Jump! Jump! Jump! artefact Wednesday

Ah, 2007. It was a season which held so much promise. We were fresh off a championship, two years after almost going broke. We had what looked like a good squad, and a good first up crowd against the Bergers at home in an exciting game, followed by a thrilling win against Richmond, which I missed because I was at an Elbow concert. Another win against the Essendon Royals, and things looked promising. And then they didn't. Dean Anastasiadis went down with a season ending knee injury in round 4, and we soon found out that for the most part we were adept downhill skiers, but not much more than that, and the season ended with us missing the finals by three points, amid suspicion from some fans that'd we kinda tanked some games - specifically the 3-0 loss at Western Suburbs - because we had cash-flow problems.

But one could easily point to the uneven draw as a causal factor - though the league had 16 teams, there were only 26 rounds - and the fact that we only played that season's wooden spooner Springvale White Eagles just once. We could point to the mess of the goalkeeping situation once Deano went down. And you could of course point to many calamitous poor results, including the 2-0 home loss to Sunshine George Cross the week before that humiliation at Ralph Reserve. But all that is irrelevant compared to the forfeit forced upon us by Football Federation Victoria, for a home match against Melbourne Knights. But first some background.

2007 was a crazy year on the terraces, hills, concourses, and the streets of Melbourne. There were was the Cros vs the Serbs (and Greek onlookers) at the Australian Open tennis. There was a stolen Melbourne Victory banner which found its way to Clarendon Corner in round 1, and which made a reappearance at our game at Richmond. There were also more ethnic related incidents at the Water Polo World Championships. A combination of these things saw FFV and/or Victoria Police - it's not quite clear to me even now who was exerting the greater pressure - to demand unrealistically expensive security measures. South refused to pay the asking price, and FFV preemptively - that is, days out from the game - awarded a 3-0 forfeit to Knights.

The next week we were scheduled to play against Fawkner at CB Smith Reserve. This is the old CB Smith, with the tin shed along the western wing, and most importantly, an open view from outside the southern end, where there was only a high chain-link fence to visually obstruct spectators. It was a perfect venue to conduct what we called at the time a protest against FFV, which naturally proved futile, and only really served to hurt Fawkner on one of their bigger paydays for the year. The Agitator brought a slab of Heineken, and the game was an awful 0-0 draw - though we could've sneaked a winner late. The most interesting thing, unplanned amid the scarcely planned nature of the whole enterprise, was at the end of the game when the Clarendon Corner stalwart known as "Box" climbed up the very high and probably very rusty fence to chants of "Box! Box! Box!", and then when at the top, "Jump! Jump' Jump!". Thankfully he had a little more sense than that, and climbed back down.

I can't remember where I found this photo, so if it belongs to you let me know. But this was 13 years ago, and my haven't we come a long way since then.

Notes from an almost South-less weekend

Don't know about you, but for once it wasn't too hard to find things to do without the eight hours I usually spend on a Sunday in the cause of watching South, which involves public transport, the ressies, the main game and a quite dinner with Gains and Steve from Broady, preferably at somewhere good and cheap.

On Friday night I became the victim of public transport crapness but still managed to catch about 70 minutes of the game between Port Melbourne and Fawkner. Port dominated the match, but ex-South goalkeeper Stefaan Sardelic had an excellent game, making several vital saves, including some excellent double saves. Would have been nice to see him receive some more encouragement from his teammates. I also saw someone get clocked in the head by a falling branch while standing behind the Plummer Street goals, thankfully no damage done.

Also got a call asking if I could fill in again for writing the state league 2 and under report for Goal Weekly, and I said yes. Then after my driver stopped for fuel and a sandwich, I somehow ended up in Oakleigh for a gin and tonic. Maybe because it was my birthday and people just about begged me to go outside of the house.

On Saturday afternoon I trundled over to Paisley Park for the state league 2 north-west match between Altona East and Westgate. Had a great souvlaki and saw the reserves snap an eight game losing streak by managing a 1-1 draw, and joined by Ian Syson, watched the senior match which was OK I suppose, a lot of effort but not a lot of method, before East got on top in the second half and probably should have won by more than the 1-0 margin. Overheard someone going on about the World Club Championship money, again.

Fahrudin Mustafic volleys home Singapore's third goal. Photo: PoHui Ko.

