Novermber 2014 digest

Some of the things that happened in November.

I'm reliably told that when we do it, it's called recruiting, not poaching.
Bonel 'Bones' Obradovic, central midfielder from Oakleigh, also ex-Northcote. Milos Lujic seems particularly pleased with this signing. David Stirton, a forward of sorts, arrives from Bentleigh Greens - maybe he wasn't Queenslander enough to play there. Luke Adams, a Kiwi defender with an Aussie passport. Also Andy Brennan from South Hobart. Brennan is a forward/winger, and the standout player in Tasmania over the past few years. This will be his second stint in the Victorian topflight, after his 2013 stint with Bentleigh was ruined by an osteitis pubis injury.

Chris Taylor has also been signed to what the club is calling a 'long term' deal, without specifying what long term means. The inference seems to be that Taylor will also be doing something like a technical director's role, which seems funny to me, because I thought that the roles of senior head coach and technical directors at NPL clubs were supposed to be separate by now.

Lastly, assistant coach Graham Hockless has left for Queensland. His replacement will be the recently retired Tsiaras. Some more obsessive and/or observant readers of South related media may have noted that I hinted towards that signing on the South Facebook page. Honestly, it was a lucky guess. Also, the meaning of the word 'honestly' has now changed.

Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it/When everyone's special, no one is/That's not enough! We demand MORE asbestos! MORE asbestos! MORE asbestos!
First up, we have the addition to NPL1 of Eastern Jets/Nunawading-without- anyone-from-the-real-Nunawading/Dr Angelo Postekos' Football Young Talent Time Superstar XFactor Dream Factory, and Murray United, who had already been granted licences from the original contingent of applicants with a year's delay so they could get up to speed in their own time. Then, because of the deal the FFV was forced into with the Coalition of the Unwilling last year, Moreland City and Eastern Lions - the winners of their respective State League 1 divisions have accepted the opportunity to move into NPL1. But no Preston. Seriously. They didn't win their respective title - they blew it in the last two rounds. If they're good enough, maybe they can join in 2016.

Also, Victory and Heart's youth teams are into the NPL Victoria, but not in our division - they'll start in NPL1, which is now split into two conferences, East and West. Everyone plays everyone in their own conference twice, and the teams from the other side once. It's like an oldskool NFL season, only with more chance of teams going bust and worse facilities that teams will be begging local governments to upgrade. Anyway, back to Victory and Heart. Some people will no doubt be aware that players from NPL teams, like our own Andy Kecojevic, play for those teams in National Youth League season (if you can call that handful of a games a season). Will those players choose to stick it out with their 'winter' clubs, or will they move across to their holiday house A-League setups on a permanent basis?

And also, are there enough facilities for everyone? Are there enough players? Are there enough coaches? Is there enough money?

Or, in other words...



Or, as a very wise man on soccer-forum.net said...

Can't see the problem here.

The clubs voted for this system/structure.

The clubs sued the FFV for this.

The clubs voted for all clubs to be given a fair and equal consideration.

The only thing the FFV have done is implement what the clubs wanted.

Are we suggesting that some clubs are more equal than others??

Survey 
I wonder if the results of the South Melbourne fans survey, even if just given in a gist, will ever be released? Probably more chance of the FFV's NPL facilities audit being made public. Also, when's the AGM?

On honouring soccer's Australian history, even those stupid wogs who spent 27 years in that trench warfare filled cesspit of history called the NSL. Did I mention the NSL sucked? Also, let's put the museum in Sydney.
Museums. They're actually complicated things to fund, locate and set up. For instance, where should history be stored and presented? Can a nation's soccer heritage be stored and presented effectively in just one location? What benefits are there in putting non-Sydney histories in Sydney, away from their origins? If non-Sydney centric materials aren't sent to Sydney, would a national soccer museum based in Sydney end up telling an almost inevitably Sydney centric version of history? What is the role of historians for Australian soccer? Is it to confront the myths and mythologisers or is it to jump onto whichever bandwagon is in charge at the time, in the hope of gaining more patronage, and isn't that something that could be asked of so many people in the game right now? What's the story they and/or we want to tell about Australia's soccer history, and who'll get to tell it?

Here are some of the thoughts I made on a Kevin Moore keynote address about the founding of England's National Football Museum, many of which would need to be considered I think in any attempt to recreate such an enterprise here:

First up was the keynote address by Kevin Moore, from England's National Football Museum. How do you create a museum for the entirety of the game, in a nation that has such fervour for the game? It's not easy. But Kevin Moore says you start off by not targeting it at die hard football fans, because they'll turn up anyway.

Because you see football as part of broader society, you don't try and gloss over all the negatives in the game's history, including the stadium tragedies, the violence, racism, misogyny and homophobia, no matter how distasteful these issues are to some. You provide an outlet for people to create and provide their own memories, within reason.

You do not make yourself the be all and end all of historical preservation. You work with local communities to find ways of preserving local history locally, and only step in to preserve history as a last resort. You try and tell stories, not just provide facts and figures. You recognise the importance of topophilia, but you do not become a slave to it, in part because football topophilia can be expressed in several ways.

In summary, Kevin Moore provided a very interesting look at the development of the National Football Museum, from its beginnings in Preston to its move to Manchester. Moore talked about the difficulties in securing funding, the fact that there is no national sports museum in England, and that the museum in some ways has to compete against Premier League club museums, which seek to tell a very different, hagiographic story, and which are often not standalone enterprises, but part of the 'stadium experience'.

