Discussion paper relic - SMFC Museum Tour Notes, circa 2015

As will be evident upon reading the following paragraphs, this is a discussion paper I wrote up in late 2015, after having gone on a sort of reconnaissance mission to various AFL club museums with a couple of South people. Of course, the then necessary commercial considerations saw the club head in a different, more pared back direction to what I'd recommended in this paper. The aesthetic decisions which were taken after this paper was written and which ended up in the culmination of the social club space as it became manifest in early 2017, I had nothing to do with; I don't even know if anyone even read the discussion paper. That's not something I resent; it's just the way things turned out.

SMFC Museum Tour Notes

On Tuesday 20^th October 2015, John Kyrou, George Kouroumalis and myself (Paul Mavroudis) travelled to several AFL club museums as part of preliminary research into the establishment and possible layout of the proposed/planned South Melbourne FC museum. 

This document contains descriptions of four AFL club museum/historical spaces; notes on the relative strengths and weakness of each approach; and possible lessons that we at South Melbourne can learn from each museum when it comes to finally (re-)creating our own museum space.

None of the suggestions and recommendations contained within this document are intended to be viewed as final – rather, they are intended to provoke discussion about the kind of museum and story that we would like to tell both to ourselves and to people from outside the club.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn’s museum was located upstairs from its club offices, in its own dedicated space. Partly because of this, the Hawks were able to charge admittance ($2/$1) for entry into the museum, though in addition to that they also have a ‘Friends of the Museum’ group which, on payment of a $10 annual fee, allows members to visit the museum as frequently as they wish – while also accumulating funds for upkeep of the museum. 

The museum space consisted of a large central room containing most of the displays, as well as an adjacent room containing honour boards and full sized portraits, and another room for storage and the curator’s office. The displays in the main room were impressive. The many display cabinets were filled with trophies, jerseys, photographs, news articles, match programs and assorted merchandise. The walls were filled with painted murals and profiles of important individuals from the club’s history.

It is quite obvious that along with the considerable expense and care provided to the museum, Hawthorn has also established a very strong sense of trust with its membership and supporter base (and its past players) to the effect that it has been able to receive many different donations of valuable and rare items. This sense of trust is the least immediately obvious but perhaps most important feature of their museum.

Collingwood

Collingwood’s museum was located in the main foyer of its main office space, with easy access to both its reception desk and the club merchandise store. In comparison to the Hawthorn museum, Collingwood’s space was far less cluttered and much more minimalist. It had a dedicated wall for each of its premiership trophies, and a small three sided display area for artefacts, which was largely centred on the 1990 premiership. 

In that sense the Collingwood museum was somewhat underwhelming, especially when one considers the amount of material available at its disposal. However, Collingwood’s use of black and white Perspex honour boards was a very effective means of paying tribute to the contribution of players, volunteers and other persons associated with the club. Collingwood’s black and white colours, used badly, could have seen a real mess of an aesthetic style, but this was avoided by the large open spaces and the thoroughly modern nature of its displays.

And while Collingwood’s museum may have been small, the club also has an official digital component to its historical wing (http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/), providing information on a wide range of topics.

Carlton

Carlton’s museum was more or less split into two parts, both as offshoots of its main foyer/reception area. Their premiership cups were stacked in glass cabinets, spaced out so that it reached all the way up to the top of the very tall ceilings. While creating an imposing presence, the absurd height of the display meant that many if not most of the trophies were inaccessible to the general public.

Along the corridor which lead to the gymnasium, a complex mosaic made up of custom made tiles showcased many of the most important players and moments in the club’s history. While aesthetically this was not to my taste, it was nevertheless a very clever concept and a novel way of getting around one of Carlton’s main problems when it comes to a museum display – their sonorous and overwhelming navy blue, which is a difficult colour to make look lively in comparison to those available to many other clubs.

Western Bulldogs

In contrast with the other clubs, the Bulldogs lacked any sort of museum. This is understandable, as the club has had far less success than the other cIubs which we visited. Instead, along the passageway to the player rooms, in an offshoot from the café/foyer, there was a decade by decade summary of the club’s history along the wall. The opposite side of the wall contained their 1924 ‘champions of Victoria’ flag. Within the limits of its own history and resources, this wall was an effective means of displaying the club’s history, using the club’s colour scheme in a very clever manner. In that sense, the Bulldogs were the most effective at telling a linear story about their club, whereas for the other three clubs the emphasis was on providing a visceral/emotional sense of the relevant club’s culture and success.

