I'm feeling pretty condensed already, and there's still more to come!

Our involvement with the OFC Pro League has brought about a lot of novelty - new opponents, new destinations, dealing with VAR directly - but it's also brought back one very retro phenomenon not seen for four decades, that being the obstacle of a very condensed schedule.

In modern times, three and four day breaks between matches are frequent, even for semi-pro soccer players in out of the way places like the Australian state leagues. They've certainly become more common in Melbourne since the revival of the Mirabella Statewide Knockout Dockerty Cup in 2011, and the commencement of the FFA Cup in 2014, most of whose games are played on weeknights in-between weekend (and Friday and Monday night) league matches. From the end of the NSL Cup, last played in mid-1996, through the 2010 season, as a South fan, coming across the situation where your team would be playing multiple games during the week was rare, with the exception of occasional catch-up games because of the grand prix during the NSL. Even when we participated in the Singapore Cup in 2010 and 2011, the scheduling was generally favourable to our players from the point of view of short turnarounds. 

The notable exception to that once-a-week commitment during that 1996 to 2010 span was our 1999/2000 season, where the Oceania Club Championships and Club World Championships had us playing a very condensed schedule. In the case of the Oceania Club Championships, we played matches on September 18, 22, 24, and 26; the playoff for third between New Zealand's Central United and Tahiti's AS Venus (the feeder/backer for the OPL's Tahiti United) didn't even go ahead because neither team was able to field enough players due to injuries. Then came the Club World Cup in January 2000, where we played matches on the 6th, 8th, and 11th. 

But that kind of tight scheduling was very much the exception and not the rule. Not including the three Tynan-Eyre Cup pre-season matches we played in the lead-up to 1999-2000 season, the team played 41 matches, and had it made the finals, would have maxed out at 46. So far in 2026, the team has already played in 18 competitive matches, and we've only just entered April. Indeed, the 2026 situation of having to play two days in a row on multiple occasions is something so astoundingly rare, that I thought I'd try and find out the last time it had ever happened to us, if it ever had. 

I thought I'd struck gold when looking at the official South Melbourne historian's spreadsheets that I have access to, when it appeared that such an occurrence had come about as recently as September 1996, where we had beaten Melbourne Knights in an NSL Cup quarter final on the 21st (a Saturday) at Lakeside, and then backed it up the next day (a Sunday) against Box Hill at Wembley Park on the 22nd. (Knights were also involved in the second part of the Wembley Park double-header, playing against Gippsland Falcons). 

Unfortunately, when digging through newspapers.com for more info on these matches (and thanks to my old doctoral supervisor "Kluggers" for still keeping up the subscription to that site, as well as for not changing the password), I found that the spreadsheet, as well as OzFootball's page on the NSL Cup, both had the incorrect date for the relevant NSL Cup match - it was actually played on the Friday (the 20th), not the Saturday, as seen in Laurie Schwab's article below.



Such scheduling, ridiculous to modern sensibilities, was not unheard of at the time - though increasingly rare, the 1990s saw South play several games with only a days break between matches. Most often these were early season NSL Cup matches, as in the following examples:

• against Brunswick Juventus, two-legged NSL Cup tie on October 3rd and 5th, 1993.
• against Morwell Falcons, two-legged NSL Cup tie on Septyember 30th and October 2nd, 1994
• matches on January 23rd (Marconi), 25th (Cosmos), and 27th (Breakers) in the mid-season NSL Cup in 1996.
• league matches April 6th (Olympic) and 8th (Marconi) in 1996.

There were also equivalent examples in January 1993, October 1991, January 1990, January and April 1989, and May 1984. Some of that was due to matches around Australia Day, others complicated by the Buffalo Cup, and a bit with cramped scheduling caused by the compressed 1989 and 1989/90 seasons, as the transition was made between winter and summer NSL seasons. But even with more competitions to play in during the 1980s (or at least after 1983, once Victoria's NSL clubs were brought back into the Dockerty cup fold), two-day breaks between matches were still uncommon. But then I finally found (and confirmed) the most recent occurrence of two South senior men's games in two days!

The dates were Sunday April 3rd and Monday April 4th, 1983, which coincided with Easter Sunday and Easter Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. First up was a league game against Heidelberg (1-1) in front of a crowd of apparently 16,000 at Middle Park, followed the next day by an NSL Cup match against Canberra City (6-2) in front of a Middle Park crowd of approximately 1,000. Even in an era where starting elevens were pretty stable, the lineups for the two games are almost exactly alike, with the exception of John Yzendoorn coming on for a different player in the two matches. 