Felt like the supporter of an unpopular club when I had to listen to the Pies on the radio instead of watching them on free to air television. Became satisfied that the game was done and decided to watch the Singapore vs Malaysia 'Causeway Derby' World Cup Qualifier, Asian Zone, Second Round 1st leg tie. Stream was choppy but worked well enough for me to see all eight goals. Spent Sunday morning writing the state league report and a match report for the Singapore match and round up of other related results, which you can read here.

Olympia's Joshua Colosimo clears ahead of Devonport's Brad Chilcott. Photo: Walter Pless.

Then I watched about five minutes of the season 1996, round 22 match between Hawthorn and Melbourne, then had some lunch. Checked Walter Pless' blog for discussion of Olympia's win over Devonport City, which sees them through to the state wide cup final against South Hobart. And then went to Aldi and bought a lot of junk and a couple of bottles of cider. Oh and courtesy of Oakleigh's win today, we slip down to third. Joe Montemurro apparently got the sack as well. And rumours are circling that James Spanos is due to fly in this week from Greece to resume his South career.

If midfielders were made of sugar, we'd be diabetic

A Fawkner supporting poster named 'benzema' posted this on soccer-forum.

But the 2 biggest signings are the two new midfielders from Belgium and Argentina. They won't be cleared for a couple weeks but South Melbourne will be signing them in the next window and will be with the club for half a season with an agreement between South Melbourne and Fawkner as they were training at South Melbourne for a couple weeks. The boy from Belgium captained his national team in the Under 20's and has played for Genk easily A League material from all reports.

Have no idea about the validity of these claims, but one must add that it's a good thing these boys are midfielders, because we need coverage in case something happens to the 20 other midfielders we have on books.

Knives out for newly signed duo

So, striker Joseph Youssef and defender Eddie Cetkin have signed from Fawkner and Western Suburbs respectively, and already their signings have been greeted with cries of 'qué horror'. And not just from supporters, but also from one time South defender and former team mate of Cetkin, one Arthur Tsonis. I'm willing to give them more time myself.

Fawkner Match Report Redux

Cliff wasn't at the game, and my own match reports are notoriously slight, so here's one prepared by a loyal reader, which may or may not reflect the anguish of the experience.


In a miserable and uninspiring display of football, South Melbourne has virtually thrown away the opportunity of challenging for a finals position by going down to the Fawkner Blues by a single goal at C.B. Smith Reserve.

South went into the match on the back of a hard-fought 2-2 draw with the Melbourne Knights at Bob Jane Stadium the previous round, however the away side had not won a match since defeating Oakleigh in round 17. Fawkner entered the match rooted at the bottom of the Foxtel Cup table and resigned to the fact that they would be relegated to State League One at the conclusion of the season. Nevertheless, the home side saw the match against South as an opportunity to knock off a big name club in the Foxtel Cup and in the process try to leap-frog Frankston at the bottom of the ladder.

South began the match the stronger of the two sides and despite playing extremely poorly should have been at least three goals ahead at the halftime interval. However this was not to be the case, as Nathan Caldwell headed two golden opportunities wide of the target and Sebastian Petrovic unacceptably missed a fantastic one-on-one chance with Fawkner goalkeeper Michael Fiorenza, with his final shot going wide of the far post and out for a goal kick. Fiorenza played a big part in his side going into the halftime break with a clean sheet, as the Fawkner custodian produced some excellent saves to deny further South forays forward. When South did eventually find the back of the net through Fernando de Moraes, the goal was disallowed for offside.

The second half was no different to the opening 45 minutes, with the ball camped within South's attacking half of the field. However, despite the dominance in possession and chances created, the away side constantly made the wrong decisions when moving forward and as a result hardly ever posed a threat to Fiorenza or his defence. Caldwell tried to atone for his earlier misses by pouncing on a Daniel Rocco error in defence, but his final shot flew wide of Fiorenza's goal, failing to trouble the home side.

As has so often been the case for South in 2008, the game was won by a single moment of brilliance by the opposition. The home side had hardly posed a problem for South keeper Tommi Tomich, however in the 69th minute Sebastian Petralito easily skipped past the stagnant South defenders on the left hand side of the field and from just outside the area managed to curl a brilliant shot across Tomich's goal and into the bottom right corner of the goal. Despite the dominance, South were once again behind and fighting an uphill battle to save their 2008 season.

