I don't like to smile unless I have a reason - South Melbourne 0 Avondale 3

There are myriad minor grievances one can have with the world, and goodness I've got my fair share. Some people use going to South games as a ways of dealing with those grievances, by giving themselves a chance to vent their frustrations at the world as some kind of budget primal scream therapy. Me, I consider South as being an essential part of those lived grievances, not a break from them. Yet even though I expect to be frustrated - and in 2018, that frustration has been guaranteed on an almost weekly basis - I have still not felt anything like catharsis.

The playing side is one thing, and we'll get to that eventually, but the off field stuff has been just as annoying. Take Sunday for example. As I approach the ground from across the street, I can see that the under 20s have kicked off. Having not read the email from the club which said that members should head in from the office side - and not that there's any signage to indicate otherwise anyway - I go in through the futsal entrance. The lady at the door to the social club says as a member, I can't go through there, I have to go around to the office side.

OK, frustrating, but I'm not here to cause a scene, so I go out and to the office entrance, whose doors are of course locked. So I spin around in a daze of confusion wondering if maybe I got the instructions wrong, but the lady comes away from her post and motions to me to come back in to the futsal entrance because the office entrance is clearly not open yet, and I can just scan my card at the merchandise/ticket sales desk. I am frustrated and confused, but these are the things which the cosmos throws up to test us - if you believe in a sort of deterministic universe - and all you can do is grit your teeth and carry on. In the greater scheme of things, it's a very minor annoyance. I went out to watch the rest of the first half the under 20s, in what was a pretty dire opening half.

At halftime I went into the social club. There was a notice next to the bar that alcoholic drinks could not be taken outside, thanks to another new face at the State Sport Centres Trust trying to push back on something in an attempt to remind South Melbourne Hellas who the top dog is. As if we don't know. Again, that's fine, *serenity now*, I can drink my booze inside where it's warm, I'll have a gin and tonic thanks. After SES volunteers spent three days and nights searching through dense scrub on difficult, mountainous terrain, it was established - at great cost to taxpayers, probably, assuming that they also sent the chopper out - that there was no gin in the social club. Ready as ever to take these kinds of things as a personal slight, I remembered that board member Andrew Mesorouni also likes a G&T, and thus it was probably just "one of those things" and settled for a rum and coke, which generations of underage drinks know could easily pass as a standard cola drink and thus able to be taken outside.

Not that I did that, because I was on my very best behaviour. I finished my drink, and watched the rest of the 20s game, which at least managed to yield three goals to the good guys. Mr Hollywood didn't get on the score sheet, but he did his best People's Champ impersonation when one of his shots was deflected and finished off by a teammate. You'd think you'd be happy when one of your teammates scores, but our man in Burma looked like someone had told him his dog had died. Also, good on the club for putting on all the lights at their disposal in the increasing gloom, unlike when the women's team got only half of them for a night game a few weeks back. Maybe that - and the missing corner flags - should've been enough of a clue that we didn't really care about the Team App Cup all that much.

The 20s done, and waiting for the loukoumades truck to do its business, but that takes a while, and eventually we ran out of time before the game kicked off. Besides which, I got into a convo with journalist Gregory Letort and his photographer pal (the latter of whom knew Matthew Klugman, one of my PhD supervisors; any word on when on if the second examiner's report has come in yet Matthew? It's only been four months...). I'd had a lengthy chat with Letort not the other week, but the week before that, about all things Australian soccer and South Melbourne Hellas, for some work he's doing hopefully to get into Le Monde and/or L'Equipe. The photographer wanted a photo, which is fine, but he also wanted a smile, which is against my ethos. Yes, I used that Daria line.

The game started, and we looked OK, not great, not good, maybe not even passable, but considering our form and that of opponents, OK was, well, OK. Lot of corners, but in all honesty, not a lot of chances, and never really looking likely to score. No striker doesn't help, it hasn't helped for weeks, but if that was the only thing you could sort of throw your hands in the air and exclaim "what else we can do?" and just wait until someone with an innate goal sense comes back into the starting eleven. But it was also the structures and the willingness of players to go up and down the field. Missing Iqi Jawadi didn't help. Whatever his drawbacks as a player, he does have a ways of making the play push forwards. His replacement, Luke Pavlou, whatever his positive attributes as a player, is the opposite.

When we fell behind to a Stefan Zinni header, that was probably the ball game right there. With out limited firepower and discombobulated attacking methods, falling behind at any point is pretty much a death sentence. We battled away in the second half, but it was more of the same. Players playing out of position. Players playing when not fit. Players playing who probably weren't entirely motivated. If there was any doubt, Avondale's second goal clinched. The third was the misery cherry on the despondency cake. Luke Boland launched one from halfway over a back peddling Jerrad Tyson, sending a good portion of the miserly crowd out the door.

Look, while I was obviously pretty upset at the time, I'm pretty much over that goal now. These things happen, what's the use of crying over spilled milk and all that. I mean, yes Tyson put up an edited highlights video of himself from the Green Gully we lost 3-0 - probably omitting the three goals we copped that day - which is great for self-promotion, but not great in terms of being in tune with supporters' expectations. Neither does any keeper want to be chipped from long range like that, ever - and he's not even the first goalkeeper Boland has done that too, and on far bigger stages than this. And I'm still trying to figure out how Tyson missed the ball considering that it seemed like he';d managed to get back on his line in time to keep the ball out.

But we were already cooked by then. The one thing you could take out of the game was the return of Marcus Schroen, and to a lesser extent, Leigh Minopoulos. Schroen looked keen, and - within a very limited framework - seemed to make things happen. Who knows how much match fitness he has, but it's good to see him back, and good to have at least another option. For Leigh's return from injury, who knows how much he's actually recovered from his injury.

Somehow we're still in positive goal difference territory, which considering we're only three points clear of the relegation playoff spot, is worth an extra point.

Next game
Port Melbourne away on Saturday night, to round out the first half of the home and away season. It's the last game of Milos Lujic's suspension, so we'll have to wait and see whether Leigh Minopoulos is good enough to start.

Welcome Ndumba Makeche
Makeche is a striker who played five games several years ago for Perth Glory, and has since puttered away in Malaysia for a few teams in a few different divisions. The transfer window doesn't open until after the Port game, probably, so he won't be available for selection until the Bulleen game. As per my custom, I'm not going to watch the YouTube highlights reel

Members forum on Thursday
The club has announced a members forum for this Thursday, in the social club, starting at 7:00PM. It's open only to "full voting members", but I'm not sure if this means only South Melbourne Hellas members (ie, social club members), or also South Melbourne FC members (ie, season ticket holders).

