Report on Lakeside / Western United situation, as heard on 3XY Radio Hellas

I'm not sure if they did a coin toss for who got to go first on the night, but it was our own president who was first cab off the rank. 

Nick Maikousis, South Melbourne president

South Melbourne were approached by Western United for discussions several months ago, which did not end up happening for reasons Maikousis was not clear about.

In the past week, Western United were advised by South Melbourne not to make an announcement about playing their games at Lakeside. They did anyway. South then exercised its legal rights to prevent that from happening. The process of getting a formal response from the Trust is ongoing.

Maikousis noted that Victory and City have also locked out Western United from AAMI Park, and that if fellow A-League teams are not going to look after each other, then its certainly not the place for South Melbourne to look after A-League teams. Also, weren't they supposed to build their own stadium? Isn't this the reason why they got picked over South?

There was also note made that training will resume for our senior men's side tomorrow for the FFA Cup, as that is classed as professional  sport.

Chris Pehlivanis, Western United CEO

Attempt at a conciliatory and collegiate tone throughout. Noted that the scheduled (but never held) meeting mentioned above was cancelled due to covid, but was not going to be about using Lakeside; rather it was about establishing good relations with all Victorian clubs. Pehlivanis then set up the framework under which the situation arrived at this point: lack of suitable soccer infrastructure; changed A-League season window; covid, etc. 

United were not locked out of AAMI Park because of Victory and City directly, but rather because the trust that operates that venue was concerned about overuse of the pitch due to the A-League season now having more crossover with the NRL and Super Rugby seasons. Also because Victory have moved their allocation of Docklands matches to AAMI Park. At least that's how I understood the situation.

Pehlivanis seemed to also insist that at all times Western United's discussions were conducted with the relevant Trusts for AAMI Park and Lakeside, without any knowledge of what tenancy rights were due to the extant leaseholders.

Alternative venues were not suitable for a variety of reasons: being used by other, primary tenants; resurfacing of turf; covid related seating capacity limits; limited time to implement necessary improvements to venue before start of season, and lack of government support to do that. Pehlivanis contested the claim in a recent Melbourne Knights press release that no stadium audit had taken place for Knights Stadium.

With time running out for Western United to sort out venues before the A-League fixture was released, they then decided to pursue Lakeside as an option. They approached the Trust, and had negotiations with the highest level within that organisation. The stadium audit revealed that Lakeside's lighting needed improvement to adhere to A-League standards (which the Trust was willing to do), and some minor improvements to media facilities. They got approval from the A-League governing body.

A meeting with Nick Maikousis took place, where Maikousis said he'd discuss the matter with the South Melbourne board before providing a formal response. With time running out before the fixture announcement, and before the South board could make a formal response, Western United announced that Lakeside would be one of their venues for the upcoming A-League season.  

South have exercised their legal rights to the stadium football veto, and are waiting a response from the Trust. United still intend to play those seven games at Lakeside.

Aesthetics - Melbourne Knights 2 South Melbourne 1

There's only so many times that you can fall behind to a rival in a calendar year and expect to come from behind to take the chocolates. A fourth time in a row was probably too much to ask for (especially without Andy Brennan), but where I would normally be sullen and introverted about our prospects, I still think we have turned the corner from the worst parts of our season. Then again, come back here later this week after the probable loss to Heidelberg, and I think I'll have changed my tune for the millionth time.

For all the talk that we were outplayed, that's only part of the story, because there were periods of the game where we were the better team. In the end it came down to two unforgivable mistakes in our defense, and a reluctance to play balls into the box early to get the Knights defense - hardly their best attribute - scrambling around.

Leigh Minopoulos watches Matthew Theodore's shot go in. When you raise
your umbrella up in the air in celebration like that, it kinda stops doing its job.
Photo: Steve Starek.

The Knights seem to apply that old trick of taking it in turns to put in a yellow card worthy challenge, which worked yesterday but may not work in the future. For whatever it's worth, not that we deserved anything more than a point from the game, but I felt that standing right in line behind the goals of that late handball, that it was indeed a handball and that there was no reason for the Knights' players hand to be up that high. It's a matter of technique, and rather than explode at the referee, the Knights players, especially Chris May who went off like a bit of a pork chop, should be focusing on avoiding having their hands so high up in the air in the first place.