• Laumets, Russell, Blair, Xanthopoulos, Davidson, Halford, Crino, Murphy, Brown, Egan, Wooddin (Yzendoorn 75').
• Laumets, Russell, Blair, Xanthopoulos, Davidson, Halford, Crino, (Yzendoorn 55'), Murphy,  Brown, Egan, Wooddin.
  

This was also the case in the previous season, 1982, where South lost 1-0 away to West Adelaide (June 13), and then the next day (June 14) lost an NSL Cup match against Heidelberg on penalties after a scoreless draw.

• Tsigaras, Nicolaidis, Blair, Xanthopoulos, Bennett, Campbell, Davidson, Shirra (Buljevic 76'), Egan, Rogers, Halford.
• Tsigaras, Nicolaidis, Blair, Xanthopoulos, Bennett, Campbell, Davidson, Shirra (Buljevic 75'), Egan, Rogers, Halford.

The statistician and record keeper Andrew Howe notes that when including NSL Cup games, NSL teams played on consecutive days 43 times from 1978-1985; 23 of those occasions were league games played on consecutive days. In August 1984, Canberra City and Footscray JUST played two league games in two days against each other. And all this in an era with very limited substitutions.

There were a couple of two day breaks in the 1977 season, one in April 1980 (around Anzac Day), and one in May 1981. Before then, to get the previous occasion of games on consecutive days, one has to go back to the 1976 season, and the Queen's Birthday long weekend, where Hellas defeated Mooroolbark 1-0 on Sunday the 13th, and lost a Dockerty Cup quarter final 2-1 to Alexander on the following day. The Hellas starting lineups were:

• Kennedy, Pye, Batticciotto, Xanthopoulos, Walker, Mackay, Kalifatidis, Cummings, Ollerton, Armstrong, Daperis. 
• Kennedy, Pye, Batticciotto, Xanthopoulos, Walker, Mackay, Kalifatidis, Cummings, Ollerton, Armstrong, Andrews. 

There was a day break between matches on the Queen's Birthday weekend in 1974, but in 1973, once more on the Queen's Birthday long weekend, South played matches on consecutive days. On Sunday June 3rd, Hellas lost 1-0 at home to Polonia in the league, and followed that up the next day by beating St Albans (the pre-Dinamo takeover version) 3-2. St Albans were near the bottom of the division below South, and were trailing 3-0 at one point.

In the 1960s there was also the added complication of players backing up for league games and state rep matches on consecutive days. In 1969, for example, John Bedford played for Hellas on June 15th (5-1 loss to Wilhelmina), and followed that up with playing for Victoria the next day (1-o win over South Australia). In 1969 for example, John Bedford and David Kelly played games on consecutive days on three occasions, combining club and state team duties. Bedford likewise played back-to-back league and state matches in April, and Hellas teammate David Kelly did that twice in April.

Going back to the early 1960s, there was also still the Laidlaw World Cup, a kind of local cup of nations. The team representing Greece in that competition was a defacto Hellas, with a couple of players from Alexander and minus Hellas' non-Greek players. It was a tournament held in such importance at the time, that the local Greek community (press and laity) considered the Laidlaw World Cup of more importance than a league or cup match on the same weekend, and so Team Greece would get the benefit of a full-strength line-up, while Hellas would get fringe senior and the reserves for the state league game on the same weekend. Luckily, in the case of 1961, this was a time when South's reserves depth was quite deep.

Of course the 1960s were a different time - games and players were slower, and poorer pitch quality also would have made it harder for players to storm up and down a field relentlessly. The fact that it's not been even remotely the norm since the mid-1990s to play two games in three days says a lot about different attitudes to player welfare, ground management, and even spectator fatigue.

Quite how we've able to get away with the results we have so far in 2026, including the relatively low injury count, has been utterly confounding. It's been mitigated only a little by Gully's awfulness (not only in their loss to us, but in general), and by having the first of our "two games in two days" while being in Melbourne, including playing against a weak Altona Magic side. Let's see how it goes when we have to do it twice in the space of a week, against much stronger opposition especially in the NPL, and with the senior squad split by nearly 4,000 kilometres of ocean.

Thoughts on the OFC Pro League so far - (Guest post by Manny)

Thanks to Manny of Blue and White Views for offering up this piece. My AGM thing will be up by Thursday.

