It was cold last night - Pascoe Vale 0 South Melbourne 3

Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

It was cold last night - cold like being told by a former contributor that he hasn't read the blog since round 3. The Hosken Reserve pitch was wet, too, but there was plenty of grass on it at least, and no under 20s curtain raiser meant that we could spend more time eating the wonderful wood-fired pizzas (and the olives off Pavlaki's pizza because he apparently can't stand olives) and in my case a chinotto, too, which made the experience go up a notch from last year's already classy dining experience.

It was cold last night - cold like being the self proclaimed star of the show, but being benched by the coach for being a dickhead. Nick Epifano was reputedly dropped for disciplinary reasons, while Jamie Reed and Shaun Timmins, possibly due to injury concerns, also dropped out of the first eleven. Tim Mala was back in after serving his one match suspension, while Leigh Minopoulos also came into the starting eleven following a vacation related absence. Matthew Theodore rounded out the starting lineup. For their part, Pascoe Vale had five former South players in their starting lineup - Stefaan Sardelic, Carl Recchia, Marco Santilli, Joseph Youssef and James Stefanou. It was another one of those bizarre reunions that happen in the VPL/NPL, because that's how many players we've churned through over the past decade.

It was cold last night - and almost incessantly rainy, too, so much so that I spent the first half using my umbrella not only for my own protection, but also as impromptu shelter for South's official photographer Cindy Nitsos. It was the least I could do considering how many of her photos I've used this season. In the second half, the umbrellas behind the goal South was attacking formed an impromptu terrace roof, albeit probably blocking the view of the people standing in the only covered area available at the ground. At least we weren't playing in Ballarat.

Leigh Minopoulos slips the ball past Pascoe Vale 'keeper
Stefaan Sardelic to open the scoring. Photo: Cindy Nitsos. 

It was cold last night - so cold that at one point in the match Brad Norton asked me to fetch a ball that had gone over the perimeter fence, because he couldn't feel his hands. Hey, at least I got two separate people praising my sterling effort of jogging five metres to my right. The players from both sides struggled in the conditions, but schoolboy errors didn't help either. Theodore's lack of movement towards a ball passed to him while we were in attack with plenty of numbers committed forward saw Pascoe Vale fly up the other end, and we were lucky not to fall behind. Leigh Minopoulos opened the scoring after receiving a through ball from Iqi Jawadi, picking his spot relatively early to give us the upper hand.

It was cold last night - so cold, that when Clarendon Corner's spit roast 'Ellas, ole!' chant failed to gain any traction, my response from the corner flag to the call from the other side of the goals was greeted with 'that doesn't count'. The weather was so bad, that when someone mentioned that only the brave had turned up, only the true supporters, I sabotaged the moment by saying only the stupid had turned up.

Former South keeper Stefaan Sardelic kicks out at
 Tyson Holmes. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

It was cold last night - cold like a soccer scoreboard which doesn't reflect the ebb and flow of a game, only the trouncing that eventuated. Pascoe Vale were more than competitive in this game up until early in the second half, when Sardelic had collected the ball but also decided to apparently lash out at Tyson Holmes. I was right there next to the goals, but I'm going to go with being unsighted and only half paying attention, because when a keeper collects the ball isn't it the natural inclination of the spectator to switch off for a few seconds? Lujic took the penalty, slamming it down the middle. The substitute keeper got a hand to it, but there was no way that he was going to keep it out. Probably only Peter Zois playing an absolute blinder as he did in this game could have stopped it (and here's the video version, with legendary commentating and awful background music).

Sardelic gets sent off for kicking Holmes. Photo: Cindy Nitsos

It was cold last night - but not so cold that at 3-0 up, Lujic's death stare at not receiving a pinpoint cross from Minopoulos didn't drop the temperature even further. At 2-0 up Lujic had provided a neat cross for Minopoulos to score his second, but Leigh could not quite return the favour. Me, I blame Milos for not running to the right spot, as Leigh had done for his goal. At 3-0 up and now cruising, Jawadi managed to get himself a second yellow card and a sending off in a fracas of sorts near the benches. Whatever the cause of said argle bargle, it means Iqi will miss the next match. But by my calculations, they were also his fourth and fifth yellow cards for the season - so does that mean he'll miss an extra game on top of that? Someone said today that there is a provision for this which could see the two yellows converted to a red card, leaving Iqi on three yellows as before, and missing the one week. But it all depends on the ref's report and it's best for the club to investigate this thoroughly lest we do something stupid like play a suspended player.