Other notes

Aside from the museum aspects of each club, attention was also paid to the other areas of the front office space of the clubs. In all examples, natural light was an important feature of the interior design. Clever and consistent use of club colours was also an integral feature of each office. This was not merely limited to signage and club personnel/employees in official merchandise, but also in Carlton’s case as part of the aesthetic design of its café (including furniture).

Club and corporate branding was also prominent at each club, both inside and outside the main entrances. These included full scale reproductions of famous moments in club history, murals, statues, and prominent display of Hall of Fame members of honour boards.

In all cases, the club merchandise shops were open and prominent in the floor plan, though Hawthorn’s was perhaps smaller due to limited office/floor space. While this may not be an option for South Melbourne in the immediate future, due to an at present limited fan base, smaller merchandise range and lower foot traffic, it is worth considering the best way to include a merchandise stall within the social club space.

With regards to the office spaces of most of the clubs visited, with their very large backroom operations it means that very few supporters will see most of the office space. Even with much smaller staffing at South Melbourne, the office space should still be rationalised in such a way that club reception/membership services is given priority at the entrance to the building

Summary and possible directions for a South Melbourne museum

While each museum/historical space offered something different, Hawthorn’s museum was the clear standout. Its dedicated space, as well as large and diverse collection of artefacts set it apart from the others. In addition, its emphasis on working with its supporter base to collect more items, as well having a museum supporters group has undoubtedly set it up well for the future. 

One weakness which needed to be overcome, and was perhaps only completely successfully done so in the case of Hawthorn, is that the AFL has a limited range of trophies on offer. Nevertheless Hawthorn overcame this problem by including a range of minor trophies, but principally through its large collection of artefacts.  

A South Melbourne Hellas museum, in the event that it is granted approximately 25 metres of wall space (as indicated in discussions), will be able to incorporate the best of each of the AFL museums that were visited, while also tailoring it both to the club’s culture and the artefacts and materials available at its disposal. It is likely that the most effective way of using that space would be to use glass cabinets for various displays and artefacts at a lower (waist high) level, while perhaps including information displays on the walls behind them at eye level.

It was agreed that most prominence should be given to the national league titles and Oceanian championship. While not ignoring the other achievements of the club, it is these achievements which should be highlighted. While a more thorough inventory is needed than the one undertaken when the old social club was packed away, and though many items have gone missing over several decades, the club nevertheless has a wealth of physical materials that could be displayed, from the important to the ephemeral.

One aspect which a properly designed social club and museum space will see the club benefit is in showing that the club takes its history seriously, and thus providing a sense to supporters and former players who may have valuable or notable South Melbourne items in their possession that the club is able to take care of them. This would have been a problem in the past, as record keeping of such materials was relatively poor, and the former museum space was poorly laid out and set up.

None of the club museums we visited had any interactive or digital elements in their spaces. The reasons for this are unknown. With the multimedia expertise available at South Melbourne, this is an area which we believe that South Melbourne could provide something novel in terms of a museum experience. While at this moment in time it is a goal possibly out of reach in terms of the resources at our disposal (as well as more immediate priorities), I believe that a dedicated online portal for South Melbourne’s history, related to but separate from the main site, would enhance both the overall historical record keeping at the club, but also create a space for people to access our history outside of a match day or visit to the club. While in some cases the lack of a digital history portal at AFL clubs has been made up for by individuals or supporter groups (such as Carlton’s Blueseum or Melbourne’s Demonwiki), realistically, we do not have the size and kind of supporters that would be able to create such a portal.

The incorporation of a Bulldogs style wall history may well be part of the main museum space, but it could also be used in others of the club rooms – in corridors leading to and from the social club, or in the players’ race for example. Its main strength is that it can provide a relatively cheap, concise and efficient means of telling South Melbourne’s story.

Another recommendation of our group is that while without wishing to go overboard with the club’s ethnic past in the manner that the Melbourne Knights do, it would not be wise to sideline the club’s Greek past, nor the name ‘South Melbourne Hellas’. Instead, that past should be used in a way to show strong roots leading forward to the present, showcasing a club that is comfortable in its own skin, neither hopelessly tied to the past, but not ashamed of it either.

