December 2017 digest

Puskas documentary
Remember the Puskas documentary that Tony Wilson and friends were making? Well the crew managed to get their most important interview subject on tape!

Interviewed Ange for our @smfc Ferenc Puskas documentary. Was generous, funny and effusive in his love for the a Hellas era that forged him. If you have Puskas photos & film, let me know! #smfc #hellas #ferencpuskas pic.twitter.com/mGBGRVcy44

— Tony Wilson (@byTonyWilson) December 30, 2017

But as Tony notes in his tweet, they're still looking for Puskas photos, film, artefacts, stories, so if you have anything, get in contact with him, or get in contact with me and I'll act as the middleman. 

AGM
The 2017 AGM date has been announced, and it's Wednesday 24th January, in the social club. The two meeting times are set for.

• 6:00PM South Melbourne Hellas Club Ltd
• 8:00PM South Melbourne Football Club Ltd

If you are a member and you didn't receive notification and the relevant attachments via email, check your junk mail folder - that's where my email inexplicably ended up.

Friendlies
Three friendlies - against Kingston, Oakleigh, and Dandenong Thunder - have been booked over consecutive Saturdays in January, all out at Springvale White Eagles. The Public Transport Faction does not approve. Check the 2018 fixtures page for details.

2018 fixture released
As with 2017, another brutal start to the season with six away games to start, and nine of the first ten away. Some other things worth noting

• The WNPL fixture hasn't been released yet, so I've no idea about men's/women's double headers.
• While most of our home games have been kept at the Sunday 4:00PM timeslot, three fixtures differ. There is of course the simultaneous 3:00PM kickoff in the final round, but against Oakleigh and Pascoe Vale in June, we have a Saturday 5:00PM game and a Sunday 7:00PM to act as lead-ins to Socceroos World Cup matches. Convenient!
• Orthodox Easter week falls on the first week of April, which for our purposes coincides with our entry into the FFA Cup qualifiers.
• The Veneto Club's synthetic pitch is being relaid. Somehow we'll still end up with another 2-2 result there.
• Green Gully has moved its home games to Friday nights.
• Our away game against Port Melbourne seems to have been scheduled for a Saturday evening.
• While Avondale have apparently struck a long term to play out of the long out-of-action Reggio Calabria Club in Parkville/West Brunswick, our away fixture against Avondale hadn't been updated on FFV's site when I did this update. Word is that the place needs a lot of work to get up to scratch.

If you want to see the current state of the Reggio Calabria Club's soccer field, this tweet by Chris Gleeson gives you some idea of how much work needs to be done to get the ground into shape.

pic.twitter.com/FbUxOSk6xI

— Chris Gleeson (@gleebo41) December 24, 2017

Check South's senior men's fixtures here, as per usual, if I've screwed anything up let me know.

Arrivals and departures
Some more 'outs' were announced early in December, most notably former captain Michael Eagar.  Confirmation from the club also that David Barca Moreno, Zaim Zeneli and Stefan Zinni are also no longer at the club. But you already knew that.

 It had been strongly rumoured Eagar was on the way out through parts of the 2017 season. Eagar's omission from the starting XI throughout the second half of the season especially confused a lot of fans, as there seemed to be no clear reason for it, and indeed, we seemed to play better with him in the team than out of it. So it goes.

Luke Adams is also out, which means that our central defensive pair will be undoubtedly new next season. To that end we've signed young defender Darby Dexter from Port Melbourne, and Kristian Konstantinidis has re-signed for two more seasons. Matthew Millar has re-signed for 2018.

For whatever it's worth, the following players are assumed to be contracted for next season.

• Matthew Foschini (signed until the end of 2018)

• Milos Lujic (signed until end of 2018)

• Jesse Daley (signed until end of 2018)
• Jake Marshall (signed until the end of 2018)
• Nick Epifano (signed until the end of 2018)
• Darby Dexter (signed until the end of 2018)
• Matthew Millar (signed until the end of 2018)
• Kristian Konstantinidis (signed until the end of 2019)
• Brad Norton (signed until the end of 2019)

Out

• Stefan Zinni (Avondale)
• Zaim Zeneli (North Sunshine Eagles)
• Michael Eagar (Port Melbourne)
• Luke Adams ('overseas', whatever that means)

Centre Forward is online!
Four years ago I did a hasty review of a North Korean soccer flick that I'd seen at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It turns out that since then someone has actually uploaded that film to YouTube, so you know, if you're looking for something a little different, you can watch it or something.

Goal weekly archives now available!
A nice bit of news for those into the Australian soccer archive business. Goal Weekly has put up its entire back catalogue online in pdf format.

Pumpkin Seed Eater Origins artefact Wednesday

Way back in the mists of time, the NSL was still dead, but the A-League had not yet officially begun. In those days, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth, as well as trepidation - and anticipation - of what the A-League would bring.

Many people had chosen sides, while a lot of other people hedged their bets. In amid the clamouring, there were many op-eds. and roving reporters, and prognostications. Would it work? Would the tribes be united? 

In Melbourne, this situation was probably more heated than anywhere else; one can speculate in their own time why that might have been.

Forums (remember them?) old and new were filled with passionate arguments and open hostility. Many were willing to offend, and many more were willing to be offended.

Come to think of it, that seems a lot like the present, too.

One of the most contentious (relatively speaking) comments made during that time was often attributed to then Melbourne Victory majority (or was he outright? Doesn't matter.) owner Geoff Lord.

He was accused of calling the old soccer guard 'pumpkin seed eaters'. 

Of course, later on the phrase 'pumpkin seed eaters' would be taken up by a podcast of the same name, one which others enjoyed more than myself. 

Then, as the arguments for and against got stale, and as 'three years tops' became many more, the phrase slipped out of the Australian soccer lexicon. 

But what was the context for that statement? How did people come to hear of this utterance? That seemed to get lost in the wash somewhat.

