Between the lines - Hume City 0 South Melbourne 1

(alternative title: Juvenilia flavoured experiment in harmonising dissonant and/or discordant narratives)

One day they will make it easier to cross from the north side of Barry road to the south side, maybe even place a footpath on the south side, but until that time at least once a year I will be taking my life into my hands hoping a car doesn't floor me as it comes around the bend. An outstanding defensive display helped South Melbourne FC defeat Hume City 0-1 at ABD Stadium on Saturday night. The weather was calm, even pleasant during the under 20s game, which I think we won. Five minutes before the seniors kickoff though the wind picked up and all of a sudden watching the planes fly low overhead as they descended towards Tullamarine wasn't as fun as it had been up until that point. On a treacherous night in Broadmeadows, Milos Lujic’s first half header was enough to secure the points in a game that was far from pretty but considerably entertaining nonetheless. Some of the people who had got there early complained about the long lines to get food and drink in the Hume City social club, but I had little issue getting a can of Turkish gazoza. The win extended South’s unbeaten start to the season to eight games in the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria and ten games across all competitions. South won the first eleven League matches of the 2014 season before going on to win the title. I was impressed with Broadmeadows Valley Park has come along; last year the stand, this year adequate if not spectacular lighting, and a very good scoreboard. of course it was hard to see what was going for much of this game, as the rain started coming down, and standing huddled eight people to one umbrella at the northern end of the ground, it was difficult to tell what was going on. That, and because I had a beanie instead of a hat, my glasses got wet and my vision even blurrier than usual. And where was the little shed that they used to have behind those goals? It might have been a different story had Hume City captain Nick Hegarty found the back of the net in the eighth minute of the game. Hegarty’s header struck the underside of the crossbar, bouncing back out into the field of play before eventually being cleared by Brad Norton. For those of us behind the goal, it was one of those games where the chatter devolved into the absurd. A 'Frozen' (the kids movie, not the Madonna song) inspired chant; Pokemon; meteorologists; what Christi Malthouse is doing with herself these days. South was forced to withstand some heavy pressure from the home side early in the match, before Lujic’s ninth goal of the season gave the defending NPL Victoria Champions the lead after 26 minutes. Nick Epifano delivered a delightful ball to the near post, with Lujic finding the back of the net with a characteristically powerful header. Prior to the game, Steve from Broady had considered the merits of going home - he lives very near to the ground - and getting a jumper or jacket. Having decided against this, and being unable to squeeze under Gains' umbrellas, he gets absolutely soaked. The lead gave Chris Taylor’s men more control over proceedings, with Epifano and Andy Brennan constantly threatening on each flank. One of the kids behind the goals, a possible affiliate of the new 'ultras' group that seems to have coalesced at South, has that group's apparent ringleader on speakerphone, in a discussion hat lasts for a huge portion of the game. Just before half-time a surging run from Brennan resulted in a free-kick on the edge of the area. After initially slipping in his run-up, Dane Milovanovic drove a powerful shot underneath the wall which forced Hume goalkeeper Chris Oldfield into a terrific diving save. Fan loyalty, being hardcore, the self-esteem derived from being a part of a downtrodden brotherhood - at some point you realise it's all a crock, perhaps 65 minutes into a game where you sense that the 1-0 lead you're desperately clinging onto will be erased by an injury time equaliser The nobility of work is a sham, a lie. A combination of shocking conditions and some excellent defending from both sides meant that chances were few and far between in the second half. Photographer Cindy Nitsos' camera lens is streaked with water. Pleas for some tissues to clean it up mean that some are found, and delivered by one of the home team's ground marshals. Tim Mala was particularly outstanding at the right side of defence, nailing a series of important slide tackles and successfully nullifying star Hume attacker Jai Ingham.At one stage David Stirton is running into open space at the edge of the box, but goes down like he's been shot. Is it the groin issue that's been troubling him? As he comes around behind the southern goals where we're standing after having been subbed off, he says it's a corky. Somebody tells him to use up all the hot water in the shower. Someone else says make sure Epa doesn't get any. The game came to life in the final ten minutes when Hume had a big chance to level the scores, only for Calvin Mbarga’s header to sail over the crossbar. Hume's goalkeeper Chris Oldfield went in hard for a punched clearance, and it looks like he's hurt his arm. All our pleas to the team though to take advantage of his bung arm go unheeded however. Moments later Andy Brennan skipped down the field after a slip from a Hume defender, however the big Tasmanian’s shot went just wide of the post. It mattered little, with the final whistle sounding a few moments later to give South a sixth League win in 2015 with Taylor’s side still unbeaten in ten matches across all competitions this season. Someone makes a quip to Andy Brennan that he should be playing well in this weather, because it's quite Tasmanian in character. Captain Michael Eagar commended the resilience of his squad after three wins in seven days during the past week. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy tonight but we knuckled down, did the hard yards and got the deserved three points. We had a tough derby match last Saturday, then the midweek Cup game and then another tough game tonight. It’s been a great effort by everyone in the squad. Everyone has done their job when called upon.” I'm happy that we've won the game, but I'm cold and wet and hungry and I just want to make as uick an exit from here as possible. Fix Hellas Beer Man of the Match Tim Mala was also quick to sing the praises of the defence and striker Milos Lujic. “Millsy is the sort of guy that if you give him half a metre he’s so dangerous that he makes you pay and that’s what he did tonight. It was a good effort by everyone really, we had to grind it out but we got the win and you can see that we’re buzzing now.” In the stand after the game, I spot soccer academic Les Street and newly elected FFV boardmember Nicholas Tsiaras, who is kind enough to give me and Gains a lift to Batman Station. During the trip, we discuss the convoluted and closer than many think election race. There was further good news in the Under 20s as Nashir Hussainy’s second half goal gave South Melbourne a 0-1 win over Hume City. After having some KFC (Korean fried chicken) for dinner in the city, I make my way to Spencer Street, where I get asked by two people what North did tonight, which I don't mind this time, because they were playing a match at Docklands that had just finished. On the train replacement bus back to Sunshine, there's a woman who's half Courtney Cox, half Alice Cooper, holding a large bottle of San Pellegrino mineral water. South Melbourne FC’s next match is at home against Pascoe Vale at Lakeside Stadium on Friday 24 April. Kick-off is at 8:15pm.