The announcement of the meeting has come up at what looks like quite short notice, and as best as I can recall, no announcement was made over the PA system at any points during yesterday's game before the club put up the details of the meeting at about 9:30 last night. There is also no agenda or specific purpose for the meeting articulated in the club's announcement of the meeting.

Cynics may come to the conclusion that this meeting has been hastily arranged because of a non-club sanctioned meeting of supporters held after yesterday's game - but more on that when that group formally comes out with its plan and/or demands. However, if my memory serves me right, at the most recent AGM President Leo Athanasakis did mention that there would be a supporters meeting held in April of this year, and perhaps this is just that idea a little overdue. Maybe because we have a huge run of home games coming up, that they'd like some ideas and feed back on how the social club is going.

Or maybe because the A-League bid expressions of interest are due in this Thursday, it seems like an opportune time to give us an update on how that's going?

Speaking of our A-League bid
I see that last week local member of parliament Martin Foley stepped up from being a well-wisher to actually joining our bid team. Is that a good thing? I don't know. Who am I to judge?

More hilariously, journalist Jack Kerr has been doing some good work, asking some interesting questions and getting some interesting answers. Roberto Carlos as our A-League coach? Yeah, that's probably not going to happen. As Kerr rightly muses:

Which makes you wonder why they called the press conference in the first place.

There's also some interesting stuff in there about old mate Morris Pagniello of Genova International School of Soccer, and the ways in which South initially talked up Pagniello's proximity to South, and later tried to sort of pretend that it never happened, and now it's "hey, look over there, Pagniello's hanging out with the Team 11 people" and "we never knew about his alleged shady dealings, honest". Which is all very sophisticated. Not that any of that matters, of course. But it is fun.

As for the rest of them
One bidding team has pulled out of the running, and it's not us. Brisbane Strikers have withdrawn their bid citing a lack of clarity from FFA regarding financial and other requirements.

According to a (pay-walled) article by David Davutovic, 15 consortia from across Australia - excluding the Northern Territory - have indicated their interest. Though I suspect some of these are more pie in the sky than others, the bidders include:

• South Melbourne (whoever they are)
• Team 11/Dandenong corridor
• Western Melbourne - confirmation that this a rebadged/repositioned Geelong Patriots bid.
• Tasmania - the bid backed by Harry Stamoulis and Robert Beltecky 
• South-West Sydney - the consortium that tried to buy out the Phoenix licence.
• Apparently another south-western Sydney group. 
• Southern Expansion - the Southern Sydney (whatever that means) and Wollongong combination
• Brisbane City 
• Ipswich
• Gold Coast
• Wollongong Wolves
• Canberra - though Davutovic only says here that "people" think Canberra should have a team, not that anyone is actually putting one in on the city's behalf.
• Fremantle 
• West Adelaide Hellas

So even with the uncertainty of the A-League operating model, the FFA Congress issues, and whether there's even any money left over to give to expansion sides from the TV deal, a lot of groups seem bizarrely interested in putting up their hand for this. I guess we'll find out in October how it all turns out.

Around the grounds
Futility
After Saturdays spent at the footy, Kensington City, watching the South women, and chasing the men's team to far flung places, I finally got around to seeing an Altona East game. Not at Paisley Park mind you, but rather at Kevin Flint Reserve in Cairnlea near enough to my old stomping ground of Victoria University's St Albans campus. Cairnlea and Altona East used to be relegation battling rivals in State League 1, and after a year or two apart they're now mediocrity battling rivals in State League 2. Sunrise, sunset. I caught the tail end of the reserves match, which finished with the absurd scoreline of 7-4. Then the seniors. A cold, swirly, breeze. A bumpy pitch. Two teams of panel beaters. Not much chance of a quality contest, and so it prove, but at least the company was good. Cairnlea took an early lead. That's pretty much all that happened in the first half. The second half was a little livelier, but that's not saying much. Cairnlea - who were the better team, even if they weren't creating much - iced the game just before injury time. East scored from their only chance right at the end. I spent the second half catching up with Richard Maynard, father of ex-South keeper Chris, who was playing for Cainrlea on the day, and didn't have much to do.

Final thought
Thanks to all those who asked after my health, I appreciate it.

Bruno told us so! South Melbourne 3 Oakleigh Cannons 2

Thank goodness we won because otherwise doing stuff all work during the week (except for reading the first essay in Josef Pieper's 1948 book Leisure, the Basis of Culture) would have been considered a tremendous waste of time.

Sleep was hard to come by the night before the game, but the nerves only really kicked in about 11:30 on Sunday morning as I was on the train on my way to the Limerick Arms for the pre-match drinks session. It took a while for people to filter towards the pub - the late start maybe dissuaded people from getting there at noon - but soon enough there was a good turnout there, with plebs and civic leaders paying due homage if you know what I mean. 

There was some good chanting from those who felt like chanting before a game, politeness shown towards the elderly couple who had to make their way through the crowd outside the pub, and hilarious gags such as,

'Hey, we should change our name to Social Media FC - we'd still be able to use the SMFC acronym.'

And one other heinous joke about making a movie about South's overcoming adversity in 2016 that's probably not fit for print.

What's the hubbub? Did Taylor finally get the sack?

Walking up Clarendon Street with Gains (earlier than everyone else, because who knew when they were going to leave the pub) we saw Richmond ruck/forward and St Albans Dinamo president Ivan Maric and some other St Albans people, seemingly ready to go home rather than watch the main event. Even getting to the ground an hour before the game you could tell there was going to be bigger crowd than last year's final, but more on that later.

Apart from several moments of skill and close combination play by the usual suspects, I don't think it was the highest standard match - last year's contest had a lot more quality I felt - but it will be remembered within Victorian soccer circles as a classic in its own right for the non-stop entertainment it provided. Both sides hit the woodwork on multiple occasions, forced good saves, had shots cleared off the line and were prone to the kinds of mistakes which made fans of the two sides and neutrals alike feel like a goal was never far away. Otherwise, there was a nervousness to much of the ball control, with players preferring to clear the ball rather than take control of possession in situations where they probably could have done so. Even defensively, South especially looked cautious, and unwilling to go hard at Oakleigh's attacking players, which was concerning at the time - one realises now, with the benefit of hindsight, that probably only part of that was due to the skill and size of Oakleigh's attackers, and that we were being cautious not to give away fouls anywhere near the edge of the box.