The answer lies, at least partly, in this week's artefact. In the Wednesday July 13th 2005 edition of Goal Weekly (remember print journalism, kiddies?), in Eddie Krncevic's 'Krncevic's Korner' segment - why did I think it was Krncevic's Krunchlines? - where Eddie opines on said incident.

Right off the bat, Krncevic makes it clear he didn't hear the comments made himself, nor does he name the person involved. And while Krncevic is concerned at the offence caused, he doesn't see it as a deal-breaker by any stretch of the imagination, only more of a misstep that should not be repeated if Victory and the A-League were to succeed in Melbourne.

Of course, as with many of these kinds of 'outrages', though they were heartfelt by many of those who were listening at the time, the fact of the matter was that most weren't - just as today most Australian soccer followers or participants have no idea of the debates being had on Twitter and the remaining forums and blogs.

Besides which, as was noted by a member of the Victory forum at the time, even one of the blokes who sold pumpkin seeds at Lakeside ended up outside Victory games anyway.

Token of our appreciation artefact Wednesday - Goal Weekly mementos

For several years I was an intermittent contributor for the print edition of Goal Weekly. Indeed, most of the copies of that paper that I still have are because of the complimentary copies sent to me when I had an article printed in there. It is one of my chief regrets of the past few years that I did not stump up the cover price of three or so dollars more often than I actually did.

A couple of Christmas cards and sturdy mug from
Goal Weekly. Missing from this photo is a wooden
plaque. I've got no idea where it could be.

Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun writing for Goal Weekly. I think I got one genuine match report published in there. There were of course a smattering of book reviews, all of which you can find on the blog. I also filled in several times for Southpole's state league round-up when he couldn't do it - though there was one occasion where I botched the results of a Provisional League 2 North-West result and hoped no one would ever notice. I even watched a World Cup qualifier between Singapore and Malaysia on a dodgy internet stream, and wrote a report on that and had it published.

But my favourite things to write were the quasi-journalistic and quasi-factual news blended with opinion pieces, especially those dealing with the oncoming implementation of NPL and the furore that was causing in Victoria. How could I write such pieces without breaking my own unwritten rule of pretty much never interviewing anyone? I don't know, but I somehow made do with attending the odd information session, reading media releases and doing a lot of summing up the more reputable posts from the various forums.

Eventually this process saw the production of pieces that were way of out control, and ended up with then the FFV CEO Mitchell Murphy penning a not entirely unreasonable letter to Goal Weekly to complain about what would turn out to be my final piece for the paper. That was two years ago now, and while I have some regrets about some of the material that I ended up producing for Goal Weekly, I still had a blast providing a variety of content for what was a wonderfully ramshackle production, which gave a lot of writers a chance to learn their craft - both those who saw their work as the starting point of their journalistic vocation, and those amateurs who felt they performing a public service.

As for the artefacts, Costa from Goal Weekly had a habit of sending out these items at the end of the year, as a way of showing his appreciation for the efforts put in by his writers. I'm not one for Christmas cards and such, but the mug got a good run until the enamel/plastic label started peeling off, and it was forced to retire to a dusty corner of some built in wardrobe in West Sunshine.

Anyway, all the best to the people who'll be doing the hard yards for Victorian soccer reportage in 2016. Don't ever forget that we're clearly the most important demographic in Victorian soccer.

Springvale White Eagles 0 South Melbourne 2 (and much, much more)

A pretty comfortable win, even though it took until midway through the second half for us to score. I can't get a handle on this team. We've played against mostly mug NPL1 sides. We've looked half arsed doing it, so I'm not sure if we have 2-3 extra gears in reserve when we need them. Every now and again we've pulled together a nice move, but what we're going to produce in the 2014 season proper, no idea. I've liked Minopoulos though, he has some nice poacher's instincts.

Tough times at Springvale White Eagles
The grass looked like crap. The players were wearing shirts with no numbers on the back. One of the reserve substitutes didn't have shin guards. The canteen ran out of chili flakes halfway through the reserves game. Lucky there was a backup bottle of Tabasco sauce for the cevapi roll, which was very good.

Also, their grandstand is a funny old thing. Strange benches, odd positioning of poles. Friendly folks though.

Next game
Dunno. Maybe we won't see our boys again in the open until round one. Well, at least that means the possibility of heading to a Dockerty Cup match on the weekend.

The mystery striker mystery...
... is not so mysterious any more, which is tough luck for the SMFC media team when they eventually get around to announcing it. The mystery striker is apparently this bloke. Lot of people excited about this bloke. There goes one visa spot.

We're getting very close to having to name our roster of 20 - no more, no less - for the upcoming season. So far off the top of my head, I'm thinking we have the following as a likely squad.

1. Jason Saldaris
2. Chris Maynard
3. Michael Eagar
4. Brad Norton
5. Tim Mala
6. "mystery centre back replacement for Shaun Kelly"
7. Tyson Holmes
8. Nick Epifano
9. Iqi Jawadi
10. Matthew Theodore
11. Leigh Minopoulos
12. Jamie Reed
13. Milos Lujic
14. Dimi Tsiaras
15. Seb Petrovich (well, he's still been playing trial matches even up to this point)
16. Kobbie Boaheme - likely young signing
17. Andrew Kecojevic - likely young signing
18. Empty slot that will need to be filled (Any Dandy or Northcote players leftover?)
19. Another empty slot that will need to be filled
20. The last empty slot that will need to be filled

You know who's weird?
These new fangled junior parents. I mean, I'm sure they've existed for a while now, but the NPL is going to bring them closer in proximity to me and you. And to be blunt, they're not like me and you. Sure they want the team their kid is playing in to win, but that seems to be a secondary concern a lot of the time, in part because the team their kid is playing for could be a different one to the one they played for last year, or will play for next year. They cheer differently. They talk differently. Can we get along? I don't know. Does that me sound too distrustful? I don't mean to be. It's just kinda weird to always feel like we're only borrowing them.