The key parts for me are about hagiographies and local histories.With regards to the latter in particular, the emphasis should be on teaching local institutions - clubs, federations, local councils, whatever's relevant - how to maintain and preserve their own local histories locally. Australian soccer is such a diverse experience that to move it all into Parramatta (hypothetically) would be denying local people from being able to learn and add to their own soccer narratives, while replicating a top down approach to preserving history.

On the other hand...
Is the writer of the original article actually being serious? Considering he has to have a dig at the past for reasons I'm not sure of - except, possibly, because it's the right/cool/expected thing to do if you're not Joe Gorman, who is addicted to the street cred one gets as Anglo-Australian soccer fan hanging out with bitter wogs; at least that's my extrapolation of some stupid comment I read responding to one of his posts in The Guardian, probably the article on Middle Park -  I don't see the point, if that's going to be the dominant attitude. I mean, is it really going be worthwhile having a museum which will be:

1. Kings School vs Wanderers
2. Football doesn't exist outside of Sydney and, at a pinch, Newcastle.
3. 1974 Socceroos.
4. Huge gap due to ethnic strife.
5. Frank Lowy is grouse and stuff.

At least I learned what the word 'internecine' means.

Victorian Election Part 1 (Number 1 ticket holder vs wheeled after five years of waiting for the social club vs the bloke who put his hand up and then said for Number 1 ticket holder anyway).
Well, after a tough race between the shadow arts minister and current sitting member Martin Foley, and the Liberal candidate wheeled out when the Liberals finally signed the lease - and Tex Perkins, who once Foley said Labor would fund the repair and restoration of the Palais, said basically you don't need to vote for me anymore - it looks like at this stage that Foley will get retain the seat of Albert Park. Now where's the fuck is our social club?

Victorian Election Part 2 (Someone's crusin' for a bruisin'/Next year in Jerusalem) 

Speaking of the social club.

@cindyn liberal member in Doncaster saw my South top and took credit for the lease, I told him we're still waiting for the social club cash.
— Paul Touliatos (@pavlaki1969) November 28, 2014

In case you missed it
Me and Pave Jusup  talking about how much the NCIP sucks. Ian Syson is more ambivalent about it. Roy Hay thinks it's grouse.

Does not compute/pots and kettles/γαϊδούρια και πετινούς
So apparently earlier this month Perth Glory played a Cheltenham based souvlaki joint in the semi-finals of some kind of nationwide soccer tournament. Anyone got any idea what that was about? And to make things really absurd, the bloke who wrote this, is now noting in this article the patronising souvlaki commentary. YOU COULD NOT MAKE THIS SHIT UP.

Bitter is as bitter as does/Fuck this cunt and his never-ending lap of honour/"And how we just made fun of those who had the guts to try and fail"
A lot of people have been getting all misty eyed over the apparent retirement of Les Murray (the soccer pundit, not the poet, and the fact that I'm not as spiteful of the latter as I am of the former these days is disturbing). As for myself, the first thing that's thrown me is that I thought that Laszlo was already more or less retired, because when was he on TV anyway? Was he on The World Game while it was still buried at 11pm on SBS2 on whatever day it was scheduled? Anyway, people have been lining up to offer their praises on a worthwhile career promoting the game, and more power to them and to him, as he did put in the hard yards over the journey. However, one bit of misplaced praise in this grizzled nostalgia fueled marathon has really pissed me off, and that's the recent line Les has been trying to spin about being a friend of the ethnic clubs, and 'why oh why are we so mean to them?'


And of all people to be asking the question in the most recent notable case, it had to be Mark Bosnich. The same Mark Bosnich who can't decide if we should  or shouldn't have ethnic clubs in the A-League. Now the reason of course that I get upset at Murray's commentary is because SBS - the supposed promoter of multiculturalism and of migrant communities - has in my most honest and considered opinion (as seen through red mists of rage and possibly incidentally coinciding with Ezequiel Trumper's thoughts on this matter) long forfeited any right to speak on behalf of Australia's ethnic communities. And this is not just because SBS has long exorcised non-English language programming off its prime time schedule on its primary station, and filled SBS2 with American sitcom repeats. It's because when it came time for SBS's soccer pundits - including Murray - to stand up and defend the migrant and ethnic soccer milieu from its detractors, they were found wanting.

For me, the most glaring example is of course the hatchet job Southern Cross A-League bid profile, a piece so vile that even one of the people behind our then rival bids for A-League expansion (Canberra United) could only shake his head at how bizarre it was. If that sounds like I've got a massive chip on my shoulder, so be it, but I don't think there's any need to apologise for holding that stance. I'm not going to begrudge anyone that wants to get a little misty eyed for Les' final bow, but as for me, this bloke sums up my feelings on the matter.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about
Those crazy Melbourne Keniggets fans. Some of them seem to like talking about South even more than I do. More of it, I say.

You can always sleep through work tomorrow
- OK, I'm done.
- You're done?
- Yeah, there's no point in dragging this crap out any longer. Do you want to do the thing?
- Sure. You're reading South of the Border, the South Melbourne Hellas blog that hates old people just because it can.

Has Mehmet Durakovic left for Selangor (again)?

Mehmet Durakovic (left) with Selangor teammate Jeff Hopkins
during the mid 1990s. I stole this photo from the
online  edition of the Malaysian newspaper 'The Star'.