Dockerty Cup news
We've been drawn to play the Knights at home. While the game will be played over the Queen's Birthday weekend, no time or date has been selected yet.

Andy Brennan on trial
News from the South Hobart site is that he's been called up for a trial this week with Newcastle Jets, but that he will be back for Friday's game against Pascoe Vale.

The continuing adventures of Nick Epifano (featuring Cliff)
Another week, another social media related storm, this time with Epifano suspended indefinitely from football activity, and with a fan also being banned from games indefinitely. This comes on the back of certain events which occurred yesterday on smfcboard, where South fan (and former contributor to this blog) 'Cliff' posted screenshots of correspondence between himself and Nick Epifano. It just so happens that I did not get to see any of the correspondence before it was deleted from the forum. My understanding is that it did not provide a complete picture of the exchange between Epifano and Cliff. What a mess.

I'm not a trained monkey!

@PaulMavroudis give us a wave. #PS4NPLVIC pic.twitter.com/McKUN1TVXK
— Les Street (@official_lesdog) April 18, 2015

Final thought

“I stand by my ethnic slur.” pic.twitter.com/TKy40yp2Pe
— SimpsonsQOTD (@SimpsonsQOTD) April 19, 2015

Point gained or two points squandered? Northcote City 1 South Melbourne 1

Ever get the feeling you've seen the same game twice? That was one of the feelings I had after this game, mostly because it was not that much different to the one I'd seen the night before (see the 'around the grounds' section for a roundup of that game).

The pitch was not in good condition. In fact it was probably the worst playing surface I'd seen all season, but more on that later. Actually, fuck it, let's digress two paragraphs into the report.

Oh, but when I write this stuff...

Kudos to whoever was running the official South Facebook page yesterday when the content on the right was posted.

While it's not like Northcote or any other club goes out of their way to present such a shocking surface for a game, the 'equestrian' backhander in this official piece of SMFC communication is nevertheless one small step for man, and one giant leap for bloggers who now know that their formerly unsanctioned pettiness may well end up having a professional outlet and maybe even a media pass. OK, maybe not a media pass.

Suffice to say that while more than one person who ventured out to John Cain mentioned that there was far more grass (and weeds, and clover) on the outer hills than on the playing arena, probably no one expected Pravda the South official site to come out and say something of this nature, especially since the Lakeside surface hasn't been in that great a condition itself in recent weeks.

And what credentials does whoever came up with the equestrian comment have to make that call? Ah, the questions that keep you up at night.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programme

Chris Taylor offers to sell you a genuine Rollex watch, just
like the moviestars wear. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

You make decisions all the time about how you're going to approach a game, and that goes for the fans as well. That's why I didn't rock up with an umbrella. Nevertheless I had decided on being one of the hardcore morons and not only standing on the outer, but also going behind the goals where we spent so many games during our relocation residency. Sure the city silhouette is pretty from the grandstand, the crossbar at the carpark end obscures the view something terrible and the rain made things miserable and cold and hard to see, but it's what you have to do sometimes to prove how big of a supporter you are. Also, you get closer to Clarendon Corner and their in joke chants.

Tim Mala was out due to getting five yellows, so Shaun Timmins moved over to right back while Brad Norton came back into the side in his once customary left back position. For them, Trent Rixon was a no show. The first half was crap. Nothing of any particular note happened. Oh wait, I bought a packet of B or C grade snakes from the nutseller, which helped keep the sugar levels up for a while, and when distributed to all manner of South folk at the game, they won me the fame and admiration of all who had the fortune of eating one. Well, at least for as long as the cheap flavouring lasted.

Milos Lujic celebrates scoring his 15th league goal for the
season. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

The second half saw us not only get on top, but also create several chances. We kept getting closer, but perhaps the ground made us wary of taking that first time shot, because we just kept waiting and waiting for the perfect opening instead of a good enough opening. Eventually Tyson Holmes slipped a ball through for Milos Lujic who tucked it away into the corner, and the crowd behind the goals went wild. Unfortunately not long afterwards calamitous defending from seemingly everyone in our back half led to Northcote equalising. I couldn't tell what happened or who was responsible, but we probably deserved to cop the goal just for the slapstick attempt at defending, especially the way Jason Saldaris was running from one end of the box to the other.