The ins and outs of social media 
Not that I was there, but FFV had a bit of a get together with the NPL clubs for a workshop session on Saturday - for those that bothered to turn up, which is most of them. Apart from some reportedly very delicious muffins (which were apparently wolfed down by one notoriously rotund Victorian soccer mover and shaker), the main thing that filtered down to me was talk about how the FFV was trying to teach the clubs about social media. Isn't social media just a platform for nobodies with no power to make their ineffectual voices heard, while people with real jobs and qualifications get on with the business of pretending to know what they're doing?

Anyway, even if using social media does turn out to be a completely pointless exercise, it must be said that most clubs can improve the way they use their social media platforms. Here are my tips:

• Update them very now and again - you know, scores, fixtures, news. This goes for your website as well. Yes, it's great that you won a game back in round 5, 2012, but we've all moved on from then.
• Try and aboid having them become a default supporters forum, like Heidelberg's is wont to do on occasion.
• Don't pretend they don't exist when things go tits up, like Surf Coast and their recent NPL induced implosion.

All those tips are of course very basic, and beholden to a more corporate notion of how these things should run. If you prefer a more anarchic system, you can disregard these suggestions, and let nature take its course. Also, FFV could also learn to be more effective with its social media platforms:

• They could get their Facebook match reporters to do more frequent updates during matches. Even if it's a boring game, I appreciate some more frequent updates telling me its a boring game - and which sides might be playing less boring.
• Set up a clear set of guidelines about what questions you will and won't answer on your social media platforms - if you won't answer them on there, provide clear directions as to who one should ask.
• Try to avoid being beaten to following me on Twitter by the Melbourne Renegades.

Good to hear that FFV got around to telling the clubs to use #NPLVIC instead of #NPLV as their twitter hashtag. Big issue I know, but it matters to me. We all want to be on the same page, right? Should start promoting the #DockertyCup hashtag as well, get people to update scores on that really quickly and easily.

The vibe from that workshop
Actually. mostly positive. It's going to be a steep learning curve for all concerned, and the short and crazy amount of time to get prepared for 2014 makes it harder for everyone. And apparently, whatever the outward commentary that things will be refined down to the FFA's NPL ideal, it may not end up happening that way - we're specifically talking about the reductions of the points cap here. So good luck to all the clubs trying to make this work, and good luck to Liam Bentley, the head of NPL Victoria.

Did you know I once escorted Liam off the field at Paisley Park, in my role as a marshal for an Altona East reserves game, for which he was the referee? Nothing untoward happened or anything, it's just part of the standard half time and full time drill for marshals to do that. Seemed like a good bloke, and it's always good to see FFV staff mixing it with the plebs, or even becoming one of them on a weekend. More of it, I say.

Bad Paul, naughty Paul
It appears that FFV CEO Mitchell Murphy was not happy with my most recent article in Goal Weekly, on the latest developments on the NPL Victoria saga, judging by his letter to the editor in the most recent edition. Looks like I have some bridges to build, fences to mend and a game to lift.

This is how you develop players
Recently, my home grown forward prodigy Brad Payne made his debut for the Oceanian National Team. He started off in my youth team, he played in the reserves outfits and is now a core member of Juniper Hill's senior squad. There's a lesson there for the NPL dreamers of dreams, even if Hattrick, Brad Payne and Juniper Hill aren't exactly real.

Let's see, what else?
They tell me that not one, but two of John Markosvki's sons are in the South junior system. Yes, that John Markovski. If true, then as someone once said, 'the times, they are becoming quite different'.

Tired Of Writing This Week - Oaks vs South preview

So Here's The Match Preview As Stolen From The FFV's Official Preview Service

Oakleigh Cannons (9th) vs South Melbourne (7th)
Sun 3:15pm, Jack Edwards Reserve

Round 17
Dandenong Thunder 3-1 Oakleigh Cannons
South Melbourne 6-1 Hume City

VPL History
Oakleigh Cannons win: 6
South Melbourne win: 9
Draw: 3
Last time they met: South Melbourne 2-1 Oakleigh Cannons

Form
Oakleigh Cannons: DWWWL
South Melbourne: DLWDW

Could this be the most highly anticipated ninth versus seventh match ever?

Both teams looked down and out a month ago but are now preparing for a mini elimination final.

The winner will find itself roaring into finals calculations, while it could be season over for the loser.

South Melbourne has become a goalscoring machine at home, scoring 12 goals in its past two matches at Lakeside Stadium.

The situation in away matches is a lot different though, where it has not won on the road since Round 3 against Bentleigh.

Oakleigh was firing on all cylinders before it again bowed to fellow 2012 grand finalist Dandenong Thunder at the weekend.

The Cannons are running out of lifelines and could either flourish or implode against South Melbourne, such is the latter’s Jekyll and Hyde season.


An Idiot's Guide To The NPL Victoria Argle Bargle
Here's a massive, probably over long, yet not long enough piece on what's going on with NPL Victoria, from hopefully a more objective perspective. Thanks to Costa from Goal Weekly for commissioning the piece.


Τιτιβίσµατα
To end this slack edition, we'll head over to Twitter, where our friend Pavlaki noticed that the twitterer known as SMFC Mike managed to get the attention of Elias Donoudis. It's in Greek, unfortunately for the non-Greek readers.

@smfcmike you got a mention in the Rag, lol. pic.twitter.com/oEGp2bpj6R
— Paul Touliatos (@pavlaki1969) August 15, 2013

FFV CEO Mark Rendell Departs FFV

Some of our readers may have seen the 'Lawn Bowls Rendell Bows Out' article that I wrote for Goal Weekly. For the rest of you, here's the article in question, with one minor addition.


Mark Rendell's resignation as Football Federation Victoria CEO couldn't have come at a more crucial time, amid the biggest proposed reforms in Victorian soccer seen in decades. With Rendell hosting National Competitions Review information sessions as recently as mid-September, his sudden exit has caused much speculation as to the reasons for his resignation.

