Discussion paper relic - SMFC Museum Tour Notes, circa 2015

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

SMFC Museum Tour Notes

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

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

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

Hawthorn

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

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

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

Collingwood

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

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

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

Carlton

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

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

Western Bulldogs

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

Other notes

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

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

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

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

Summary and possible directions for a South Melbourne museum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tall tales, short stints, and meeting the cast of Neighbours

Here's a lighthearted diversion to kick off the week. Around early June, former Raith Rovers striker and now Scottish radio football pundit Gordon Dalziel wasn't particularly impressed with Celtic signing Ange Postecoglou as their new manager. Granted, it was a left field choice, but Dalziel also hazily recalled that he'd come across Ange as an opponent during their respective playing days.

Now considering that Dalziel's shtick appears to be at least partly dependent on being the tall-tale telling drunk at your local pub, his co-hosts back then figured that he was probably just talking out of his arse. 

Well, as it turns out, Dalziel's memory wasn't completely off the mark - except for the fact that he played with Ange, not against him, as his co-hosts pointed out on the weekend. Dalziel played two games for South, both as a substitute: a 4-3 loss against Melbourne Croatia in which Ange actually scored; and the next week in a 1-1 draw against Melbourne City JUST. Sadly, no footage seems to have surfaced of either game.

And yes, that is my tweet they're reading out on air, though I must give the credit to club historian John Kyrou and his spreadsheet covering every South player (that we know of) with extraneous notes like:

"Used as a substitute twice, failed to attend training in third week and sought a quick return to Scotland as he was expecting to walk straight into the first team."

And if, like me, you were wondering where such an assessment of Dalziel's brief time in Australia may have come from, it was probably the July August edition of Aussie Soccer magazine - thanks to Mark Boric for fishing out the relevant chunk from that publication. Shoddy as his memory and punditry may be, for his part Dalziel seems to have been a handy player, including scoring in a Scottish League Cup final, which Raith won against Celtic.

Ancient Hellenic history II

Back in 2009, I posted a team photo of South Melbourne Hellas predecessor club Hellenic. At that time, the photo had neither names nor a year attached. In 2012, I found a larger laminated version of the photo, which included almost all the names of the people in the photo. Now a second photo of Hellenic has come to light, which has thrown up a few mysteries of its own.

Team photo of Hellenic, year and location unknown.
Back row: ???, Con Pappas, Antonis Karayannis, ???, Bob Mihovic, Costas Tzinis
Front row: Alecos Nanos, P. Palogianidis/Paleoyiannidis (first name unknown), ???, ???, ???, Paul Rivans.

On the back of this photo, which was sent to me by club historian John Kyrou, is the following: "Bob Mihovic - back row, second from the right". Mihovic is a name I've never come across before in my limited dealings with Hellenic, and he doesn't appear either in any of the limited Hellenic team lists in OzFootball. A comparison of the two available photos seems to indicate that on the face of it, these are two fairly different Hellenic squads. I was only able to easily identify two other players, and make what I felt was a reasonable stab at one other. In the front row, both Kyrou and myself are certain of the first player on the left being Alecos Nanos. I am certain also that the goalkeeper is the same person in both images - a man for whom we still don't have a first name, but whose surname is Palogianidis/Paleoyiannidis. In the back row, furthest right, I am reasonably certain that the player is Costas Tzinis.

We have neither a year nor a location for this photo. As usual, any help in identifying any of these people is most welcome.

2012 Best and/or Fairest night

The 2012 Theo Marmaras Medal for best and fairest was another tie, with Luke Byles and Dimi Tsiaras taking home the honours. Tsiaras won the media team of the year (voted for by the best damn media crew in the world, and me I think, that is if they counted my votes). Shaun Kelly won the golden boot obviously.

The Sam Papasavas Award for long time service to the club was awarded to John Kyrou & Cindy Nitsos, two long time volunteers. Apparently it doesn't equate to being awarded life membership though. Go figure.

The board/committee members seemed quite chipper about overcoming their recent problems. I mean, sure they have reason to be happy with themselves, but all that backslapping made me a feel a bit queasy. Or maybe that was just the calamari.