Was the foul in the box? Outside the box? Did the Northcote player trip over the ball? Did Norton get the ball? Was there a trailing leg, and should that matter? Saldaris guessed right, maybe even got a hand on to it, but it went in anyway. Northcote almost took the lead which would have been a criminal outcome, but instead we still had the best chances to win the game after that. Holmes sent a shot wide from a tight angle, and Lujic had too much time and ended up squandering a one on one chance.

On exiting the ground I found out that my earphones had carked it and I had to deal with stupid reality on the way home. Also, Oakleigh's 2-1 win over Bentleigh means the gap between us has closed to seven points with seven games to play.

Next week
Pascoe Vale away on Friday night. Yes, yes, I know, we're all mostly looking to the woodfired pizza. Three points? Not before I get a charcoaled crust on my margherita goddammit.

We had been scheduled to play Bentleigh on Tuesday, but that has been moved to Wednesday August 6th due to some reason or other.

Player Points tallies revealed! Maybe!
I like to give them a bit of stick when they deserve it, but on this front at least FFV have come through with the goods. Well, sort of. They've provided not only the tallies but also the breakdowns of each NPL and NPL1 squad player by player. Here then are the NPL squad tallies, and here are the NPL1 squad tallies.

'Dick, you ever wonder what it would be like if FFV was a
competent organisation?'
'Say, that's dangerous thinking Paul; you best stick to your work'
'Ha, OK'

If we are to take the documents at face value, then we are at the higher end of the NPL table, with 230 points used up from our available 275. By comparison our nearest competitor on the ladder, Oakleigh Cannons, have 235, but they have also used a marquee qualification on Nate Foster. Quite why we don't have a marquee allocation, I don't know.

Of more concern for us is that we have only two 'home grown' players, and they are goalkeeper Chris Maynard, who's only there as back up and not seeing any game time, and Dion Kirk who was added to the youth squad and then promoted through to the twenty man NPL senior squad to exploit a loophole which also saves him from being counted as a switching player. Andrew Kecojevic, at 16 years of age, is the only other player we have as deducting points from the overall tally.

It will be very interesting to see how this works from next year onwards, when switching players will accrue points from the start of the season as opposed to midway through this season, and when the players points cap starts falling (if it starts falling). Of course, there are those who have savaged the accuracy of this data set, claiming variously that it is:

• Wrong
• Embarrassingly wrong
• Prone to errors in part to due to allowing clubs to self report their squad details.
• Prone to error because the FF V has no idea how to count, let alone understand how its own system works.

In which case there's probably no point in worrying too much about whether any of the data means anything at all, other than how are we ever going to do this NPL thing the way it was sort of intended if we can't get one of its core elements even remotely right.

As for me, I'm now waiting with baited breath for the results of the facilities audit to be released.

You can't fire me, because I quit!
No more stats, as Steve from Broady - aka Big Griff - has either been made redundant or has quit in disgust for some reason. Of course, these only existed on this blog for the past season because of the fact that he was providing them for the club, but we'll still be sad that they'll no longer be a part of this site. As for Steve's media commitments on South Radio, I'm fairly certain he'll still be a part of that, as I've not heard otherwise.

Public transport changes
You may recall last week that I noted the change of the 112 tram to St Kilda - the tram that goes past Lakeside - has now changed and become a 12 tram to St Kilda. That was not the only change to the network though, with several routes having been changed. The only major changes I have been able to notice as relates to NPL people, is a change to Green Gully (which more or less leaves it at the same level of inconvenience) and Port Melbourne, which now requires you to take a different bus from a different location. Check our public transport guide for the relevant updates.

Around the grounds
The opposite of life is not death, it's indifference
Asked around, but no one seemed very interested in coming out to Port Melbourne vs Green Gully on Friday night. So it was just me and my soul crushing self--hatred and loneliness - and really, why else would someone choose to go to a game like this on their own? Gully had not much to play for, their annoying tendency to go on a barnstorming late run to another barely deserved title scuppered by the fact that in 2014 there will be no finals series. Port are trying to keep their heads above the relegation zone. The first half was a complete non event, so much so that even George, the well known bearded marshal at Port (also a big South fan) reckoned he was falling asleep. The second half was more worthwhile, as Port created several good chances and even took the lead. Sadly for the home team, Gully scored an equaliser late with what was probably their only real chance for the game. That's the way it ended, amid a brooding sense of irreversible decay; a small, disinterested crowd, a former commentator turned security guard, and the people at the gate not even bothering to hassle me about my FFV season pass as usually happens at Port.

Final thought
Sometimes, what happens at Paisley Park, stays at Paisley Park.

Oakleigh forfeit cup match

As seen here. And as demanded by the Kiss of Death, here.

So South get a 3-0 forfeit result in their favour, and porgress to the next round of cthe cup. And for the second season ina  row, Orthodox Easter sees Oakleigh forfeit matches. Last year it was their juniors who had all their matches forfeited, much to the annoyance of certain parents at that club. Club of their convictions at least.

Nice to know that the family day is still going ahead, memberships and merchandise avilable for pick up and purchase.