The away fans lifted in voice and in encouragement in an attempt to inspire their players to lift for them and put away their opportunities against a side who, having scored their goal, were quite happy to sit back and play on the counter-attack. The passionate encouragement soon turned to anger as the away side failed to change their attitude and in fact played worse than the opening half, where they had at least created several excellent opportunities despite playing sub-standard football. Despite the ball spending the majority of the final 20 minutes of the match in the Fawkner defensive half of the field, constant poor distribution of the ball, amateur crossing and shocking ball control skills ensured that South would not create another decent opportunity to even take a point off the bottom side in the league, which was why the final whistle was met with roars of disapproval from the away fans. In contrast, the Fawkner players were over the moon, as the result meant that they had moved off the bottom of the ladder with four rounds to play.

Once again, other results in the Foxtel Cup over the weekend fell in South's favour. However, its constant inability to control the destiny of its own matches has almost surely seen the lakeside club sink to a new low because for the first time in its 49 year history the blue and white army will almost certainly miss finals football action in consecutive seasons. South is languishing in 9th place on the ladder, five points clear of relegation but six points shy of 6th placed Oakleigh, who have two games in hand. Like the previous season, South looks almost certain of finishing in an extremely disappointing mid-table position, leaving coach Michael Michalakopoulos to seriously question the futures of some of his players at Bob Jane Stadium.

The matches do not get any easier for South, as their next opponent is third-placed Altona Magic. Fawkner's next test involves a tricky trip to Jack Edwards Reserve to face the Oakleigh Cannons. Both matches are next Sunday, with South's match against Altona kicking off at 3pm at Bob Jane Stadium.


By Jankerpoulos

Why? Fawkner 1 South Melbourne 0

First half was very good except for the lack of a goal. Second half was crap. Story of our season really. At least now we can worry about not getting relegated, instead of clinging on to the belief that we could make the finals. First touches were atrocious, the home side had two shots on goal all game, one went in. Altona at home this week, another loss on the cards, probably. Time for Micky M to sort through who he wants to keep for next year.

I'm walking into the ground this time - Round 22, Fawkner vs South Melbourne

Last time they met

Round 9, 2008 at Lakeside

South Melbourne 6 Fawkner 2

South more or less cruised to victory, even scoring twice from corners. Yianni Galanos looking like a John Butler clone didn't help the visitors cause.


Preview

Results keep falling South's way, except of course their own. No Shane Nunes this week, which'll probably mean the return of Robbie Wynne, who I prefer to be honest. Surely even on a crappy ground like Fawkner's we should be able to win this one. Apparently they've got a new coach, but does that even matter? Will Jose Vasquez rescue them? I doubt it. If we don't collect three points this week, we don't deserve to be in the finals.

A bit late, but it's something

Footage of the first goal from last week's game against Fawkner... once again, not the best footage - sitting right behind the goals on the same elevation as they play is not a great idea - but at least you can see the ball a bit in this clip, and get the gist of what happened. Thanks to Cliff for the footage, and thanks to me for providing a medium for it to be uploaded without failing.

Blues Give Blues The Blues - South Melbourne 6 Fawkner 2

Now, I already did a whole entry on this game, see? It had the title 'Downhill skiing in April'. But for some reason it's disappeared off the face of the earth. Nevertheless I will attempt to replicate and improve upon the original as best as memory allows, in a more succinct manner.

Players played in their correct positions! South scoring from 2, yes 2 corners! South still conceding goals like a sieve! Jimmy Armstrong making a Clarendon Corner cameo! Staccato renditions of Vamos al a Playa! Diaco scoring his first of the year and celebrating like he won a free cheeseburger! Pasi Schwalger in a ridiculous pink top! Yianni Galanos being replaced by John Butler! Heinous in-jokes! Lights being turned on for all of 5 minutes! References to the late 1980s cartoon series M.A.S.K.! There was something for everyone there, and if you missed it, well, South is still around for at least one more week, so come on down and support the team!


- and cut! that's a wrap. that was good. see everyone next week.
- you didn't think there were too many exclamation points?
- nah, she'll be right, and besides, the 10 people who read the damn thing probably didn't even notice it was missing in the first place.
- yeah, you're right
- anyways, we've done our job, wasn't out fault we had to do it twice over, and now we've got a nice break until Monday
- what you doing for the weekend?
- me? not much mate, probably just kicking back. how about you?
- going to see Eels on Saturday at the Palais.
- Eels? never heard of them.
- yeah, sort of an indie band from the US, I'm a big fan.
- right...

scene disintegrates into various banalities

Let's try this again - Round 9, South Melbourne vs Fawkner

Last week was fine, but last round's consideration of adjustment/motivational response game is gone. Done and dusted. The real stuff starts this week, again. Can we finally get this season started well and truly? We're a third of the way in now.