To that end, some space will be need to be dedicated in one way or another to noting the histories of the three predecessor clubs, as well as potentially creating a space for the South Melbourne Women in the event that they become reunited with the main body of the club. 

In conclusion, the chief aims of any South Melbourne Hellas museum should be as follows:

• To provide a cogent and linear narrative version of the club’s history. 
• To provide a sense of pride for those at the club, whether long-time supporters or new fans. 
• To provide a visceral (or felt/emotional) sense of the club’s culture. 
• To provide a demonstration to the wider South Melbourne family that the club is serious about its history, and that it can therefore be trusted as a home for (elements of) people’s personal collections.

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Dave

Even more Collingwood Warriors stuff... and Joe Simunic

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Gunther

More stuff about Collingwood Warriors

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Dragi

Here, Dragi talks about the tremendous comedy act that was the Collingwood Warriors

Mmm, that's some good sports rorting right here!

Firstly, this post is going to have some really bloody long sentences. I hope none of my students read this.

Secondly, I must declare that I am a Collingwood season ticket holder.

Thirdly, there's one thing that I really want to do, and that's get away from the topic du jour, so I can write about the recent Worlds of Football Conference hosted by Victoria University, even if the interest in that will only be a fraction of the recent goings on.

But that doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon, especially when even the Herald Sun has decided to join the fray. And then in all likelihood, back to 3XY tomorrow...

Anyway, the article included in this blog entry is from this link, but due to the News Limited paywall, there's probably no point in clicking on it. The best to get around it is to Google the article, then visit their site from there, as for some reason that seems to get around it.

Insofar as 'smell the fear' articles go, this one I don't personally think is too bad, though who can definitively say who the dog whistling will reach?

It's biggest failing is in the details it is missing. One of these is the alleged (by rank and file athletics supporters) interference of the Collingwood triumvirate of Eddie McGuire (both Collingwood president and board member of Athletics Australia), John Brumby (then Victorian premier and noted Collingwood supporter) and Robin Fildes (former decathlete and Collingwood player, then of Athletics Victoria, now of Athletics Australia), to get the deal done for Collingwood's benefit.

While certainly understanding how such a view could be constructed, no one has ever found the smoking gun to definitely prove that there was collusion between these parties to force Athletics Victoria out of Olympic Park (and wouldn't there be fireworks if there was!).

I sympathise with the Victorian athletics community who wanted to stay there - it was their home and it had history that has been trampled on. Remembering also that Collingwood had left Victoria Park in a terrible state, and many Collingwood supporters are still very uncomfortable about having left at all. And while I'm not disappointed with the new facilities, which South supporter wouldn't have preferred to be playing at an upgraded Lakeside Stadium that was purpose built for soccer, as it was originally intended?

And at the same time, Olympic Park had had very little work done on it for about two decades. As crap as this situation is for many of the parties (except Collingwood for some reason), well at least athletics got some nice new facilities (they would never have received otherwise) and South gets to survive for another five minutes until we get sent broke by the ingrained mismanagement of the club, and the vultures - you know who you are - can swoop in and do what they've always wanted to do to us.

I am just so tired.

Here's some other things to take umbrage at:

• It's not a building of a social club, it's a redevelopment of the social club. The social club is already there.
• They've given money to upgrade the rest of Lakeside Stadium, so leaving our social club out of those plans would be kind of stupid.
• The redeveloped social club will, it is hoped and planned for anyway, be able to provide an income independent of the government stipend, which will end eventually. 
• The redevelopment money is apparently required to be used for football purposes, so the community, via the futsal court, will have access to it (as is the case with much of the rest of the facility).
• Unlike Olympic Park, which will be for the exclusive use of Collingwood (as one would expect) the $50 million spent on the facility benefits three tenants and the community at large.
• As has also been noted, it's a crappy headline, which ignore the huge state and federal grants given to Collingwood to redevelop Olympic Park, which dwarf what South is getting.
• It also ignores the entirety of what South to give up in exchange for this apparently 'free' money. This included income derived from other parts of the stadium, as well a cut of our (now admittedly meager) gate takings.
• A bit more detail on the details of the court case would be nice. The club have sent out media releases on the matter. The phrasing in the article makes us look a bit more shabby then we probably are.