Here's an interesting story I came across thanks to the much maligned poster known as 'mario' on soccer-forum (though really, if I wasn't focusing on my scholarship application today, I would have seen it first on Jakarta Casual).

There are reports flying around (see here and here) that South's technical director Mehmet Durakovic has signed up to be coach of Selangor in the Malaysian league. If true (and it appears to be so), this will be the second time Durakovic has left South for that club, after joining Selangor following the first of his two playing stints at South. Does this mean that we'll have to be on the look out for a new technical director? I still don't know what technical directors do, but get your coaching licences out people, there could be a job opening available at Lakeside soon.

Match Preview South vs Dandy Round Whatsit? 15 is it? 2013

This could be fun. We have a billion ex-Thunder players on our list now (and their coach), though one of those players - Iqi Jawadi - won't be playing, seeing as how he's suspended. They made a mess of us earlier in the year when we were 'good', so who knows what they'll do to us this time in their super pissed state, and with Gavalas absent. But we get Kearney back after missing the Preston cup game suspended. Is Shaun Kelly back? Dunno. Follow him on twitter @SkinnyHead88 if you'd like to keep track of his health kick. Speaking of which, wow much and what kind of fruit will Renco Van Eeken be eating? Now that's a story which has started to fascinate for reasons I can't quite explain.

Imagine - at one point we were so looking forward to getting back home after a ton of away games. After half a dozen consecutive home games of mostly sucking, I can't wait to get away from the place now, if only to suck at a different location.

NPLV 'Update'
I've been well fed up with topic for a while now. The latest rumour - apart from the impending destruction of the FFV when the building clubs say 'no more' - is that 35 clubs have pulled out, leaving in their wake mostly 10 'artificial' and mostly regional consortia.

And then someone on soccer-forum mentioned the Bonnie Doon Hillbillies as a possible bid, and the forumite known as SLEEPA took it to the next level.

"Hey dad, the bloke on the phone reckons he's got NPLV licences goin' real cheap!"

"Oh, yeah! How much does he want for 'em?"

"About 55 grand"

"Well, tell 'im he's dreamin'!"

This is what I get for being away from the internet for more than five minutes

I am Gabriel, the messenger, the teller of astonishing truths. Now I am dying, my temperature soaring, my hands and memory tremoring: perhaps I should be held accountable for everything I say.

Gabriel, in Sonya Hartnett's Surrender


I get home early from work. That's what happens when 80% of my students - in a class of five - don't do the required reading. At least they got a kick of reading Jas H. Duke poems.

Then instead of doing my usual thing of getting straight onto the net to check my messages and forums, I decide to put the dishes away.

I follow that up by making a peanut butter sandwich, and putting on an episode of Rocko's Modern Life - trying my hardest here to be ahead of the 1990s revival curve.

I eventually log on. Emails. Tweets. Even phone calls. People (apparently) refreshing the blog looking for news. For the second time this year, things have gone off tap - and Scott Munn is forced to concede that this is the second time an offer has been made by South. Well, that was certainly news to me.

After the attempt to do whatever it was with the Central Coast Mariners (here and here), it appears that we've lined up another target, this one closer to home, and kicked off the South Melbourne Heart rumours again. And you also have the rumour, as seen on soccer-forum, that we're calling up up every A-League franchise on the fringe of real or imagined imminent disaster trying to buy our way in.

It begs the question - why not just try and buy our own way in, as ourselves? Anyway, for those waiting by their keyboards, the scuttlebutt that I'd heard – not from a committee member, mind – was that South was going to 'go for the jugular'. And let's be honest here - we'd all heard that phrase too many times before.

Well, maybe not exactly that phrase, but re-entry to the top flight was always something that was sought by our supporters. A hope occasionally dangled in front of us by the club, by fringe parts of the media, and even occasionally by the FFA. But mostly by ourselves, wallowing in our hubris and sense of entitlement.

It's strange how in the company of some, you can not only find such statements as plausible, but also as tangible, almost done. And then in the company of others, you can only laugh at the audacity of hope that people at this club still cling to.

But beneath this veneer of objectivity and stoicism, I'm just as likely to get swept up in the ludicrous moments that this game, this Australian game, and our club, our Australian club, provides on an equally ludicrously frequent basis.

So much so that I write the most heinous sentence in any of the at present over 1400 entries on this blog. It helps that Steve from Broady has only started writing recently here I suppose.

And then my internet breaks down, again, and I find myself in an early 90s technological silence. No way of dealing with cacophonous forum fallout, at least for a little while.

Before that happened. I managed to get one or tweets in, an email dealing with other correspondence. But the majority of this was done the old fashioned way, on an eight year old computer with no internet access. And the thoughts on the matter that I have had for quite some time still ring true.

South Melbourne as South Melbourne, playing in blue and white. No more compromises, no more lies. We are who we are, and the rest can take it or leave it.

And maybe a special section in the ground for those of us who stuck it out in the bad times, guaranteed for life. Did I mention our famous sense of entitlement? LOL!

Friday Night Farce - South Melbourne 0 Southern Stars 2

That was pretty dispiriting stuff. Here's this week's rundown.

Advice on Nutritional Supplements for Athletes
Valium is probably not the right thing to be taking before a match.