In the end of course May saved Stirton's relatively timid and badly placed shot - I was pointing at him to hit it the other way, so I'm absolved of any blame - and Knights won the game anyway. And while of course it's easier to be happy when you've won (or so I'm told), credit to May for genuinely applauding the South fans behind his goal; which is more than can be said for almost every South player, though they should be cut some slack I suppose for being devastated at dropping points right at the death for the second time in ten days. I'm as annoyed as the next South fan that we didn't take the chance to take top spot off Bentleigh, who have started to stumble in recent weeks, as well as being frustrated that penalty taking seems to have collectively spooked the side, but the race for the NPL national playoff spot is still well and truly on

Some thoughts on the match day experience, because Pave Jusup asked for them
Inconsistencies at the gate
Upon arriving at the ground with Ian Syson last week, the $3 car park fee was waived when Syson displayed his 2015 FFV season pass. This week, when I showed my media pass, I was charged $3. This seemed odd to me, but not a big deal , until it turned out that there were some people being charged and others not (Syson managed to get away with paying for example). I don't know what the regulations have to say (if they have anything to say at all) about whether pass holders (including players) should be charged for car parking, but it seems that the car park attendants should be instructed to at least be consistent in their approach.

Food
Unless you count the Butter Menthols I bought at Woolies before the game, of which I had about five during the game, I didn't have any food at the ground this time. This was in large part due to the fact that I took Gains to Sunshine Plaza so he could partake in the brilliance that is Sunshine Charcoal Chicken. There were no regrets.

Ambiance
While I am of the opinion that the game in and of itself is the match day experience, we live in modern times, and people apparently need to be geared up towards the match itself by the use of music. Of course everyone thinks that they are the world's most tasteful and under appreciated DJ, and forever most overlooked Rage guest presenter, and thus when someone gets the chance to be in the ground announcer's booth and choose the music they all think they're unleashing not just quality quality tunes, but also something educational.

Of course almost everyone who does this at any level has no taste whatsoever. The people who choose the music at more premium, top flight events are hamstrung by the specifications of corporate, family friendly, generic blandness, but the second tier allows you a bit more freedom. And yet who takes it? No, for some reason at Lakeside we are bombarded with house music and commercial r n' b, and this was even the case last week at Knights Stadium.

My many complaints about this have not gone unnoticed, to the point where I was allowed to choose one song for Lakeside last week (I of course went with Kitchens of Distinction's 'When In Heaven'). Yesterday at Knights Stadium instead of whatever crap they had last week, the DJ started off with Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire'. Not bad, though Mr DJ would have earned more hipster brownie points if he played the Anita Carter's (June Carter Cash's sister) version.

Then we had Van Halen's 'Panama', which I noted yesterday should be the nation of Panama's national anthem. OK, so not early Van Halen, but still pre-Sammy Hagar, so OK (see how I pretend to have an opinion on a division that I really have very little knowledge of?). Then more Van Halen ('Jump') which is probably pushing it in terms of variety. Then AC (lightning bolt symbol) DCs' 'Thunderstruck' from which point things went down hill. I hate that song. It goes nowhere and has nothing of what made AC/DC such a fun and often weird band in the 1970s. He may not have produced it, but I blame Mutt Lange, he who tried his best to take the fun out of rock music in the 1980s.

Then Queen, bugger me if I can remember which song except that it wasn't one of their three good ones (or failing that 'Bicycle Race'), and then I stopped caring. Overall 5/10.

Information, and/or the lack thereof
Last week when I went to Knights Stadium the ground announcer was very happy to note the Sydney United score during the Waratah Cup final, which United won. This week? Nothing. Was it an oversight? Did the fact that United were losing to Bonnyrigg have anything to do with the omission?

Spectator behaviour
Following some recent incidents at South games there were enough concerns about potential stupidity at this game that Knights put out a press release going on about codes of conduct when they could have easily narrowed it down to 'don't be a dickhead'. To which of course I churlishly responded with a Simpsons still.