The rest? Byles' Hawaiian shirt was a shocker. The food ranged from bland to OK, and the soft drinks were watered down to buggery. It was a given that I wouldn't like the DJ's choice of music, but did he also have to play it so loud and distorted? In other words, the usual gripes from me.

Graeme Hocking and the story of his local club - now updated!

Recently one Graeme Hocking wrote to club historian John Kyrou, to talk about his time as a schoolboy footballer for South Melbourne United, and John was kind enough to pass along the letter and photos of Hocking's team medal and personal medal - which Hocking has donated to the club - to South of the Border.

Graeme was a member of United's 1951 Dunklings Shield winning team, which was a schoolboy competition which had run since at least 1934, but rather was confusingly also the name given to trophies for several other sports. including rowing and life saving.

In previous discussions (here and here) on South Melbourne United, we noted that members of United's junior wing left in the mid 1940s to form the Park Rangers club. United's continuing success in junior soccer indicates that there was a healthy soccer playing community within the South Melbourne/Albert Park/Middle Park area.

Hocking was the captain of the side, and his dedication to his teammates and the game can be seen by the fact that even when his family moved from the Middle Park area, first to Upper Ferntree Gully, then Castlemaine, he would still make the trip down by steam train to Melbourne to play for his team, arriving home at 7:30pm after having gotten up at 4:00am to perform his duties as an apprentice baker.

Graeme Hocking captained the side, and can be seen seated behind the Dunklings Shield. On his
 left, seated behind the small trophy, is vice captain Don Dodds. The goalkeeper behind Dodds is
 Del Mannering. The gentleman in the dark suit is Alex McFadyen. The suited man on the right
 hand side is Jack Olsen. The rest of the people in the photo Hocking does not remember the
 names of. Mannering would go on to play senior football with Melbourne Hakoah, playing in
 the state league for several seasons in the 1960s. Prior to that he had played with George Cross,
 and in the early 1970s it seems also with Wellington Olympic.

Update! With thanks to Ted Smith and Graeme Hocking for the additional info.

• After playing senior football for South Melbourne United, goalkeeper Del Mannering played for Hakoah, George Cross, Makedonia, and in the early 1970s it seems also with Wellington Olympic.
• Alex McFadyen, the man in the dark suit, was a coach at both South Melbourne and at the South Melbourne Technical School. Ted Smith recalls "Mr. McFadyen also set up a St. Kilda Junior team which he asked me in 1957 to coach, and I had them all them in my first car – a 1938 Ford – including Mike Mandalis, Attila & Joe Abonyi who had just arrived from Hungary."
• The suited man at the opposite end of the photo is Jack Olsen. He was secretary at South Melbourne United in its early days. According to Ted Smith, Olsen was also heavily involved with the VASFA's junior setup, which is corroborated by a 1950s Soccer News article listing him as the secretary of the Victorian Junior Soccer Association.
• While he is not this photo, Graeme Hocking has noted that Frank Crean, then president of the club, "lived next door to our cake shop and house which was located on the corner of Mills and Richardson Streets, Middle Park, directly opposite what was Middle Park Central School (likely now Middle Park Primary School -ed), which I attended.

Second leg, South Melbourne 3 Bangkok Glass 3 - Aggregate score 4-6

Faced with a two goal deficit from the first leg, South went out with an unchanged starting lineup, and began the game brightly, gaining the upper hand in the territorial battle at least and winning free kicks in dangerous areas and the occasional corner. It seemed that rather than Bangkok Glass sitting back it was Hellas that was on top in general play.

De Nittis had a great chance on 19 minutes, but failed to hit the target from the penalty spot. A penalty shout was turned down on 24 minutes after a tense moment for the Thai defense. On 26 minutes, poor communication between Stefaan Sardelic and his defense saw the Glass Rabbits open the scoring against the run of play, leaving South a mountain to climb.