Whoo! South rule!

It was a game that embodied the idea held by armchair pundits that both sides had top line attacks but suspect defenses. South started the game better, pressing well and earning a number of corners, but Oakleigh soon wrested control of the game. Leigh Minopoulos' goal to open the scoring against the run of play highlighted two things; first, Chris Taylor's maxim that games are won in 'moments' (or at least Taylor conditions his team in that way), but also that desperate defending and super saves can all be undone by slacking off in defense. Minopoulos finding himself with no one in front of him on the left flank from a throw in, and strolling towards goal before executing a calm finish, is exactly the kind of thing that kills coaches and supporters; indeed, it's the kind of thing that killed South during the increasingly barren years after the 2006 championship.

Getting that goal could have served to settle our nerves, but instead Oakleigh managed to pull the goal back soon afterwards, after another one of those 'moments'. An out of position Brad Norton, way upfield, instead of holding his ground went in for an all or nothing challenge and came out of that with nothing - less than nothing in fact as Oakleigh exploited the space Norton had left behind to score the equalising goal. At that point - midway through the first half - I was hoping that we could somehow get to halftime level and reboot from there. Credit to the team however that they managed to work their way back into the contest in the final five minutes of the half.

No one thought we'd score from the free kick - we've barely got close over the past five years - but Schroen managed to get closer than I'd anticipated, hitting the top of the crossbar. His curling shot right on halftime also smacked into the post, and should have been at least attempted to be hit back at goal instead of (and I'm not sure who it was of our players) being responded to by turning around in anguish or disappointment.

I thought that we would carry that momentum into the second half, but Oakleigh again were the better team. Yet we took the lead again, thanks to a pinpoint cross by the People's Champ to Marcus Schroen, who nodded home from close range. Schroen will justifiably get the plaudits for the goal, and he did end up winning the Jimmy Rooney medal for his performance as our most important player going forward, but it was a great maneuver from Nick Epifano, exploiting the lack of speed of the Oakleigh defender (and perhaps his belief that the People's Champ would cut in on his right?) crossing on his non-preferred left foot into just the right spot.

Nikola Roganovic was then forced to make two clutch saves, one from long range from Dean Piemonte tipped wide for a corner, and one from a medium range Goran Zoric effort which Roganovic tipped onto the crossbar. The bloke who had almost singlehandedly kept us within touching distance of the minor premiership for far longer than we had any right to stepped up big time when it counted. If it is to be his last game for us - some have hinted he may hang up the gloves - than I am glad that he's been able to secure a championship while playing for us.

Our third goal was from another throw in, although this had a little bit of a sense of a set play about it. Minopoulos' superior game sense - the mere fact of his being on the field lifts the collective soccer IQ of our team by a significant margin - saw him nod the ball down to Schroen who smashed home his own volley. After that we should have absolutely hammered them. One sequence of play which saw at least three attempts from more or less point blank range rebuffed was the height of madness; at the other end, Oakleigh kept plugging away, while we were at times camped in our own half, unable to clear the ball on occasion except in the most comical of fashions. And as much stick as we've all given stick to Tim Mala for his downturn in form this season, thank goodness he was on the line to clear that shot which could have turned things on their head once again.

In this season of red cards in South games it was fitting that the game ended the way it did, with a red card to Oakleigh's Adrian Chiapetta, followed by a late Oakleigh goal which had us squirming for another thirty seconds. Once again, we were scored against by a team with a numerical disadvantage, even in this case where there were just moments left in between the dismissal and the end of the game.

The final whistle for some was the time to celebrate, but for me it was a chance to feel some relief. It has been a chaotic, sometimes exhilarating but mostly frustrating season. There were huge wins, especially early in the season which gave us a sense of false hope; theheavy losses, some of them absolutely devastating - Richmond away, Heidelberg away, Bentleigh away twice, Avondale at home where we looked desultory; the three point deduction, no FFA Cup run, the fact that we had not beaten a top six side for the whole second half of the year until we beat Gully in the last round.

Added to that was the fact that we were playing awful, ugly football, which we had accepted two years ago because it by and large worked and because we had been starved of success, but which we were now over because it was slightly less successful and we wanted to be entertained and to have two up front as a minimum. To his credit Chris Taylor made the necessary adjustments, managed the interferences and the egos and got the team clicking at the right time of the season. Beating the Knights and Pascoe Vale, then knocking off four finalists in a row, and snaring the title could only have realistically come about with a change in mindset, or as Nicholas Tsiaras said, Taylor embracing his inner gambler.

So apart from the satisfaction of winning the title, Taylor gets the joy of knowing he has overcome his detractors, some of whom clearly had no idea what they're were talking about. Although to be fair to people who can't remember all the way back to July 2016, I did hint at the possibility that things could get better, and that a more attacking, risky approach would pay dividends in a season where finals would be the final (ahem) arbiter of the 2016 champion.

While we can enjoy the anarchic spectacle of a Chris Taylor side actually playing attacking football (and try to convince ourselves that maybe this approach will pay off in the finals)

Which just goes to show that if you hold every opinion possible at one stage or another, even though you'll always be wrong, you'll always be right, too. All of which keeps the universe in balance.

Post-match celebrations
Apparently not quite as many managed to get into the change rooms for the celebrations as in 2014 - probably for the best to be honest, as things got very claustrophobic that night.

Suitably blurry photograph of the post-match celebrations.
Photo: Paul Mavroudis. But seriously, why would anyone else want to claim it?

As for myself, I was just happy to stay outside in the grandstand and on the causeway in front of the grandstand, just letting it all sink in, and having a final catch up with South folk who I won't see - their attendance at an AGM notwithstanding - until next year.

No social club and a late finish meant that once again celebrations after the game at the Limerick Arms were fairly low key, before I assume many of the players, coaches, board members and support headed out to a nightspot or two.

Speaking of a lack of a social club, even our replacement social club the Limerick Arms almost failed us, when a dishwasher caught fire, forcing the temporary evacuation of the premises.

.@smfc just no luck with even makeshift social clubs - Limerick Arms dishwasher is on fire #ambivalent #ps4nplvic pic.twitter.com/EfI14VzfXv

— Paul Mavroudis (@PaulMavroudis) September 11, 2016

Firefighters dousing a dishwasher outside the Limerick Arms #SMvOC #PS4NPLVIC pic.twitter.com/AEX6yNr1YM

— Paul Mavroudis (@PaulMavroudis) September 11, 2016

Although the fact that the harebrained rumour that managed to take hold, that someone had thrown a flare into the dishwasher, causing said fire, doesn't say much for the gullibility of some people. To be honest, the less said about how staff members allegedly tried to put out the fire, the better. Drink service resumed, though the kitchen was out of action. A trip down the road to a local Greek restaurant and sponsor of the club for a takeaway souv also saw us come up short. At least one could find comfort in having won a record tenth Victorian title.