South have now played five games in the OFC Pro League (OPL) and fans finally have a sense of what the competition is about. With the NPL Victoria season about to start, as well as the Melbourne Circuit of the OPL around the corner, I thought I'd take a second to reflect on South's season so far, and how I think the OPL may impact the club in the short and medium term.

 

South on the pitch at the OPL

 

One of the big questions about the OPL ahead of the competition's launch was regarding the standard of football that it would present. So far, the product on the pitch has probably ranged from NPL Victoria level when the bigger teams are involved, all the way down to a lower VPL2 level when the smaller teams are involved. South certainly hasn't played remarkable football throughout this competition; however the team has largely met expectations and remains the only undefeated team in the competition.

 

The first three games of the competition were due to be played in Auckland, where South kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 win against Tahiti United. South probably looked the better of the two teams on individual quality but were not convincing in their performance, needing a 98th minute free kick from Mesourouni to seal the victory. My read of this first game was that South simply struggled with its many new players and weren't at their best largely due to a lack of chemistry. This was not unexpected so early in the year, however there is real concern about the quality of some of these new recruits.

 

The second game against the Solomon Kings was postponed due to poor weather, but the third game saw South dominate the bottom-of-the-table team, PNG Hekari, 5-0. There wasn't much to read into this game from a South side owing to the opposition's lack of quality, however the game did highlight the importance of the OPL in improving the level of football in Oceania; teams like PNG Hekari will certainly improve over the course of the competition.

 

The next three games of the competition were played in Port Morseby, in extremely hot and humid conditions. As such, pretty much all of the games here saw a slower pace, and fitness was often the deciding factor in matches. South's fourth competition game was a 3-3 draw against South Island United. It was a disappointing result partly reflecting some poor keeping from new signing Shalamanov-Trenkov (who lost his spot for the next two games), but also disappointing due to the lack of on-filed cohesiveness. From a team standpoint though the difficult hot conditions take a little sting out of the performance and buys the team some leniency.

 

South however lose some of that leniency in their fifth game against Bula FC where we secured a 1-1 draw. Despite dominating the play for almost the whole game, Bula managed to look threatening on the counter and once they equalised South looked toothless in front of goal. A lot has been said about squad management recently but this game really underlined our lack of striking options after the departures of Aguek and Lavale to the A-League.

 

In the sixth game of the competition, South stormed home to a 5-2 victory against Vanuatu United in, to be frank, bizarre circumstances. By the end of the game Vanuatu ended with four red cards - three for players and one for their head coach. Also strange was the fact that South scored all five of their goals from set plays. It was a strange game also for the fact that Vanuatu still looked occasionally threatening with nine on the park, even scoring a goal to bring the game back to 3-2 before South sealed the result later in the game.

 

So overall what can we say about South on the pitch? Firstly, the headline results are OK. South is the only undefeated team in the league and finds itself second on the table behind Auckland. It is also true that South's performances have not been convincing. The team has not played the entertaining possession-based football we grew used to at the end of last year's NPL season and has instead built on a direct play style with a heavy reliance on set plays - Mikkola's throws are once again finding the spotlight. Individually as well, a few players are creating cause for concern. New recruits (with the exception of Swibel) have not impressed, specifically new goalkeeper Shalamanov-Trenkov (who has already lost his starting spot) and Coveny (who's erroneous pass gave Vanuatu a cheap goal).

 

I think overall though fans need to give the team some leniency. We need to factor the unfamiliar international travel, the searingly hot conditions in the Port Moresby games, and the challenges in absorbing all the new squad members. Considering the standard of competition and that the first six rounds of the OPL could almost be considered an extended pre-season, the team will need to see improvements.

 

What next on-field?

 

The next lot of games represents a clear step up in competition. The next round of OPL will be held in Melbourne and will see up play ladder leaders Auckland, as well as mid-table teams South Island and Tahiti United. This represents our toughest circuit of the competition. Not that all teams (six of which were formed just for the OPL) have a few games under their belt, I would expect the rest of the OPL to present a higher level of on-field play. Travel and even match-day conditions aren't really an excuse anymore.

 

However we are also about to commence our NPL season with Avondale up first. With the increased competitiveness of the NPL this year (enter George Cross, Bentleigh and Melbourne City) as well as the unconvincing performances of our new OPL recruits I think it is clear we can't compete on both fronts and will need to prioritise one competition, and considering the threat of relegation, I think we need to prioritise the NPL.