The fate of the NCR, as it was to be enacted in Victoria, could now be in limbo. The FFV, and Rendell in particular, were adamant that they would not baulk from the process. Yet many of the state's leading clubs are strongly opposed to the reforms. While four or five clubs are rumoured to be working with the FFV, only South Melbourne has come out and openly stated its intention to engage with the process with any sort of enthusiasm.

Coming across from Bowls Australia, where he had spent 11 years as either a director or CEO, Rendell was always on a hiding to nothing, especially from the game's conservative male soccer factions. Within days of his hiring he had been dubbed 'Mr Lawn Bowls', a nickname that stuck.

Rendell's experience in lawn bowls seemed to inform his approach at the FFV, with an emphasis on expanding participation, especially in womens soccer. This focus on female soccer, while worthy, received criticism from some quarters as bordering on the obsessive. Many of those complainants also felt that the FFV's promotion of the Victory and Heart (but especially the former) saw little in the way of value returned. They argued that it wasn't the FFV's job to promote private businesses, especially with a limited budget to use on its own concerns.

But for all the criticism leveled at Rendell and the FFV on their lack of interest in elite senior men's soccer, there were attempts to try and revive interest in the VPL. The grand final was played at AAMI Park, this year in conjunction with an A-League match. Last year saw the return of cup football for the first time since 2004, though interest seemed to fall significantly this season, amid complaints about costs and poor organisation. The FFV also ran weekly live VPL matches on the internet, though some wondered if that money wouldn't have been better spent on other media ventures.

There was also the attempt at creating a player development structure independent of clubs, who were perceived to be exploiting junior players in order to pay senior player wages. Rendell was thus an advocate of weakening the control that clubs had over the game, a system of governance in place since the early 1960s. Reforms which sought to grant more power to the majority of ordinary participants – players and parents - were enacted via forced changes to club constitutions and the creation of the zone system. Others, though, felt that the net effect of the zone system was to place different mouths at the same trough, with the majority of the game's participants still more or less powerless.

The FFV also sought to reconnect country soccer to the metropolitan system. In addition to absorbing regional federations under its own banner, the FFV also attempted to bring in the Victorian Champions League, a zone based summer league for all age groups.

However, the VCL senior men's competition never got started, and soon enough its senior women's counterpart fell over as well. There were complaints about travel; about the same sorts of biases being involved in selections; about making kids play throughout the entire year; about forcing junior players to play in the VCL if they wanted state selection. Still, there were those who looked forward to the VCL season, and it created a bridge between country and city soccer.

The FFV also got rid of the Super League system, often characterised by its constituents as a flawed but fixable system. The dissolution of the Super League system was widely panned by people involved at junior level. Mismatches became more frequent, diminishing the social experience of weaker players, while reducing the amount of high level competition faced by more talented players.

During Rendell's tenure, the FFV found itself in court against two of its clubs, Whittlesea Zebras and South Melbourne. Both times the FFV lost – the Zebras' court case in particular, in which the FFV was involved in turfing the Zebras out of Epping Stadium, seriously damaged the FFV's reputation among its constituents. The financial costs were also substantial.

There was also an emphasis on stamping out poor behaviour on and off the field. While docked points were used, the main deterrents used were fines. Several clubs were punished with five figure amounts – difficult enough for teams at the top of the league pyramid to deal with – all but impossible for clubs at the bottom. The FFV claimed that its zero tolerance approach was working, while others wondered if punishing clubs instead of the individuals responsible was the right way to go.

The move to the St Kilda Road headquarters also created discord. It hadn't been so long since the FFV had moved to the Darebin International Sports Centre – now it was moving again, and this time away from its grounds at DISC.

The Knox Regional Football Centre was unveiled this year with much fanfare, but there are allegations that proper due diligence was not performed, and that the facility is bleeding money.

There have also been criticisms of the service that the FFV provides. The switch to the new results system (albeit due in large part to an FFA initiative) started off clunky and is still not seen as satisfactory by many of the game's constituents. In an era when a young Victorian cricketer can trace their statistics across every year of their career, the inability of the FFV to even have correct best and fairest vote tallies is inexcusable.

Whether sourced from within the game or outside of it, the new CEO has their work cut out for them. Among their tasks will be contending with the factional fighting and self-interest which Rendell was not able to stamp out. They'll have to quickly come to grips with the NCR reforms, whose final blueprint is due in January 2013.

They'll be in charge of a large and unwieldy organisation that appears to have high staff turnover, and a reputation of not delivering quality outcomes for its constituency. And perhaps hardest of all, they'll have to find ways of making the game more affordable for participants, as the costs of playing soccer in Victoria continue to rise.

Origin of the Socceroos

No game for us this week. Therefore no previews, a little less angst. But reading week old ephemera about last week's match isn't everyone's cup of tea, so time to put up something new.

Academic and Australian football historian Roy Hay is back in the country after a UK sojourn to cover the Olympic Games. Goal Weekly published this article of his last week or thereabouts, looking at where the 'Socceroos' name came from. You know we could've been the called the Emus?

Hibernating for the winter - where to now for Goal Weekly?

Disclaimer - while I have been both an occasional contributor to Goal Weekly, as well as a current member of the FFV's history committee, the following article does not claim to be representative of the views of either organisation.

Goal Weekly's decision to go on a print version hiatus during the winter season is a blow to the local soccer scene on several fronts. The FFV's decision to take away its portion of funding from Goal Weekly is, from this outsider's position, seemingly the straw that broke the camel's back.

No other publication focused so broadly on the local game, at all levels. Where the FFV struggles to even get results into the mainstream papers, Goal Weekly had not only those results, but also reportage from across the range of competitions.

Because of its marginalised status in the the Australian sporting landscape, soccer has perenially found itself with people willing to plug the gaps, by writing on the game and creating publishing avenues for the sport from their own good will and because of their passion for the sport.