It was cold last night - so cold that that car alarm which went off in the local neighborhood rang out for ten minutes towards the end of the game, and yet no one, not the car's owner, not a cranky neighbour, nor even a local street punk bothered to come out of their homes to silence it, either by either legitimate or dubious means. Missing the train back from Merlynston station by a minute, and hiding inside the bare passenger cubicle they call a shelter for 30 minutes didn't help alleviate the chill, my hands losing all colour, the glory of the win and being one step closer to a championship warming me up, at best, on a theoretical level.

Next game
Bentleigh away on Wednesday. At the time of writing, we were ten points ahead of Oakleigh with six games to play, though Oakleigh had not yet played their round 21 match away against Northcote.

New project - Victorian and Australian soccer library
I have no idea what the hell I'm doing with this, and how popular it may or may not be. But for the moment my frustration at the hoarding tendencies of some Australian soccer collectors, combined with the difficulty in sourcing much material readily for the non-academic Australian soccer fan, as well as finally being taught how to use my scanner without needing to go through Photoshop or associated programs (white space editing be damned), has prompted me to get started on this 'thing' which I've called a library for want of a better term.

At the moment it is of course a pretty sparse cupboard, but with your help I hope to be able to expand the collection. So far, I have some Victorian Soccer Federation yearbooks, a couple of annual reports and some miscellaneous items, but I'm hoping to add some club histories as well. My pseudo-anarchist leanings mean that my intention is for people to download and share the materials as widely as possible.

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, or so they say

@PaulMavroudis Similar, but different.. http://t.co/4tVekNIC1y
— Simon Pincic (@simonpincic) August 2, 2014

For an explanation of what's going on here, refer to my 'final thought' from a couple of weeks ago. I really don't know what to make of this, especially since it's not in blog format yet. A classic case of the unheimlich if ever I saw one.

Around the grounds
Two mysteries solved
I had been coerced into agreeing to go to Hoppers Crossing vs Bell Park, but the coercer eventually coerced himself into doing some work (or something), so I was gloriously (or terrifyingly if you're into Sartre) free to choose my own entertainment. And thus I ended up at Altona East once again, who were taking on Westgate.

When last we caught up with Altona East, their coach had resigned after leading the team into the relegation zone. Despite not playing a game last week, a points deduction to Altona Magic for some indiscretion or other saw East' next door neighbour take their place in second last. Still, that was small relief when Westgate raced to a 2-0 lead early in this game, with the home team struggling to get anything going at all. But then thanks to a Westgate a keeper error - he dropped the ball - and a deflection from a speculative effort, East went into halftime level at 2-2. A backheeled goal made it 3-2 to East, and that's how it's ended up.

Now, as to the mysteries. While flicking through the 1985 Victorian Soccer Federation yearbook, I saw that East Altona were described as wearing yellow shirts, green shorts and yellow socks. How could this be? How could the club known as PAOK not be wearing black and white? Well, as it turns out, when the club started in 1979 - ostensibly as a junior club, playing out of Altona North Primary School - the folks who kicked things off didn't really have a very strong idea of what they wanted the club to be. PAOK was eventually adopted as a formal name, but it was a fairly informal name for a long time. The colours were chosen based on the fact that, 'Well, what colours should we choose?' 'Well we're in Australia, let's choose the Australian colours' and that's how it came to be.

Apparently the green and gold colour scheme lasted up until about 1985. Certainly by the late 1980s, East Altona is a black and white team. But what happened to Altona East in 1988? Apparently they bought out a mob called St Kilda, and played the second half of the 1988 season under that name. St Kilda (a post Hellas-Hakoah merger offshoot of St Kilda-Hakoah people?) disappears in 1989 before re-emerging briefly afterwards. So, a couple of questions answered and good win to PAOK to boot.

Also learned some info about the relationship between Yarraville Doxa (Glory), the demise of Melbourne Hungaria, and Hawksburn, which is probably best left to another occasion.

 - with thanks to Fred Dimitriou for the historical information.

Final thought
Even though I didn't get to meet him, a big thank you to Pascoe Vale president Lou Tona for his hospitality, it's very much appreciated.

One Life And It's All Politics - Pascoe Vale 0 South Melbourne 0

A disappointing result to say the least. Did we drop two points in the first half? We were well on top even before Pascoe Vale's red card in the 8th minute for a head butt on Brad Norton. And we blew several chances to take the lead, perhaps the worst miss of the lot going to Trent Rixon, who pulled his shot wide with the goal beckoning, missing the target by about two metres. But still, that first half was only missing a goal from us, and didn't foreshadow the lackluster second half to come.

