Back With A Vengeance - Kiss of Death, Round 14, 2013

Players come and go but the club remains. This is something people do not understand, or refuse to comprehend. The transfer window is now closed and the player merry-go-round is over. Clubs wheeled and dealed to their heart's content over the last two weeks or so. But who cares really, they’re all mercenaries anyway.

Oakleigh Cannons vs Green Gully Cavaliers @ Jack Edwards @ 8.30pm on Friday
Oakleigh to win this one. They are on the up. Gully is too, but have yet to convince me. Oakleigh 2 – Green Gully Cavaliers 0.

Pascoe Vale vs Port Melbourne Sharks @ Pascoe Vale @ 8.30pm on Friday
I tip a draw for this one. Pascoe is somewhat on the up, and Port is starting to get the shakes. Pascoe Vale 1 – Port Melbourne 1.

Richmond vs Dandy Thunder @ Richmond @ 8.30pm on Friday
Richmond would feel hard done by the FFV’s decision to award Gully the three points for the washed out match which was stopped with 20 or so minutes to go. The FFV continues to disgrace itself with these decisions. Richmond 1 – Dandy Thunder 3.

Hume City vs Southern Stars @ Hume @ 3pm on Sunday
The Turkish derby with a Romanian influence. Hume City 4 – Southern Stars 2.

Melbourne Knights vs Northcote@ Knights Stadium @ 3pm on Sunday
The Knights will finally burst Northcote's bubble. Northcote is hitting the wall slowly but surely. Melbourne Knights 2 – Northcote City 1. Knights to be trailing 0-1 at HT.

South Melbourne vs Bentleigh Greens @ Lakeside @ 3pm on Sunday
Oh how I’d love to beat those morons from Bentleigh. Saw 'em against Dandy last week, nothing spesh. Saw South against Stars last weekend, nothing spesh, lol. Still scratching my head over Rixon's start then subsequent substitution after 30 minutes. Don’t know what's happening there. South Melbourne 3 – Bentleigh Greens 0

Media Hammering
Melbourne's Greek media has been having a go at South Melbourne over the last few weeks. 3XY copped a backhander over it live on air which is always fun to hear. 3XY was taken to task by ‘Leonidas’ of Altona Meadows.

 I know Leonidas. He is a family friend and South diehard which I can remember from way back. He asked the question of the night. “Why does 3XY and Ta Nea never mention South Melbourne Hellas as ‘Ellas’ in its media?". 3XY put up a poor argument in saying that the FFV mentions South Melbourne as South Melbourne, so why shouldn’t 3XY? Leonidas responded with “yes, but you mention Heidelberg as Alexandros, Port Melbourne as Nea Ellas, Northcote as Iraklis, and all the other Greek teams by their well known monikers”. 3XY responded with a deafening silence.

That is where he had them. They agreed to disagree, and then went on to read out the weekend's scores and they mentioned South Melbourne as Ellas. 3XY Radio 0 – Leonidas of Altona Meadows 1.

The week before 3XY claimed that they had been put in a position where they ‘decided to leave Lakeside’. What a load of crap. They stood up on the balcony, and because no one from the board wanted to talk to them on the record, and because the crowd was staring daggers at them, they felt themselves uncomfortable. Well, when you go on air and talk shit, that’s expected to happen. When you play with South Melbourne, you play with fire, and you will get burnt.

Then they were begging for someone from South to call them up. To their surprise, and mine, a South board member finally did. Hats off to Tony Margaritis, who made that call. He put them in their place. Started off by basically telling them, for four years you have waged a campaign against us, and now when there is a ‘scandal’ as you say, you want us to call up. He then went on to tell them that yes, Peter Tsolakis did in fact know the players would be sacked, and yes he did give the OK for it to be done. They back-peddled to a point, and you could hear their throats trembling that once again they had got their facts wrong, and had promoted a story based on rumours. Shambles to say the least. Then Mr. Rombotis called up and pulled the classic line on them. “Has Mr. Stamoulis given you guys permission to discuss South Melbourne on air?”. After doing some of my own research on this, I have been told by numerous people in the know that they had in fact banned South Melbourne from all their media outlets both radio and print. The journalists were instructed to not mention South Melbourne at all. Shambles on all levels.

The one person who is really rubbing up people the wrong way is veteran journalist Elias Donoudis from the Neos Kosmos. Since I cannot find an email address so I can contact you directly, I am putting up a reply to the inaccurate remarks you make on a weekly basis in your column.