As much as the internet revolution has accelerated and taken down more than a few specialist magazines down with it, the print medium is still the dominant news form. And frankly, Goal Weekly's website is atrocious.

And blogs and internet forums can only go so far. So many versions of the FFV website alone have risen and fallen, taking with them copious amounts of the game's history and data. Much the same has happened to the Goal Weekly site, several forums, and the array of online puiblications I've written for - 86th Minute, Half Time Heroes, etc. Yes, the OzFootball site is still kicking on in its ramshackle fashion, but that mostly provides the raw data of a given moment in time.

Goal Weekly was perhaps the focal point of this state's soccer discourse. It not only had the reports from across the leagues, and even other states, but it also published the humour and the grievances of the soccer public in its diverse forms. In short, it told the story of the game, a weekly snapshot. It was the most obvious place to find the continuing narrative of the local game.

There are people who depend on publications like Goal Weekly. Believe it or not, there are still people who do not have access to the internet on even a semi-regular basis. The famous South supporter and mad fan of women's football known as Josie is one such a person. She was relatively distraught at the prospect of Goal Weekly's print demise - someone had tried to point her towards this blog, but she has no access to the internet, and was unware that fixture dates and locations had been changed.

A whole slew of soccer writers and photographers - both those of a hobbyist persuasion and those who would make a career out of it - have now been denied a major avenue to practice their craft in the public sphere. If local papers don't want to cover local soccer, where do the writers and photographers go?

Michal Skrodzki was one such hobbyist. His job was to cover the happenings of the teams from state league 2 and under (which I filled in on occasionally). His writing was haphazard, prone to cliche and over-exuberant whimsy, but when put alongside the diversity of the other writings - Mark Boric's acerbic take on authority, Craig MacKenzie's coverage of the south-east, the up and coming Sacha Pisani, Niki Cook's coverage of the women's game, the delerium of Tsigan's Tsigar - it created a tapestry unlikely to be found anywhere else in Australian sports writing.

The FFV has claimed that their media budgets are tight, and that their contribution to Goal Weekly returned little value to the organisation. I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, waiting to see what thing they would come up with that was better than Goal Weekly.

So far, all I have seen has been a VPL media guide, glossy but vacuuous and out of date by the time it hit the presses, made up of incorrect and incomplete squad lists, and cursory glances at the possible prospects of the season's participants. Another wesbite revamp has been promised, but since articles on the womens and junior facets of the game have predominated for years - not that there's anything wrong with that, it's where the growth is - the VPL will still likely suffer in comparison.

The notion that the FFV got nothing out of their contribution to Goal Weekly except for a bit of flak is laughable - but the fact that they genuinely seem to believe that is the case must be taken seriously. It shows an organisation that is unwilling to take criticism on board, despite the mission statements plastered across its office walls.

The clubs are also not blameless in this area. The support of a good deal of the leading clubs in the state has often been described as poor by people who have contributed to the paper. Unfortunately, there are also clubs who would agree with the FFV's stance, that the organisation donating some of its money should be able to dictate terms - not even considering the possibility that something like Goal Weekly should be the exception to that rule, that it serves a greater good.

Some may point to this blog and accuse it of hypocrisy in this matter. 'Haven't you sought the end of the print medium on several occasions?'

That would be an incorrect assumption. I have only celebrated the declining circulations and tightened financial situations of publications which have either been superseded by something better, or whose downfall is of their own making, in their fervent race to the bottom. As yet, Goal Weekly has not been superseded by something better and its pluralism was something to be celebrated.

Even if there was no money involved, it's the principle of that matter that comes to the fore - that the FFV can not even find something positive to say about the  publication should be troubling everyone in Victorian soccer.

Four More Years! Four More Years!

Another year gone by on the blog. Least amount of posts in a calendar year, but still kicking on.

From the beginning of the year, thanks to Walter Pless and everyone who made the blog's trip to Hobart so enjoyable.

Thank you to The Kiss of Death, whose infectious enthusiasm kept the blog ticking over. Too bad you didn't get around to doing your end of season roundup, but I understand the reason why. Much praise also to everyone who provided photos, or had them used by me. I hope I provided proper attribution.

Thanks to the organisers of the Hellenic Cup, whose inability to maintain a coherent and up to date website meant that this blog was the only place for people to get even a semblance of what was going on, thus getting us some heavy off-season hits. Thanks also to Jim Marinis for the unintentional lols and resultant hits.

Kudos to Mia Hayes, erstwhile of the FFV, who thought it fit that I should have access to a media pass in my own right. Costa from Goal! Weekly for letting me write in his paper; and to Southpole for having such poor internet access combined with superfluous social and sporting commitments that I was able to write on state league soccer for the aforementioned paper.

Thank you to every reader both South affiliated and non-South affiliated, especially those who left a comment at some point. Some notable mentions: Soccer-forum.net's Needledown for eventually getting the bee out of his bonnet; and Krizar, for discussing similarities and differences over a quiet drink.

The South Melbourne Hellas Hattrick crew. Most of us are slugging it away in divisions four and five, but in our own way we punch above our weight.

It's always a pleasure to spend time with Gains and Steve from Broady; the bus rides, train trips, quiet dinners and weekly stories starring Greeksta made the season that much more tolerable.

And of course, Ian Syson, who points out tics in my writing that I never seem to see for myself.

Review of John Maynard's 'The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe'

This review first appeared in Goal Weekly. It's a pretty sloppy review which probably doesn't do the book justice, but I do hope people give it a chance (use any book vouchers you got for Christmas if you must), as there's several important stories it has to tell.


There are plenty of people out there who will tell you that sport and politics should not mix. And yet throughout John Maynard's The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe: A History of Aboriginal Involvement with the World Game (Magabala Books), for many of the Aborigines involved in soccer, the two are impossible to separate.