Norton got a sore head, his opponent a red card. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Indeed the second half resembled what in footy speak might be called circle work, running and passing and keeping the ball without doing much with it. When we did choose to move it quickly, we either miss hit our passes, or were reticent in taking on opponents and trying to get into the box. There was an issue also in delaying putting in crosses. And despite having an extra man for 82 minutes, it was sometimes hard to tell where that extra man advantage was. Brad Norton was perhaps the serial offender on both of these last two fronts.

Credit must go to Peter Gavalas. Though he had very little do throughout the evening, he saved the day right at the death when Pascoe Vale threatened to steal the win. While it hurts to not win that game, I get the feeling that last year we would have lost this match. The turnaround in Gavalas' form has been a big part of our better season to this point.

The home team celebrated a hard earned point, while we walked out of the ground incredibly frustrated. There are still questions about Tsolakis' tactical decisions. But the earth keeps turning, and the focus must now move on to next week. At least we got to see Alan Kearney get on the field and get some game time. And we got our first clean sheet in several weeks, for those who care about such things. So disappointing, yes, but not a complete disaster.

As for the ex-South boys at Pascoe Vale... Joseph Yousseff was out injured. Stefaan Sardelic perhaps wasn't tested as much as he should have been - except from Rhys Meredith, who clattered into him in the first half - but otherwise didn't put a foot wrong. His ground kicking still leaves a lot to be desired though. Jake Vandermey, like the rest of the Pascoe Vale defence, rode out the storm of the first half onslaught before putting in a very steady performance when South ran out of ideas. Apparently Marco Santilli - a member of the 2006 Crazy Johns Cup final winning team, where he was one of the goal scorers - was also out there. Shows how observant I am.

Hosken Reserve
Only been there the once previously, several years ago for a state league two north/west match between Pascoe Vale and Altona East, and what a fantastic game that was.

Pascoe Vale 2 Altona East 1

Right team won on the day, no doubt about it. Paco kicking with a strong wind in the first half dominated, a great goal from about 25-30 metres out leaving them 1-0 up at the break. 2nd half was everything you'd want from a top of the table clash, with East really getting into the game and equalising only for Paco to take back the lead within 5 minutes. Some send offs and wasted chances at both ends, with the Paco keeper pulling out some great saves. Paco best team I've seen over the past couple of seasons at this level.

Gains and me got off at Merlynston station, and like the Zoroastrian magi of that familiar myth, followed the light (tower) in the sky, albeit this was a dimmer object than those Persian would have followed. So dim in fact that I was a bit worried that the lights wouldn't be up to scratch, and when we got there, it didn't look too good. But when all the lights were turned it was adequate, if not spectacular.

SMFCTV cameraman Tim Dovas acknowledges the crowd. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

In terms of the food, the pizza was actually pretty damn good (I'll let Steve from Broady gush over the food), but there was no chinotto to go with the pizza, and I had to settle for a blood orange soda. But you can't have everything I suppose. A ground worth taking into consideration when pondering which game to see. Like other venues without a hill, the viewing isn't great when the crowd gets more than one deep along the fence. Not sure how good the video footage will be either, considering there was light pole in front of the scaffolding used for filming.

Around the Grounds
How much soccer is too much soccer? I think I got close to finding out the answer this weekend.

First Stop: Jack's Place
Thank goodness for Steve from Broady, who made the right choice on Friday night's offerings. I was all up for going to Richmond vs Green Gully, in the superstitious belief that Richmond were 'due' for a win. That game got washed out with Richmond down 2-1. How the FFV will sort out that game will be interesting.

Instead we ended up at Oakleigh vs Hume. The under 21s match was a bit of a goalfest, 4-3 I think it finished to Hume, though I only caught the last half hour or so. The senior match was largely unspectacular for 60 odd minutes, Oakleigh doing nothing and Hume doing the simple things finding themselves 2-0 up. When Oaks unexpectedly pulled it back to 2-1, the game was on, and Oaks hit the post soon after. A backheel goal from a goal mouth scramble by the Hume striker variously dubbed 'Lurch' and 'Star 21' by some of the South faithful seemed to pretty much ice the game at 3-1, but Oaks kept coming. Then Hume's little no. 30, who was playing like it the pitch was bone dry, slipped past two defenders on the by line and cut it back for an easy to finish to someone or other. 4-2 it finished to Hume, who are on a bit of a roll now, while Oakleigh under Miron Bleiberg are going nowhere fast.

