

Next game
Avondale away today.

Final thought
What else to say? There have certainly been better times to be a South fan. Hopefully some more of those better times are not too far away.