Dear Mr Donoudis,

I have been a reader of Neos Kosmos for about 30 years. Namely the sports section, which is where I always begin to read the publication, as for me, sports is the real news of the world. I scratch my head however when I read the following which I have translated, “The current South Melbourne is in no way connected to the South Melbourne Hellas of old”. I still do not understand how someone who has been a sports journalist since Jesus was a child, can misconstrue and mislead your readers into believing this utter trash.

How do you justify your position in that statement? Are you saying that the Heidelberg Alexander of now, is not linked to the Heidelberg Alexander of old? Are you saying the Melbourne Knights of now are not linked to the Melbourne Croatia of old? I cannot fathom how this can be the case. What is the basis of your statement? Do you have an issue with the current South board? Do you have an issue with South Melbourne as a club?

You rarely mention South Melbourne in any articles unless they lose. You should be ashamed of this position you take, because as a youngster I remember you being wined and dined in the social club at Middle Park, and as a grown adult I remember you being wined and dined in the VIP sections of the then Bob Jane Stadium during the NSL days. If we are not good enough for you now because the ‘tzampa’ (freebies) has stopped, then please stop writing shit in your columns.

Concentrate on the other VPL clubs who wine and dine you so they can make your columns. Keep publishing photos of presidents and committee men who wine and dine you across the Greek communities of Melbourne. South Melbourne does not need Mr Donoudis. South Melbourne does not need the Neos Kosmos.

If you would like to reply please email kodvic@gmail.com

I am also happy to meet up with you, minus the wining and dining to discuss this gripe you seem to have so I can try and understand what you are on about.

Regards,

KOD

The only journalist out there worth mentioning is George Karantonis of Southern FM. His program is aired on Tuesday nights from 10pm – 12pm. George goes out of his way to be fair for every team out there. As much as he is pro-South, he is also to give South a battering if need be. However, the difference between him and the other other journos, is that he does his research and gathers the facts before he goes to air. He has never been wrong as far as I know, and usually when he speaks people listen, because they know he has done his research. His talkback is also quality. However, the one thing I’m getting sick of is his affinity with Greek musician John Tikis. My wife informs me that George loves this guy as he is from Mytilene and so is John Tikis. Go figure.

Board Rant
When are we having the EGM for the NPL? We, the members have a right to know what is going on. Why are you lot so silent on that? There is no excuse to not notify the members via EGM that we have made an application. The members decide the application, not a few faceless men. We are a members based club, not a privately owned entity. I cannot wait to sit there chanting ‘sack the board’, when it all goes pear shaped. You were voted in, you can also be voted out!

Social Club. What social club? How about letting us know what is going on? The silence is deafening and the natives are getting restless.

Transfer News
South released Marinos Gasparis to Northcote, and Anthony Giannopoulos to Sunshine Georgies. Why do I mention Anthony when about 90% of you don’t know who he is? Simple really. He has been at South Melbourne from the age of six. He is now 19. He was in the senior squad this year but only made one appearance during the cup tie with Northcote. He is no doubt a rising star. Why South would release him is incomprehensible, considering they are flying the flag for the NPL, and a player like him would be great for the points based system to be introduced. However, in their wisdom they released him on Monday night, and left him in the lurch to find a club by 5pm Wednesday.

Eventually Sunshine Georgies agreed to a trial, liked what they saw, and to no one's surprise Anthony subsequently signed with them. I have always been a fan of the Sunshine Georgies. They have always been a great club when it comes to juniors, and have developed some great players. A friend of mine's cousin is somewhat of a legend at that club, hence the soft spot I have for them. It is disappointing however that South failed dismally.

Any assistance in finding him a club although minimal is disappointing, considering they released him so he could get ‘senior game time’. Usually, another team is already half lined up. They had nothing. This disappoints and somewhat angers me. That is poor to say the least. We have a history of right royally fucking our youth and this just continues that legacy.

I and a lot of other South fans would like to wish Anthony the best of luck at the Sunshine Georgies and hope to see him in the South colours where he rightfully belongs in the near future. Good luck Gia.

Fire Up For Friendly Action! (and other news)

South finally step out of the cotton wool for pre-season 2013. First up, a friendly against Malvern City this Wednesday, at Lakeside, at 7:30.

There are reports that recent re-re-acquisition Carl Recchia has done his knee. Not good news if true.

Fernando has changed his number from 15 to 8. Dimi Hatzimouratis has taken up Fernando's old number.

Young defender Matko Budimir has been offered a senior contract.

Marinos Gasparis is reportedly in terrific shape.

And 1960s multiple championship player George Papadopoulos has passed away.

I went and watched North Sunshine lose 2-1 to Sunshine George Cross in the first round of the Dockerty Cup at Chaplin Reserve. Kinnie and the last minutes of the match were the highlights.