And I'm glad that negotiations were viewed by the Labor Government as difficult. South had something they badly needed. Why wouldn't South do its homework in terms of ascertaining the worth of its lease, and then going for the jugular?

Taxpayers fund $4 million soccer deal as part of plan to give Collingwood Football Club control of Olympic Park

          By James Campbell

TAXPAYERS are shelling out almost $4.5 million to a Victorian Premier League soccer club under a secret deal agreed to by the Brumby government, as part of its plan to give the Collingwood Football Club exclusive control of Olympic Park. 

The payments - which run for 15 years and cost taxpayers up to $300,000 a year - were signed off by then sports minister James Merlino in return for South Melbourne FC, formerly known as Hellas, giving up its exclusive lease at the Bob Jane Stadium in South Melbourne.

When the deal was signed in 2009 the Brumby government was keen for a reluctant Athletics Victoria to move to the stadium so Olympic Park could be given to Collingwood.

The payments have come to light through documents filed in a court case that could see a receiver appointed to South Melbourne FC over a $120,000 loan it was given by supporters in 2004 and which it has never repaid.

The County Court will be asked next month to decide if South Melbourne FC is liable to repay Wellington Investments for the loan it was given at the time the club was in administration after failing to be admitted to the A-League.

The club told the court "the majority of its income, more than $300,000 per annum, is paid to it by the State Sport Centres Trust pursuant to a memorandum of understanding ... involving the Victorian State Government".

It also told the court it is "receiving the sum of $950,000 from the State Government" to build a social club within its exclusive space at the redeveloped Lakeside Oval.

Sources familiar with the deal said it requires the Government to pay the club $300,000 for five years and then $200,000 for another 10 years after that, in addition to the $950,000 for the redeveloped social club.

Club chairman Nick Galatas declined to discuss the court case, but said the money was fair and reasonable compensation for giving up its exclusive rights to the old Bob Jane Stadium.

He rejected suggestions that the club's lease on Bob Jane Stadium had been for a peppercorn rent.

"It wasn't a commercial rent, but it wasn't a dollar a year," he said.

Mr Merlino said the court case was an internal dispute within the soccer club.

"I hope it gets resolved for all the players and members of the public," he said.

He said Labor government negotiations with the club had been difficult.

"I'm proud of the transformation of sport in the City of Melbourne during the last term of our government,"he said. 

"Melbourne now has two world-class sporting precincts, where most cities in the world would be lucky to have one."

A spokeswoman for incumbent Sports Minister Hugh Delahunty confirmed the existence of the deal but declined to comment, citing commercial-in-confidence.

The Continuing Adventures of Jim Marinis

It should be noted that this has naught to do with SM Hellas, so if you don't care about the AFL, you can look away now.

Yes, it's true, away from South Melbourne Hellas, I do take a more than passing interest in the Collingwood Football Club. Feel free to send all hate mail via the comments section.

Been wondering what our old friend Marinis has been up to of late? Me neither until this:

Collingwood furious as manager shops Alan Toovey around via email 

All I can say to Jim is, take that overrated poor man's Rupert Betheras and fuck off.

Hopefully something more South related in the next post.

Gosch's Paddock Gossip (and other stuff)

So yeah, I was at Gosch's Paddock yesterday with a snow bunny talking about my thesis and paying attention to groins and hamstrings while trying to cope with the overwhelming boganity in the surrounds.

And the snow bunny told me that we had actually hired a general manager, allegedly one Peter Kokotis, local player agent and occasional contributor to Neos Kosmos English Weekly. If this is true, it's an interesting end to the saga which started here and thankfully ended here.

Also rumours flying around that we've signed goalkeeper Griffin McMaster. If this is true, what does it mean for Zaim Zeneli? What does it mean for our youth keepers? And who is taking on the role of football director? Interesting times as per the norm.

Off-season digressions - international rugby league

This is a demographic/sociological/ephemeral digression from almost everything this blog has stood for over the past three years or so. It has naught to do with South, or soccer, so it's OK if you decide to skip this entry. If you still haven't dropped off, I warn you also that the following is all very convoluted, but I've tried to break it up into sections.