Gianni De Nittis made up for his earlier miss by finishing some good lead up work by Daniel Vasilevski on 30 minutes to level the match at 1-1, and reduce the aggregate margin once more to two goals. It was a match marred by several poor tackles from the Thai side, which mostly went unpunished. De Nittis was fouled in the box on 36 minutes and Fernando De Moraes stepped up and slotted home the penalty to give South the lead, and reduce the margin to one goal on aggregate.

Bangkok Glass stepped up after that setback however, and leveled the match on 40 minutes after taking advantage of slack defending. A late corner for South saw Recchia clatter into the opposition keeper and receive a yellow card, and the two sides head into half time locked at 2-2 for the game and the Glass Rabbits 5-3 up on aggregate.

De Nittis couldn't make the most of a difficult chance early in the second half, and Bangkok Glass sought to hit back with chances of their own. Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Glass Rabbits failed to capitalise on a good move which saw them get numbers into the box. De Nittis, played through by Jesse Krncevic, hit the ball to the keeper on 64 minutes.

After several minutes of mostly subdued play, De Nittis gave South another glimmer of hope with 16 minutes to go by heading in a goal over the keeper, setting the scene for a tense finish. Soon after the latest go ahead goal, Krncevic failed to get a shot on goal after the pass from Rhodri Payne came a little behind the returning striker. Rhodri Payne made an incredible run forward but the ball was cleared off the line from De Nittis shot. The need to send players forward eventually cost South however, with Bangkok leveling the game again, and putting the game out of reach with their superior finishing - though their third goal did come off a deflection. The game then petered out towards its close, with only the antics of the Bankgok players giving the game any sort of genuine interest, though for the wrong reasons.

It was a sterling effort by South over the two legs despite the result, as the team sought to attack their more credentialed opponents, though the Blues had every right to sit back and attempt to play a cautious counter attacking style. The superior conditioning of the Thai side was telling in the first leg, as was their goalscoring, demonstrating the difference in class between the two sides - one wonders what could have been had Joe Keenan been available, he being the best finisher in the side. The gamesmanship of the Thais was brought into question into several times by the commentary crew, particularly the feigning of injuries - something frowned upon in Australia, where physicality in football is celebrated (for better and worse). One could spin it positively though, by interpreting it as a measure of the credit that our boys had earned from their opponents, that they resorted to those tactics.

Looking to next year, there are a number of questions that have been thrown up, such as why do we still persist with short corners? The question of whether Sardelic has done enough to cement himself in the number one keeper spot is up in the air - after so many years of struggling to find a reasonable first choice keeper, and believing we'd found that player in Peter Zois, his defection to Oakleigh leaves us with a tough choice to make. Do we go with the youngster, very much still untested and inexperienced, but who has certainly paid his dues in the reserves for several years? Or do we go for the safer option of forking out big money to someone with a more established reputation?

Krncevic seems to have already slotted in nicely, while Gianni De Nittis seemed to find a bit of form - but how many times have we said that about him in the past few years? Though he did seems to be working well with Krncevic. The midfield created enough chances and more than held their own over stretches of the two matches, but defensively we still seem susceptible, especially conceding goals despite the opposition having few chances. The fight for defensive spots will be hot next year, with the arrival of Lukmon Anifaloyin meaning that someone is going to miss out.

As to whether the club seeks to participate again next season, my guess would be that it's pretty doubtful - the ability to not only get a capable group of players on the plane away from their work commitments on more than one occasion during the year, but also to deal with the fact that the latter stages, should we make them fall into the VPL off-season, means that preparation is never ideal. Logistically, for a volunteer run organisation, it's also a massive task, though they seemed to handle it rather well for the most part.

A massive thank you to the team providing the radio stream, commentator John Kyrou, special comments man George Kouroumalis, and tech guy Michael Dimoudis. The first leg presentation was good; the second leg presentation was great. Thanks also to Paul Zarogiannis for the camerawork, whose efforts will be seen hopefully in the coming week. Great job boys, we'll see you back in Melbourne soon.