Crazy over capitalised press release on recent SMFC/Melbourne Heart argle bargle

Poorly phrased as well I reckon. Also, these people seem determined to both steal the Kiss of Death's thunder and interrupt my dinner this week. 

MEDIA RELEASE

Following yesterday’s media reports on SBS World Game Fox Sports and Statements made by the CEO of the Melbourne Heart.

South Melbourne FC wishes to confirm the following:

• South Melbourne FC that it made an offer to acquire 100% of the Melbourne Heart Licence.
• The offer was in excess of 3.5 million
• The offer was made after several discussions between Heart & SMFC Directors.
• South Melbourne FC has received an expression of interest from Emerson (Brazilian Legend) to coach & has already secured Major Sponsors for its A League ambitions.

South Melbourne Crisis 2012 - Another SMFC Media Release

The latest salvo fired in this saga - my brief thoughts at the end of the media release.

Media Release - South Melbourne FC Supporter Update

Friday, 16 November 2012 9:39 AM

Whilst the off season may appear to be to be a quiet time at our Club, the Board has been busy addressing the many, mostly exciting and positive, off field issues currently affecting the Club.

As most of you are aware, at the recent Information Evening held at the stadium, the Board informed our Members of our Club’s response to the NCR, its advanced and progressive junior program and the redevelopment of its social club together with the rest of the space it occupies exclusively at Lakeside Stadium.

The Board has also been finalising the Leases and other Agreements which the Club will enter into with the State Sport Centres Trust and Parks Victoria, respectively, as required by our Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) with the Victorian State Government. The process involved in negotiating and completing these agreements is a long and laborious one but is progressing well and is almost completed. The Club has appointed independent external Solicitors to assist it with this process and to ensure that it achieves the best outcome. Whilst the Lease and related agreements in relation to the stadium are almost completed, the Club is also close to finalising arrangements for the newly constructed pavilion in Albert Park to be open for our use next season.

In light of the above positive developments, the Board was bemused and puzzled, to say the least, to read the two recent articles published in The News Weekly, which is the English language section of the Ta Nea Greek language newspaper. The breathless attempt by The News Weekly to conjure a story from thin air was surely not worthy of even the most desperate journalist. Then again no journalist put his name to their articles which whilst not surprising is hardly acceptable.

The newspaper itself characterised the “information” contained in the articles as emanating from “unnamed callers” and it essentially comprised of a series of allegations, questions and rumours. The articles are ill informed, badly written, defensive and simply embarrassing to read. The Club was even more surprised, therefore, to then find that radio station 3XY devoted most of its Sunday Sports Program last Sunday night to the “issues” raised by The News Weekly articles after not covering news from the Club at all over the last year. 

The Board is far too busy to even try to understand why that may be the case but we are sure that many of our supporters and members will have their own views.

Nevertheless, the Board is conscious that some of our supporters and members may have become concerned by this recent persistent and misleading media coverage, bordering on a campaign. For that reason, we thought it appropriate to update our supporters and reiterate the things I have said above in relation to the Club’s progress on off field matters.

Last, but not least on the positive news, is our most passionate subject and the reason for our existence; our football team. The Board continues to work constructively and progressively towards building a top class and successful football team. You will see evidence of this during the summer and hopefully, conclusive proof next season! Our forthcoming end of year social function, which will have a different feel and emphasis this year, will no doubt be a chance for all those who attend to have a great night whilst discussing the season just passed and our prospects next year.

Sadly, however, the Club is also involved in one less pleasant development. It is true that the Club has been sued and is presently defending an action brought against it by Wellington Investments (Aust) Pty Ltd in the County Court of Victoria at Melbourne. Wellington Investments, as many of you will know, is a Company with which Messrs. Tony Toumbourou and Chris Christopher, two great Club benefactors, were previously involved and which is now run by Mr. Toumbourou’s sons, Messrs. Peter and Jason Toumbourou. 

The claim by Wellington Investments relates to the sum of $120,000 which Messrs. Tony Toumbourou and Chris Christopher pledged in the middle of 2004 and which Wellington Investments subsequently paid to assist the Club to raise the sum of $450,000 required by the Deed of Company Arrangement (“DOCA”) which it entered into when it went into voluntary administration after the disbandment of the NSL in 2004. Most of the sum of $450,000 was contributed by many concerned supporters of the Club with the balance of $120,000, paid by Wellington Investments. With the eleventh hour contribution of Wellington Investments enabling the Club to reach the target of $450,000, the Club was able to emerge from administration and to enter into its new era.

Recently, Wellington Investments has demanded repayment of the whole of the sum it advanced to the Club comprising the amount of $120,000, plus interest, bringing its total claim against the Club to $200,000. It also seeks its costs. Wellington Investments has demanded immediate payment of the money and refused to accept the Club’s offer to pay it $150,000 in 5 quarterly instalments commencing earlier this year. This offer was made some months ago.

