Digging a hole to 1974, and proud of it

Two Englishmen and a chain smoking, hard gambling senior citizen with manboobs walked into a bar... sounds like a decent set up for a joke, except the punchline is that the bar is South Melbourne Hellas, and the three blokes are our new signings. Good grief.

Stick a 'Soccer Action' masthead onto the article, maybe a Laurie Schwab or Fred Villiers byline onto it, and it would probably pass as a legitimate 1970s or 80s article.

So, Steve Burton (not the Green Gully one, but some schmo from England via Perth), Shaun Kelly (England via Shepparton) and Andy Vlahos (deep breath, ex-Heidelberg United, Collingwood Warriors, Carlton, Panathinaikos,  AO Agios Nikolaos, South Melbourne [who?], Football Kingz, Cercle Brugge, Melbourne Victory [apparently they don't exist according to our official site, which is an incredible, if slightly mystifying relief], Heidelberg United, Hume City, Heidelberg United) are our mid-season signings.

Also, out the door are Gianni De Nittis (again, maybe to Port), and Kyle Joryeff (unlucky, allegedly to Knights, but now probably Richmond). And what of Rhodri Payne? Who knows.

The only thing I can say, being one of those critics who has never kicked a ball and can't even lift a leg (then again, I heard the latter criticism made last night at the Port vs Gully cup match of Vlahos from a 1970s Polonia player), well, everything else has failed since 2006, so why not? This will be a second half of the season to remember.

And seriously, do click on the link above, and check out the attached videos - especially Kelly's, where he looks like a slide tackling machine even above and beyond Ramazan Tavsancioglu's efforts of the days of yore.

Our youth system is not working

So, the news coming out of Lakeside is that experienced VPL goalkeeper Peter Gavalas - most recently of Bentleigh Greens - is training and has probably signed with us for 2012. That he has been training with us is true, as I've seen him at one such session at Lakeside. It does raise issues from this correspondent's end, however.

Peter Gavalas would not move across to South, or any other VPL club for that matter, if he didn't think he was a shoe in for the first choice keeper's position. And that would entirely be his right, seeing as he has done the hard yards and built himself a solid reputation.

But where does that leave Zaim Zeneli, last year's eventual first choice goalkeeper? After winning the three way battle between himself, Stefaan Sardelic and Abdelhadi Deroune last year, including his double penalty save heroics against Heidelberg, the Sydney native looked to be a good thing to keep his place, with an opportunity for long time under 21s goalkeeper George Malliaras to get one step closer to fulfilling his dream of playing for the blue and white.

But this no longer appears to be the case. And logically then, one of Zeneli's and Malliaras' tenure must be close to an end. It brings into question the problems of bringing in players from interstate, but also of the fate of promising or what one may call 'project players' from the youth system. One could rattle off the names of several young players who, for whatever reason have departed the club in recent times.

In some cases it may be out down to impatience, lack of skill or family connections at other clubs. But for the sake of topicality, let's name two recent apparent departures: Jake Vandermey and Josh Colosimo. Unlike several of their under 21s teammates, they did not move on in mid last year, but rather spent a large portion of it playing with Hobart Olympia. They started every week, and were credited by  several southern Tasmanian observers with being integral to Olympia's turnaround in form.

As part of the deal for playing for Olympia, Vandermey and Colosimo would have been promised and expected to have been given a genuine shot at senior football in 2012. Now of course it's a coach's prerogative to select and seek to recruit players of his choosing, within the budget allocated to them by the football committee. But at the same time, let's not pretend that the football sub-committee does not have any influence in the general direction the club's recruiting may head.

After all, it's quite well known now that the football sub-committee ignored the preference of new senior coach Peter Tsolakis in the hiring of the new under 21s coach. Added to this, despite the shambles at the end of last year after the external academy affiliated personnel in our system upped and left, we're now involved with a partnership with another academy in our junior system, with a group and individual whose reputation at best could be described as controversial.

The football sub-committee, in its various forms, is also responsible for the selection of our senior coach. The previous two choices have been, well, catastrophic. Firstly in the way that they have destabilised and worn down the morale of the senior squad, and secondly with their ethos of playing favourites and ignoring other players, whomever they may be.