Politically Correct MVP night

An enjoyable evening was had last night at Honey Bar, with the usual and requisite personal quibbles. Fernando won the golden boot award of course, as well as the Theo Marmaras award for player of the year. What was perhaps a little surprising to me was how close it was - he finished up with 63 votes, just four ahead of Steven O'Dor and Peter Zois, and only overtaking those player with a nine point haul in the final round against Sunshine. I suppose it summed up the kind of year it was, where we flirted with both finals and relegation at various times during the year, playing at the extremes of appalling and brilliance often withing minutes of each other.

Fernando gave quite an emotional speech. The thing that was only semi-danced around, and not very well for most of the night, was the six point deduction. No sign of Horsey there - the rumours of his being sacked have been very strong, but nothing has been confirmed yet, no matter how strong the rumours are of Eddie Krncevic making a return to the South helm are. The notion of hiring of 91' championship hero Joe Palatsides has been been been buried - he's been having too good a time of it apparently coaching lower leagues sides in Greece, mostly recently at Karditsa in the Greek second division.

Lots of thank yous dished out. Echoing somewhat the omission of Kevin Nelson's name from the 2006 championship commemorative t-shirt, David Lugli didn't get mentioned. Maybe I don't have the stomach for such political antics, maybe he committed war crimes in the Sudan or something, but it seemed awkward. As did the somewhat cocky attitude of the players towards the Singapore Cup tie against Bangkok Glass - me, I don't know, maybe I read too many south-east Asian football blogs.

I was also offended by one George Koukoulas more or less accosting me and then berating me for not knowing about previous winners of our best and fairest, and then asking me what kind of club historian I am. Well, I'm not the official club historian, John Kyrou is - maybe Mr Koukoulas should check the South website. And considering the appalling record keeping of such matters within the club (with the exception of certain isolated individuals over the years, and the recent great work of John Kyrou), I don't see how it could possibly be my fault that I only know Steve Iosifidis won the award I think in one of our back to back seasons. It was hard enough even finding that out

But to focus any more than necessary on such small, petty individuals for too long is tiring. Back to the coaching situation. Some people seem convinced that a decision has already been made, and that they know who will be coaching us next year, maybe even this year. In better news, there's word that memberships and merchandise may very well be available even as early as this year, towards December of course. Now that's a level of progress that was mooted early this year, but seems to have much more to back it up this time around. I didn't dare ask about whether we could have a shirt with hoops though - I doubt it'd get up anyhow.

Vale Antonis Karagiannis, Henri Van Groningen

Sad to hear of two deaths of former South players, one recent, and one from a few months back.


Antonis Karagiannis article taken from the official site.

The entire South Melbourne FC family would like to extend its deepest condolences and wishes to the Karagiannis family on the passing of former South Melbourne FC player Antonis Karagiannis, who sadly passed away last Sunday.

Karagiannis was a foundation player for South Melbourne FC and represented the club for two seasons from 1960-61. In 1960, he played an integral role in the club's promotion from Metropolitan Division 1 North (now State League 1) into the Victorian State League (now the VPL). In 1961, Karagiannis scored 15 goals for South in the Victorian State League and finished as the club's leading goal scorer for that season. In recognition of his efforts in the club's early years of existence, Karagiannis was inducted into the SMFC Hall of Fame at the 50th Year Anniversary Gala Ball at the Crown Palladium last year.

South Melbourne FC President Leo Athanasakis, speaking to smfc.com.au, remarked that "it is sad to see the passing of one of the individuals who were part of the Club in its formative years. We would like to extend our best wishes and condolences to the Karagiannis family."

As a mark of respect at Mr Karagiannis' passing, South Melbourne FC players will wear black armbands for Saturday's match against Oakleigh. In addition, a minute's silence will be held prior to the match commencing.



Little is known of Henri Van Groningen - whose sole reference in online Australian soccer archives is in a game for South Melbourne Hellas against Moonee Ponds in our inaugural 1960 season (he was listed erroneously as Van Gronignon). Initially it was thought by club historian John Kyrou to be an error, as there was no other supporting evidence for his existence - but a recent email by his son Anthony, who is living in the United States, has helped clarify matters. Van Groningen, born in the Netherlands, was a goalkeeper, and apparently also played at South Melbourne United prior to playing at South. He passed away on January 1st 2010, at the age of 74. Our sincerest condolences to both families.