Match day operations fail / Neutral venue chat
Once the venue for the grand final had been announced, and especially once it was known that South would be one of the two competing teams, most people without a rampant hatred of South Melbourne or who sought to play down the significance of the grand final as Victorian soccer's 'showpiece event' (blecch) were begging FFV to open up the northern stand to spectators. They didn't listen, they didn't organise with the State Sports Centres Trust to do so, and didn't that make them look like fools on the day.

But even before that there were massive issues outside the gate with long lines and the return of the tedious Ticketmaster ticket sales process, who were reportedly printing off tickets one by one instead of having a whole stack of them pre-printed and ready to go. That dire process as well as having too few ticket booths open meant that there were scores of people who didn't get into the ground until 20 minutes after kickoff.

Of course, one can note the advice given to pre-purchase tickets

Worth the $5 booking fee? I think so. pic.twitter.com/reall7L451

— Est1959 (@Est1959) September 11, 2016

but the reality is that not everyone reads this blog (hard to believe, I know), and most of those in attendance yesterday only visit Lakeside when a big crowd is expected, which is seldom the case these days.

Credit to FFV president Kimon Taliadoros for fronting up and apologising, and throwing the gates open, but it makes one wonder how we even got to this point. Were they going off last year's crowd of about 3,500, when Bentleigh Greens brought almost no fans to the game? Did they not take seriously the idea that Oakleigh may try and bring some support of their own to this game, or that there may be a lot of neutrals, especially leftover from the curtain raiser?

Amazing crowd at @nplvictoria GF tonight. 👏🏻 to all who attended & to many more who watched online. #PS4NPLVIC pic.twitter.com/lx5oWDvrGg

— Anthony Grima (@anthonygrima) September 11, 2016

So, far too many people were squeezed into one stand - and in front of the stand - when there was a perfectly good stand on the other side waiting to be used. Eventually they let patrons use the concrete terracing behind the goals at the scoreboard end, and finally during the second half managed to get organised enough to open the other stand.

Sense prevails as other side is opened! #FANSGRATEFUL @KimonTaliadoros @footballliam! #ps4nplvic #aleague #SMvOC pic.twitter.com/OcYYJhJuAu

— Mike (@smfcmike) September 11, 2016

That didn't make up for the absurd lines for food and drink (again, greatly underestimating the crowd, and to make matters worse, the loukoumades people didn't turn up either like they said they would). As noted by the Heidelberg supporting 'redboots' on soccer forum:

Surely at an event like this you invite people to either bid or tender for the placement of their food vans... For fuck's sake, Melbourne is the King of man bun wearing food vendors and even one other van would've made a world of difference.... A spit going with gyro would've made a difference...

Apart from FFV losing a huge chunk of cash - the 'official' crowd of 4,211 would have been nowhere the real crowd number (perhaps only 80%) considering how many people were let in for free - but also a lot of goodwill, too. The large crowd - which included a fair amount of neutrals - at least put those in their place who, however jokingly, suggested that Kingston Heath or Broadmeadows would have been a more appropriate venue.

Now whether the match should have been played at a neutral venue is another matter - and Gus Tsolakis let FFV board members and staff know his opinion after the game - but underselling the importance of the grand final by playing it at second and third tier venues, with limited shelter, limited seating and poor viewing angles is the last thing we need.

But with most suitable venues - and there really are only three suitable venues, being AAMI Park, Lakeside and at a pinch Knights Stadium - needing to be booked in advance, what happens if they do step up and host the game at AAMI Park, and we have another game with two minnow teams in terms of support? People will be lining up to kick FFV for wasting everyone's money. And what if they played the game at Knights Stadium and the surface was stuffed?

Short of a marquee fixture like a combination of Knights-South-Heidelberg, Lakeside is on most occasions the most appropriate place to hold the NPL grand final. Seeing as that is the case, the point is then to not skimp on the extras when using the venue. Designed for crowds up to 10,000, it can comfortably hold 5,000+ plus patrons as long as you don't try to squeeze them into the space of 3,500.

Finally, the game is not played in the stands, or on paper, it is played on grass - and in Lakeside's case, a regulation sized field - which to be fair, may be alienating for sides that don't have grass or a regulation sized field. Quite where the advantage for South is supposed to come into it, I don't know. It's also true that Oakleigh has beaten us just once in our designated home games in the league and cup since 2006, including venues as disparate as Bob Jane Stadium, Lakeside Stadium, Northcote and Kingston Heath; but let's not forget, this is the club that once forfeited a game against us for spurious reasons.

Some brief thoughts on the atmosphere
Felt better last year, probably because last year's crowd was almost entirely South fans, whereas this year was much more mixed, with a healthy neutral attendance. I didn't like the fact that some people kept trying to start anti-Oakleigh chants - they were the underdog in this game, so why the reference to them choking? - and besides which, isn't it better if we try and support and pay attention to our team? There was a decent cheer for the Oakleigh goal, and the chanting from Clarendon Corner often had a disjointed, nervous quality to it, probably in reaction to the nature of the contest and the context of the season. But I prefer that compared to non-reactive monotonous chants that seem to have no connection to the game as it's being played out. Best chant was 'thanks for beating Bentleigh', which probably contradicts a point I made earlier within this paragraph, but at least it had a self-referential honesty to it.

There were the usual array of banners, including a couple of small throw over ones, but I liked this Super Mario one best, even if I think a Sonic the Hedgehog who is naturally blue would work better.

Nintendo inspired fence banners @ Clarendon Corner #PS4NPLVIC pic.twitter.com/CnmDJzPSVf

— Steven Chang (@Gixibyte) September 11, 2016

Next year Cacophonix!

Lucky me though
I had forgotten my media pass at home, but luckily Tony came by the pub with some complimentary tickets courtesy of his connection to St Albans Dinamo.

Post-game flare

A bit of colour at the final whistle at Lakeside Stadium. #PS4NPLVIC #SMvOC pic.twitter.com/2ct27lridZ

— Les Street (@official_lesdog) September 11, 2016

Some folk were concerned that perhaps we could get fined for the flare that was ripped late in the affair in the north west corner of the ground (possibly thrown over the fence?), but my sources say that won't be the case.

