Social Club Artefact Wednesday - Hellas Headband

Back in 2008 when this blog was only about six months old, and during a period of time when he was riddled with injuries, South winger Billy Natsioulas had offered to write about his footballing career up until that point. That post eventually became this post, still one of my favourite posts on here, and judging by the stats and comments, one of our readership's favourite posts, too.

The one regret I have about that piece is that 'Nats' claimed to have a photo of himself wearing a classic Hellas headband, but he was never able to find it and supply it to me for use with the article. More's the pity on that front. I assume the headband in this photo, which I found as part of cleaning out the social club, is what Nats would have had on his head in said photo. Surely there couldn't be more than one version of this stunning fashion item, but I'm sure there are photos in old school photo albums of our supporters, with some young punk or punkette sporting one of these at Middle Park.

It was a simpler time

Push for dual-code venue at Albert Park

Could South Melbourne's Bob Jane Stadium become the home of Victorian soccer, rugby union and even rugby league?

South Melbourne's new president, television newsreader George Donikian, reckons it can - if the State Government gets together with the sport's controlling bodies and unites to give the Albert Park venue a multimillion-dollar make-over to increase its capacity and refurbish its office and entertainment areas.

Donikian, who recently took over the top job at South as part of a wholesale revamp of the club's management and committee, says a refurbishment program at the South Melbourne ground would add significant value to an existing community resource.

It would allow it to be used as a multisport venue and come at a much cheaper price than a redevelopment of Olympic Park, the other stadium that has been mooted as a candidate for a rework to accomodate the likes of new A-League soccer club Melbourne Victory or a rugby Super-14 team.

"I have approached Ron Steiner at the Victorian Rugby Union and talked to him about the possibility of playing at Bob Jane if the stadium was upgraded and reconfigured for rugby as well as soccer," Donikian said yesterday.

"Might it not be worth looking at the possibility of spending, say, $35 million, on turning this ground into a 25,000 to 30,000-seater venue for soccer and rugby rather than spending a lot more at Olympic Park?

"The atmosphere would be very good, Melbourne Victory would find it a better fit for them in the new A-League than Telstra Dome. I am approaching Craig Bellamy (coach) at the Melbourne Storm to see if there might be interest from rugby league.

"The way we used to do business at this club (South) is long gone.

"We need to go forward, find ways to make better use of the facilities, attract new supporters and improve the place so that clubs like Melbourne Victory could also look at playing here.

"Let's not worry about the development of footy grounds like Punt Road and Optus Oval. We need a ground like this to be improved and it has a lot of advantages. It's in a great location - Albert Park is right near the centre of the city, has tram and light rail links, is close to Clarendon Street and its shops.

"Why couldn't this become another sporting precinct. We could upgrade and build administrative offices here, put in a sports medicine clinic, build a new grandstand on the far side of the ground, put boutique-type stands up behind the goals.

"It's already very close to Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, so the links could be further developed."

While it is the new A-League club Melbourne Victory that will be the city's premier soccer side, Donikian and a host of new South Melbourne committeemen say they are determined to ensure that South's future does not lie all behind it.

The club - along with another former NSL side, Melbourne Knights - will make its Victorian Premier League debut in January and its new administration is adamant its long-term aim is to rebuild South, so that, if and when the Australian Soccer Association decides to expand the A-League, it is at least in a position, both financially and on-field, to lodge a credible bid for inclusion. That may be in five or 10 or 15 years, but, insists the new president: "We are not just going to be satisfied with trying to win the Victorian Premier League all the time.

"What we did in the past, how we marketed and sold the club, was not good enough.

"If it was, we would be in the A-League ourselves now, and we're not. So everything we do now has to be based on the committed premise that we eventually want to be in the A-League.

"That has to be our main ambition long-term, how we keep the fire in the belly of players, administrators and supporters."

As part of its new branding, the club has made a small but subtle change. No longer South Melbourne Hellas, or South Melbourne SC (for soccer club), it has changed its name to South Melbourne FC (for football club).

Because of its financial problems earlier this year, it has been unable to retain many of its former stars so new coach John Anastasiadis - himself a former NSL title winner with the club - is being forced, in the main, to rely on youngsters such as former Melbourne Knights player Billy Natsioulis and leading Victorian junior Evan Karavitis, an under-17 Australian representative.