@MelbKnights @AnthColangelo @smfc pic.twitter.com/O126eHWGzu

— Paul Mavroudis (@PaulMavroudis) July 9, 2015

If we're being completely honest with ourselves, the best way to control crowd behaviour in the VPL is to have the weather turn nasty, and the rain and the cold (even though it wasn't really that cold) probably kept a lot of people away that would have otherwise turned up to this game. For all their hardness, MCF bailed themselves up in the far end of the grandstand rather than their usual spot on Quarry Hill (and while my dad would have agreed with their stance, one of his peasant sayings comes to mind, that being 'είστε από ζάχαρη και θα λιώσετε;', and thus the three or so Clarendon Corner folk were a lonely presence on Quarry Hill during the first half.

3CC on the wing. pic.twitter.com/NEhI0rfIr4

— Ian Syson (@IanSyson) July 12, 2015

The numbers for Clarendon Corner tripled during the second half, but there was no argle bargle of which to speak. I think everyone was scared of that kid who was standing out in the rain wearing shorts and a t-shirt. That kid was a hard muthafucka; either that, or he was trying to get a cold on purpose as to miss school today.

Next game
Wednesday night at Jack Edwards Reserve against the Bergers for a place in the Dockerty Cup final. This will in theory have been made tougher, because the Bergers' game against Green Gully yesterday was abandoned without a ball being kicked, giving them a few days extra rest. One of the insiders reckons Theodore will miss this week due to work commitments. How semi-pro is that?

Great moments in electrical safety

Kiwi Kapers Korner
So it turns out that Luke Adams' absence from South duties because of the Kiwi Olympic qualifying campaign was all for nothing. In a case of prime FFV grade shenanigans, the Oceania Football Confederation upheld a protest by Vanuatu that New Zealand played an ineligible player in their semi-final, and thus New Zealand were disqualified from the tournament. I feel for Luke Adams, I really do, because I'm sure he would have loved playing for his nation in the Olympics next year, but I also feel for South Melbourne because we really could have used Adams during this time of defensive difficulties. I hope Adams will be back for the Dockerty Cup semi-final.

I fear no reprisal

I think I've finally figured out Nick Epifano's angle https://t.co/YRBifixrBB

— Paul Mavroudis (@PaulMavroudis) July 8, 2015

From the files of 'if it didn't exist, someone would have had to invent it'
Rather than go to the soccer on Saturday, I went and watched a student of mine play field hockey for Brunswick against La Trobe University, at the State Netball and Hockey Centre. Putting on my best impersonation of an AFL bigot at a soccer match, here are my thoughts on hockey.

• On the face of it, the wet conditions make negligible difference on the game, largely because of the artificial pitches.
• There was a goal disallowed, and I have no idea why.
• Except for cracking shots, everything seems to happen at 3/4 pace. Counter attacks, dribbling, switching, you name it, it seems to go slower than it should.
• No aerial game, so essentially most of the match is played in two dimensions.
• No left handers and no using the back of the stick, further cutting off a dimension.
• Rather than any sense of formation and players moving together forwards, backwards left or right as you might expect in soccer, the game was more about (relatively neat) scrimmages.
• No offsides, though of course without the aerial component that liberty is much curtailed.
• Very little back chat to the referee.
• A certain level of timidity compared to soccer.
• Dare I say it, a seeming bias towards the upper and upper middle classes, and a certain uniformity of ethnicity.
• For some reason Brunswick had t-shirts while La Trobe had singlets. 
• No spectator culture of which to speak (apart from parents, friends etc - this included the men's game I saw earlier in the day)

It seems to be a game that's obsessed with trying to find a way to tell you what you can't do, rather than what you can. It would however be mighty greedy of me to ask them to change their game to suit my tastes, when I already have a game that has similar elements and outwardly similar aesthetics and which I enjoy on a weekly basis (and sometimes two or three times a week). As much as I was there was to watch my student play - she scored, her team won, double bonus - I found myself almost as interested by Brunswick's sweeper, an older woman who seemed to double up as coach at least in the way she marshaled and encouraged her troops. After watching Brunswick City vs Avondale Heights under 16s NPL last week, it was refreshing to see.

It was also my first time being at the State Netball and Hockey Centre (run by the same people who look after Lakeside), and I have to say that on the whole the facilities are very good. Many a third tier soccer team (which would be the equivalent of the game I watched) would appreciate access to something of that quality, even if it was only at a non run down Darebin. Our game was on court 2, which had more limited seating and cover than the much better court 1, but still had great lighting and even some terracing behind one of the goals. Overall, class biases aside, I'm not sure who's playing this game and for what reason when they could be playing soccer. It just seems so stifling, even if you have a fluoro hockey stick.