Make no bones about it, Soccer Tribe is an important book. In large part this is because it seeks to cover new ground in an uncharted part of our soccer history, and attempts to link the game to the broader Indigenous struggle for social justice. Soccer Tribe's best sections are those which merge the personal with the political, recounting the important players of the past, and the social and political obstacles still in place preventing more Indigenous Australians from taking up the game.

In the 1950s, when Charles Perkins, John Moriarty and Gordon Briscoe emerge on the Australian soccer scene, Maynard showcases the role that soccer played in this trio's overcoming of social disadvantage and their subsequent entry into the political and public sphere. The self-esteem gained from their success in the game, and their treatment as equals by the Continental European migrants who had come to dominate Australia soccer by the early 1950s was crucial to their political awakening. The late Perkins recalled that soccer:

“brought me into the migrant community where I found great satisfaction, no prejudice, no history of bad relations, no embarrassing comments or derogatory remarks, they welcomed me into the fold and I've been there ever since”

Also crucial to their political awakening was that all three travelled to Europe to try their hand at soccer careers. Most Australian soccer fans would be aware only of Joe Marston and his appearance for Preston North End in the 1954 FA Cup final. But Moriarty, Briscoe and Perkins were just as pioneering in their endeavours, though they mostly played for high ranking amateur clubs. There too, they found an acceptance among the English that was wanting in Australia.

Harry Williams, the first Indigenous player to play for the national team, also gets his due recognition. A powerful advertisement for what soccer can do for Indigenous people, Williams was part of the groundbreaking 1974 World Cup squad. As Aboriginal activist Warren Mundine noted on watching Williams play in that tournament, 'with his big afro hair, he was a big inspiration to us all, because in those days only a handful of us played the game'.

Maynard also dedicates several sections to current and future Aboriginal stars of the game. This is one area where some may consider Soccer Tribe to have slipped – and it's a somewhat inevitable failing in a book seeking to celebrate Indigenous achievements in soccer – as Maynard is prone to over-hyping the talents and potential of several contemporary players. Some readers may query the merits of some of Maynard's appraisals.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the book is the significant section on Aboriginal involvement in women's soccer. Though several of the player profiles are short, those that do go into more depth provide stories equally as gripping as those of their male counterparts.

The story of Karen Menzies in particularly moving. Taken from her mother as an infant, raised as a 'white' child without any knowledge of her Indigenous background, breaking through barriers that female athletes have always faced in pursuing male dominated sports, and being openly gay to boot, Menzies reached the heights of playing for the Matildas. Sadly, her involvement in the game stopped when she became faced with further discrimination when she sought to a high profile assistant coaching role. More reassuring is that there were and are still Indigenous women who have followed in her footsteps towards playing for the Matildas, such as Kyah Simpson and Lydia Williams.

Maynard also covers the problem of getting more Indigenous Australians into the game. Soccer in Australia, apart from the notable exception of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, is a sport whose heartland is based in the large metropolitan centres. To counter the appeal of rugby league and Australian rules in particular, who have such a healthy engagement with regional Australia, and thus with Indigenous people, the game must make a concerted and committed effort to promoting the game outside the major cities. In addition, Indigenous soccer players need to be better utilised in promoting the game, and showcasing the huge opportunities there within it. As with all codes, emphasis is also placed on the particular needs of Aboriginal players, especially those from remote communities and the problems of homesickness.

While all those points are crucial, occasionally Maynard also neglects to provide the wider context of a given situation. While being an Aboriginal soccer player from a rural area such as the Sunraysia region is not easy, especially with regards to the huge distance from the game's metropolitan strongholds and higher standards of competition, these same problems also exist for non-Aboriginal soccer participants, albeit obviously not to the same extent.

Likewise, the lack of primary accounts in some sections also creates a jarring effect when put up against those parts of the book where participants and their families are interviewed by Maynard. When relating the story of Mildura United, and Chris Tsivoglou's noble attempt to provide opportunities for Indigenous youth from the surrounding missions, Maynard relies on reports from the Koori Mail and Sydney Morning Herald, thus denying people like Tsivoglou and his charges from providing more in depth analysis of the wider Mildura soccer scene.

One other issue pops up repeatedly in Soccer Tribe – the lack of a binding narrative. Given the history of Indigenous Australians since European settlement, this is easily understandable, to the point where this lack of narrative becomes a key part of the narrative in itself.

To illustrate this point, Maynard uses the story of Bondi Neal, a star goalkeeper who played for several clubs around Newcastle and the Hunter Valley in the early 1900s. Despite several reports on his goalkeeping prowess in contemporary newspaper accounts, there are scarce details of his origins – and after the passing of stricter laws controlling Aborigines circa 1910, Neal disappears entirely from the public record, along with any known Indigenous participation in soccer.

Soccer Tribe's main flaw is almost an inevitable one – in the past, so little effort has been put into compiling work on the past, present and future of Aboriginal soccer, that it is difficult to know where to begin. Maynard opts to go for a sort of sprawl, trying to cover as much content as possible. Nevertheless, it is still a satisfying and intriguing starting point for coverage into the Indigenous soccer experience, and a worthwhile addition to the collections of Australian soccer aficionados. Hopefully it contributes to being a launching pad for more investigation into Aboriginal soccer.

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.

Three Years Tops!

As per usual, as the anniversary of the blog's foundation comes along, I would like to thank certain people and organisations for several things that happened over the past year - if I've missed you and you think you should be in, the fault is all mine.

I'd like to start off by thanking The Kiss of Death for its weekly articles - apart from taking my least favourite task of match previews away from me, your writing and style improved markedly as the season went on - and it was hilarious when people thought I was responsible for those entries. Blogger for finally improving the heck out of their blogging platform - it's made everything much prettier and easier to handle. Everyone who commented on a page who wasn't a spammer. People who linked articles on here to other places. GoalWeekly for publishing my match report and my book reviews. Half Time Heroes for also publishing my book reviews. Thanks to the people behind the Bolasepako and Jakarta Casual blogs, of course - thanks to the Singapore Cup, we had the opportunity to discuss issues of common ground.