The 2nd worst kept secret in Victorian soccer

Billy Natsioulas, winger, fan, associate, contemporary, and once memorable contributor to South of the Border, has departed the club, and will head to ambitious state league 1 side Bentleigh Greens next year. We at South of the Border would like to wish Billy all the best at his new club, his recovery from injury, as well as his taking on the coaching reigns of the under 18 squad down at Kingston Heath. While it doesn't always end up the way you want it too, at least Billy has a VPL championship medal and the honour of playing for the club he grew up supporting, an opportunity so few players get.

Now if you don't mind, I'm going back to the forum to bash my head against the proverbial brickwall.

Dollars and Sense, or what kind of price can you put on abstract concepts?

Stick with me as best you can because this might go all over the place or even nowhere. I was thinking recently about how much players might get paid in this league, and what influences other than money might have an impact on where players choose to spend their playing time.

A few years back on smfcboard, someone claiming to be Sam Poutakidis made what seemed to be an outrageous claim at the time, that someone might choose a club like Oakleigh not for the money but for its facilities. We all had a good laugh (and whinge)... but no one thought to start putting dollar signs or devising some kind of method. Now that's perfectly ok; the players themselves probably don't go through and list every detail and put a price on it, and it may even be that money is 90% of the deal.

But looking back on certain cases... Hamlet Armenian allegedly coming to South to cut down on travel time... Diaco enjoying having some sort of fandom to play in front of... a Billy Nats playing for the club he grew up supporting... a Scotty MacNicol coming back perhaps because of a lack of opportunities despite what he may have been getting... players coming to South perhaps in the belief that their A-League ambitions would be better suited at Lakeside than say Chaplin or Monterey Reserve... liking or disliking one coach over another... and never forgetting the lure of a championship, where rogue players and their clubs tolerate each other for as long as possible as long as glory is within sight... all of this to be considered within a framework where the next paycheque might never come in.

I don't know what the average VPL player gets for certain, let alone our boys. But for simplicity's sake let's say our boys get about $350-500 on average. The better players a little more, the younger fringe players a little less. If they were to be offered more money at other clubs, or perhaps less money to play for a geographically more suitable team, or any of the myriad options possible, how much would it take to tip them over the edge one way or another? If a player came out and said, 'I'm mostly about the money', would we all break out in shock, or applaud their honesty? Would other players follow suit? I'm not holding my breath for it to happen, nor do I suggest that a thought process is that rational... but players, coaches and clubs all make financial decisions which are not exclusively decided by money, and only hindsight, such as every payment cleared or a new trophy in the cabinet, gives us perhaps any clue if it was the right choice.

Like tenpins

More players added to the season ending injury list. Already with Yusef, Diaco, Curtis, Natsioulas, and Kelly out for the year, now Andy Bourakis and Tony La Verde are also out with serious knee injuries. While all the injured players would no doubt be disappointed, for La Verde it comes at an especially inopportune time, as he was on the verge of being selected for Melbourne Victory's youth team. South of the Border wishes all of them all the best in their recovery.

Billy Nats Is Hellas Mad!

A few weeks back I received a message out of the blue from one Billy Natsioulas, asking if he could contribute to South of the Border. Of course I jumped at the opportunity, and within a couple of days, Nats had got the following piece to me. I kept it on the backburner for awhile, seeking to release it during the week we played the Knights, an appropriate choice I thought. Anyway, if like Nats you would like to send in a piece talking about your love affair with South, or a great game or favourite player, by all means send it this way. Hopefully the floodgates open and we get a whole heaps submissions from players and fans alike. But now over to Nats, and his story.

Hellas Mad
This isn’t some half arsed suck up job and by no means is it my autobiography. I just have a lot of time to think things through and understand whatever happened to my so called soccer ‘career’. While I was doing this I got an understanding where this love for the game began. My dad and brothers were 'Hellas Mad'. This piece is to analyse what made me Hellas Mad, a football lover and a South Melbourne player.

Every home game, my brother, my cousin and I would hop into the back of my dad’s old Corolla and make what seemed like a long journey to Middle Park. We always got there early and parked around 10 minutes away to make sure we got parking that was easy to get out of. I would tie on my Hellas headband thinking that I was so cool. I have three vivid memories of growing up as a Hellas supporter.

