Fanatic of the Week no. 6 - James Belias

Last time I posted one of these back in 2017, I said that it was the last one that I'd found on the Wayback Machine that was still in working order... but I was wrong! I've found another one, and bless, it's from someone who still goes to games!

NAME:
James Belias

AGE:
21

SUBURB:
Buxton (home of the ‘Buxton Burger’). Actually, I live in South Clayton.

INTERESTS: 
Becoming the world’s greatest DJ and being the music editor of Lots Wife, the Monash Uni newspaper.

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS:
Racing Genk, Torquay United, AEK Athens, Hamburg and Oubasi Goldfields and Border Security. But South Melbourne are the number one priority and interest.

ARE YOU A MEMBER?
Yep.

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH? 
No idea, but I think I was going to the soccer before I could walk and my first words were probably a chant of some sort. Seriously, dad used to take myself and my two brothers to Middle Park as a weekly outing. Fanatasicm grew steadily…

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY? 
I remember going to the Grand Final in 90/91 and going bananas as a little kid, and repeating the process against Carlton in 97/98 and Sydney United in 98/99. Surely that is the pinnacle of supporting a club? Another great memory is seeing Paul Trimboli and Micky P at Chadstone Shopping Centre

Also, the World Club Championships was incredible too. Wish I went, but I went nuts at the TV. I’ll never forget the Vasco supporters before kick off against South. Amazing scenes.

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED? 
When we played Perth Glory at Lakeside on a Wednesday night. I forget which season, but it was a battle for top spot and we scored 2 goals in a couple of minutes to take the lead and finally win 2-1. A great night, and Jimoin the comedian was there going nuts for South!!

Another favourite game was against Marconi at Middle Park years ago. No idea which season, but Tsolakis scored a penalty and Awaratife added a corker seconds later to seal an impossible victory. (The Clash of the Titans – Season 1992/93).

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER? 
I can only speak of who I have seen actually play and all I need to say is that there’s only one Paul Trimboli.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE? 
There are too many things to list, but I like the way South caters for soccer fans in Melbourne and competes, I believe, quite well for the very competitive Melbourne sporting dollar. I think there are some great supporters doing great things for the club too.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE? 
I get annoyed at the way certain parties at South (both internal and external) cling to the Greek heritage of South. Sure the club has an ethnic history, and we should never forget that, but still referring to the team as ‘Hellas’, which means Greece, has been played for too long.

I also dislike the seats opposite the grandstand. They encroach upon the remaining standing area too quickly for my liking. I hate sitting and watching the football.

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM? 
I won’t dignify that with a response.

WHY? 
Coz South Melbourne are the pride of Victoria and the most famous Australian sporting club in the world! GO SOUTH!!!


THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME JAMES. 

Fanatic of the Week no. 5 - Marshall Sayer

This is the last one of these I could find that was still in working order. Maybe some more digging another eight years time from now will unearth some more of these. 

If you would like to add your name to the gimmick, I'm happy to receive emails answering all the questions below.



Welcome to our sixth 'Fanatic of the Week'. This week’s fanatic is Marshall Sayer from St. Kilda who hasn’t missed a South Melbourne match in Victoria for three seasons.

See below for full fanatic profile:
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NAME: Marshall Sayer

AGE: 17

SUBURB: St. Kilda

INTERESTS: Soccer, music, socialising with friends, footy

FAVOURITE CLUBS:
South Melbourne, Arsenal, Fiorentina

ARE YOU A SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMBER?
Of course

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
14 years old

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
The two Grand Final wins in 1997/98 & 1998/99

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
Against Melbourne Knights in 1998 (2-2), when Bill Damianos hit a beautiful 40 yard strike into the top corner

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
Michael Petkovic

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Paul Trimboli

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
The team performing the best in the country, development of complete multiculturalism amongst supporters, the complete turn around from last season, and the boys in the administration offices

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Nothing

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
No way

WHY?
I could never support any other team simply because I love South Melbourne just that little bit too much!

THANK YOU MARSHALL FOR YOUR TIME!

Fanatic of the Week no. 4 - Nicholas Haddad

This is an interesting one - one where a little kid has been roped into the segment. This one actually had a photo as well, though we'll refrain from publishing it.



Welcome to 'Fanatic of the Week'.

This week’s fanatic is young Nicholas Haddad from Rowville who has been a member of the Trimmers Club since he was born just over two years ago.


See below for full fanatic profile:
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NAME: Nicholas Haddad

AGE: 2

SUBURB: Rowville

INTERESTS: Soccer and Hi-5

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS:
South Melbourne

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Yes - Trimmers Club Member

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH? 
One year old

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY? 
Watching players with their little children

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED? 
Going to my first game

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER? 
Paul Trimboli (Trimmers)

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER? 
Paul Trimboli (Trimmers)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE? 
Happy people and the jumping castle, blue flags waving and saying "Go Blues"

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE? 
Fires are bad (Flares)

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM? 
No

THANK YOU NICHOLAS FOR YOUR TIME! 