The Club is protecting its interest and those of its members and supporters in the County Court litigation. In preparing its case for Court, the current Board has formed the view that whilst the sum of $120,000 was certainly advanced by Wellington Investments for the benefit of the Club, which the Club has always acknowledged and been grateful for, the terms of the advance were such that the Club is not liable to pay Wellington Investments the sum it seeks. It is also important for our supporters and members to know that in the course of this Court proceeding which was commenced by Wellington Investments in order to establish that the Club owed it money, and before the Court has decided the case, Wellington Investments threatened to appoint a Receiver to the Club. It became necessary, therefore, for the Club to seek an injunction against the appointment of a Receiver to prevent the Club from disappearing as we know it and in all likelihood, losing all its entitlements under the MoU with the State Government. The Court granted the injunction after it was strenuously opposed by Wellington Investments.

The Club would prefer not to be involved in Court proceedings if it can avoid it and to that end, it has proposed and will continue to propose what it considers a fair resolution of the claim by Wellington Investments and to consider any reasonable settlement proposal put to it. Everyone should bear in mind, however, that the reference in The News Weekly to “and a number of business men”, is in fact, a reference to Mr. Peter Toumbourou. Further, the reference to “loans of almost half a million dollars” is entirely false as even Mr. Toumbourou alleges only a loan of $120,000. The Club will continue to keep its members and supporters informed of the progress of this Court action which is presently due to be heard in December 2012.

Finally, our Board and the Club understands that not everybody will always agree with every decision nor with every direction it adopts. People are entitled to voice their opinions and criticism and the Club welcomes constructive criticism and accepts that opinions of all sorts, constructive or otherwise, will be freely expressed. Our Club will object, however, to articles purporting to report news, being comprised of nothing more than the opinion of an unnamed few, causing unnecessary concern amongst some of our supporters. 

The Club’s volunteer Board and overworked General Manager are busy enough with their many responsibilities without being at the beck and call of whichever media organisation sees fit to publish or air unsubstantiated and misleading information. The Board has in the past and will continue in future to make its various members available to engage in constructive discussion in relation to our Club and the same in general, including answering relevant questions and dealing with constructive criticism. 

There is much more positive and constructive news to come, so stay tuned … to us.

Nick Galatas

Chairman

It's about time the club put out a more definitive statement. Would it have nullified a lot of the 'debate' had it been put out earlier? That's hard to say, and my guess would be 'probably not'. But it may have helped at least steer the debate towards a more factual direction.

Certainly, it's great to see a no nonsense naming of the disputed loan figure and the attempts to resolve the issue. Not that this means that South is guaranteed a court victory, but get it out in the open about where this situation came from and where it's going and why.

It's also good to see some more elaboration on the process of doing the final sign off regarding the Lakeside lease, though to be fair, this was also covered in the Neos Kosmos English Weekly article.

Joe Friday agrees, all that's needed are the facts.

One thing I must take umbrage with, is that they should have avoided getting personal with those they're disagreeing with. These sections come across as unprofessional and petty, even to those who would likely agree with those sentiments. Leave that stuff to the blogs and forums.

And while it's understandable that they would want to pump their own tyres, feeling proud and excited about the coming season and the corner we've been told we've turned, a 'just the facts ma'am' approach would have been more suitable.

Too little, too late - South Melbourne 1 Bentleigh Greens 1

This is really late. I don't even care about the alphabetical gimmick. There's a link to a match report that somebody else did further down.

20 odd other games of slop
That's where the season was lost. Yes, there were injuries, yes, there was bad luck, but there was also a lot of slop provided and bad decisions made throughout the season. Of a possible 30 points against the top five teams, we got 11. Three wins out of those ten matches (Northcote, and Oakleigh twice), and two draws (Bentleigh home, Thunder away). In addition, we dropped two points to the Zebras, three points to Stars, four points to Knights and Richmond - teams that did not make the finals. Got knocked out again by Port in the cup. And gone backwards against Gully.

Francesco Stella
Well done to Frannie, possibly still waiting for an international clearance, but Rangers have agreed to sign him, and he seems confident of getting a go in their first team sooner rather than later. Do your own search for interviews he's given, there's a few out there at the moment.

Chants
I don't know how much longer Clarendon Corner is going to last - apparently there's talk of winding it up, and their appearance have been getting steadily more sporadic - but when they try, they can come up with the lols. The latest noteworthy chant?



Eat your own
Yes, we're all frustrated by the way things have gone this season, and we can safely assume that if you're a regular at South you're just as passionate as you ever were, but some people need to act their age. For better or worse means just that. No need to carry on like a pork chop.

One and only
Was the intro script to a home match always like this in 2012? The ground announcer claimed that 'smfc.com.au was your only source for South news' or some such comment. Now I know we like to talk about South as little as possible on this blog, what with the space needed to be allocated to dinner reviews and pointless ephemera of the pseudo intellectual kind, but maybe saying your one 'official' voice would have been more tactful.

Heartless George Donikian
Former president George Donikian turned up to the game. Was disappointed by the result, but not so much that he wasn't already looking forward to the next A-League season on Twitter straight after the game.

Absolutely, more VPL fans need to sample A-League if they haven't. Heart FC is the team to embrace.

I don't really care  what people do in their out of South time A-League wise, as long they're open about it. But to try and drum up support for that franchise (which beat a South aligned bid, or have we forgotten?) straight after the game while we are still grieving for a cruel end to another failed season is insensitive at best.

Or to put it another way, fuck your A-League and Heart shit off, George.