If one was to point to an on field ethic or raison d'etre at South, historically it would have been, ignore our own youth system, purchase quality veteran and/or up and coming players from other clubs, and play some decent football. It was arrogant, short term thinking, but it was at least consistent. Almost no player or coach was safe from being sacked, and while that created a lot of bitterness in the ranks of our ex-players - put Paul Wade's departure right at the top of that list - it was no secret how the club operated.

Now there's no longer any sense of a coherent on field direction. In contrast to the off field direction, which has been mostly people pulling in the same direction, and seemingly getting real close to securing the future of the club in a prosperous, self-sufficient state, on field it's a mess. And now that there's a bit more money floating around, the club can afford to splash out on some of the more 'professional' players running around the league.

Of course, like most players in this league, they do enjoy playing the game, but they seem to enjoy it more when and where they get more money for doing so. Most clubs with ambitions of success would rather deal with this sort of 'proven' talent then take even a reasonable risk on players they have in their own backyard, and have seen (if the coaching staff is even interested in watching the reserves, but that's another story) for a number of years.

This is not of course a problem that only South faces - Green Gully and Oakleigh are just two of the other VPL clubs that routinely cop a beating on the forums for the lack of players they source from their own ranks. But if young players are coming and then staying at South with the expectation or promise - sometimes explicit, sometimes not - that they are a genuine and realistic chance at being considered for senior football, and then continually find themselves on the scrapheap, then perhaps the club should be more honest about its senior football recruiting ethos, and make it so obvious that no one can be in any doubt as to what it is.

Of course, there are a legion of parents out there who think little Johnny is the next big thing. Sometimes it's the clubs that foster this belief, other times the parents are deluding themselves. And admittedly, the VPL's under 21s is not the greatest standard of competition. Neither is Tasmania's Southern Premier League. But in the case of our 21s competition, it is the most likely place a half-talented player of that age will get noticed by A-League scouts.

Certain people will tell you that it is better as an 18 year old, to ditch the VPL under 21s competition and play regular senior football - if they're good enough, they'll be back soon enough. And if they're not, well, it just goes to show that they weren't really all that good in the first place. It's a valid position to take, but it's not one that will work for all players. Danny Radojicic, often acknowledged as a promising midfielder with a powerful long range shot, dropped out to play for lower league teams, and has been through half the clubs in the state league system. A good striker or promising young defender saddled with a sub-par midfield can cause myriad issues.

While initially being in agreement with the concept of an under 21s competition for the VPL, I've since come around to the position that in the long run, this does not help young players. They would benefit more from playing in a high standard competition with older players, who know more tricks of the trade. In addition, there are only so many places on a senior list - how many players does one expect to graduate from a sub-par competition like the VPL under 21s? At best you may have one or two genuine prospects in a given year - the problem for South is, do we even see those one or two come through?

One wonders what the future is for young striker Nicky Jacobs. He is still training with the club, and may very well have to fight for his place in the pre-season February and March schedule - but reports are also that Gianni De Nittis has found his way back into the Lakeside fold. And what of all the other promising young players in our system? Is it worthwhile playing beyond a certain age in the South Melbourne youth system?

The possibilities are not limitless

I don't usually consult with the Kiss of Death, so I don't know what it is going to write tomorrow about this week's final round of matches, which might be a surprise to those of you who may still think that I am the Kiss of Death.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying, you might well be reading the same thing written in two different ways. Which is tough, because most of you are probably happy to read the same thing written everyday about the footy.

Anyway, at the core of the matter, it's pretty simple. Four of the five finalists have been settled, if not their finishing positions. The one spot left is to be fought out by ourselves and Northcote.

We're two points ahead of them, so a draw to us will be enough for us to make it. Where could we finish if we draw? Well, as high as third, oddly enough, as long as both Heidelberg (Springvale White Eagles, away) and Green Gully (Bentleigh Greens, away) both lose. Unlikely to say the least, so we'd be looking at an elimination final against one of those two sides, most likely away to Green Gully.