Final thought
Andy Brennan would have been real useful in those conditions. Actually, he would have been useful in a lot of these recent games. I miss Andy Brennan.

One Step Closer - Melbourne Knights 0 South Melbourne 1

On Friday night, a nervous crowd of close to 5,000 spectators - achieved despite almost zero promotion in the mainstream press - saw the Melbourne Knights fritter away several good chances in what was an often scrappy affair, to bow out of the finals in straight sets. It was the Knights' third loss in a row, all at home, after also having lost to Oakleigh in round 22, and Bentleigh Greens last week.

Conversely, Trent Rixon, a player not particularly rated by several Knights fans (mostly due to his apparent struggles against them over the years), ghosted in unmarked at the back post on 67 minutes, as a cross from the right eluded the clustered Knights defence, and with his first time finish sent South through to the preliminary final, its first appearance in that game since 2005 (remembering that in 2006, we skipped the preliminary final courtesy of our 2-1 win in the major semi final against Altona Magic).

After its near catastrophic mid-season slump, South has now lost just one league game out of its last 10 (to the Knights away), and is just one game away from a first grand final berth since 2006. Standing in the way are Northcote City, the deserved minor premiers who will be out to avoid a straight sets exit ala the infamous 1995 Port Melbourne team.

It was also South's first win against the Knights since 2011, and our first win against the Knights at Somers Street since 2010 (though that wasn't our last win there - that honour went to this dead rubber win against George Cross). It was also, somewhat remarkably, our third consecutive clean sheet after months of battling to even get near one.

Watching the video below by MFootball, you'd think we were comprehensively outplayed for the vast majority of this game. In reality that's only half right.



While we weren't great on Friday night, I reckon we still had the majority of possession in the first half, and a couple of chances as well. But possession football without much meaningful end product isn't very telegenic. The Knights squandered several gilt-edged chances, with their ultra direct style of play - directed mostly into the deep wing areas - seeing South put onto the backfoot almost every time after we turned the ball over.

Brian Bran soars high to win another header. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

The three players who stood out for us were Brian Bran - who was immense - but also Pete Gavalas and Shaun Kelly, who did much of the scrambling defensive work that was needed throughout this game. Trent Rixon and Luke Hopper, while not as effective as you'd want them to be, still did a good job of holding the ball up, and the Knights defense found it difficult to mark them both out of the game. Iqi Jawadi was good in the first half, though he faded a little little in the second.

The wings were once again were we were most vulnerable - Mala and Kearney not helped though by lackluster performances by Nick Epifano and Nicky Soolsma. The former was subbed off for Rhys Meredith in the second half, with Soolsma moving to the left and looking a little better for it, with Meredith putting in an industrious performance on the right. Tyson Holmes too, put in the hard yards - if only his long range shot had crossed the line! (and according to the Knights fan known as Mumbles, it did).

The celebrations on Quarry Hill at the end of the match were short and sweet, as the crowd was compelled by security to exit quickly. The organisation of the match was very good, with entry into the game compounded not so much by not having enough ticket sellers, but more by the sheer volume of people coming to the game and the nightmarish traffic situation outside the ground. Credit to the Knights for charging a flat $10 rate as well.

Players and fans celebrate the win, separated only by Somers Street's
 famous prison camp fencing. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

The crowd was boosted by being held at the same time as the Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament, being hosted by Melbourne Knights due to it being their 60th anniversary. Some clueless South fans have fobbed it off as a bit of a gimmick, even though we can't even get a Hellenic Cup going consistently using only Melbourne based teams, let alone sides from across Australia and even New Zealand. I managed to catch a couple of minutes of one of the games on the outer fields - I saw a penalty won and then squandered when the keeper made a diving save to his right.

The Only Stat That Matters
Goals: Trent Rixon, 67th minute.