Ace Reporter Ian Syson
And he did a match rundown/report of the match!My favourite part?

6.06. Second half underway. 

Got stuck in presidents room.

This lasted for about 28 minutes. Do read it, because I'm not going to bother recounting the day's on field events.

Next Week
Probably the most pointless derby of all time against the Bergers. Win lose or draw, we can't go anywhere important. They're doomed to State League 1 next season. Hopefully play some kids. That Cartanos kid did OK against Bentleigh.Can we at least turn into a carnival atmosphere.

Zenith
Congratulations to my Perth Glory supporting buddy Chris Egan, who has been selected to give a paper at the Worlds of Football conference in Melbourne in November.


And a huge happy birthday to Tony, no last name required, you know who you are. Good bloke, good friend, who always has my back when I piss off the wrong people.

South breaks five year Jack Edwards drought - Oakleigh 0 South Melbourne 1

Below is the match report I was asked to write for the official site. Not sure when it will go up, or what changes will be made to it, but I feel you should all see this anyway - even if it will be just a change of pace from what will likely be fantastic court based theme week.

Anyway, a whole bunch of other stuff happened apart from the game. I gave a synopsis of the final episode of That's My Bush!, one of the greatest ever series finales. After the game at Huntingdale, where we had a chat with one of Fernando's mates from TAFE, we ended up having an epic duel with the snack vending machine - which with the power of teamwork and persistence we won.

On the Werribee line, some mostly Lebo kids who had been to the footy were being a minor nuisance, ending up accidentally kicking some old aussie bloke. Bloke gets up, looks really fucken pissed off, puts his hand inside his jacket - what he was threatening to pull out of there who knows. I ended up having a very superficial conversation with a couple of the kids about Mish Mish. I suppose you can read the match report now.

South Melbourne has kept its slim finals chances alive with a 1-0 win away to Oakleigh Cannons on Friday night. In wet conditions, Fernando De Moraes’ first half goal saw the visitors take all three points from Jack Edwards Reserve for the first time since 2005, and handed the out of form Cannons their seventh loss in eight matches.

South settled down quickly, and set up several chances in the opening minutes. Joe Keenan on the left, and De Moraes on the right in particular were repeatedly beating their opponents one on one, and sent in several crosses into the area.

Gianni De Nittis had South’s first guilt edge chance, when he ran on to a through ball by De Moraes, rounded the keeper, but ended up being unable to keep the ball in play. Soon after Keenan fired just wide from a free kick.

Ramazan Tavsancioglu ran on to another through ball, this time by Marinos Gasparis, but Oakleigh goalkeeper Griffin McMaster was able to smother the ball. Further dead ball situations had McMaster stopping long range shots and being forced to punch or tip the ball to safety.

Eventually South’s good work paid off in the 30th minute, when De Moraes, finding himself in metres of space on the right hand side after a through ball by defender Eddie Cetkin, slotted a low shot past McMaster to give South the lead.

Oakleigh’s first half attacks were mostly reliant on South’s occasional midfield errors and on rapid counter attacks on the wings. For the most part South’s defence was able to thwart the home side’s advances without too much difficulty, with only Ricky Diaco’s aerial prowess getting the ball through to Peter Zois.

Oakleigh’s best chances in the first half came from ex-South winger Yusuf Yusuf, who sprayed his shot wide after his teammates had provided some neat build up play, and as the half wore on, a passage of play started by a Billy Damianos interception forced Zois to come off his line to clear the ball - with the ball bouncing around dangerously in the box, Steve O’Dor managed to clear it to safety from the goal line.

The second half saw more of the same attacking football from both teams, albeit with a much improved effort from the home side. Diaco looked lively again early in the second half, while De Moraes failed to repeat his goal scoring effort of the first half, shooting across the face of goal and wide from a tight angle. At the other end, Zois was also forced into action, saving a shot resulting from a goalmouth scramble.

The Cannons brought on dangerous but out of form striker Jerry Karpeh midway through the second half, but for the most part South kept Karpeh quiet, by double teaming him and forcing him away from goal. Still, Karpeh was able to create Oakleigh’s best chance of the night, when he latched on to a cross with his head, forcing Zois to dive spectacularly to his left to tip the ball away to safety.

As Oakleigh were forced to press up the field, South turned their attention to absorbing the pressure, and hitting back on the counter. Numerous attempts were foiled by mistimed runs and the linesman’s flagging of offside calls. The best opportunity for South in the second half came when Rhodri Payne ran through clear on goal, where he appeared to be taken down from behind in the 18 yard box - the referee though, waved play on. South though was able to hold on to its lead until the end, and in doing so was able to claim a deserved victory.


With thanks to Andrew Ongkodjojo and John Diegan

Vale Antonis Karagiannis, Henri Van Groningen

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


Antonis Karagiannis article taken from the official site.

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

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

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

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



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

Naffness personified

I was been recently comissioned I guess to write two pieces for the official South site. I don't like the first one, on the gala ball, very much at all, but the second one, a season review, is a little better I guess. But then again, what do I know about these things?

Think about the possibilities...

You can be in a photo, taking your place underneath an ex-A-League law student of Hungarian descent, and next to some kid who deserves more game time and the captain.

You can meet the players outside of a nightclub/mosque/courtroom setting.