From about 6:00pm onwards the rain didn't stop. It slowed down at times, bucketed down at others. Steve from Broady was disappointed, because he wanted to stand next to the Oakleigh bench and listen to Bleiberg. It got very interesting when the thunder and lightning got real close to the ground, the thunder rippling through the covered terrace at Jack Edwards Reserve, so close you could feel it in your belly, and so loud that I couldn't hear the footy match that I had on my earphones. The ground held up well though, and at least we were able to finish the game.

Second Stop - Xavier vs Melbourne Grammar
I'd been asked several times by a friend to come watch some sport at Xavier, as part of the continuing tradition of alienation that we love on this blog. I had been asked to go to a cricket match - against their main rivals St Kevins - to get the more authentic experience, but life had gotten in the way.

The tram goes uphill from the corner of Collins and Spring. It also flies along the avenues. That's a crucial part of the experience. Most of my tram experiences have been laboured affairs, meandering in a stop/start fashion through the inner suburbs.  After ending up a lot further on than I was supposed to, and making a wrong turn into some sort of car park - I eventually made it to the proper gate to see a match already in progress. The field the soccer was being played on was nearest to Barkers Road, which at least made it easier to find. The different fields apparently had names as well - at my high school the oval was simply 'the oval'. There were large puddles on the other side of the field, but otherwise the ground had held up well.

As a novice to such carnival style sports days - my two year stint at the Corporate Games excluded - I suffered from an acute case of sensory overload. There were two Aussie rules games being played adjacent to the soccer match, as well as a rugby union game being played a little further on. Whistles and sirens, balls, crowds switching between different games. Add to that the large electronic scoreboard on the main footy ground - which also of course has a little grandstand. Even the traffic is captivating, and I normally couldn't give a stuff about cars except as a way of getting from point A to point B. Looking around, just about every car is new. In contrast, I reckon that there's three 1989 Toyoto Camrys on my street alone.

Xavier's soccer team was playing host to Melbourne Grammar. I had been promised a higher calibre of football, with neat, crisp passing. Instead, thanks to the weather, I got something else entirely. There were some pretty poor sliding tackles in this match, with players not taking into account the slippery conditions. What made this more interesting is that as a whole, the game wasn't actually very physical. This was especially in the moments where I expected it to be almost inevitable, where the ball got stuck in one of the puddles on the other side of the ground, and yet more often than not players were able to extricate them out of the lakes without too much opposition interference.

Grammar looked the better team when I got there early in the first half, playing a bit more direct. Xavier were playing a style that was too fancy for the conditions, and found themselves 3-1 down at half time. Still, Xavier came out the stronger team in the second half, and managed to pull it back to 3-2 early on, only to then not to do very much for the rest of the match. And then almost out of nowhere, they won a late, late penalty. The sideline cheered in celebration. The young man who had scored both of Xavier's goals stepped up to the spot, aiming for both the equaliser and his hat-trick. Of course he skied the shot about five metres over the crossbar, to the unbridled joy of the Grammar players and supporters.

The whistle blew, and the Grammar team sang out their school song with gusto in the middle of the field. School pride was always a nebulous, even fruity concept where I came from. Concepts such as alumni associations are anathema to a system where people can't wait to get out and hope to never see 95% of the people you were forced to be with. We also didn't have a school song as far as I can remember, so hearing something like that roared out was fascinating and also disturbing, but I suppose that's all part of the culture shock that I had experienced.

We don't often talk about social politics on this blog, because frankly, I don't think that's what our audience is interested in, and I also don't think that our audience is particularly interested in my poorly constructed pseudo-anarchist ramblings in particular. But there was something undeniably wrong about the scenario, where a community which is that privileged, and seeks to create an insular environment, while priding itself on its 'independence' and which has so much more than my old high school could ever have had, could possibly want even more from the taxpayer?

This is not about the politics of envy. It's about a bizarre social experiment that's been created, that is supposed to include, in Xavier's case at least, social justice, but who can't even stomach playing against its poor Catholic brethren, instead aligning itself with other wealthy Protestant schools. It's about how in attempting to stay relevant, public schools like mine have had to become marketing machines, trying desperately to mimic the aesthetic tropes of the private school system.

It's probably not fair to come into such a situation, with all my lower middle class western suburbs prejudices, and then come out of a mere two hour experience with all the answers. When I did take that detour into the car park, I was faced by cyclone fencing and barbed wire. Why was my immediate reaction to think that at a public school, this would be used to keep people in, but at an elite private school this would be used to keep people out?

Like I said, they are some poorly constructed ramblings. It was a relief to get out of there though, and head to a place that seemed a bit more grounded in reality.

Third Stop - Campbell Reserve

A sample of Moreland's shirt collection. Photo: Gains.