I would also like to extend my thanks to Paul Conroy - I only saw him once this year, but the reassurance that he provided about a certain controversial article was very much appreciated. Gains and Johnny Diegan for helping me write a match report. Those two again with Steve from Broady, great public and private transport traveling companions to seemingly every stupid corner of this city. Nick (Go Pies!), Cuddles and Tony, as per usual. Ian Syson for some reason.

And lastly thanks to everyone who continues to read this guff and visit this site. I'd still write it if you didn't come by, but the fact that people do, and the positive feedback I get makes it far more worthwhile.

Roy Hay piece on Middle Park, as seen in Goal Weekly

This was apparently published a couple of weeks back, worth a read.


Middle Park: at the centre of Victorian football

By Roy Hay

When Melbourne gained the rights to hold the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in 1996 one of consequences was that South Melbourne Hellas and football lost its historic ground at Middle Park and gained the Lakeside (later the Bob Jane) stadium on Lake Oval, the old South Melbourne cricket ground. So ended a tradition stretching back to the 1880s when the game was known as British Association football to distinguish it from the home-grown variety. The South Melbourne cricket ground was the venue for one of the two interstate matches with New South Wales played in 1883 but the round ball game quickly established itself at Middle Park during that decade. The Middle Park hotel was the meeting place for players and sometimes several matches would be played opposite the hotel on an afternoon.

When the game revived in the years before the First World War, Middle Park was the central venue for league games. On 26 September 1908 for example, three games kicked off at 3 pm, St Kilda v Albert Park, Carlton United v Fitzroy and Prahran v South Melbourne. Middle Park was also the venue for the well-attended ‘international’ matches between Scotland and England. These were games between Australian players of the relevant heritage not games between touring teams from the United Kingdom. While club football seems to have been hard hit by the depression of the 1890s Scotland and England met at Middle Park on 1 September 1894. In September 1908 Scotland beat England three-nil, but the following year the English got their revenge by three goals to two. There were matches against visiting teams too, as when the steam ship Persic and the navy’s HMS Powerful arrived in 1908. Powerful was the flagship of the Royal Navy squadron on the Australian station from 1905. Dockerty Cup matches were also played at the ground. So Middle Park was firmly established as the main football venue in Victoria when the First World War brought about an interruption that lasted till 1919.

On 2 August 1919, Windsor beat Albert Park two-one, Northumberland and Durhams (N and D) accounted for Spotswood by the same score, Footscray Thistle outclassed St David’s by five-nil and Melbourne Thistle drew with Preston in league games. Attendances at games are notoriously rubbery but some thousands attended Dockerty Cup games, and it was said that an unspecified record crowd watched the matches on 3 July 1920 with the highlight being that between N and D and Melbourne Thistle, effectively another ‘England v Scotland’ game.

For many years the pitches were not enclosed and Ted Smith remembers playing on one that ran parallel to the Albert Park lake into which one of the players had to wade to retrieve the ball. A bicycle track was built with a pitch in the centre in the 1950s, then came change rooms and perimeter fencing. A new stadium was constructed in 1959 with a capacity of 18,000 including the grandstand, which held 2,000, close to the railway station. There were later extensions to include offices, a café and terracing. The stadium was demolished in 1994.

Competition from other venues became greater as time passed with the Melbourne Showgrounds, Olympic Park and even the Melbourne Cricket Ground accommodating major games, but Middle Park continued to be significant for the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association and its successor the Victorian Soccer Federation in the post-Second World War years. Park Rangers and South Melbourne United had their home at Middle Park in the 1940s. Both clubs later merged, Park Rangers with Moreland in 1985, while South Melbourne United joined another combined club. South Melbourne Hellas began as the product of a merger between Hellenic and Yarra Park in 1959. The Hakoah club, founded in 1924, became a tenant at Middle Park. Later it played at Olympic Park. By 1956 Hakoah was back at Middle Park and merged with St Kilda in 1972 and then in 1982 joined with South Melbourne United as the Victorian arm of South Melbourne Hellas which was playing in the National Soccer League in 1982. Other clubs used the stadium for brief periods. In 1960 Waterside Workers Federation shared the Park Rangers ground at Middle Park.

Victorian Premier League finals were played at Middle Park until 11 September 1994, when Preston Lions beat Port Melbourne Sharks by three goals to one. Gerry McAleer, Chris Sterjovski with two goals gave Preston a winning lead and Peter Tsolakis converted a late penalty for the Sharks. Sterjovski won the Jimmy Rooney medal for the player of the grand final. At half-time another youngster, Josip Skoko, was presented with the ABSW player of the year award completing an excellent day for youth.

National League football matches were also played at Middle Park until its demise and many of the local derbies involving Hellas, Melbourne Croatia (later the Knights), Heidelberg Alexander, JUST and Juventus drew five figure crowds over the years. There were around 12,500 when Hellas with Malcolm MacDonald, superstar with Newcastle United and Arsenal, took on St George Budapest from Sydney who had Derby County’s Charlie George, who also played with Arsenal, in 1977. On 23 October 1994 Hellas played the last game at Middle Park, thrashing Heidelberg United Alexander by four goals to one. There were 11,926 fans there to see them do so, with two goals by Ivan Kelic, and one each to Con Boutsianis and Francis Awaratife. Peter Tsolakis’s penalty was once again the consolation goal for his team.

Squads for the final game at Middle Park

South Melbourne: Steve Mautone, Mehmet Durakovic, Kevin Muscat, Paul Wade, Michael Valkanis, Gary Hasler, Jason Polak, Micky Petersen, George Goutzioulis, Con Boutsianis, Francis Awaritefe, Ivan Kelic, Paul Trimboli.

Heideleberg United : David Miller, Angelo Koutsos, Alan Scott, Richard Watson, George Georgiadis, Eric Vasiliadis Tom Karapatsos, Peter Tsolakis, Walter Ardone, Alex Kiratzoglou, Damir Gnjidic, Andy Vlahos, Michael Michalakopoulos.