And today I went and saw the Friendship Cup between Melbourne Croatia and Sydney Croatia. Not much of a game to be honest (even with four goals), but I did get to see Glen Trifiro play more forward passes in this match than he did for the whole of last season.

Also, some schmo got here after looking up 'south melbourne a-league 2013'. Do you know something that we perhaps don't know? Something that would turn everything we think we know about Australian soccer on its head?

Or do you perhaps think that we know something that we're not sharing? Something so ludicrously amazing to do with your query that, if I revealed it on these pages, eyeballs would literally explode?

Well, I don't. But if you know something, please share! We don't care if its ludicrous.

2013 preparations slowly building steam

This off-season has seemingly lasted forever, and there's still two and half months to go. And without a Hellenic Cup to add structure to the pre-season, it will be an even more meandering affair than usual.

The latest news is that we've signed another forward/striker from Queensland, one Rhys Meredith. Meredith has been another one of those types on the edges of making the A-League.

Of course, we've already signed one Queenslander in Tyson Holmes. Interestingly, Hume City have also signed a couple of Queensland based players. Is this the beginning of a trend, or just an aberration? And why the VPL rather than NSWPL?

We've also signed Alan Kearney from Southern Stars, an apparently hard working Irish midfielder. Could do with one or more of those.

The players have started their pre-season schedule. Some of the players people thought may have been on their way out are still around. Goalkeeper Peter Gavalas is perhaps the most high profile of these. Gavalas had an awful year in 2012.

But with a two year contract, it was either keep him or find a club willing to buy his time out. It looks like he'll be number one again for this season - here's hoping he gets back to some of the form that prompted us to sign him in the first place.

Apparently former under 21s keeper George Malliaras is also taking part in pre-season with us, after a year at state league 2 outfit Clifton Hill. I saw him play for the Hillmen against Altona East last season, and to be honest I saw nothing in that game to suggest he had rectified his weaknesses. But maybe that was an off day.

Marinos Gasparis is still around, as is Dimi Hatzimouratis. I was prepared to see Gasparis leave - at his best he is one of the more effective midfielders/forwards in the VPL, but consistency has always been his enemy. Hatzimouratis was severely restricted by injury last season, so I'm interested to see him with a full and proper pre-season under his belt.

Steve Burton is reportedly gone back to Perth, as is back up goalkeeper Jason Saldaris. The status of Rhodri Payne's tenure depends on who you ask. Some claim he's still wanted, at least for pre-season, while others think he's gone. I tend to fall into the latter group. I liked both players, and felt that Saldaris was stiff not to get more opportunities considering Gavalas' woes in 2012.


Nicky Jacobs will miss most of the year recovering from the broken ankle he received while playing school football. Some of other 21s like Matko Budimir, Anthony Giannopoulos and Baggio Yousif are also training with the senior squad, but is that much different to last year?

Not too much word on random trialist types, but then again, we haven't played any friendlies yet. I was so bored last week that I went and watched an Altona East pre-season session last Saturday.

Alphabet Soup - Melbourne Knights 2 South Melbourne 2

Didn't deserve to win, didn't deserve to lose. Out of that we somehow got a draw. There was controversy, lots of goals, bit of niggle, and yet it just didn't do something for me. Maybe I can sense the end of the season is coming for us, and I'm already subconsciously getting ready for it.

Anthony Giannopoulos
Still can't catch a break.

Baggio played for South!
But not the one you're thinking of.

Clarendon Corner
Going, going...

Derby
If a derby gets played in the woods (or the back blocks of Sunshine) and no one notices, did it actually happen?

English Premier League
Starts again this week, or so they tell me. Shoot me before my Facebook page gets cluttered with mostly Grecian Geezers (and I'm not referring to Exeter City fans).

Fernando De Moraes
Early in the second half he was provided with the best cross we've made since the 1999 NSL grand final, and we all thought it was in. It wasn't. Anyone else and we would have expected that.

Glen Trifiro
Does he even give a shit any more?

Heidelberg United
Sad that their troubles are the only thing we can smile about this season.

If We Are To Make The Finals...
My guess is that we'll have to get ten points from the remaining twelve. I think we'll fail at the first hurdle this week at home against Dandenong, but I would love to be proven wrong. PROVE ME WRONG BOYS! PROVE ME WRONG!

Joe Montemurro
Anyone notice anything different while he was coaching the last two weeks?

Kevin 'Power Trip' Docherty
Good on him for giving that red card to the Knights player, even if the players involved thought nothing much of the incident. Stupid and pointless act by the player in question.

Low Flying Aircraft
The view from Knights Stadium is good, but not quite up to the helicopters landing at Moorabbin Airport during a game at Kingston Heath.