Around The Grounds
Part 1 - Going Up, Going Down (and let's just ignore the ramifications of the NPL and Southern Stars debacles for now)

Got to Port Melbourne early to watch North Geelong take on Avondale Heights in a promotion/relegation playoff. North Geelong were the State League One team hoping to stay in that division for one more year (hence the chant from their fans of "one more year"), while Avondale Heights were looking for consecutive promotions. North Geelong had a decent amount of support, including a chanting group, though Avondale Heights also had their own support as well.

The first half was complete balls. I think it took about 25 minutes for the first chance of the game, which the North Geelong player chipped over the bar. After that, there was a little of goalmouth action at the other end of the field, but nothing to write home about. 0-0 at halftime and everyone hoping for something more substantial in the second half.

Avondale Heights picked up their game, getting some through balls going and forcing the North Geelong defence into scrambling. North Geelong were also a little better in the second half, but the spoils had to go to someone, and in the end the right team won. With about 10 minutes to play, Avondale Heights won a free kick on the edge of the box, which was curled over the top of the wall, skimming a North Geelong head, and grazing the outstretched arm of the keeper as it went into bottom right hand corner.

North Geelong had one glorious chance to equalise after that, but instead their recent status of being a bit of a yo-yo club continues. On a side note, the souv yesterday was crap. Eight dollars for 5 pieces of meat surrounded by doughy pita? Ridiculous.

Part 2 - Who's Next? (Two usually good teams serve up inedible slop, which they wouldn't dream of doing to us next week)

Northcote vs Bentleigh promised so much, and delivered so very little. Admittedly, I was only there because we had won the night before, otherwise I would have been far too miserable to go to this match. So while looking for an enjoyable night out, with hopefully a lot of injuries and cards, and a draining, bruising extra time period, both these clubs (and Bruno the referee) did their best to disappoint.

No cards, because while it was wasn't a very physical game, Bruno in his usual fashion didn't bother handing out any cards, even when one Northcote player was chopped from behind. Few injuries, because most of the turnovers were created not by crunching or physical challenges, but by the shocking passing games of both teams.

There was maybe one half-chance to Northcote late in the first half, but that was about it. The second half was little better. Both teams struggled to create meaningful passages of play, struggling with the tight confines of the ground, The defenses did their job, marking tightly and staying disciplined, but it would have been nice to see them under some genuine pressure as well.

Bentleigh opened the scoring with about 10 minutes to go, when De Vries was left wide open at the back post. Northcote won a penalty straight from the re-start, to send the game into extra time. Bentleigh took the chocolates with a headed goal by De Vries, sending their 50 fans completely mild.

The obvious concern is that both these teams can a play a lot better than that, and that they'll certainly lift when they play us.

Next Week
Against Northcote this coming Sunday Saturday Sunday at Port Melbourne. Shades of 2011 much? There were rumours of other grounds being used - most notably Epping - but instead we'll all be crammed into SS Anderson Reserve. Hopefully they'll open up the outer wing, otherwise no one's going to be able to see anything. The goalmouths at each end also need some love, because they're a right mess at the moment.

Also, if we win this game, then we better hope that Bran doesn't pick up another yellow card. One more, and he'd miss the decider, if we made it that far.

Old Man Bus Stop Chat
Waiting for the bus home, got talking to a Northcote/South supporting old bloke. Another person who has noticed the nonsense being peddled by Elias Donoudis about present day South bearing no relation to olden times South.

Final Thought
When the number of titles won by a team are counted, they're never split into the 'good ones' and 'shit ones'.

No Heroics This Time Around - Melbourne Knights 1 South Melbourne 0

Another frustrating day out for all concerned. Turning up to watch South is a bit of a lottery this season. You don't know how the team will be set up. You don't know who'll be on the park. You don't know if the team playing in the blue shirts will be the one that creates chances at will, the one that can fightback to overcome an early setback, the one that will roll over without much of a fight, or something we haven't seen yet at all.

Yesterday it was the timid South. The one that was reticent to make a decision, to take a shot, to make a run. The side started somewhat flat, but was at least able to match it with the Knights, and hold them out for awhile. Maybe we should have even taken the lead, after our best move the day, a scything enterprise across the field ended up with a weak header.

South down and out... again. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

But once the Knights' goal went in, our heads dropped. Some players, even if they weren't doing well, at least seemed to care about the outcome. Stand up Kyle Joryeff, one of my most maligned players last year, who battled hard on the wing. The rest of the team wasn't so flash. Stephen Weir, so good last week, was well covered by the bigger bodies in the Knights defence.