You could get some exercise you fat lardo, by warming up with the players.

You sit in the dressing room. Michael Michalokopoulos' spittle dusts your forehead as he urges the players on to great heights - or berates them for their inability to even downhill ski properly.

You sit on the bench. You can either have a good old fashioned chinwag with the fringe players, or stand next to the coach (if he lets you) and pretend you were a certain former football director. Earplugs recommended, but are not included in this prize.

You eat dinner, putting back in the calories you lost waddling around Bob Jane Stadium in the pre-match warm up, and then some. Awesome.

And just in case no one believes you when tell them of your awesome adventure, you'll be filmed and your face plastered all over the internet, on smfcTV as part of a special feature dedicated to you.

If you want to be in the running for this experience, head to the ebay listing, which was at $91 last time I checked, and place your bid. If I had money and there was no running involved, I'd give it a go. But me and running haven't agreed with each other for a long time. Sad but true.

Round 11 George Cross vs Hellas

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

The blog entry that will hopefully single-handedly destroy any credibiltiy I may have

You clowns have been reading and not reading the blog for a touch over a year now. And what have you ever gotten? Not much to be honest. Let's do a quick stocktake. Staggeringly self-important haiku written in hospital waiting rooms and university tutorial downtime. Nonsense rants about Bordeaux Monkeys and assorted other genetic monstrosities. Rumours and the occasional fact thrown in for good measure, but not anything you wouldn't have learnt from somewhere else anyway. Writing proficiency which has steadily gone down the toilet. Varying degrees of shit presentation, with abominable and lazy colour schemes, and logos that despite their best intentions were classic examples of carpet not matching the drapes. A few photos here and there, with the only good ones being stolen from other people. The erratic and sometimes straightout just plain uninformative match reports from myself and Cliff. And to top it all off, a chief writer who has been  toyed with by the powerful and lay person with personal vendettas and nefarious agendas alike, which therefore gets passed on to you, almost all done with the anonymity I grant people as encouragement to post delicate yet powerful pieces of wisdom. And can you believe that I even attached my name to this? What was I thinking? I didn't even get a media pass out of this to avoid paying the other gyppo clubs in this league. Seeing as I was so desperate to start this enterprise, why couldn't I at least do it quietly, anonymously, with no fanfare, and maybe even simple one line entries, aiming for some sort of zen like quality. And it's not like I have any tactical nous either, to give you some entries with even adequate analysis of positions, tactics and all that jazz. And those match previews, the most lazy arse pieces of crap. And what was even worse is that writers for the official even picked up my 'last time they played' gimmick, which I stole from The Age, making me feel all "if this is anyone but Steve Allen, you're stealing my bit". And now my internet speed has been shaped until Sunday. Just awesome.

What I guess I'm trying to say is that rather than quit and stop providing this obviously grand service free of charge, ad free, and with no comment restrictions, is that there's going to be a few changes. First, comments will now be verified by me before being posted, and you will need a legit email account of some sort to post. If you're a dickhead with a hidden agenda looking only to hurt people who are well known in the South community while you cower in your thatched mud and twig internet hermit shack, your time is up. I should have done it a long time ago, and I'm sorry to you Cindy especially, no matter how much I disagree with you on some or many things, that I did not take this action earlier. Already I have started re-organising some of the categories on right hand side. As seen in the last few weeks, there will be more effort put in to the presentation. Where possible, and within my obviously limited web skills, photos will not hang like a cow's udder in nothingness. There'll be some new segments which will last only a few weeks, but dammit at least they'll be new. I'll upload more videos from days gone by. There might be a crappy South of the Border t-shirt made up, for me only (unless Cliff wants one that badly), to further paint a massive target on me wherever I go. And while some changes will be made, rest assured, some things will stay the same. There'll still be a distinct lack of contributions from people that aren't me, despite me wishing that it would happen that people would become inspired to love this club just that little bit more to get their creative juices flowing. Half of you will still watch the A-League on a regular basis, either on tv or in person, and then claim that you don't or at best, are not obsessed. despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

Happy 50th year everyone. How about getting some more Greek players into the team so we can get all those fans that went to watch a team with a mangled Scottish heritage at the first sign of South heading trouble to come back. 2009 is going to kick fucking arse. 

South vs South! Family Day! Jersey Night! Event Overload!

Did you get the latest edition of the club's brandspanking new newsletter? If you didn't you probably should sign up for it via the wesbsite. It kicks arse, so hopefully it's something that can be kept up throughout the entire season. Now there's stuff in there about the Family Day, the Jersey Presentation Night, and an interesting friendly game against Tasmanian champion South Hobart. Now since I wrote the bloody part about that game, I feel it's kinda my right to just dump that bit here for youir edification.

South Melbourne FC is pleased to announce that as part of its preparations for the 2009 VPL season, and its 50th anniversary, the club will be hosting a friendly match against 2008 Tasmanian champions South Hobart on Saturday January 31st.

Founded in 1910, making them the Apple Isle's oldest club, South Hobart swept all before them in 2008, winning the Premier League as well the State, Steve Hudson and Launceston City Cups. Coached by the experienced Ken Morton, South Hobart also contributed 8 players to the Tasmanian squad in the A-League Youth competition.