Preface - State of Confusion

Earlier this year, I took my buddy Gains to his first Australian Rules game, the Queens Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood. It seemed a good choice. No soccer that weekend, big crowd expected (or average crowd by Collingwood standards), but not a terribly hyped game and neither side at that stage really turning it on. It was a pretty rubbish game in the end, though the fact that it was a close game (a draw), gave it a little bit of an edge. Still, the poor lad was utterly confused by what was going on.

Of course, I tried to explain what was happening. That came up a treat when a mass of players dived on a loose ball on the Southern Stand side of the ground, the umpire picked out a free kick (for us I think, and by us I mean the somehow 2010 premiership Pies), and I was only able to explain the decision by remarking that probably no one in the ground, umpire included, knew how he'd arrived at his decision. Enjoyment was certainly diminished by factors such as these. As I've maintained for a long time, it's a game with its own stupid rhythm, and if you ain't born into it, it's a very hard rhythm to become accustomed to.

Yesterday, it was my turn to feel all discombobulated.

My History With Rugby League
Until the recent introduction of One HD, unless you had a subscription television service, as an Australian sports fan you've been reliant on what the free to air networks deem commercially and culturally appropriate for you to see. Which means that, if for example you're a rugby league fan in Victoria, you only get to see midnight replays of NRL games, except for the grand final and possibly one other game during the season, and perhaps some live State of Origin fixtures.

It's not much. So unless you're already dedicated - and in a Melbourne rugby league context, it would be a fair assumption that you're less likely to be a convert as opposed to having been born into an ex-pat rugby league culture of some sort - it can be difficult to understand the culture underpinning the game, the tactics, and even the rules themselves.

Which is not to say that I don't understand the basic rules and the gist of the game. I have picked up something from Channel Nine's (at best) scatter-shot programming of the game into Victorian loungerooms. And I have a bit of an understanding of the history of the game and its development, even internationally. But like many Australian rules following Victorians, I still can't find an 'in' to the game - but unlike a fair few other commentators, I'm interested in trying to find reasons other than Victorian parochialism for why I think this game won't take off here.

So it was in that spirit that I took up an offer of attending my first rugby league match yesterday, which happened to be not a club game, but Australia vs England at Swan Street Stadium. Turns out our tickets were for third row seats at the Yarra end. Not that there's a bad seat in the house in this stadium, but we were close enough to have our eyebrows singed from the half-arsed flame oriented pyro show before the game. But despite the close proximity to the field, it did not make for a good initiation.

Lollies, Chocolates, Donuts and Chips
With kids, the general rule of thumb with them seems to be that you wean them to spectatorship slowly, and mostly with bribery - chips and lollies being the main currency. When attempting to initiate an adult into a new spectator sport, it's a different story. They already have all their preferences and allegiances. And thus the conversion gimmick of choice seems to be, the bigger the game, the higher the quality of the combatants, the more likely one is to succeed in gaining a new follower.

Once I would have followed that same kind of logic, but my thinking on the matter has shifted considerably over the years. If looked at dispassionately, most sporting contests are predictable affairs with mostly predetermined results, even if the methods may vary. It is allegiances to teams and fixations on the end result that blinds us to the massive letdown that these games are from a neutral's entertainment point of view. So if this is the case - and I believe it to be so - why not seek to initiate someone with a lesser fixture, especially as it will be the modus operandi for the rest of their spectator career?

International contests are not the pinnacle of rugby league. England is equivalent to a second tier side in a sport which internationally barely has one tier  - the Australians with only New Zealand as a near competitor. And the visitors were fortunate that the Kangaroos were in cruise control for much of this game, otherwise the English would have struggled to score at all. And it rained as well, meaning the game contained several elementary handling errors. And the crowd was flat sounding, with even most of the tries having the celebratory sting taken out of them.

But this I felt, despite the protestations of the league folk I was with, was more true to the nature of the game as it exists week to week. Not every game is a blockbuster, tight contest, or high quality affair. Most aren't, and thus I feel that saw I'd witnessed something authentic, despite, or perhaps rather due to what I perceived to be its pedestrian quality.

Against Modern Everything
There are many things that bother me about modern sport. Right near the top of that list is the desire that the game itself no longer be the centrepiece. It wasn't just the music played after all the tries, drowning out any possible fan reaction, which is not unique to rugby league. And I can deal with the incessant advertising before the game and during the half time break, if only they'd turn the volume down just a little so I don't have to shout to the person next to me in order to be heard. For some reason, they thought it'd be a good idea to have Brian McFadden sing some songs off his new album, and have some woman sing at halftime. Little chance to even start a punch on with the English supporters in the ground.