Media coverage - it was actually good!
In times past when our club mattered beyond the feelings of its own supporters, one of the great joys of winning a match was digesting the post-match news feeds. Of course over the past decade we have been starved of this joy, even following championship wins. This grand final however had what was for Victorian soccer some pretty decent mainstream coverage, especially after the fact. The oft-maligned (not least by South of the Border) Michael Lynch got in three pieces in The Age - one on the game itself, one on Jimmy Rooney medalist Marcus Schroen, and one with Chris Taylor about the staleness of the A-League and its recruiting. The Herald Sun's David Davutovic also got a report in on the game.

As for Neos Kosmos, their traditional early deadlines have seen them so far only put up a perfunctory summary in Greek online - one would expect more material in the Thursday print edition. I don't have a copy of the Neos Kosmos edition which reportedly had a photo of Clarendon Corner/South fans away at Oakleigh from earlier this season, which reportedly had the caption claiming they were Oakleigh fans.

There was also a live stream provided by FFV on Facebook, which managed to get about 1,000 viewers apparently. I don't know what the quality of the stream was like, but one complaint was it should have been in Youtube, like the NPL NSW grand final, which would have made it more accessible. A fair point, I reckon.

Gold Medal night round up
Last week we managed to pick up some awards. Matt Millar won the young player of the year award, Milos Lujic was officially presented with his golden boot prize, while Jimmy Armstrong was inducted into the FFV Hall of Fame. Nikola Roganovic missed out on goalkeeper of the year to Chris Oldfield, which I'm a bit surprised by.

Off-season schedule
That concludes South of the Border's usual in-season programming for 2016. Coming up is the now usual South of the Border off-season blog mode which will include:

• pointless awards post
• monthly digests
• occasional match reports from assorted quasi-random sporting fixtures
• hopefully an AGM
• news, if it exists, on the construction of the social club (starting 'soon', apparently)
• maybe an artefact segment here or there
• the odd book review (Alex Duric has a book out!)
• breaking news if it's important enough to consider as such.

Of course if anyone wants to submit something in the meantime, you're more than welcome to do so. For those who drop off at this time of year, thanks for stopping by. For those who like to visit us during the off-season, you pretty much know what you're in for.

Around the grounds
For whom the bell tolls
Headed out to Paisley Park for the final round of the state league season, and a relegation deciding match between Altona East and Cairnlea. East had the advantage in terms of ladder position and goal difference - Cairnlea would need to win by three goals to overtake East - and so this was if not quite a dead rubber, than one where the odds were heavily stacked in one team's favour. Unlike the usual state league procedure of people trying to scam their way into the ground for free, or pretend they're a concession holder or pensioner, or demand change back to the cent, most people seemed to be in a generous mood, happy to leave change behind as a donation to the club. Small South contingent in attendance as well, getting some 'inconsequential' football out of the way before our grand final, but also there to see ex-South junior and friend Anthony Giannopoulos strutting his stuff for East. The first half was pretty 'meh' to be honest, neither team able to offer much. In the second half a Giannopoulos pass inside set up East's first goal, and safety from relegation was secured. A second goal was merely icing on the cake. Long serving (albeit across multiple stints) Cairnlea captain Mustafa Mustafa (and let's not forget one time fringe South player) was chaired off the ground in his final game with a guard of honour, a nice gesture.

All Class! Guard of honour for our loyal captain @Musti_Mus. What a career. We will miss you #CairnleaArmy pic.twitter.com/1AfmMhQypp

— Cairnlea FC (@CairnleaFC) September 10, 2016

Relegation brings with it its own heartache, as does retirement. Avoiding relegation on the final day brings relief, but pretty soon leaves you wondering how you got yourself so deep into the mess in the first place.

The next to last final thought
Happy birthday to Tony Margaritis for yesterday. I think he got what he wanted.

Final thought
How much better are finals than first past the post?

Laughter - South Melbourne 2 Port Melbourne 0

But I am just a simple wog soccer club. I have only read
 about being relevant to Australian football in books.

So this is where we're at now. It especially applies to us because, you know, former NSL powerhouse and such and such, but it could equally apply to any other team in our league (or applicable leagues in other states) which may happen to be in our present position. That position is of course, top of the league midway through the season (regardless of whether we 'deserve' to be there or not), playing against a local rival with a ton of ex-players of ours, a game our side manages to win, extending our lead at the top... and it hardly seemed to matter.

We're not just talking about the crowd, which while at its usual smallness, was still broadly appreciative of these facts. Hell, we even looked good and/or better than our opponent, like we actually deserved to win by even more than the two goal margin that we did win by. The coach even made some early, attacking subs, our attacks looked almost fluid, and even our crossing wasn't so bad once Matthew Millar decided that trying to launch balls over Turn 6 and onto Albert Road was probably not the best use of his latent talents. Our defending meanwhile was a bit higgledy-piggledy at times, but Port weren't able to take advantage of that. Now that Luke Adams' All Whites duties are concluded with (they won the OFC Nations Cup on penalties), that he'll be back in the side, provided that the rumours of him trialling with other teams aren't true.

- You are now assimilated into Australian football.
- But how?
- It is the mystery of the FFA Cup.

Yet all eyes were and are on Tuesday, not because of the opponent in that match, or because it may help us move one step closer to defending our Dockerty Cup title, but because we have the chance to win a match in which we can afterwards figuratively shout out 'bingo' and hope that winning the jackpot means we get a big pay day (host an A-League team on national television, in front of a big crowd, where we acquit ourselves well on all fronts), instead of an away trip to Shamrock Rovers in Darwin where we'll probably manage to lose on penalties again and disgrace ourselves in some other hitherto unforeseeable but hilarious manner.

Beating Bentleigh on Tuesday, should we manage to do so - and at this point I would like to perpetuate the partly superstitious nonce jinx related idea that we are the rank underdogs in this match - will mean so much more than whatever it is we're trying to achieve in the league. Maybe our people in the terraces are desperate for the attention that an FFA Cup proper appearance will provide, having sold their souls for 'just a taste'; worse, perhaps all the attention being paid to Tuesday, combined with the nonsense lightheartedness of Friday, is a sign that people are getting bored with this league and have truly begun placing more importance on Shaun Mooney's crap-shoot tournament than their bread and butter league.

Compared to that possibility, comfortably beating a middling Port side in the league on a cold and wet evening in June isn't remotely on the radar.