Book Review - Adrian Deans' Mr Cleansheets.

Some more conscientious readers may have seen this review already in last week's edition of Goal Weekly. Now that my own self-imposed embargo on posting the review is over, I feel quite comfortable in letting you view it here for posterity - and after all, Goal Weekly by taking the initiative of promoting Australian literary works, should get the benefit of having people pay for the privilege of reading it in the initial phase. How's that for setting myself up as the main attraction? I'm not using their title though, because I thought it was a bit silly. And why did they de-italicise the name of the book? Quite confused about that. You can download the first chapter from here. The book's 500+ pages, but it really doesn't take that long to read.

Sometimes dreams can come true... Adrian Deans' Mr Cleansheets

During the past two decades, mainstream Australian soccer writing – and for that matter, most other Australian sports writing - seems to have almost inevitably returned to the twin pillars of the shortsighted rants of your so called 'professional' analysts, and the ghostwritten autobiographies of local and overseas veterans. The recent emergence of the blogosphere has taken the wind out of the professional's sails to an extent, by showing that simplistic and alarming analysis can also be done for free; but where is the counterpoint to the reliance on biography, the works that show an imaginative and creative response to our soccer lives, and which is not directed solely at children?

Adrian Deans' new novel, Mr Cleansheets, may very well herald the arrival – or at least the return, for those with very wide reading and memory – of the Australian soccer novel to our literary consciousness. The novel's protagonist, Eric Judd, the titular Mr Cleansheetsis on the verge of turning 40, a labourer during the working week and amateur goalkeeping legend on weekends. After winning the title for his basement New South Wales side, his coach forcibly retires him. So Eric makes the foolhardy decision to head off to England to fulfill the dying wish of his Uncle Jimmy – to take up the outstanding offer of trialing for Manchester United – made when Eric was still a teenager.

Things don't get off to a good start; he gets into a fight at the airport, gets no further than the merchandise store at Old Trafford, and finds himself more or less where he started, albeit on the other side of the world – working as a removalist and illegally playing non-league football for the hopeless Bentham United. But his luck does start to change. He lands himself a new girl. The team starts winning. And in his own mind, he's starting to live the dream. But things can never be that straightforward. The past and the future catch up to Eric in all manner of alarming and hilarious ways.

Deans has a breezy and natural flair for this kind of writing, which allows the reader to get swept up in the amazing coincidences which the story throws up. His descriptions of the match action itself, while perhaps a little neat, nevertheless ring true; it's a difficult art to tell the story of a game that does not exist, one with a predetermined result. His strongest work though, comes in his descriptions of violence, especially those of hand to hand combat. The aforementioned breezy manner gets pushed aside for visceral and sensory writing that is at odds with most of the rest of the novel.

There are a multitude of accents in the novel – Irish, Cockney, French, Toff, Portuguese, Tcherman - which for the most part Deans handles well enough, but they are there more for comic effect rather than any sort of meaningful cultural exploration. Mr Cleansheets himself, being an Aussie, has no dialect issues whatsoever – his neutral tone assumed to be natural. Irvine Welsh this ain't, and at times the accents blend into each other, so that characters, especially some of the more minor ones – and there are many of them - can seem interchangeable.

Some readers, though crucially, not what I imagine is the intended audience, might blanch at Deans' explorations of masculinity – a very old school, protective form of it, with a few edges shaved off. In its own way, Mr Cleansheets is a love letter to masculinity – and the bastions of that masculinity that women can't ever enter or understand. In this case it centres on sporting clubs and the drinking and mateship culture – and Deans combines it with the classic 'you'll only go in for your mates' line, the sacrifices and camaraderie that can only be forged in battle, even if the war is fought on an enclosed patch of grass.

Deans also has some interesting, and potentially polarising things to say about the place of soccer in Australia, even though so little of the novel takes place there. Soccer in Australia is almost irrevocably a game outside the mainstream – and it will likely never win its place authentically inside the nation's sporting consciousness. Real soccer is in England or in Europe, where it is the main game, where it is in the blood of the people so to speak. For those in Australia for whom Australian soccer has always been the main game, and has (or had) its own mainstream that it has looked after for generations, this will perhaps place the novel as a work directed towards those fans more recently arrived at the game. The extraordinarily vicious portrayal of the rugby journo in particular is a classic example of the convert's attempt to prove their belief in the cause.

Being a certified intentional page turner, Deans' attempt to write a novel on football, but also on such other weighty and complex matters such as love, international pop stardom, the criminal underworld and Aryan conspiracy theories, could have turned into a right mess; yet he's actually managed to write something coherent and remarkably enjoyable. Mr Cleansheets is no literary masterpiece, but it is a lot of fun. By taking the notion of a midlife crisis to its logical conclusion, Deans has provided a novel for every person who has ever sat and wondered in the quiet of the night, what might have been had they taken the opportunities presented to them, instead of doing the sensible and responsible thing.

South Melbourne feature club in Goal Weekly

If you pick up a copy of Goal Weekly this week, you'll get a nice double page spread dedicated to South. There's some nice photos, and some commentary from Ramazan, Jimmy Armstrong, Michael Michalakopoulos and George Koukoulas about what it to be part of the greatest football club in the world. It's pretty cool.

South of the Border Confessional - Goal Weekly

Confession time again... I have not been a frequent purchaser or reader of Goal Weekly. I took its role for granted, and justified not buying it because I could get most of the news I wanted on the web. But this was the totally wrong attitude to take. Therefore I'm going to make a commitment to become a regular reader of the magazine, in support of the fine work put in by its contributors and staff to provide Victorian soccer fans with regular print news and opinion.

Goal Weekly gets a new site...

... and what an improvement it is on the old one. Now if you register on there you can get access to the various features such as match reports, and hopefully more stuff becomes available as they get the site together. It's linked for your convenience on the right hand side.