Beanies
They're navy blue as opposed to our more traditional royal blue (but since there's no official national blue on the Greek flag, it kinda fits that we chop and change), but they're a good size, and when your head is cold and you've somehow lost your previous much loved beanie somewhere on the corner of Kevin Bartlett Reserve and Night Time Junkie Boulevard, you hand over $15 and shut up.

Chants
When you're playing as poorly as we were last Friday, the gimmick chants come out thick and fast, and why not? Pretty much the only worthwhile thing to come out of the game

'You only sing about kebabs'

'Souvlaki's better than kebabs'

'We love our gimmicks when we're losing'

Credit Where It's Due
Everyone predicted that Southern Stars would come out and stack the defence, and while that was certainly true once they were 2-0 up, they had a good 25 odd minutes at the beginning of the match where their clear and simple game plan - which is not a criticism - was working well for them. So well, that they should have scored early on.

At times they strolled past our midfield, who didn't even know how to jockey or hold them up. They played to their strengths, and looked less like a team that was headed straight down from whence they came, than one that would comfortably avoid relegation even if they weren't in finals contention.

Friday Nights
I don't mind them - the stadium looked magnificent under lights, but it's not good for the kids apparently - once again we have to pander to families, even though single people are the largest demographic in the country. We have one more Friday night home game left this season, but I have a hunch we won't be seeing them much next year, if at all.

Gallows Humour
One supporter mentioned to me after the game, that one day we'll probably score the greatest tap in goal of all time.

It's a reminder that at the end of the day, we are playing football, not gymnastics. There's no bonus points for perfect landings, extra twists or degrees of difficulty.

The aforementioned greatest goal of all time will still count the same as every other goal. I'm sure Trent Rixon and his possible probable internet alter ego would agree.

Game Plan

Are we going for the VPL title or a Nobel Prize?

Speaking of style over substance, where's the beef?

Rumour has it that Gus Tsolakis' whiteboard inside our rooms is full of ink. Slathered in it, apparently, so one can scarcely make head or tail of it.

Now, tactics and playing style are important, but it is possible to over think the game, to walk before you can crawl.

There's something to be said for the almost Zen quote attributed to Melbourne Croatia great Josip Biskic: 'put ball in goal'. (from the infamous 'Australian Soccer This Is Your Life' list).

We have one of, if not the widest field in the league. We have the best surface in the league. Yet, we seek to inch perfect football, trying to place passes on dimes, as if we we're playing on a field with the dimensions of a futsal court.

Positive Spin, with Steve from Broady
He's been so demoralised by recent performances that he's gone back to eating Maccas, even after he said he'd quit. His 'Positive Spin' segment has struggled to get off the ground, and yet this should be his milieu.

So I'm just going to do it for him to get him started, by putting into the digital sphere at least one of his utterances about that game. The best he could come up with was that there's always next week. Before adding, we'll get smashed five or six-nil.

I sometimes worry about the effect I've had on him.

Silver Surfers
Rumour has it that the players chose to wear the silver away strip at home because they viewed it as some sort of good luck charm.

Here's how it works, boys. We are blue, and we are white. They are our home colours, and our away colours when there's no clash.

And another thing, I know athletes of all stripes are superstitious gits, but the bottom line is make your own luck. If we're relying on particular to get us over the line, we're stuffed.

True Supporters
What an elusive concept. A lot of abuse was directed at the players and the game plan, especially after the game. Some of it was completely over the top, however , did the players expect to be clapped off?

There are other clubs where people will be satisfied with a good effort, or who will clap their team off regardless of the result. This isn't one of those clubs.

Trent Rixon got fired up, and started dishing out some of his own abuse at the end of the game. Can't fault his efforts during the game, as he looks to be playing at considerably lower than full fitness - a pity though that the same urgency wasn't apparent in the rest of the team.

A woman at the end of the game had the gumption to yell out that those supporters should be ashamed of themselves, that they weren't true supporters. And while, as noted above, that the abuse was sometimes over the top, her assertion really annoyed me.

Since our demotion from the national spotlight, our supporter base has been decimated. Now I'm not arguing for allowing an anything goes approach, whereby no one gets banned, or sanctioned.

But accusing people who've been at just about every game and every ground in this part of our history, of not being true fans, is just ridiculous.

Who made the 16 hour round trips by bus to Canberra to watch a goalless 80 minute match?

Who makes up the 50-100 diehards at a freezing Epping Stadium night match?

When there's no glory of point left at the tail end of another wasted season, who's making the trip to Western Suburbs to watch the youth players get a gig to save on wages??

When the rain and wind bites cold, and the away support is huddled together on the muddy Anderson Road hill at Chaplin Reserve, are you there? Or are you at home in front of the heater, with nary a thought about the match?

And the blather about people being brought back to the club, and being appalled by such behaviour, and therefore never coming back, is nonsense. People like that are soft, and looking for any excuse to avoid going to South matches. Of course, similar behaviour at an A-League or AFL match doesn't prevent them from making repeat visits.

Assuming also that some of these players have ambition of playing in higher ranked leagues, they better get used to dealing with that kind of scrutiny. If they can't handle 20 odd angry men, how will they cope with a few hundred?

The flip side to copping such abuse, is that when the players do good, or at the very least leave nothing out on the pitch, we will shower them with praise. Witness the defence, then praise of the players at the Oakleigh match this season.

We weren't in the game for half an hour, and we were being hacked to pieces as well. The supporters tried to encourage the players, and defend them from the ill-treatment in the only avenue open to them.