Yes, we have no loukoumathes
When I say that all eyes were on Tuesday, I should be put a minor caveat on that. There was also attention being paid to the fact that the St Gerry's loukoumathes stand had not turned up despite promising to do so. Cue several chants about the absence of loukoumathes. Then again, perhaps even all the chatter about Korean BBQ and pastitsio and all the rest of the Food Network style chatter in Clarendon Corner was just people getting into the Food Federation Australia Cup swing of things.

My favourite part of the evening
When the People's Champ put in a nice pass that Milos Lujic didn't react to quickly enough, Lujic still applauded the People's Champ for the effort. Unfortunately, the People's Champ had already turned around by this point, never seeing Lujic's gesture of goodwill.

Let's be unabashedly positive for just a moment
Leigh Minopoulos scored. There's no one who can be displeased about that. The thing is, even if the goal was from two yards out, and even if Leigh doesn't always set the world on fire, the way he moves around the field is just so different to the way the rest of the team does. It's not primarily about raw pace or neat one-twos, but about gliding around the field and finding himself in the right space. Hope we keep him on, because he adds another string to our bow.

A word on Port, just for the sake of it 
Yes they had some good players out or having recently departed, but I'm annually flummoxed as to what it is they're trying to achieve. Apart from the misfortune of the 2013 Southern Stars incident, which saw Port be the big losers - although they still could have made the finals had they not capitulated against us in the final round - they spend big, recruit hard, and end up lower mid-table or needing dodgy late goals to avoid the drop. Or maybe, they also had two eyes on the FFA Cup.

Next game
FFA Cup match against Bentleigh on Tuesday, at Kingston Heath. The winner of this match qualifies for the FFA Cup proper.

Those who choose to travel to matches via public transport should be aware that there are works being undertaken on the Frankston line in preparation for level crossing removals. Check the PTV website to see how this may affect your journey.

For the record, Gains and I will be bypassing the Frankston line,, taking the Sandringham line out to Hampton, then catching the 828 from there.

For those who can't make it to the game, the game will also (probably) be live video streamed by FFV, though if they use the same streaming service as they did for the Green Gully vs Bulleen FFA Cup match last Wednesday, don't count on it being anything remotely like reliable.

Arrivals... 
Phase 2 of Operation Let's Sign Some Bloke From Spain That No One's Ever Seen And Let's Hope That Maybe He'll Be A Striker has seen us sign up a - wait for it - striker(?!) from Leganes reserves called Manuel Padilla Herrero. A (mandatory adjective) jetlagged Herrero played about an hour in the under 20s on Friday night, scoring a hattrick and providing at least one assist. The report of one the people that was there watching the 20s (I was at the Limerick, where we were cheering every 'Manolo' score update on Twitter), while acknowledging the poverty of the opposition, noted that Manolo's touch, game sense and work rate were very good.

So maybe, just maybe, we have a little gem on our hands. That then creates a series of neat little problems like, will we play him on Tuesday? Who gets dropped to let him start? Does the formation change? And will his loan spell end before our season does?

...and departures
Teenage wingback Luke Eyles has been released, subsequently signing with NPL2 promotion contender Kingston City. The Tasmanian was in the first year of a two year deal with South after signing from 2015 Tasmanian champions Hobart Olympia, but has been unable to break into South's starting lineup.

Midfielder Cody Martindale, who also spent most of this season in the under 20s on the comeback trail after missing most of last season due to injury, has ended up at Northcote, but both Martindale and Eyles are reportedly being asked back for 2017 pre-season training at South.

One assumes that Philzgerald Mbaka is also gone, but no official announcement has been made on that front so far as I can tell.

You really blew it!
I would just like to thank those people who ripped flares both before and during the second Australia vs Greece game for finally squashing any hope that South Melbourne had of getting into the A-League. And we were this close to making it, too.

Around the grounds/Year of the Fence
Make your own fun

Halftime here in seniors, scoreless between Cairnlea and Altona East. Entertaining though. @FFV365 #yearofthefence pic.twitter.com/FPGv2j8OZs

— Paul Mavroudis (@PaulMavroudis) June 11, 2016

Got stood up for a Saturday arvo soccer sesh, but I somehow managed to find the desire against incredible odds to drive out to Cairnlea to see the struggling home side take on the slightly more struggling Altona East. Thankfully being out at Cairnlea meant that I got to spend an afternoon with Cairnlea's media dude Andrew, and better still, we got to see a pretty tidy game, especially the second half with its four goals. This included an injury time penalty equaliser which disappointed the locals.

Final thought
Who am I kidding, Friday was fun as all fuck.

Discordant - South Melbourne 1 Werribee City 0

This will be a relatively brief post.

First of all, commiserations to Gwelup Croatia for failing to make all our bitter dreams come true by losing their FFA Cup qualifier against Perth SC 4-3.

Anyway, despite the awful time slot, the 350 people in attendance - including about a dozen or so Bergers and Bentleigh onlookers - were treated to an exciting contest, albeit of an erratic and mostly middling standard of play. Some of the reasons for the game turning out the way it did must go down to our customary lethargic middle portion of the season shenanigans, but also due to Werribee playing a lot higher up the field than I, and I suspect many other had expected them to.

Lest I be accused of being willfully difficult or negative, I will say this: we looked a lot better in this game than we did against Dandenong Thunder the week before. Now the necessary disclaimers to that factoid are that we looked better going forward, while making little to no improvement in our defending, but it was a step in the right direction. It was a pity that we could not have been more clinical with our finishing, with Milos Lujic being the key offender, missing several excellent chances, but on the other hand, Werribee missed a ton of chances themselves, so let's all be grateful that Nick Epifano managed to put his chance away in the first half.

Someone made the point yesterday that Lujic hasn't scored a league goal since Andy Brennan left, which while being a clever and witty observation, was an observation so cynical that even  had to baulk at endorsing it. That's right, I've gone soft, but it's only been two league games, and it's not like Lujic didn't have plenty of chances - including another botched penalty attempt - to score a hattrick yesterday. Maybe the A-League recruiting guys were right all along.

Quite why we gave Werribee so much time and space on the ball is anyone's guess, and the less said about our inability to deal with long balls the better. Nikola Roganovic had a blinder in goals - the only way he could endear himself any more to the South fan base would be to somehow get his store's doughnuts on sale at Lakeside. If I had to give a 3-2-1 for this game, it'd be Roganovic three votes for saving our arses repeatedly, Iqi Jawadi two votes for working really hard in the midfield, and Epifano one vote because he scored and seemed to at least cause the opposition problems.