Fanatic of the Week no. 3 - Manuel Bouw

After doing a little bit more digging, I'm am temporarily resuscitating this segment which first came to light (so far as I know) on the official site in 2001, and then became a short lived segment here during 2009. It's nice to add this and the ones that will follow to both the 'Fanatic of the Week' collection, but also the 'What South Means to Me' collection.


FANATIC OF THE WEEK!

Welcome to 'Fanatic of the Week'.

This week’s fanatic is Manuel Bouw from Mooroolbark who likes the club because it has an exciting team with cheap membership.


See below for full fanatic profile:
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NAME: Manuel Bouw

AGE: 20

SUBURB: Mooroolbark

INTERESTS: Sport

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS: South Melbourne & Liverpool

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
I was last season, but this season I'm not, because I spent my $ on travelling overseas to watch the English premier league, but I'll be a member for next season!

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
18 years

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
Andy Vlahos doing a somersault off the sideline advertising after scoring on his debut

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
When we pumped the Knights 3-0 in November of 1999

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
John "the headmaster" Anastasiadis

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Paul Trimboli (I never saw Paul Wade play, so I can't comment on him)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
A good stadium with seats close to the ground, an exciting team, cheap membership and roasted peanuts for $1

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Getting on the tram after a match that doesn't go all the way through to Collins Street

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
Never ever

WHY?
Having been to watch the soccer at Olympic Park, the MCG, Highbury & White Hart Lane in London, as well as many other grounds, South Melbourne is the only team which makes me feel welcome, and at home.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME MANUEL.

Fanatic of the Week - Paul Mavroudis

So we've exhausted our stash of genuine vintage Fanatics of the Week. And I'm bored and dismayed - and just because I'm typing this up on a rainy Saturday afternoon for release on a Wednesday, it doesn't mean that I won't be bored and dismayed at the moment it's published or when you read it.


FANATIC OF THE WEEK

Saturday, 14th March, 2009

This week’s fanatic is Paul Mavroudis who likes the club because, to paraphrase Lift To Experience "we have to, not because we want to".

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NAME: Paul Mavroudis

AGE: 25.

SUBURB: In the Darkness On The Edge Of Town

INTERESTS: 'Football'; the other football; books; alternative 'music'; Wikipedia; collating statistics; blogging; providing highly educational but seldom understood pearls of wisdom on Internet forums; stopping myself from writing cliched serial killer fiction where I annihilate everyone that shits me and handing it in as part of my coursework; public transport; retro gaming; providing constructive criticism of classmates' mostly pisspoor attempts at short fiction; stickers; Fred Negro's 'Pub' strip when it isn't just St Kilda in jokes; a fair few crazy animated television shows; dessert.

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS: South Melbourne.

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Yes. Until the Hellas Fan Club comes in and sets everything right again, back to the way it used to be, in the Beforetime, the Long Long Ago. Soon I hope. Put us all out of our misery.

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
Probably around 9 years old, the home game against West Adelaide in season 1992/93 where we won won 4-2. They were introduced as our cousins from South Australia or something like that, hmm.

WHITE COLLARS OR BLUE?
Seriously, should it really matter?

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
The day everyone realised Acropolis Now was actually farken shithouse. Which is technically not a memory since it hasn't happened yet, as can be seen from this review of Stephen Hawking's 'Brief History of Time', which I did end up reading the entirety of, and not just get bored by page 3, thank you very much John Safran. Not that I understood all or even most of it, but I got something out of it I think, and Carl Sagan's question in the introduction to that book about why we can remember the past but not the future struck a quixotic physical and philosophical chord.

Our ability to remember past but not future also coincides with the arrow of entropy. The reason, Hawking says, is that whenever a memory is made, in either a brain or a computer, the smidgen of energy required to light up a neutron or move an electron is released as heat. Heat ---roiling, chaotic heat--- increases entropy. Memories, then, because they release heat, increases disorder, too. Entropy increases from yesterday to tomorrow. That`s why memories are made in the past --- to Hawking a more convincing explanation than the pedestrian statement that one can remember only what has already occurred." (Newsweek, January 4, 1993.)

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
The 2006 VPL Grand Final, because within a few seconds a whole bunch of people forgot we'd just won a championship and were more interested in throwing rocks at other people who were piggy backing for a day on the fat woman's current club in order to pursue some sort of justice for issues of blood, land, culture and history located mostly in the Balkans and who were also throwing rocks. Halcyon days.

FAVOURITE DEGRASSI MOMENT
The scene where Wheels is for some inexplicable reason wearing a Footscray guernsey.

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
James Spanos. Doesn't even have to do anything to be part of the senior team. Doesn't make mistakes. Known by people who don't even know of the actual players.

FAVOURITE BISCUIT
Arnott's Kingston, the grownups chocolate biscuit.

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Paul Trimboli. Stupid question.

ASTERIX OR TINTIN?
Asterix, but they're both pretty cool.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Oh wow, where do you begin? For starters, I like the lies. The little ones, like why we didn't wear the South Melbourne United heritage strip, to the medium ones, to the big ones, with the claims of 10,000 strong crowds at pretty much every game in the 1980s, because the people making those claims either have dementia or only went to the games with 10,000 people, and not to the games with 800 people against teams such as Brisbane Lions.