Also, sincere apologies for the drop in quality as evidenced in yesterday's piece, and over the past 2-3 weeks in general. Hopefully all South of the Border's troubles will be over soon.

Last time they met
Round 22, 2007, at Lakeside Stadium

South Melbourne 0 Fawkner 0

In a largely even and uninspiring contest, Fawkner managed to squeeze out a point under then new coach Vlado Vanis, and may have had a goal denied by the linesman adjudicating that a shot had not crossed the line. Otherwise, this was essentially a contest between one side intent on throwing away their finals aspirations, and one side trying desperately to survive relegation. Both ended up succeeding

Preview
Fawkner were just about everyone's pre-season relegation favourite even before it was realised that four and not two teams would be relegated. And yet, even though they're in the relegation zone, they're still fighting on, and even managed to take maximum points away to Heidelberg. So they're not necessarily the easybeats their position has them to be. But really, South should belt this mob. Their playing stocks are weak, they're scoring at less than a goal a game while conceding two, and it's about time our side, with it's many talented players finally clicked into gear and showed a signal of intent that they will not meekly acquiesce, but fight on, and play football in the traditional South Melbourne Hellas fashion, one of feverish, relentless attack. To say that's all we ask for is perhaps an indication that we've moved away from the win at all costs mentality of yesteryear; but these are strange times to be a South fan, and while the club must look to the past for inspiration and guidance, there is also another chapter that needs to be written in an unfamiliar new era. South by 2-3 goals.

VPL guide to fashion

I should make it clear, that I'm not for changing strip designs year in year out. All you need to do is pick one design, stick with it eternally, and at most play around with your away strip, but really, there's no need for that either. I didn't take these photos, so thanks to whoever I'm borrowing them off for today's lesson.


That is the South home strip for this year. I don't really like it, but the sponsor on there looks rather nice for once. And I hate it a lot less after I saw what some of the other teams had cooked up.


Speaking of sponsor/strip clashes... Preston's strip has been universally caned but on reflection, despite the abomination that is that colour combination, they could be forgiven for at least looking after the colour-blind, who most frequently have difficulty with separating red and green.


Finally for now, a clear demonstration of what works, and what just doesn't. Fawkner last year had a pretty crappy strip. How do you fuck up light blue you may ask? By putting a stupid white slab slanting down across the shoulder, making it look like you've run out of dye. So kudos to Fawkner for embracing a neo-classicist approach of sorts. As for the Knights, they had one of the better strips last year. And now they've gone for tie-die. For a club with such rampant right-wing sympathies, it strikes me as an odd tactic that they're now aiming for the hippy/stoner market. But Australian soccer (the proper version, not that mickey mouse 'a' league divorced from reality) always has something up its sleeve to at once both depress and amuse.

South Melbourne 0 Fawkner Blues 0 (soccer-forum artefact)

Not a bad game, but not a great one either, both sides had chances to take it. Fawkner actually came out and tried to score goals which was refreshing, and didn't look too bad at doing it. Playing mostly on the counter, if they played like that for the rest of the season they might very well survive. South still should've taken the points, hit the woodwork twice, cleared off the line etc. If Fawkner survive this season they'll have Tilovski to thank, and if they don't, surely there'll be a number of clubs lining up for his services.

Protest detail missing - Fawkner 0 South Melbourne 0 (soccer forum artefact)

Game was shit. Fawkner had the best chance of the first half, but the shot from a poor clearance went wide. Second half South improved, but still lacked fluency, and the crossing was very poor, but they got better as the game wore on and as Fawkner were more willing to settle for the point. Diaco got to the byline well a couple of times, but on both occasions South failed to capitalise. Tilovski made a good save from another shot, and Caldwell at the death following a stuff up between the keeper and the defence failed to put away a gimme goal. First time seeing Fawkner this year, not a finals side, will be happy to avoid relegation. As for South, a better team on the park then last year, but the difference between their best and their worst has also opened up a bit, last year much more even i felt. Need Baser back asap.