Next game
Bentleigh at home on Sunday. Could not imagine a 1st vs 2nd contest with this much disparity in form. This could turn out very good. More likely it could turn out very bad. Here's hoping for very good.

McEpifano/Choose your own adventure
The word on the terraces (via one of the Enosi 59 kids) yesterday was that Nick Epifano will be off to trial with Dundee United, and subsequent discussions seem to say that this is true, and that because of of this he'll miss the Bentleigh game, and I assume also the Heidelberg and Green Gully matches.

If you want the encourage Epifano at all costs (except calling for second efforts) reaction, turn to page 72

If you want the cynical 'fuck the cunt off' reaction, turn to page 43

Oh no he didn't!

Presumably for the best hissy fit at own supporters. pic.twitter.com/CuYE5swumB

— Ian Syson (@IanSyson) June 21, 2015

Simon Colosimo says 'hi'

Back to @smfc today. I had the pleasure of being a part of some great moments, memories & achievements that always put a smile on my face.

— Simon Colosimo (@Shime04) June 21, 2015

A reluctant word about chanting
Really discordant for large parts of the game yesterday, with some people going too slow considering that Clarendon Corner tends to go a little quicker, but it mostly sorted itself as the game went on. Not huge numbers by any strange of the imagination, but a good mix of old and new people.

Around the grounds
Gomer Pyle unleashes the full might of Charlene on the enemy
I eschewed a trip out to the Moreland Road derby for Altona East vs Cairnlea, because the food is better at Paisley Park and it was clearly less hassle to get to and from. East scored a penalty early on, received for one of the home team's players having his nose obliterated from his face. Then it was pretty even for a while, and Cairnlea scored from a penalty of their own early in the second half. Then Altona East responded via their forward who looks like Gomer Pyle from Full Metal Jacket, who only has a left foot and no other redeeming qualities (even his nickname of 'Chippy' - because he likes chips - is kinda lame) scored with a well placed shot from the edge of the box (his second goal of the day), and then with the game in the balance, and with his back to goal and with three defenders around him somehow weaseled his way out of that rabbit hole and put in the most delightful cross for 3-1, and then after that it was all a bit of a rout, finishing 5-1.

Final thought
Our last three league matches have been against North Geelong (14th), Dandenong Thunder (13th) and Werribee City (12th). Next two weeks are Bentleigh (1st) and Heidelberg (3rd). I think we're going to learn a lot about where we're at very quickly.

South make it eight in a row - South Melbourne 2 Bentleigh Greens 1

If this match report is even worse than usual, it's because I was busy chatting with interstate visitors, often not about the game at all.

We watched the under 20s get done 5-2 in what ended up being a bit of a rout in the second half, as well as the sandbagging of the new fangled sponsor boards so they wouldn't fly off onto the running track or the field of play like those from the last couple of years.

Discussed the awesomeness of this post, and of course Michael Lynch's 2012 VPL season preview, which inspired said post.

After second placed Oakleigh had cruised past the Knights on Friday night - more on that in the around the grounds section - the gap between us was once again closed to one point. Bentleigh for their part had coughed up their first loss of the year last week, meaning anything other than a win here would put them in a very difficult position at this early stage of the season.

Of course I ended up slagging off Mothers Day, and after being asked which public/religious/Hallmark holiday I wasn't against, I ended up with Royal Melbourne Show Day, which that jerk Kennett took away from us.

This is what happens when you use people's Twitter
handles instead of their proper names. Disappointed
now that Leigh didn't go for something more exotic.

And let's not forget the anguish caused by this result, or the cosmic injustice of this game.

When you've won seven league games in a row to start the season, and there are no injuries or suspensions to force your hand, it's kinda hard to change your starting eleven. And so it was that we fielded the same starting lineup for another week, though at least some of the fringe players managed to get some game time on the Wednesday against Berwick in the cup.

While it wasn't a uniformly quality game, it was exciting for pretty much the entirety of the 90 minutes and the five that the ref added on to the end. The first half was Bentleigh's, the second half ours. While we weren't without our chances in the first half, our poor final pass let us down time and again. At the other end, Jason Saldaris pulled off some fine saves to keep us at level pegging at half time. Bentleigh defended deep and in numbers, but were able to transition quickly as well as spread the play well to wide areas.

Fucken Cypriots - how do they work? Also Ernie Tapai, fridge magnets, Redheads nightclub, and for some reason former Heidelberg and Port Melbourne player Arthur Vatsanis.

The second half was better from us in at least starting to win the midfield, but the game got scrappier and our killer pass still wasn't there yet. The good thing was that Lujic managed to pounce on a loose ball, and it was us that took the lead rather than them. Did it change the game, or was that goal reflective of changes that had already happened? I can't really say for sure, but it probably came at just the right moment (don't most opening goals?)

I explained again the issue with the social club to people unfamiliar with the situation.

You, Strawberry, hit a home run. Photo: Cindy Nitsos

Lujic should have had a second a minute later when comical defending by Bentleigh on the edge of their 18 yard box saw the goalmouth lay open. Unfortunately Lujic's poke towards goal took a deflection and ended up rolling wide. But then the most obvious substitution in the history of mankind happened - obvious because it has happened so many times already this season in this exact same way - Leigh Minopoulos came on for Nick Epifano. And that caused the second most predictable thing to happen on an NPL field in 2014, that being Minopoulos being involved in a South Melbourne goal, this time as scorer, after he sucked in the Bentleigh defender with a dummy shot, and then tucked away yet another goal to add to his super-sub reputation.

Bentleigh was by far the toughest opponent we've faced so far in 2014, and despite the win - eight league wins in a row by the way - there were flaws exposed that will need management. Along the wings in particular, Bentleigh often got through far too easily - thankfully the desperation defending by James Musa and Michael Eagar got us out of enough sticky situations. Saldaris' kicking was erratic, but his command of the six yard box also left a little to be desired. That was conceded after Michael Eagar was substituted late as a precautionary measure (after getting copping a nasty blow) was also probably no coincidence, as the Michael Eagar Fan Club will tell you. One look at the injury crisis at Melbourne Knights will tell you how quickly the limited depth at pretty much all NPL clubs gets tested when even just a couple of injuries hit.