And when they came out in the second half and destroyed the home side with scintillating football, we cheered and admired their persistence and their performance, without reservation.

It's not fickleness per se; it's the natural emotional response from a segment of the faithful, some of whom, like myself, have nothing else worthwhile in their lives.

Zenith
I wish we could forget, but we can't. See all you true supporters at Epping on Friday.

Mass exodus of junior teams?

Reports have been circulating on soccer-forum.net that former head of football Ange Dallas has left the club entirely, and taken five 'elite' teams with him. Apparently the vacant slots have already been filled, and the renegade teams attempts to join with Bayside Argonauts have been slightly hit on the head, with one of the coaches seeking to move his team across being effectively barred from doing so.

If midfielders were made of sugar, we'd be diabetic

A Fawkner supporting poster named 'benzema' posted this on soccer-forum.

But the 2 biggest signings are the two new midfielders from Belgium and Argentina. They won't be cleared for a couple weeks but South Melbourne will be signing them in the next window and will be with the club for half a season with an agreement between South Melbourne and Fawkner as they were training at South Melbourne for a couple weeks. The boy from Belgium captained his national team in the Under 20's and has played for Genk easily A League material from all reports.

Have no idea about the validity of these claims, but one must add that it's a good thing these boys are midfielders, because we need coverage in case something happens to the 20 other midfielders we have on books.

Rama Rumours Run Rampant

So the story's going something like this.

Eddie Krncevic has stripped the captaincy off Ramazan Tavsancioglu and given it to Steven O'Dor, for reasons which have not emerged yet in any official capacity. Since then, the situation has deteriorated so much that Rama is out of the side altogether. Rama is a free agent and assessing his options - with a return to South under Eddie's tenure almost impossible. Naturally this has set off a massive torrent of support for Rama and a heap of abuse against Eddie Krncevic and the board. But it's never so cut and dried.

Eddie's appointment as coach was not a universally popular one. His previous stint at the club back in the NSL days ended in controversy, with rumours of transfer impropriety, which it must be noted, have never been definitively established in the public sphere. More recently, with his work as a player agent, it has been assumed that he would try and get work for some of his clients, even though as a coach he can no longer be an agent. Bringing over his son Jesse, despite Jesse's undoubted quality as a striker and our desperate need for one, is just another target to aim at for his detractors.

In his first stint as coach at South, Eddie took over after Mike Peterson upped and left for the Football Kingz - Eddie was left with a weakened squad, and after the betrayal of a favourite son, was granted a bit of leniency. For his second stint as as coach at South, Eddie has replaced Vaughan Coveny, whose contract was not renewed. This time will not be easier. Of course, Horsey is a 'club legend', and all sorts of rumours started about how he was treated poorly by the club. All this ignores the fact that the style of football we played was atrocious, regardless of earning enough points to finish in the finals.

Add in the anti-board agendas of several groups, of whom few have had the temerity to actually say something at an AGM, where they did actually attend; the fact that before this situation started, half the Greeks of soccer-forum.net and even some non-Greeks wondered how a 'Greek' club could have a Turk as captain, a tune which has now changed to focusing on the club's apparent betrayal of Rama. And lastly for now, the fact that Rama's uncle was providing sponsorship to the club as well, and it keeps getting worse and worse.

Now if Eddie's goal was to stamp his authority on the team - and I seriously hope it was - he's seriously messed up this situation. If it's merely a case of not rating Rama as a player, Eddie has obviously gone about conveying that message in the worst possible manner, and it has only emboldened those who had him as a marked man even when his appointment as coach was still an internet rumour. It's also interesting to note that Rama has still been appearing at our Hellenic Cup fixtures, while at the same time also acknowledging that the rest of the squad has not risen up in rebellion against Eddie's decisions and processes. Why this is the case, I do not know.

For what it's worth, I like Rama. He seems to genuinely care about the club, has improved his disciplinary record a great deal, and the players generally seem to look up at him. However, there is also the playing side, which I;'ve felt for some time hasn't improved significantly. His crossing is still very poor, which nullifies his effectiveness as an overlapping player. And he's still having difficulty judging balls going over his head, as well as getting dragged towards the middle far too often. But Eddie's also cut James Stefanou and Eddie Cetkin from the side, meaning that experienced defensive stocks are thin on the ground, and that perhaps Eddie's squad management and people skills aren't exactly crash hot.

Should Rama not return this season, will it mean more opportunities for players from our youth squad, such as Josh Colosimo and James Riccobene? I certainly hope so. Krncevic, as coach of Carlton, despite having a large budget for which to purchase high profile players, which he certainly did, also gave opportunities to young players such as Marco Bresciano, Simon Colosimo and Vince Grella. Several young players have been trialled against the lesser likes in the pre-season, and our under 21s did of course cruise to the title last season, playing some attractive football. And isn't this what having sttrong junior sides is all about? Using them to rebuild and replace without needing to shop around?

I'd say this is going to be fun, but it obviously won't be. Once upon a time this club even sacked Paul Wade, who was the Socceroo captain at the time. In part this was because the coach at the time, Frank Arok, felt Paul Wade wasn't up to it any more; and surely an additional reason would have been because Arok wanted to create his own group with new leadership. I hope that this is what Eddie has been aiming for, and that his methods are proven right. Getting rid of a captain and player with several years at the one club is never easy, and Eddie's success and legacy may well rest on this issue alone. The old maxim that no player, no coach and no fan is bigger than the club is about to get a massive work out.