I also love the fact that we've never played in South Melbourne.

I love the hypocrisy which pours fourth constantly out of every orifice, especially with regards to the A-League and the AFL.

I love people living off past glories and thinking it's enough to last a lifetime.

I love the fans who see only what they want to see and never what's actually in front of them.

That's just the stuff off the top of my head.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
The food could be better at times.

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
No.

WHY?
Well, the league doesn't exist anymore, so I guess it's impossible to support another NSL team.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME PAUL!
My pleasure.

Fanatic of the Week no.2 - Anthony Christodoulou

Ok, so we didn't have any responses about the whereabouts of Helen Menidis. Last roll of the dice here with the only other Fanatic Of The Week file we managed to have access to.


FANATIC OF THE WEEK

Friday, 29th June, 2001

This week’s fanatic is Anthony Christodoulou from Noble Park who likes the club because it is much more than a soccer club, it's a way of life

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NAME: Anthony Christodoulou.

AGE: 19.

SUBURB: Noble Park.

INTERESTS: All sports, soccer, going out with friends, meeting new people, watching T.V, having a good time & watching South Melbourne play.


FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS: South Melbourne, Endeavour Hills Soccer & Sporting Club, Liverpool, Olympiakos, Celtic, Barcelona, Kaiserslautern, PSG, Ajax & Fiorentina.

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Yes I am & will be till the day I die!

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
6 years – South vs Heidelberg, 1988/89 Season at Middle Park – What a debut!! >; P

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
Probably falling through the players race at Bob Jane Stadium after we beat Carlton in the 98/99 Grand Final, then spending the night in hospital, only to return the next day to Bob Jane for family day!

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
Every single game I watch is memorable, but one that really sticks out, is when we beat Olympic 2-0 with 9 men, 4 days after losing to them 6-0 at Belmore.

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
I’m a keeper myself, so I have to say Petka. But all the boys are top guys.

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Charlie Egan.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Everything, from the administration, to the fans, to the team, to the stadium itself. Basically the whole set-up.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
I suppose the only thing I dislike is all those ‘critics’ up in the stands, but what can you do, each person has their own opinion, so you just have to build your bridge and get over it >;P

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
Hahaha….. HELL NO!!!

WHY?
I live and breathe this club, as anyone who has supported this club or is married knows, once your with South Melbourne, your with South Melbourne for life & until death do us part!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME ANTHONY!

Fanatic Of The Week - Helen Menidis

This probably breaks at least some aspect of copyright and privacy laws, and probably lacks a bit of decorum, but there's two things I'll say about it before we get into the nitty gritty. Firstly, it's still on the net, and therefore I can use it as long as I make valid comment; and secondly, you people can do an online search with my name and see my halcyon days of making faux-teenage intellectual comments on Monsanto and Trent Croad, and the other Paul Mavroudis who's the president of Melbourne's 'Thessaloniki Association'.

Anyway, while searching through the ancient archives of South Melbourne websites past, I found an interesting semi-regular segment called Fanatic of the Week. Naturally, everyone claims their loyalty to South forever in these things... but where are they now? Are they still supporting the club? Unfortunately the archives don't work in their entirety... so this segment will last for three weeks or so. Shame really... some people are getting off lightly. We'd love to know if these people have jumped off South and onto some other bandwagon and professed their new undying love for that cause - or whether, against the odds, they're still hanging round the joint.

In it's own way, this is a similar idea to the Pumpkin Seed Eaters 'Poulimeno of the Week' (which should be 'Poulimeno of the Month' seeing as how it's a monthly show... and perhaps should have been 'Poulimeno of the Fortnight' seeing as it used to be a fortnightly show, but I digress), but with the added possibility of some genuine redemption for the individual and South itself, if they're still following this great club. And now on with the show; this edition first hit the internet airwaves Friday 8th June, 2001.



FANATIC OF THE WEEK

Friday, 8th June, 2001

Welcome to 'Fanatic of the Week'.

This week’s fanatic is Helen Menidis from Ringwood who misses Ange Postecoglou as senior coach of the club.

See below for full fanatic profile:
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NAME: Helen J Menidis

AGE: 20

SUBURB: Ringwood

INTERESTS: Soccer, shopping, travelling and sleeping

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS: South Melbourne


ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
No, but I will be next season

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
My family and I have always followed this club and I watch all the games on TV, but my first ever game attended was the Major Semi-Final 2nd Leg against Wollongong this year. I also attended the Preliminary Final against Sydney Olympic and the NSL Grand Final at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney.

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
Meeting all the players and staff behind the team.

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
Our win at Olympic Park because I was there and it was much better than watching it on TV.

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
All of them. I see them a lot and they are a friendly and down to earth bunch of guys.

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Ange Postecoglou because he was a fantastic player and a legendary coach. He had the passion that champions are made of as a player and a coach, and took the boys all they way to give them the great reputation of being Australia's Most Successful Club. I miss him as a coach!

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Everything

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Nothing

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
Never

WHY?
Because they are the team I strongly support, and I will always cheer them on through good times and bad.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME HELEN.