The people who I assume actually watched the game reckon Iqi Jawadi had a great game and was probably BOG, so who am I to disagree? And does it matter that we're not that thrashing teams in the way that Oakleigh are? Apparently not. And I'll tell you something else - if you're waiting for the round where Oakleigh and Bentleigh are due to take points off one another, you're going to have to wait until round 19, the same week we meet Northcote for the first time. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone will play everyone else twice, you could have sworn that the FFV got the fixturing committee from the AFL to do the NPL fixtures for this year.

Next week
Pascoe Vale at home. They're near the bottom, but have been more than competitive in most games.

Ichthys
After being disappointed by the FFV's highlights of our win at Ballarat - there was more to the second half than a solitary goal kick - I settled in to watch SMFC TV last Tuesday, and instead got fishing. Fishing! What a terrible crime against humanity. Apparently it was all too do with technical difficulties out at Channel 31. Of course it ended up on youtube afterwards anyway, as did the latest edition of Minute with Mala.

South fans win (sorta) share (a very small one, if that) of (pretend) award
One of our readers, Savvas Tzionis, posted in the comments section last week an excerpt from Joe Gorman's A-League awards piece in The Guardian - and it's a good thing he did too, because as much as I like Joe and his writing, I wasn't going to read the article until Savvas popped with up the fact that we got a mention:

Best Twitter stoush

Scott Munn and George Calombaris, who traded insults over Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory. Munn made fun of Victory's 5-0 loss to Wellington Phoenix (despite Heart being bottom of the table), Calombaris called him 'Mr Munt' and the best part was when South Melbourne fans accused Calombaris of being a traitor to Hellenism because of his new loyalty to Victory. Not to be outdone, Richard Garcia and Jerome Polenz's little internet battle was also good fun.

So thanks to Savvas for letting us know about this tidbit, and well done to all those South fans who put in the hard yards, even though I think the award should have gone to 'Ezequiel Trumper vs Everyone'.

Lakeside to host 2015 Asian Cup teams
While travelling out to Berwick on Wednesday, an interesting question was raised - would Lakeside be hosting any of the competing teams? Well, after asking around, it seems we'll be hosting the Socceroos in the lead up to the tournament. Some of our more anal retentive readers may recall that Lakeside hosted the Saudi national team in the lead up to their crucial 2014 world qualifier back in 2012 - which they went on to lose, so who knows if it did them any good.

FFV Hall of Fame nominations open
Know someone worthy? Then head here to find out more. Even if your candidate doesn't get up this year, their nomination is kept on for future years.

Football Federation Victoria (FFV) is accepting nominations for the FFV Hall of Fame. 

The FFV Hall of Fame recognises extraordinary performance over a career by participants who have made a significant contribution to the game in Victoria.

This year's inductees will be announced at the 2014 FFV Gold Medal Night later in the year.

The following people have been inducted into the FFV Hall of Fame since it began in 2010:

2013 - George Wallace, Janette Melvin, Alan Davidson

2012 - Theo Marmaras, Jane Oakley, Paul Wade

2011 - Michael Weinstein, Theresa Deas, Tom Jack

2010 - Harry Dockerty, Betty Hoar, Jimmy Rooney

Click here for the FFV Hall of Fame policy and nomination form.

For any queries regarding the FFV Hall of Fame, please email Executive Assistant to the CEO, Charlotte Greer, at cgreer@footballfedvic.com.au

Around the grounds
A short lived experiment of a national body comprised of several incompatible warring states, held together by a corrupt self-serving central bureaucracy, which would inevitably fall apart with spectacular results. Was the NSL our own Yugoslavia? Discuss.
Even with their very good record at Jack Edwards Reserve - apparently they hadn't lost there since 2006 - it was always going to be an uphill battle for an injury riddled Melbourne Knights to not lose this game against the best team in the competition. And so it turned out, with Oakleigh eventually running out 3-1 winners, and it could have been so many more had the officiating and the Cannons' finishing been more compliant. Still, assembling such a great team is probably easier when:

1. You can get away with putting more sponsors on your shirt than is apparently legally possible.
2. No one is probably ever going to publish the player points tallies for 2014.

Still, on that sponsorship matter and for whatever it's worth, there were a lot fewer sponsor boards around the ground on the perimeter fencing than one is accustomed to at Oakleigh. What's up with that?

At the end of the game, the MCF people deviated from their fascist chants, the chants about Yugoslavia (like the NSL, Yugoslavia's gone for good - can't we all just move on?), the 'North Sunshine is so wonderful' chant and whatever other chants they sang on the night, to perform the Croatian language version of the 'sack the board' chant. At least, that's what I assume they were chanting - after many years on the World Game and Football Anarchy forums, I did manage to pick up that 'uprava' means 'board, committee or administration', and after six losses in a row I think it's safe to say that they weren't chanting 'this committee is doing an OK job under very difficult circumstances, so we'll be patient and support them'. The bloke running towards the fence to heap passionate (English language) abuse on the team also kinda gave it away. Tough times at Somers Street, but Oakleigh keeps rolling on, still undefeated in the league and probably still spewing that they rolled over in that Dockerty Cup game against Werribee City.

Stop the madness! Start the movie!
These new fangled referees. The match between Altona East and Cairnlea at Paisley Park was almost called off because the ref thought it was too wet. Too wet! There were no visible puddles on the field, the ball was bouncing during the warm ups, and this bloke wanted to call the game off. Luckily someone from the visiting team got on the blower to the FFV, who apparently told the ref to play the damn game, which turned out to be a very entertaining and end to end affair.

Is there any moment as transfixing in soccer, as when from a free kick the goalkeeper is rooted to his spot watching the ball fly by? When you're on the receiving end, it's terrifying. When you're on the shooting end, there's that sense of possibility, the momentary near certainty that the ball is going in. Too bad for Altona East, they were on the receiving end, with the ball cannoning in off the post. Soon after they equalised, but eventually lost the game when they gave away a fairly cheap goal. The game concluded, we all started walking back to our cars, when we noticed that a very serious looking melee had started on the field. For a match that had had no spite in it whatsoever, this was a disturbing turn of events. Thankfully, the ground marshals and the calmer players managed to sort it out before it got completely out of hand. How it started is anyone's guess.

Final thought
I accidentally left my 2014 team poster at some pizza place on Bourke Street.

South snare third place in 2012 Hellenic Cup

Apparently came from 2-0 down to beat Northcote 3-2. No idea on lineup, I wasn't there. I was, rather, at McKechnie Reserve watching Westvale Olympic beat Cairnlea 5-2 in the statewde knockout cup. Next South match is a friendly against Port Melbourne this coming Wednesday.