Meanwhile, I'm going to be in my bomb shelter until this thing blows over.

So what did George Theodorou send you in that private message Psile?

Ignore the title of this post. I just couldn't come up with anything better. Match highlights from last week's game against Gully. Well to be honest, only our penalty and their 2nd goal, in which it can be clearly seen that Joel Nikolic fouls Tommi Tommich. None of which the resident Gully people on soccer-forum will ever see, because they don't see with their eyes, they percieve wiht their mind. Or something.

South Dandenong declares independance from Australia

This was too good to just leave on another forum. So here's a soccer-forum funny by JADNIK, with grammatical corrections by me.

Following the 1 year anniversary of Kosovo's independence, the people of South Dandenong have proclaimed a declaration of independence from Australia, They will form their own economy and bureaucratic government, with major project funding from the budget going to Dandenong Thunder Soccer Club.

The independent sovereign state's main revenue inflows will mainly consist of heavily cut B-grade heroin sales, underground sex trade trafficking of their women and re-birthing of cars stolen from sister northern suburb of Broadmeadows.

Local residents from the surrounding suburbs of Keysborough, Dandenong and Doveton have declared the independance null and void and fear for their land as South Dandenong's capacity can no longer accommodate for their ever growing population.

Soccer Forum Registrations Now Open - For Real

Looks like Sam/Siroki's alternative forum did the trick, as soccer-forum.net is now open for registrations. You can't use a hotmail or gmail account though. Have fun kids.

Round 3, 2008 - Altona East 3 Ballarat Red Devils 1

East dominated the first half almost absolutely in both territory and possession. For the first 20 minutes the visitors struggled to even get out of their own half. Slowly played their way into the game after that, but the midfield failed to deliver anything remotely resembling decent supply. East's final balls let them down, there was a crossbar hit, but on the half hour mark Gaffar strolled in and finally gave East the lead they deserved. East scored again just before half time, Alghazaly getting that goal.

2nd half quite different. Ballarat came out with a higher level of intensity, East a little all over the place in midfield and defence, the attacks from the visitors looking more promising as the half wore on. They had a freekick well saved, and then received a penalty which was very well taken. Game on and both sides looking for the goal, with rushed end to end stuff ensuing, before late in the game Gaffar met a cross at the far post and headed over the keeper for 3-1 and the win.

Overall, this game was a bit of a wakeup call for both sides. For East, hopefully they've learnt that playing one half, even going up 2-0 is not enough, and that the game is 90 minutes long, not 45. For the Red Devils, that perhaps state 2 won't be a stroll in the park, and that against the league's better teams you better have your a-game right on from the start. By all rights they should have been out of the game at half time, but they ended up doing well in the 2nd half, and a draw would not have been a harsh result for both sides, but you always have the upper hand if you have the lead, which was a problem for East last year, often falling behind.

Round 1, 2008 - Altona East 5 Altona City 0

East came out firing in the opening 10 minutes, with only some great goalkeeping denying them, before one of the worst goals you'll ever see, from both a defensive and attacking point of view, ball sort of knocked around aimlessly and toe poked in eventually. City worked their way into the game after that, but didn't really create too many quality chances, though there was one chance, a shot over the bar, which should have levelled the scores. East scored again on about the half-hour mark, ref could have given the penalty against the keeper but played the advantage instead, and it was 2-0. Penalty late in the half against the City keeper had him sent off, 3-0, game just about done and dusted. Not sure if it was a penalty, too many bodies in the way for me to see.

2nd half, City fought and scrambled in defence and occasionally got some decent moves on the counter, but on the whole East on top again, had quite a few chances go begging, some really bad misses, but also a cracking long range shot which smashed against the post. East got the 4th and fifth goals in the last 5 minutes or so, Bobby with a hattrick, Tolli and Gaffar scoring the others. Apart from the penalty/send off, which as I said I'm not sure of the correctness of, I thought the ref was fantastic.

East looked good, when they were 'on' (the game lost much of its sting in the 2nd half) they looked comfortable working as a unit, and former South player Lester Abalos played very well, will be a great addition if he keeps up that kind of play. No Freddy Pedrotti or Zoric today either. City disappointed me today, they seemed startled by how East came out all fired up, but on the whole there seemed to be a general lack of direction on their part, but I reckon it was just an off day for them, and falling behind so early and then having 10 men for 45 minutes doesn't help either. Not sure who if anyone was missing for City today, but I reckon they'll bounce back.

Reserves game was a little farcical, East having only 11 players to start (coach refusing to play 3 or so unregistered players, and rightly so of course), and lost one of those 11 to injury 5 minutes in. Finished 3-0 to City, but in all honesty, based only on the 2nd half i saw, this was a really high standard game for state 2 ressies, there was a lot of neat passing from both sides, and lovely movement off the ball and on it.

I suppose some of the City people like Roger can come and give the story from the other side of this game, be interested to see their point of view.

Round 22, 2007 - Altona East 6 Pascoe Vale 2

Quite busy chatting with people during this game so the recall isn't flash. Pretty laid back affair, Paco in particular never seemed too interested, except for when they scored their first goal.