And what happens if we win? Well, we could finish as high as first - as long both Heidelberg and Gully don't win, and Oakleigh (Dandenong Thunder, home) and Hume City (Melbourne Knights, away) both lose. Again, heinously unlikely. But all of which illustrates the fact that it's such a tight finish to the end of the season - someone on soccer-forum did the sums, and if results go a certain way - South, Gully, Bergers win, Hume and Oakleigh draw - all five finalists could finish on 43 points! Which would leave us in fifth because our goal difference is so appalling.

More likely, we'll end up third or fourth at best. More likely we'll find a way to make all these calculations redundant. Nick Maxwell's mum reckons I should get on Gianni De Nittis to score on Sunday. I'm no gambler, but it is tempting.

Needs More Cowbell - South 3 Knights 1

Amongst the questions that we pondered on the bus trip to Northcote - if Romeo and Juliet were around today, would they die their hair raven black, dress up in mourning clothes with the pale makeup and black eyeliner and sit under the clocks at Flinders Street Station on a Friday night? Gains, Steve from Broady and me also discussed the merits of Chekhov, Gogol and Vonnegut. We discussed the ceaseless contest between youth's faith in using the rare example over the elder's preference for basing their judgments on a form of experience which seeks to negate the improbable, yet possible?

What could bring up such weighty topic of conversation. Gianni De Nittis of course. We fought over both his legacy, whether he had any untapped potential, and the thought only occurs to me now, whether he simply managed to have scored in two massively important games in the space of two weeks, cementing his status as a VPL South legend but unfairly burdening him with expectations which he would seldom be able to meet in future.

We watched the majority of the under 21s contest. We don't talk much about the under 21s on here - after blitzing the field last season, this year has seen defensive frailties creep into their game. De Nittis had been relegated to the 21s, and opened the scoring with apparently a ripping goal. I couldn't see it from my vantage point inside the social club. I did however see him try to be tricky, lose the ball, and retaliate with tackle from behind. The offence saw him get a red card. As Vonnegut's Tralfamadoreans said, 'so it goes'. The game finished at 2-2.

The main event was an even affair for sixty minutes. Which is to say, the Knights played well without creating too many chances, while we were forced onto the sidelines with very little room to move in the middle. Our short passing game was non-existent, and we seemed to be clueless as to how to work out something which might get us a goal, other than Mick Malthouse style chip kicks along the outer side, which almost inevitably had Jesse Krncevic, turning and shooting off balance into the side netting, or straight at our old foe Martin John.

When Steven O'Dor gave away an obvious handball in the box, the world paused as the referee seemed to lag behind the rest of the crowd in acknowledging the /infringement. But once his consultation with the corresponding linesperson was done, the Knights got their penalty and a deserved lead despite Zaim Zeneli moving to the correct side. The Knights kept up the pressure, and probably should have made it 2-0, but for one slightly convoluted explanation, which is as follows.

During the game one of the many Georges at South Melbourne suggested that the Knights were of the same ilk as the South of 2008. That is, they could fight and scrap and even dominate a match, but their inability to score goals would always come back to haunt them. People like to see parallels between the past and the present as a way of making sense of the world, but that particular George may have been on to something there. Pound for pound the Knights were the better team for seventy minutes; they even had the lead - and yet they just couldn't jag the result.

South finally woke up, having made use of its substitutions in an effort to win the game. The most important of these was Daniel Vasilevski, though both Kyle Joryeff and Kamal Ibrahim added something for which Gasparis, Petrovich and Taseski had not. Still, for about ten minutes we spent most of our energy on trying to snag an unlikely long range effort. But then Vasilevski - the only player who should be allowed to take our shooting free kicks - put one away into the top corner where even the valiant efforts of Martin John could do nothing about it, and all of a sudden, we felt a draw would be a good result after playing so poorly.

But that plan was ruined when we scored again, Ibrahim setting up an easy finish for Krncevic, the prodigal son continuing to put goals away. And then we scored another one, Joryeff putting his name down to become the new Yusef Yusef by scoring a junk time goal to rub pure iodine into the open wounds of the visitors. The Knights deserved at least a draw, but such is the game of football that even relative dominance is nothing without putting the ball in the back of net.

We don't have the wood on too many sides these days, but the Knights for some reason continue to find ways to see us get the three points more often than not. While I was disappointed with the majority of the performance by our boys, there's a certain satisfaction in getting a win over an old rival when they gave it more than a good shake and it still wasn't enough.