Which brings me to the English. There were quite a few at the ground and the pubs around town - the most logical explanation being that they were cricket tourists who had arrived early for the upcoming Ashes series. There were flags dotted round here and there, and the odd English rugby league jersey as well, but seldom have I seen such a forlorn bunch of supporters, knowing they would get spanked even before the team got onto the plane. I wish I could say it endeared me to them but the effect of their fatalism was both disheartening and ludicrous.

Degrees of Altitude and Comprehension
Back to the game, it made a little more sense sitting near the top of the stand where the side to side movement was easier to see, but the game is missing something. I'd get rid of the ten metre rule for a start. The game needs more kicking, and for a supposedly territorial game, its rather more about maintaining possession while marching it up the field withing a certain amount of tackles while being given a fair amount of breathing space to do so. They should also get rid of the video referee, let him go with his gut and if it's wrong, it's wrong, and just tally those mistakes as part of the great narrative arc. The big tackles that I was promised also did not eventuate. Not that there wasn't big tackling, but there wasn't that sense of exhilaration that one was meant to feel.

Despite not understanding a great many things about the game, I did manage to have one minor breakthrough. Inevitably when watching a Channel Nine broadcast of the match, Ray 'Rabbits' Warren is the chief commentator. His style of getting excited at seemingly random, innocuous moments of play - innocuous in that the plays Rabbits gets excited about seem identical to each other, at least to a person uneducated in the game such as myself - finally made sense. The way I came to this conclusion was in the random outbursts of excitement from the crowd. Had they seen a gap, a movement, a tackle that I failed to comprehend? Possibly, but I was not able to pick up a particular pattern.

Conclusion
I've struggled since late yesterday (not helped by the Flinders Street Station chip wagon closing moments before I could gorge on deep fried starch and my choice of condiments) to pinpoint the thoughts and find the appropriate words to explain my very 'meh' and perplexed reaction to the game, and further to that, reasons beyond parochialism. I'm disappointed to find that I have failed, and not necessarily because I've failed to overcome mine or everyone else's parochialism. I still feel that there is a deeper answer beyond a cultural slant. I just haven't been able to isolate it from that factor entirely yet. Work into this problem may continue into the future.

Bah, Stupid Pagan Bullshit

Holidays are that special time
When we laugh and sing and feel warm and cozy
Forget about being angry for a day

from Happy Holidays From Charlie Manson (in that kickarse episode of South Park where they go to Nebraska and somehow redeem Manson via ad nauseum Christmas specials).


I'm bored. How about you? Nah, you all love Easter, and Jeebus, and have millions of friends and so therefore there isn't this huge vacuum needing to be filled where a South game would usually be.

I'll be likely attending the Collingwood game tomorrow. It's against Melbourne, and so a win should be guaranteed, and if not, well, apart from being the laughing stock of that competition, at least there won't be any Melbourne fans on the train on the way back, the way back being the Werribee line. It's also one of the very small handful of AFL matches I can get myself down to.

Today, bizarrely, I've been invited to attend a rugby league match. The Storm against St George at Docklands to be a little more exact. I'm not a fan of rugby league - me being petit-bourgeois and all that - not a fan of the Storm in any remote sense even as expected of my supposed sporting civic duty (fuck this town's parochialism can get up my goat sometimes), and not being a fan of the Docklands Stadium - apart from last year's Asian Cup Qualifier against Oman, I hadn't been inside the place for years - it should be something quite different, and yet so predictable in that it will only reinforce my appreciation of South and stuff. But that's probably quite a naff and close minded approach to take.

The horror of the bye week

Announcer: But now, the two conference champs must survive a harrowing bye-week that no one enjoys. [the TV shows a bunch of football players lounging by a pool]
Moe: Bye-weeks. Bronco Nagurski didn't get no bye-weeks! And now he's dead! Well, maybe they're a good thing.

I am going to watch the 'Pies on Queens Birthday. It'll be my first game for the year. Watch us lose now.