The Past
Firstly, the 1991 Grand Final – My dad and I had left a family christening early to watch the final 15 minutes of the game. My dad drove like a lunatic to get to Olympic Park on time and we ran up the stairs, only to realise we were watching the game from the Croatia fans' side of the ground. Nevertheless, we watched and we hoped for an equaliser. My dad thought it was over and in typical wog style we conceded defeat and left early to beat the traffic. As we got into the car we heard the roar, game must have been finished. It wasn’t until we got home that we realised that the roar was for a South equaliser and we miraculously won the championship on penalties. Even watching the replay we couldn’t understand how we won that shootout.

Secondly, a friendly around 1992 between the great Hellas and the suburban Oakleigh at their old ground at Caloola Reserve, allowed me the chance to meet my heroes. Mehmet Durakovic, sporting a plastered broken arm took me under his wing and introduced me to each player. I got all their autographs and was over the moon, but as soon as I got out of that room my older brother stole the autograph book and claimed it as his own… PRICK!

The final memory comes from March 1994, 11,000 people packed into Middle Park to see Hellas vs Croatia. Wadey missed a penalty in the 94th minute that would've given South the game. On the way out we were met by the Croatian fans who started rolling big stones at us from the top of the hill. My dad took us through the trees and snuck us under the fence to safety before finding his way through the crowd and meeting us on the other side.

My career and the present
Who would've thought that after 16 years of supporting South that I would play for their dire enemies, the Knights. Well, that’s where I ended up. Credit to them, they gave me every opportunity and treated me brilliantly. Funny thing was the best game I played for them we got thumped 5-0 against South and a 35 year old Paul Trimboli scored two and tore future Socceroos Roddy Vargas and Adrian Leijer to shreds.

I had made a good name for myself at the Knights but when the NSL died and South came knocking it was just too easy for me to say of course I’ll sign. However, along with the initial signature there aren’t many highlights. Training with a retired Trimmers was great and even though he could barely move he still took the piss out of us. The first game against Heidelberg was great, the Championship in 2006 was brilliant but that’s where it all ends for me. Whether its a curse put on me by some old Croatian lady or simply bad luck my time at South reads as follows: 2005 – Glandular Fever (season); 2006 – Torn Hamstring and Lacerated Thigh (season); 2007 – Torn groin, concussion and head split open; 2008 – ACL knee reconstruction (season).

Not forgetting for a second all the mental issues which come with that kind of run of poor luck, which challenged my ability to get motivated week in week out, which probably doesn’t need to be put into details because everyone knows. I was spent and ready to give it up and many told me to do the same.

So why do I want to come back? I see the same desire in the eyes of my little brother and my students towards South that I had as a kid. I see their love for this club, I see others that have come before me with that same love. No other club has the team spirit that we have because we are honoured to put that top on every week. No other players can walk into clubrooms with the luxuries we have and look up at the names that have come before us. No other club has people like Trimmers and Jimmy Armstrong still around the place because even though they are legends of this game, they themselves know that this club is more special than any individual.

Until I am told I am no longer wanted at South I will keep coming back every year. Even when my body can no longer take it, I will be there supporting Hellas. Like my career, the club has had its dark days and setbacks. But it still has meaning for so many people, even though some try to deny it. Every time I look at my teammates I see that love. Every time I look at my brothers, my old man, my friends and my girlfriend I see that love. Hell, even when I speak to the old Greek bus driver Jimmy at my school, who’s been supporting this club since 1970 I see that love. South Melbourne is not a football club, it is a culture. I no longer play for my football ‘career’. I simply play for that shirt. I know that when I am gone, there will be plenty more to take my place and I will be there to support them… Long Live Hellas!

Billy Nats out for the season

As unfortunately foreseen by one of my sources, confirmation that midfielder and fan favourite Billy Natsioulas will be out for the season with an as yet undisclosed injury, suffered in the recent 1-0 win over Richmond. More news as it comes to hand, but this further weakens South's midfield stocks, with Nats joining Nick Curtis and Yusef Yusef with season ending injuries. I wish Nats all the best in his recovery, his darting runs on the right hand side will be missed in the 2nd half of the season.

Winning Is Good - South Melbourne 1 Richmond 0

De Nittis scored, hardly surprising, while a number of players should have scored, but didn't, which was not. Dominated a slow paced game, the previously free scoring Richmond kept to few chances, South earning their 2nd clean sheet for the year. On the minus side, Natsioulas seemed to come off with a serious injury, Fernando will miss the next 1-2 games with AFC Fustalroos duty - as reported in South of the Border, like, ages ago, though you had to look carefully - but on the other hand, some players appear to be coming into some sort of form, and we may have turned the corner.