Highlights from Hume game

Lots of goals. Bit of sun glare. Chitchat with Vasilevski, De Nittis and De Moraes. Complete lack of acknowledgment from the commentator of his role in the aftermath of the first goal. Disappointing.

Send In The Clowns - SMFCTV hightlights against Dandy

It's all good when you win. Amongst the several things to look out for:

• Stuart Webster's seal impersonation.
• The ice attack suffered by Gianni De Nittis.
  
• Sebastian Petrovich taking control of the post-game show.
• The President and SMFCTV crew cacking themselves in the background.
• Marinos Gasparis' use of the word fantabulous.

To be honest, it's the best SMFCTV post-match segment yet. It's what the punters want to see. At least the ones that I know.

Round 2 Highlights

The package and its presentation is coming along in leaps and bounds, a credit to the people working on it. Some other things you may notice.

• You can clearly see a gentleman clad mostly in black on Clarendon Corner call the handball before everyone else does, including the lineswoman. I agree with him, it was a good call.
• Johnny Sapasovski surely had to be a few metres offside for his run which eventually lead to a good save by Peter Zois.
• Where are all the bad tackles by Bentleigh? Omitted in the interests of good taste is the only reasonable explanation.
• Arthur Akritidis doing commentary in the background! Yes! Not gone, still around! Brilliant.
  
• Gianni De Nittis seems to be in a decent state of mind despite only getting a point. Think he's on his way back.
  
• David Lugli has a very itchy arm.
  

Not sure what to make of it all

Those still supporting the 'kyanolefki' in these difficult times will likely have fond memories of the 2006 season. We did win a championship after all, even if it wasn't the type we had become accustomed to. But disappointingly, The Age didn't see fit to mention anything about it whatsoever, the off the record excuses being that The Age doesn't cover second tier sport - which means that VAFA matches, under 18s and third rate country aussie rules leagues are top tier sport, because they get their coverage every week - and that Michael Lynch was in Perth anyway covering the Glory-Victory game, and ya know, it's not like Fairfax has a whole network of suburban sport reporters or could hire a freelancer for one game. The Herald Sun wasn't much better, dedicating a whole thimble of space to the decider, chucking Peter Desira's name on it even though he wasn't there either (probably in the same place Lynchy was) and even got Gianni De Nittis goal all wrong - he headed it in, not kicked it. But hey, it was something, I guess, if you're satisfied by that kind of treatment.

So upon reading The Age's sport section yesterday morning, being bored at school and whatnot, I was quite surprised to see a dedicated and colourful article on last Sunday's VPL grand final. I mean, where did this come from? It had Lynchy's name on it, it was fairly comprehensive, had some nice photos. What's changed on the two years since our non-appearance in the same paper? Did it get in because Michael happened to be in Melbourne this time as opposed to covering an interstate Victory fixture? Would the article have been written if he was interstate or overseas? And what happened to the second tier sport line? You don't want to start trotting out conspiracy trains of thought, because then you look like a paranoid moron. But it does get you thinking as to what are the hard and fast rules about a newspaper works, how much of it whim, and why one whim overcomes another in a similar circumstance. I suppose what we need now to test out the situation further is for South to reach the final next year, win the game, make sure Lynch is in Melbourne, and see what happens. I think we might need NASA to tell us if these three phenomena could ever possibly align.

Oh and the Herald Sun this year? Zilch.

South of the Border Awards for 2008

Yeah, yeah, time to do this again. Only I, Paul, had anything to do with this list. Except for the under 21 player of the year, which was handed to our own under 21 contributor of the year, Cliff. And his choice was a pretty good one, as well as his footage of our goal of the year.

Player of the year: Nathan Caldwell. Well duh. Put in plenty of effort throughout the year, set up some great chances, snagged a few goals, though he could've had more. Seemed revivatilsed by the arrival of Micky M. If anything, our most consistent player this season, when consistency was an attribute sorely lacking

Under 21 player of the year: Gianni De Nittis. Had a solid season particularly after the arrival of Micky M. Will be amongst the first signings of a Southern Cross team you'd hope.