Marinos Gasparis, who's received so many injuries and knocks this season, just hasn't been able to get back his super form of the early part of the season. Carl Recchia played in defense; while still a capable player in that area, his effectiveness is not nearly what it would be if he was in the middle directing traffic.

Fernando De Moraes came off the bench once more, as did Daniel Dragicevic, who received a chorus of boos from the home side. Kliment Taseski obviously has talent, but whether the tenacity is there can be questioned at times. Steven Topalovic is, like the majority of his teammates, at his best when by playing within his limits, not attempting to dribble past opponents.

An anti-FFV banner lasted a whole 3 minutes before being removed.
Photo: Cindy Nitsos

And that was the comment made yesterday from a fellow fan that most resonated with me. At the end of the day, soccer's not a terribly complicated game. Pass and move, pass and move. Yesterday it seemed all about trying to dribble past opponents while other players remained rooted to the spot.

And by the end of the game, both sets of supporters seemed to be in agreement, by chanting anti-Eddie Krncevic chants. And after yesterday's performance, he'll have even fewer friends to turn to.

Next Week
St Albans at our home away from home, where we've only lost to Northcote, the venue's real home side in nearly two seasons. Dinamo's slim hopes of survival were crushed by yesterday's results. Will they be up for it? Will we?

Highlights from round 22 against Georgies

Some musings. How rainy was it last week?! Then how sunny?! Then rain, then sun. Poor cameraman. Poor camera. I can't decide if Kyle Joryeff is trying not to sound like a geezer. I'm going to miss Sunshine's keeper Martin John - here's hoping they get promoted again before he retires. How old is he, like a hundred and ten or something? Also chat with Nando, Zois and Rama.

`

South on the brink of finals - George Cross 0 Hellas 4

Despite putting up a bit of a fight in the first half, the Georgies capitulated miserably in the second half to find themselves out of the VPL. Fernando chipped in with two goals, Recchia with a lovely freekick and Rama rounded it out with a rare goal. We still looked very susceptible on our right hand side. But we got the job done, the Maltese went a bit awol in the first half watching their missed chances before being hit with the familiar feel of relegation.

But what you all want to know is, where are we and what do we have to do make the finals. Quite simply, a draw in the replayed Dandenong vs Northcote game on Wednesday sees us play Heidelberg in the elimination final... unless of course the off field shenanigans fall our way. Will it be worthwhile heading out to that side of the city to watch that game? Well, the next paragraph might have something to do with it.

Word on the street (or more accurately, the front of the Mark Viduka Stand where these conversations took place) is that Justice Pagone would be highly unlikely to give us our six points back, as that would be meddling in the FFV's internal affairs - more so that we would be given the chance to defend ourselves or appeal the latest charge or something like that. We could find out as early as tomorrow afternoon his decision, with the appeal heard at the FFV that very night.

It's all too much to think about.

Croatian Duck Spectacular - Knights 0 South 1

 Photo: Gains.

A nice day, decent crowd, and a win where I thought we wouldn't get one. Joe Keenan with the only goal, a curled left foot shot around the Knights keeper. There's some people saying the Knights were lackluster, but I never saw that - I thought they moved the ball well enough, but weren't able to create enough gilt edged chances to justify a win - and some desperate defending by our boys, and a very solid game by Peter Zois helped a fair bit. For our part, I thought our first half was much better than our second. And we did create chances of our own, of a better quality than those of the Knights, if not quantity, and really, we should have added at least one more - we really need a striker - there's only so many goals we can score from midfield. Next up, Hume away on Anzac Day, which I fancy will be tougher than today's game, and to be played in much worse conditions.

Highlights from Knights game

That could have gone better - Knights 1 South 1

We dominated proceedings in the first half, yet were unable to make the most of it, scoring only the one goal - though we did have a very obvious penalty called a free kick instead. We conceded early in the 2nd half, which was far more even, and though we had some chances on the counter, I felt we were lucky to get away with a point in the end, all things considered.

Of course we weren't the only ones to hold an AGM recently

The Melbourne Knights also had a little laid back Friday night session of Q and/or A.