1st half
1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1

Goal in the 2nd minute, cross to the back post from the right which Tolli eventually put away. Goal in the 14th, Juri running down the left, into the box and slotting it. Paco pulled one back and started looking a little more interested, but their keeper then committed seppuku of sorts coming out to the edge of his box, didn't make the clearance required, and the ball was sent back over his head into the empty net.

2nd half,
4-1, 5-1, 6-1, 6-2

Could have been more, but why complain when you get six? Paco's 2nd I believe was off a free kick that hit the crossbar and had the rebound followed up, the rest of the goals are a little sketchy, Gaffa scored one from a 2 on 1 with the keeper, could have raffled it. A great way to celebrate Paul Donnelly's testimonial, and probable retirement.

Reserves, 3-1 to East, good way to finish the season, young squad that got better as the season went on, mid-table finish, not too bad.

Considering how poor we were last season, at the beginning of the year I would have been happy avoiding relegation. As it turned out, we only did just avoid relegation, but with a team that probably should have finished somewhere in the top three. Losing Tex early on was a setback, took awhile to recover and start scoring again, but it's also good to see Tex doing very well for his new club. Failure to put teams away early, and subsequently copping goals often from lapses of concentration cost us, but overall I'm fairly content, because we played some very attractive football throughout most of the season, and it was such an even league, almost anyone could beat anyone else on their day, and so it proved on quite a few occasions. The three away derby wins in the 2nd half of the season were the highlights for me, in particular the 7-1 against Willy, our best game of the year offensively and defensively. Losing three 3-2 games probably the biggest disappointment, you'd think one would fall your way but alas. Likely to be some turnover playing list wise, some players near the end of their careers, others may be disgruntled with lack of opportunities and may seek their fortunes elsewhere, we'll see.

In conclusion, I've enjoyed doing these basic write ups this season, and enjoyed the banter as well, see you all next year when we do it all again, and others of course will be seen earlier at the Hellenic Cup if it goes ahead next year, always a chance that one of the pools could be played at Paisley Park.

Round 21, 2007 – Altona East 2 Maribyrnong Greens 3

Kill me. Kill me now. Please. I beg you. I can't take much more of this. Thank goodness the season is almost over. This is the evil biased view of the game, but I'm sure whoever usually does the Greens games here could provide a more balanced view for NosaJ and friends.

First half saw East going towards the golf course end. Both sides started very patiently. This worked more to East's advantage as they were allowed plenty of time on the ball. East squandered three chances in the first ten minutes, one hit the post, a cross whipped in from the left was smothered by the keeper when it reached it's destination and Tolli sprayed one wide after doing well to get inside his marker. The inevitable came about on 17 minutes when East's keeper cleared the ball straight to the opposition (when he could have passed it laterally) who took it up and slotted a nice goal, 0-1. Two minutes later, the Greens doubled their lead, a nice move finished from the left, 0-2. Greens got a very dubious offside given against them, not sure if anything would have come from it, but it looked to me like there were two defenders in front of the recipient. Towards the end of the half, East picked up their game again, and hit the crossbar twice, i think maybe sprayed another over, but pulled one back right on the stroke of half time, a long range free kick from the right was met by Freddy Pedrotti at the back post and headed across goal, 1-2 at the break.

Second half, Greens were the first to spurn a good chance when a shot was put across the face. East levelled in controversial circumstances on 58 minutes when a contested ball was out forward and the move ended up in a goal. The linesman raised his flag, then put his flag down, then chatted with the ref for a while who awarded the goal. Both sides tried to get the winner, the Greens smashing a scorching free kick against the crossbar from range, but neither side seemed to have that final cutting edge. And so it proved to be the case for the rest of the match, including the visitor's 90th minute winner. An unnecessary free kick was given away on the left hand side, the ball was whipped in low, bounced maybe once or twice, eluding everyone, especially the keeper who I reckon wasn't even ready, and that was it, 3-2 to the Greens, who rode their luck in the first half but gave as good as they got in the 2nd, while East's failure to put away teams early once again haunts them as they lose their third 3-2 game for this year.

Also forgot to mention. How can a player who uses both hands to stop the ball in mid air only be given a yellow? And I've seen unsporting behaviour, but supporters deliberately booting the ball over to the other side of Paisley Park to waste time? That's pretty low.

Round 20, 2007 – Altona East 1 Thomastown 2

The first half was very high tempo. The teams were playing like it was the first game of the season, and the skill level matched that. Balls were almost randomly being pinged every which way, each side trying to outdo the other at trying to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. East missed two great chances early on, twice balls cut across the face of goal that only needed a half-decent finish but didn't get them. After a long while of no real chances for either side, Thommo went ahead on 34 minutes, a very well placed free kick leaving everyone rooted to their spot. East squandered another chance late in the half, a shot going just wide, 0-1 at the break.

East scored almost directly from the restart, a Juri shot from range which everyone seemed to think was going over dipped and smashed into the crossbar. Thommo doubled their lead on about 57 minutes from a bizarre goal. A free kick from the seemingly harmless half way line floated forward and a poorly marked forward flicked his header back and over the East keeper who was off his line, and into the back of the net. Two minutes later Thommo had what was, in my opinion at least, their first genuine chance when a ball cut across was saved at point blank range by the East keeper. Thommo could now afford to play on the counter and control the tempo of the game. Their coach was banished from the bench after ignoring numerous warnings to stop arguing with the ref. A half cross/shot almost added to Thommo's lead, the ball seemingly set to bounce into the keeper's arms only to take a very high bounce and hit the crossbar. East got themselves back in the game on 72 minutes, when a free kick out wide on the left was sent to the back post and an unmarked player easily slotted it home from very close range. East tried valiantly to get the equaliser, their best chance being a searing run form Juri, the ball falling to Gaffa who fucked up what should have been a certain equaliser sending it over the bar. And that's pretty much all she wrote, 2-1 to the visitors.