Marinos Gasparis - Man For A Crisis
Apparently going off to Greece (mate's wedding) and will miss the next three games or so. Great stuff.

Nick Jacobs
Broke his leg while playing school football. Get well soon, champ.

Olympic Games
Thank Lucifer that crap is over. Now we can focus on sports we actually like again.

Pigeonhole Key

That's me next to David Hicks. We had some good times.

I think the reason that Victoria University and their crack security squad is stalling on this, is because I actually am a security threat. Hopefully my apology for chucking The New Citizen and other Larouchian propaganda into everyone's pigeonhole will be seen as sincere.

Quote of the Month
From our old acquaintance Mercs, who doesn't come around anymore, but whose blog we read for reminders that there are sporting clubs almost as fucked as ours, and for work like this.


You'd never turn back a win (well, you might if it was 2009 and SNIP - legal department) but a victory of this variety was a bit like on-screen nudity before the internet came along. Back in say 1992 you didn't know when you were going to see norgs again so anything looked good.

Ražniči
Not the best thing I've ever eaten at the soccer, but not the worst either, and great value at $6 with cabbage and onion! And service that was atypically cheerful for Knights Stadium.

Social Club
They tell me that they've finally and actually moved the stuff that me, Steve from Broady, Mr Valkanis, Polish Nick, Ryan the Intern (and possibly assorted others) put into boxes out of there, and into storage. Maybe we will get the

Twitter
I am now officially a Twit. Check me out at @PaulMavroudis, though I probably won't have much, if anything to say. How does this crap even work?

Unidentified Vehicle
Starting beeping me on Ballarat Road, no idea who they were, what they wanted, whether they were sticking their finger up at me, whether my white South hoodie was actually a Collingwood one. I just tried to concentrate on getting to the ground in one piece by focusing on the road.

Victoria University Students
Plenty of time to sink piss. Not enough time to read a couple of articles.

Worlds of Football Conference 2012
I've submitted my abstract - will they allow me to present a paper? Or will I have to go back to reporting only on everyone else's papers? Interesting factoid about that piece - despite being just about the most high brow piece on here, it still ranks as one of the most visited pages on this site. Not too bad considering it isn't a Hellenic Cup or Jim Marinis piece.

Xenophon
The most delightful of all music, that of your own praises.

Young Wife
Because the Government does not favour the entry of foreign women, New Australians are often men without wives; hence unfulfilled desire reinforces love of country. There is no night life worth mentioning, no corso, no processions. In other words there is nothing, though it’s a comfortable nothing. Bored and frustrated, the New Australian is permitted to express himself once every seven days for twice forty minutes (sic) at the soccer match (Martin 1966: 152)

Zenith
People still think we're not a VPL club. How cute.

Same old, same old - Bentleigh Greens 1 South Melbourne 0

Another loss, another kick in the teeth. Play this while you read on.

ACMI Knights Supporter
Wild scenes before the game. Met Steve from Broady at Flinders Street, and to kill some time, we went across the road to ACMI so I could buy some tickets for MIAF. One of the blokes at the ticket booth recognised our South gear, and started chatting with us about the glory days... of 2005/06.

Contender for almost goal of the year
One of the Trifiros went up half the field, took on and beat about half of the Bentleigh team, slid his shot across the face of goal, only to see it hit the inside post and roll agonisingly along the line or some such.

Did our heads drop after that? That might be a retrospective opinion to take. Suffice to say that, apart from a Trent Rixon header which he should have scored (cue the 'he would have scored that against us last year' comment), we didn't really look like scoring

Gains
Back in the country, and yet our fortunes didn't change. Even microwaved murtabak couldn't make a difference.

Handball
I was at the complete opposite end of the ground, so I was in the absolute worst positio to see if it was a good call. If it wasn't, well that obviously blows, if it was, well, where have all these calls been during the rest of the season? Where was the handball for us late in the game?

That it was the only time that the Greens hit the target in the match made it hurt that little bit more.

Joe Montemurro
Now, I like the guy, he always has time for a chat. But I'm not convinced he should be anywhere near the senior team, if only for the facts that a) his senior record is actually rubbish and b) he has been one of the few common denominators in the last 2.5 seasons of bollocks performances.

Killing this club
These performances are killing the club. They are sucking the very air out of our lungs.

Semi-random people are coming up to me and asking just what the hell is going on. South fans and rival fans are equally bemused (and occasionally amused) by the goings on.

I can't give them a definitive answer. I wish I could provide something so erudite, that not only will it cut through the matter in one fell swoop, but that I could take it to the dressing rooms and write that sentence in giant letters onto their whiteboard.