New South website now online... even if you can't see it yet

The new site is now officially online.  It looked great in pre-production whern I had a look, but at the moment you may not be able to see it in all its glory because of some DNS thing or whatever/ Even myself and one of the creators of the site, oru good frined can't see it yet because of the way the internet works. Anyway check it out, great effort by everyone.

Best first year of this blog ever

Kind of like the Festivus 'airing of the grievances'. this entry will look at where South of the Border failed to make an impact, and also did ok. Suggestions and additions welcome. More important stuff tomorrow.

A look back at what worked or went well this year.

• International exposure achieved very early on Bolosepako. Thanks Po Hui.
• Stood up for what is right in regards to the Pumpkins Seed Eaters thing, irrespective of what happened afterwards.
• Lasted for more than a few weeks. Followed by having something new almost everyday during the season.
• Got stuff printed in Das Libero and Neos Kosmos English Weekly, and the official site.
• Kept people in touch with stuff that is largely ignored by the mainstream side of the club's media wing.
• Getting on radio, in another state/territory mind you.
• Got a book of sorts done up. Here's to the future

And what didn't go so good

• Failure to get the point across effectively to the Pumpkin Seed Eaters. You know what I'm talking about. But they're dead now, or in hiding. Or something. I dunno.  But I'm not laughing because it may happen here too.  Apparently there a few sensitive souls out there who don't like people taking the mickey out of them, or heaven forbid, disagreeing with them verbosely, just being twats. Go figure.
• The lack of a link on The Supermercado Project. Sure, link to Atlanta Falcons malakies, but not to the blog that was inspired by your other blog. Disappointing.
• The lack of almost any outside contributions. I wanted this site to be for all the creative, angry, multi thousand dollar camera wielding South fans to put forward their story; as well those with no talent but far too much time on their hands. This is a chance to put forward their point of view, on their club, in a place where people outisde of smfcboard will see it... maybe they want to complain about the lack of coverage and freedom of speech? Or maybe they're too busy using their free (see sponsor derived via contra deals) Victory tickets. The offer is still there people.
• No ongoing column on Das Libero. The land where associate editorships mean not much and where promises of glory go to die. But then again, the whole shebang seemed to die in the arse, but that wasn't really my fault.
• The semi-disastrous Nearpost radio interview. It could have gone better to be honest, in terems of the what the final product ended up as. Still, nice to have the opportunity.

Thankyou to Ian, Cliff, Paul, Jim, Nats, Neil, Guido, Po Hui, Eamonn, Cuddles, Psile, Tony, John,  Michal, whoever the mysterious women's team person was who fed us info, anyone who said 'this doesn't go on the blog', everyone who left a comment, and all those people who got us to 20,000 page views.

New South official site's arrival 'imminent'

Looking real good... when it comes out the results will speak for themselves... here's just a little sneak peek, which may be breaching certain boundaries, but hopefully it gets all of you out there just a little bit excited about the coming year, and hell, the whole future of the club.

I'd have posted more, but that would ruin the surprise then, wouldn't it? :smileyfase:

Website follies

Those crazy women and their website shenanigans. After earlier in the year getting a new website and ditching the old, cluttered, slow (but nicely ordered) one, then ditching that for a blog, they've gone back to using the original one. Thankfully, I never deleted the link from the side of the page, so access to it is still the same. No RSS feed on it, unlike the blog, which is a shame. Anyway, there were people allegedly working on a website for them - you know who you are - but that hasn't come through yet. Then again, the South official site was also meant to get an overhaul earlier this year, and has only recently been completed apparently. Will it ever be uploaded? Are they waiting for the new season to do it? The current version has been around for years - surely it's about time we moved on, making sure everything else is archived though, naturally.

Get your free Frozen Tears

Now you could of course do what I did and buy a physical copy of the Frozen Tears 'South Melbourne' EP, or you could just download the various versions available on the South Melbourne official site, but whatever you do, you really should have a copy of at least one version of the song. Sure it's a bit cheesy, and all a bit circa 1984 (via the mid 1990s) but unlike the obviously AFL market oriented and tacky 'Victory The Brave', it's got genuine heart and a kick arse chorus. One day I'll make scans of my signed copy, but for now just enjoy the song for what it is and the time it represented, a time when Australian soccer culture looked towards itself for inspiration and not to the EPL and Serie A and Youtube for ideas and a script.

Popularity Stakes

Pissfarting around with this stupid site that guesstimates how much your site is worth, and thought I'd see which South site was worth the most... and it was...

- South of the Border at $461 (with a potential of $65,902)! Ding ding ding! Worth more than smfcboard and the official site combined! Awesome. Fabulous. I'm going to cash that cheque in right now. Other South related sites (that weren't piggybacking off a higher rating site) included

- South official $125
- Smfcboard $95
- South Women's blog $10

a look at some of the other stuff that gets linked here

- Astronomy Pic of the Day $264,309 - can you put a price on such a tremendous site?
- Nearpost, $7,663 - I'll get there soon
- Bolosepako $120 - lift your game po hui!
- Pumpkin Seed Eaters $9 - a) lol. b) kicked their arse c) shows just stupid this ratings site is and d) not quite so funny now they've departed the building.