Round 11 George Cross vs Hellas

I don't normally do this, but John Kyrou's effort on the match preview is pretty good this week, with stats and history and stuff, so we're diverting you there.

The truth about Coveny's South Melbourne stats

It has been widely circulated that Vaughan Coveny had played some 247 odd games, and 88 goals for South. The information was collated by myself from OzFootball stats and used for Wikipedia as well. It was brought to my attention by John Kyrou that these stats were incorrect, and that Vaughan has in fact played 278 league matches for us, and scored 97 goals. While I can't quite pinpoint the place where I made the error, my suspicions turn towards not counting finals matches. Happily though, the error has been corrected, and Horsey only needs 3 more goals for his South ton.

NKEW article on athletics track and such

Haven't seen the final product myself, but apparently I've had an article published in Neos Kosmos English Weekly. This is the original, almost nothing you haven't seen before, but it's nice to gloat, sorta, every now and again. And also good to spread the love outside South of the Border. Don't even know what the headline is!

The Victorian Government announced last Monday that Athletics Victoria would be moved from its current base at Olympic Park to a redeveloped Lakeside Stadium. The work needed to accommodate the move, which would include the reconfiguration of the venue to incorporate a running track, would reportedly begin later this year at a cost of $50 million. The redeveloped stadium would have a capacity of 10,000, with seating for 5,000, though no plans were released with the announcement.

Lakeside Stadium is currently the home of former National Soccer League side South Melbourne FC since its own enforced move from its former Middle Park base in the mid 1990s. The club, which still has several years remaining on its lease of Lakeside, would remain as a tenant. Currently the venue also hosts finals matches for the Victorian Premier League, as well as training sessions for the Socceroos and overseas sides while visiting Melbourne.

Talks between the parties have been in operation for the past two years. The announcement by the Minister for Sport James Merlino has seemingly ended the constant speculation over the future of Olympic Park, as well as the future of Lakeside itself. The former will almost certainly end up as a training venue for the Collingwood and Melbourne Football Clubs.

In a statement on its official site, South Melbourne said it was “pleased that the Victorian Government has recognised the area as a major sporting precinct”, and emphasised its nearly 50 year association with the Albert Park area. For their part, Athletics Victoria and Athletics Australia were caught out by the announcement, declining to comment on the day announcement was made, and released a joint press release on Tuesday. Many in the athletics community have been angered by the moves to oust them from their base of over 50 years, especially in the perceived conflict of interest of Eddie McGuire, who is both president of Collingwood and on the board of Athletics Australia

The redevelopment could be a major boon for South Melbourne FC, with the right deal possibly securing their future for many years to come. The possible benefits could include a clean slate in terms of the catering and naming rights contracts which currently exist at the venue, additional training grounds in the area, upgrades to its own facilities, as well a new lease which could see the club secure its home at Lakeside for as much as 40 years.

While many in the local athletics community are angry at the enforced move from their traditional home, many South Melbourne fans view this as a terrific opportunity to cement the club’s future, despite the increased distance from the playing field that would ensue. South supporter and volunteer John Kyrou said he’d be disappointed at having the state’s premium soccer facility altered in such a fashion, but ultimately the club’s future viability was a more important issue.

“If having a track in the way is the sacrifice we have to make in order to ensure that Hellas will be around for many years to come, then so be it. Many of our supporters have been to Olympic Park many times to watch South matches and it hasn't been that bad. We would eventually get used to it.”

“I don't like the fact that our ground - one of the very few purpose-built football venues in the state - will have a running track around it. However in saying that, I believe that if the South board can play their cards right in negotiations with the relevant parties and do things the right way then this proposal has the potential to land the club an enormous amount of continual income that will set us up for a long long time.”

The announcement also failed to shed any light on the future of the old grandstand, the last remaining element of the former Lake Oval, which has fallen into serious disrepair. Sources have hinted however that it has been slated for demolition. Previous attempts to convert it into the Melbourne base for the Sydney Swans, incorporating among other things a museum, never came to fruition.