This game was played on Altona Magic's side of Paisley Park. I was impressed with some elements of Thommo's play, and less so with others. They work reasonably hard, and are a pretty quick side, the kind of team East has struggled against most this season in general play. Their number 5 has one of the longest throws i've seen in quite a while, worth its weight in gold. Their number 18, the black kid, is very fast, but not altogether there when it comes to decision making. Their left hand side of defense is not nearly as good as the right hand side. How many coaches do they have? One guy on the spectator side of the fence was almost as influential as the rest of the coaching staff, and was told to move away from the bench by the linesman; he then decamped to the defensive half to continue giving out instructions.

Thommo won the ressies 2-1, overcoming a goal conceded very early on, and scoring the winner thirty seconds from full time, which if I'm correct in this assumption wrapped up the reserves title for the season.

Round 19, 2007 – Yarraville 0 Altona East 2

Pretty average game. The surface at Yarraville is absolutely shocking, and the quick burst of rain just after the ressies game (1-0 to East) didn't help matters. East started slightly better, but generally their through balls were too long and Yarraville's keeper wasn't scared to come off his line to collect. Best chance for East was more an accident than anything. The keeper punched the ball away but not very far, was headed over him back towards goal, and with the defender on the line waiting for it, bounced high enough to hit the top of the crossbar. Yarraville asserted themselves better as the half wore on and had one shot cleared off the line, but neither side was particularly inspiring.

Early in the 2nd half East had one cleared off the line which really should have been put away, Gaffa sent one skyward from about 6 yards out after excellent work by Juri on the byline, and with Yarraville looking pretty average, it looked like it was going to be a scoreless affair. But on 75 minutes East took the lead, Juri finding himself with plenty of time outside the area, hitting a wonderful dipping shot which the keeper had no chance of saving, 1-0. Three minutes later, Gaffa found himself with a huge amount of space and only the keeper to beat, and after making it harder for himself having to dodge a couple of defenders as well, he put it away, 2-0. Yarraville tried a little more after that, but couldn't get even a consolation goal.

East were hampered by the awful state of the pitch, but generally lacked intensity as well. Yarraville fought hard, but didn't have the cattle on the park to do the job. Perry Mur was reffing, and he got into a bit of a verbal stoush with some Yarraville fans, chastising them for their lack of originality.

South Melbourne 0 Fawkner Blues 0 (soccer-forum artefact)

Not a bad game, but not a great one either, both sides had chances to take it. Fawkner actually came out and tried to score goals which was refreshing, and didn't look too bad at doing it. Playing mostly on the counter, if they played like that for the rest of the season they might very well survive. South still should've taken the points, hit the woodwork twice, cleared off the line etc. If Fawkner survive this season they'll have Tilovski to thank, and if they don't, surely there'll be a number of clubs lining up for his services.

Round 17, 2007 – Altona East 1 Keilor Park 1

Owing to not knowing about a change in fixturing times bringing this game forward about 50 minutes, i only caught the last 50 minutes of this game. Keilor were up at the break, and East equalised about 10 minutes into the 2nd half. Both sides had good but generally limited chances to get the winning goal, but other than that i don't feel i could write a summary based on seeing little more than half the match.

Round 16, 2007 – Altona City 1 Altona East 6

Lot of aggro in this match right from the start. In the first meeting between the sides this year, City were tough but fair, but today seriously lacked discipline and picked the wrong ref for it too.

It was an even opening few minutes, East shading possession and territory, struggling a little perhaps with the large dimensions of the ground, but probably more so with the very bumpy surface. They took the lead on 15 minutes when a cross from the right was headed towards goal, saved brilliantly onto the back post, stayed in, eventually coming back from the right again for the headed goal, 0-1. City fluffed a chance shortly thereafter, but got the equaliser on 20 minutes when a nicely hit corner to the back post wasn't cleared properly, and the ball was put away quicksmart, 1-1. On 40 minutes, Tolli finding himself with little support tried a low shot which beat the outstretched keeper and went in off the left hand post, 1-2. City ended the half with 10 men when one of their players were sent off on about 45 minutes.

East scored immediately from the restart, a mazey run from Tolli ending up with a chipped goal, 1-3. City found themselves another man down soon after, but conversely with East trying to protect their buffer, City got more of the ball and more territory, with East looking a little nervy at times, but nothing came of it. East went 4-1 up on 68 minutes, a cross to the back post from the left tucked away, game over. The game degenerated from then, with East getting a player sent off after making it 1-5 in the 78th, and City eventually somehow finishing with 7 players on the park. Icing on the cake was a 90th minute goal, but by then the game was a farce and East were cruising for the last 10-15 minutes or so, the game having been done and dusted with no need to bump up an already healthy goal difference. East were pretty efficient in front of goal today, but weren't hugely impressive (the 7-1 against Willy was much a better performance all over the park in comparison). City were exhausted by the end, a game they'd probably want to forget about pretty quickly. East have a massive test next week against Keilor at home.