Goal of the year: Not too many contenders, and some may think Fernando's free kick against Western Suburbs should be a shoe in, but no. The winner is Hamlet Armenian's goal against Oakleigh. Spectacular? No. From a short corner? Yes. 'Nuff said really. Now stop doing them.



Best performance over a whole match: Hmm, tough one. The Knights game at home, thoroughly enjoyed the game, even if we tired towards the end.

Best period of play during the season: Those two goals in two minutes against Preston at BT Connor. Probably.

Best away game: Richmond and Frankston would be right to feel jilted, where it for any other season where we didn't go to Canberra. Read all about it here, minus all the in-jokes that we just can't reprint.

Best call on the terraces: 'Why'? If you were there, you know what I'm talking about.

Chant of the year: Anything to do with this would have won


But best of all was the staccato, Pi O-esque oh. oh. oh. version. It was getting all literary and highbrow there for a sudden.

Winning Is Good - South Melbourne 1 Richmond 0

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

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.

Trapped around the heards

Players changing numbers? Allegedly, Gianni De Nittis and Nathan Caldwell have swapped numbers. Pointless exercise or a signal of intent by the coach? Is the curse of the number 9, famously worn by Trimmers for so many years, finally going to be over?

Players sweating at training? Apparently it's all the rage these days down at Lakeside. Make of that what you will.

Angry beavers? An undisclosed amount of --- ----- have apparently told the --- to stick their new ------ ------ up their arse unless their ---------- are ---, and the ------- seem to be we won't help you unless we ---- --- -----. Or something like that. See what happens when silly people tell you what essentially anyone could have guessed anyway, and I assume was no secret in the first place?

And where the fuck is South going to find the money for all these players they're wanting to sign? And will some people just grow the fuck up? Hopefully something more substantial tomorrow. No guarantees though.

While you were sleeping, part 1

This is for those former readers of Park Life (and anyone who has just woken up from the last two years) to get them up to speed, more or less. Yes it's incomplete. Feel free to add stuff in the comments section, or maybe I'll accept your offer of joining me on this literary crusade.

2006

* South fields a full strength side against the Oakleigh Cannons in the Hellenic Cup final, with hopes of winning not just the game, but also the $10,000 in prize money. They fail.

* A couple of days later, South takes out the FFV's pre-season cup with a very young squad against Fawkner Whittlesea, and wins only $5,000.

* After the big crowds against Heidelberg in all three games the previous season, and on a perfect day for football, an underwhelming crowd of about only 5,000 turn up in round 1 to watch South steal victory with two goals at the death.

* Australia plays Greece in a friendly, and a big crowd turns up and watches Australia win a pretty half arsed game.

* A few days later football's growing popularity is reiterated when the Matildas play Mexico. Despite the obstacles of soccer and world cup fever, a beautiful day and free entry, Bob Jane Stadium was bursting at the seams with the massive crowd of 150 patrons, including the massive contingent of 3 Green and Gold Army personnel.

* After losing a few players to the A-League during the season (Coveny, Salley) and probably some others to injury or 'bad' behaviour, South 'recruits' three players (Dino Djulbic, Andreas Oliveira and Antonion Naglieri) from the Frankston Pines. These players become a crucial part of the side immediately, though Naglieri will only be missed when he's gone.

* The World Cup comes around, Australia do quite well, and football becomes even less eviler.

* An injury to star striker Kevin Nelson sees him leave the club in acrimonious circumstances. The fact that he had the first touch of an elephant, mostly couldn't be arsed jumping, running or defending, and mostly only finding himself in correct positions by accident, has little to do with his departure.

* South finishes the regular season in third place, on the back particularly of strong form in derby games (5 wins and 1 draw against the Bergers, Knights and Preston).

* South earns a grand final place after consecutive wins against Green Gully and Altona Magic. In the grand final itself, also against the Magic, 5,100 or so people turn up on a cold and very windy day to see Gianni De Nittis head home Fernando De Moraes' cross from close range, to lead South to a 1-0 victory and its 8th state title. Most South fans are at least momentarily happy.

* World footballing legend and South's 1991 NSL championship coach Ferenc Puskas passes away. Thankfully, very little of his time in Australia is mentioned in the media, thus avoiding publicity for South Melbourne and any mention of football pre-2005 without reference to an ethnic riot.