Little bit of Lakeside redevelopment news

It's a bit troubling we have to learn these things by eavesdropping on other people's private conversations... nevertheless, while there's some old info in there, the clarification that the $50 million is for every part of the project - including the reconfiguration of Olympic Park for Collingwood's use - is a little troubling. Are they the only ones getting what they want out of this?

Email from Athletics Victoria President Anne Lord: 

Dear friends, 
Please note this is a personal email not an official Athletics Victoria one! 
As you know we are relocating from Olympic Park to a new State Athletics Centre at the Bob Jane Stadium in Albert Park. 

This has great potential for the future development of athletics in this state. In order to secure the best outcome for athletics, the facility must be bigger and better than Olympic park (as promised). The government has allocated $50 million to this project and have promised an international standard facility including track and field facilities and offices. 

This $50 million must cover the cost of redeveloping OP for Collingwood (estimated 11-12 million), relocating the VIS and its facilities, redeveloping ovals for the South Melbourne soccer club and finally for our track, and warm up are, hammer facility, and buildings. 

Obviously this project is chronically underfunded. 

I am asking that you write to your local state member, expressing concern that 

-there may be insufficient funds (the project is chronically/severely underfunded) to develop the state athletics centre (including track, stadium and offices) as promised. Unless the new centre can offer what we had and more than Olympic Park,the move will be for nothing. It must have the potential to attract crowds both participants and spectators. We are also in danger of losing the Melbourne Athletic grand prix event, the main show case of our sport, unless the facility is of appropriate standards. 

We need all state government members to push for sufficient/increased funding to secure the future of athletics in Victoria. 

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions 0419872950 and please pass on to other athletic friends. 

Thanks 
Anne Lord

Scrounging

So yeah, um, this is where this week's preview would normally go. But there's no game on this week, there being some sort of midseason break or bye or whatever before the last seven games of the season. Altona East is playing in Ballarat, so that's probably a no go. There's the Swans-Pies game on TV. As for Sunday, might make the trek down to Albert Park Field 13 to see the State 3 Women's side play Sandringham. Seems like one of those weekends to be honest.

Things learnt while sober

Saturday was eventful, and if I wasn't sober I wouldn't be able to relate all the following items to you. So here's to sobriety, it helps you remember the good times.

* What the fuck is with people wearing soccer jerseys to AFL games? Not the first time I've seen this, and Aussie Rules courtesy of its very confused and diluted supporter culture, with its giant inflatable novelty hands/fingers, soccer style scarves and unnecessary touches of grey in polo tops, but at yesterday's game, I was still perplexed at the thinking that goes behind wearing a Juventus or Newcastle United top to a 'Pies game. Sure the colours match, and there's nothing wrong per se with supporting more than one code, but is there some sort of cultural cringe at not wearing actual Australian supporters gear? And why are there still far more people wearing foreign soccer tops as opposed to local ones? Are the latter only for game day, or has the game not made the leaps and bounds into the public consciousness as has been claimed?

* South Melbourne will have a new website by the end of the year. Was supposed to be launched by the start of this season, but whatever. I've been nominally commissioned to do the history section

* South Melbourne's Women's team will also get a new site, soon allegedly. Might explain why the current one, which takes awhile to load even on a half-decent connection, is not being updated.

* Very likely I will soon have my own Peter Buljan General Diagnostic Laboratories mouse pad. I've been wanting one of these ever since I learned of their existence, irrespective of the fact that mouse pads are useless now that everyone's shooting lasers with their fifty button mice.

* I've been promised my own sort of vintage 'Pies flag from an ex-fan.

* A step in the right direction has been taken into the production of the season 2007 DVDs. Hopefully they become available soon.

* There's been a shuffling of roles amongst the inner sanctum of the South board and in general operations. These relate mostly to merchandise and the website, and suffice to say at this stage it comes across as a welcome change. Time will tell on how well it all works out, but so far the signs are good.

* Learned that a certain South board member, known for his high level of education, handsome appearance, ability with the ladies and his hatred for all things Heidelberg, has Heidelberg supporting friends. Bit disillusioned to be honest.

* A Global Positioning Device is pretty much useless if you don't know what you're doing or where you're going.

* A sole piece of paper on a bit of street furniture is probably not the best way to inform people of the change in location of the Nightrider bus service.

* Lastly, Happy Birthday to Yianni and Dubs, Greeksta relax, and Cliff show yourself on Monday and no one will belt you. Honest.