 

So what needs to change? Well I think the first thing that needs to change is squad continuity in the NPL. Unlike the OPL where we have seen huge squad and match-day turnover I think we need to see a strong starting XI in the NPL week-in-week-out which can develop chemistry and produce cohesive performance which simply haven't occurred in the OPL. We also need to rethink our attacking play or risk reverting to a set-piece heavy 'Esta-ball-lite' which our OPL performances have teased. This simply won't cut it in an NPL considering the increased physicality of our opponents. Let's consider our best XI (per my thoughts)

 

Lopez

Lampard - Eliopoulos - Jankovic - Painter Andrews

Mikkola - Giannakopoulos - Pasquali - Uchida

Bonada - Swibel

 

Play style wise this squad is more capable than our squad at the end of last year, and chemistry wise we haven't really seen this squad so far in the OPL. That says to me there is upside on what we have seen so far in the OPL but also suggests our pre-season has probably been less than optimal by way of our inability to train as one squad. On our 'pre-season' as far as I am away our results have been underwhelming. The South 'B' team of first team players left in Melbourne and reserve players likely to fill the gaps when the OPL overlaps with the NPL have not impressed our online fans and offers a worrying sign for our ability to compete in both competitions. Overall… even after watching five South games this year I feel like I have no idea what we will serve up against Avondale in round 1!

 

Off-field OPL

 

So… now to the off-field stuff. I think off the bat, FIFA and the OFC have done a fantastic job in the organisation and presentation of this league. The broadcast is exceptional from a production perspective (multiple HD cameras!) and a distribution perspective (FIFA+ has been great for me)! The OPL will improve football in the region as the competition is delivering higher competition to pacific footballers and access to professional governance and training. Commentary, refereeing, VAR, stadia - I could go on. The whole competition is a big thumbs up - of course this is entirely dependent on sustainable funding which about the long term - I believe there is none. (I can't be bothered with this conversation for now….)

 

I'll also add that South's participation is also a huge thumbs up - from the perspective of the OFC. Why? Yes, I think Wellington Phoenix could have (nay probably should have) taken our place, however we need to recognise Australia's importance to the OFC - and heck even New Zealand specifically. Economically, politically, and socially Australia is critical to the Pacific (it's one of the reasons I believe South have been able to secure federal funds to participate in this comp) but from a football perspective Australia is to the Pacific what Europe is to Australia. The most realistic next step for elite Pacific footballers, coaches and referees is the A-League or even the NPL. Australia also represents the largest nationality represented in the competition, not via South, but via other clubs who have called on Australian coaches and players. South offers a critical bridge between the Pacific and its largest football opportunity and already we've seen the Australian football community, (let's be honest, largely through South) pay attention to this competition - maybe not a broad basis but outlets like Football360, Round Ball Australia and communities on Green and Gold FC, and Reddit.

 

Now, finally from a South perspective, the OPL is a huge platform for the club. The South brand is being shared across the Pacific, and the club can do international community work (as we saw them at a PNG school) and offer players and staff professional experiences in the form of travel, match-day experience and broadcast media. However, these benefits are completely contingent on external Funding either via the Federal government (which may not be available in the long term) or FIFA (who don't want to fund an AFC based team). These benefits must also be balanced with the practical challenges of overlapping competitions. We will only know at the conclusion of this season how the OPL will impact our NPL season and vice-versa, but it is clear squad management, logistics, fan experience and even competition integrity are under pressure. The jury is out on this one.

 

A few thoughts.

 

I think that in the long run the OPL will have to be relegated to a reserve’s competition for us, unless there is some sort of unprecedented pickup in economic benefits or fan interest of which I see no real chance for either. I know this thought is a little blunt, and maybe not to ambitious but I'm a simple guy and I like simple answers.

 

I think this will align with Auckland's approach and allow us to clearly define what the OPL is (development) and what NPL is (priority) which benefits to fans, the club, and the individual leagues. So, let's say we take the Auckland approach - this will require a change in our registration rules but essentially, we would play our reserves in the OPL with an allowable of three first team squad members each game. We can also bolster this squad with OPL specific signings which I think we need to be more targeted with in the long term. Specifically, I think the OPL is a great opportunity for the club to recognise Australian Indigenous cultures and provide footballing opportunities to first Australians. However, as I alluded to earlier, the jury is still out on all of this and maybe the OPL looks different next year!

 

In conclusion

 

Geez, it's been a crazy month already… and we haven't even started the NPL yet!