For those who can't be bothered reading about monkeys and Jack Daniels Stadium, and who also believe both things they read on the internet and Knights fans (so I guess just me and Cuddles then) the main points are thus.

• They have a large debt (or rather the Social Club does), but made a small profit.
• Coburg owes them heaps for their tenancy at Knights Stadium
• MCF was unhappy with the club being turned away from its Croatian roots/purpose.
• Something about Yugos and Jews.
• Average attendance of 580
• As reported here before, Jim Marinis joining their board
• And perhaps most importantly and interestingly, not one cent has yet been seen from their deal with Dinamo Zagreb. Makes ya think.

All in all, I'd still rather support South Melbourne Hellas. But then again, I'm probably some sort of cigan to them anyway.

2009 fixture out and about

Well, finally, the 2009 fixture is out, and well may we say what a great fixture it is from a South perspective, for once. Three blockbuster home games in the first four rounds, and all games at Bob Jane Stadium, with whatever plans may have been in place to get the Lakeside redevelopment started by May 2009 pushed aside. All home games are seemingly on a Sunday at various times depending on the weather. Curiously Coburg and Sunshine have not had their venues confirmed for the new year. The former presumably should be moving inot their new home soonish after quite a delay, but their absence from their Knights Stadium arrangement is interesting for it's own reasons. Sunshine's 'has/hasn't been sold yet' Chaplin Reserve hasn't been declared up to scratch - the exact reasoning behind I'm not sure. Finally for whatever it's worth, I'm pissed of the Zebras game being a Monday night. Stupid decision which I hope doesn't stick but I fear it will.

1. 01 Mar 6:00PM South Melbourne vs Dandenong Thunder Bob Jane Stadium
2. 08 Mar 6:00PM South Melbourne vs Heidelberg Utd Bob Jane Stadium
   
3. 15 Mar 5:00PM Preston Lions vs South Melbourne BT Connor Reserve
4. 22 Mar 6:00PM South Melbourne vs Melbourne Knights Bob Jane Stadium
5. 30 Mar 8:30PM Whittlesea Zebras vs South Melbourne Epping Stadium
6. 05 Apr 4:00PM South Melbourne vs Richmond Bob Jane Stadium
7. 18 Apr 4:00PM Green Gully Cavaliers vs South Melbourne Green Gully Reserve
8. 26 Apr 3:00PM Coburg Utd vs South Melbourne To Be Confirmed
9. 03 May 4:00PM South Melbourne vs Oakleigh Cannons Bob Jane Stadium
10. 10 May 4:00PM South Melbourne vs Altona Magic Bob Jane Stadium
11. 17 May 3:00PM Sunshine Georgies vs South Melbourne To Be Confirmed
12. 24 May 4:00PM Dandenong Thunder vs South Melbourne George Andrews Reserve
13. 01 Jun 8:30PM Heidelberg Utd vs South Melbourne Olympic Park (Village)
14. 14 Jun 3:00PM South Melbourne vs Preston Lions Bob Jane Stadium
15. 21 Jun 4:00PM Melbourne Knights vs South Melbourne Knights Stadium
16. 28 Jun 3:00PM South Melbourne vs Whittlesea Zebras Bob Jane Stadium
17. 10 Jul 8:30PM Richmond vs South Melboune Kevin Bartlett Reserve
18. 19 Jul 4:00PM South Melbourne vs Green Gully Cavaliers Bob Jane Stadium
19. 26 Jul 4:00PM South Melbourne vs Coburg Utd Bob Jane Stadium
20. 31 Jul 8:30PM Oakleigh Cannons vs South Melbourne Jack Edwards Reserve
21. 09 Aug 4:00PM Altona Magic vs South Melbourne Paisley Park
22. 15 Aug 3:00PM South Melbourne vs Sunshine Georgies Bob Jane Stadium

Meh - Melbourne Knights 2 South Melbourne 0

Coach needs time, defence needs overhaul, we need a central midfielder, need to take our chances, Deano's well passed it, Perry Mur should be shot, Knights fans shouldn't take themselves so seriously. We dominated play, they were as bad as us if not worse, yet they sit in the top three and we're going to get relegated if we don't turn it around. But I reckon we'll survive. Not much of a review I know, but when more or less the same things keep happening, there's not much point in being descriptive.