But the problems are so diverse and now so deep, and the transfer window is still not open for another couple of weeks, that realistically, what could you say?

The Dandenong draw should have been a turning point, a hard fought result from which we could begin to relaunch our season. Instead we are going backwards at a rate of knots.

Kyle Joryeff is just about the door, and maybe three others, though I would be loathe to speculate as to who, though Marinos Gasparis is a frequent suspect.

Joryeff has been enthusiastic, but his time on the park has been limited. And when he has been given extra time he, like many others, has not put in the performances that have been required.

Gasparis seems unfit. He should be the player driving the team forward, bossing the midfield, but it's just not happening. It shows just how much we miss both Carl Recchia and Daniel Vasilevski.

This is not to romanticise the recent past. Vasilevski, apart from being injury prone, could often go missing in games. But there was a certain forward progress and directness, maybe even an 'x-factor' that they provided. Not having (an ageing) Fernando doesn't help matters either, nor does Joe Keenan's continued absences help - especially when Brad Norton is often the direct replacement.

Every man and his dog reckons Andy Vlahos is a done deal. Despite his age, if he could pull out his form of last year, where I had him as my player of the year, it would go some way to turning our fortunes around. But he has spent much of the season injured as well.

Thunder's McIlroy was touted as a target, seeing as how he'd been on the bench for much of the season. But he played yesterday and scored as well.

I think that the team is hurting, but it's not the right kind of hurt. It's mostly an introspective hurt, it's being turned inward. What we need is an outward expression of that hurt, preferably with increased effort on the field.

Mazenod United Dog Man
Poor bloke, wearing some flashy Mazenod United merch wasn't allowed into the ground with his dog. He did manage to get in somehow at one point, but that stay didn't last long.

Next Week
Bergers at home, in a relegation dogfight. Didn't think I'd be saying that at the start of the year. But that's where we are, and it sucks balls.

Tom Matthews, by Cindy Nitsos
Because we need at least a token photo of the night's proceedings.

Under 21s
Could only manage a 0-0 draw. They looked like they dominated the portion of the game that I saw (the last 20 minutes or so), and even converted a penalty, but they were forced to retake it due to supposed encroachment.

What was more interesting was a couple of the more disgraceful refereeing decisions seen in this or any other season. Firstly, with the ball heading out, but not yet over the line, the Bentleigh player decided to grab it prematurely so as to get quick thrown going. The ball was still clearly in play, the linesman a mere ten metres away refused to see it.

The second one was worse. South had a free kick about five to ten metres outside the box, and towards the left wing. One South player cheekily nudged the ball - and yes it did go a full revolution, which is a dumb rule anyway - and his teammate knocked it forward a little, then sent in a cross to an unmarked player in the box. The ref not only called the play back, thinking that there was no full revolution of the ball, but also awarded the freekick to Bentleigh from the same spot. Surely South have been asked to retake it? Can any of our referee readers help?

Zenith
At least Juniper Hill won in our opening game of the new Hattrick season. Yay.

South 1 Kingston 1

A very dubious penalty got us out of jail last night. Kingston were the better team, and should have scored at least one more. Fernando was back. Marinos Gasparis is out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury sustained during a midweek loss against the Georgies, hoping to be back for round 1. Looked a bit toothless going forward, not good. Here's to the keeping it positive crew, who are betting that a poor pre-season will mean a good regular season, the inverse of our last few years.

Highlight of the evening was a thin crescent moon in the western sky, bright Venus nearby, and a little further out, mighty Jupiter.

Highlights from Ljubo's first match

Two things. One, as with the 2011 Hellenic Cup Final, I was first up to celebrate what would be the winning goal. On that occasion I realised it even at the time; this time Gains had to tell me after watching the video. Two, what's the go with Joe Montemurro wearing sunnies on his head? That's hardly the right place for them; and it wasn't even sunny out. People .

Heidelberg vs South highlights

Highlights and interviews from the Georgies game

Some tidy goals, lousy marking, and interviews with Gasparis, Keenan, Yusef and Horsey. Just in case you missed the game or forgot to record the smfctv 31 show.

Send In The Clowns - SMFCTV hightlights against Dandy

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

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

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

South's new signings talk to smfctv

Not for the squeamish.

The week that was

Peter Zois signed up. So did Marinos Gasparis and James Stefanou. Is that enough Greeks now? Joe Montemurro is back 21s coach. I helped pack away some chairs and had a club sandwich. We got the low down about how the children are our future. And Laura and Amelia Spiranovic got a feature article done about them in the Geelong Advertiser. I didn't realise they were both so young.