The overnight downpour did put into doubt whether the third leg on my Friday/Saturday football journey would go ahead, as Moreland City's Campbell Reserve is more likely than most grounds to turn into a swamp at the first hint of deluge.

On arrival at the ground, there was no action at all. The reserves match was postponed at Campbell Reserve, but luckily the senior match would go ahead.

I like Moreland City. I don't blame them for being able to get away with having four different ethnic symbols on their jersey (leek, thistle, clover and rose), and not receiving flack from anyone for it. That's the fault of Australian culture who don't think of these symbols as ethnic, or at least not in a negative way, and the soccer authorities who are supposed to be on top of all these issues. I also love straining my neck looking up at the soccer jersey collection that adorns the ceiling of their social club. And it's always a treat to hear the banter directed towards the visiting team's goalkeeper from behind the goals.

Moreland City have been one of the form teams in state 2 north/west this season, but conceded a heavy defeat at Preston the week before. Altona East have won one match all season. It didn't start well for East, falling 2-0 behind early on. They pulled one back, but soon conceded again. East weren't really in the game, but won a lucky penalty - they should have scored from the same play anyway - and made the score 3-2. It should have been 3-3 soon afterwards, but instead Moreland piled on the next three goals, and it finished 5-2, although the official records say 5-3. If I missed a goal, I'm not sure where that happened.

Steve from Broady's Canteen Report
On Saturday evening I ventured down to Pascoe Vale's ground Hosken Reserve. There was a lot of hype about their canteen, so I was expecting big things and I can confirm big things is what I got. A wood fire oven cooking some very good pizzas was unbelievable to see at a VPL venue - perfectly cooked, not burned, not an overload of topping - it was awesome. Inside was another canteen with food that was not as good as the pizzas but let's be honest, nothing could live up to those pizzas. After assessing both canteens at the venue I must without a doubt award Pascoe Vale's canteen a perfect 10 and encourage all VPL fans to get around this canteen for the rest of the season.

1. Pascoe Vale 10/10
2. Hume City 8/10
3. Bentleigh Greens 7/10
4. Southern Stars 2/10
5. Green Gully 1/10
6. Dandenong DQ

South food truck

• Week 1 - 4.5/10
• Week 2 - 7/10 

The Pitfalls of Taking Public Transport 
In the morning while taking the 48 tram, stop 26 became stop 32 in the space of about five seconds. Not cool when I wanted to get off at stop 29. In the evening, after traipsing through the mud of the Hosken Reserve carpark and hoofing it uphill to Batman station, we missed the train by about 30 seconds. Still, I managed to catch the 10:07 to Werribee, and didn't need to top up on the day either. Twenty-two cents left on my myki card.

Next Week
Queen's Birthday Monday Dockerty Cup game against Northcote. At least they've finally stumbled.

Flaaaaaaaaaaaaanders. Flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanders.

One of our friends at the game needs to come up with more than one line to yell out over the 90 minutes of play. One of our readers who was at the game suggested that this person needed a Jewish writer, and I think he also suggested the image on the right as an obtuse way of making that point.

In addition, if you want to submit photo or picture suggestions for upcoming posts, send them to  blackmissionary@hotmail.com and I'll see if I can make them relate to the topic somehow. Cartoon related references preferred.

Final Thought
It was good to meet Bill, Jake Vandermey's old man. Always nice to put a face to a name.

Our youth system is not working

So, the news coming out of Lakeside is that experienced VPL goalkeeper Peter Gavalas - most recently of Bentleigh Greens - is training and has probably signed with us for 2012. That he has been training with us is true, as I've seen him at one such session at Lakeside. It does raise issues from this correspondent's end, however.

Peter Gavalas would not move across to South, or any other VPL club for that matter, if he didn't think he was a shoe in for the first choice keeper's position. And that would entirely be his right, seeing as he has done the hard yards and built himself a solid reputation.

But where does that leave Zaim Zeneli, last year's eventual first choice goalkeeper? After winning the three way battle between himself, Stefaan Sardelic and Abdelhadi Deroune last year, including his double penalty save heroics against Heidelberg, the Sydney native looked to be a good thing to keep his place, with an opportunity for long time under 21s goalkeeper George Malliaras to get one step closer to fulfilling his dream of playing for the blue and white.

But this no longer appears to be the case. And logically then, one of Zeneli's and Malliaras' tenure must be close to an end. It brings into question the problems of bringing in players from interstate, but also of the fate of promising or what one may call 'project players' from the youth system. One could rattle off the names of several young players who, for whatever reason have departed the club in recent times.

In some cases it may be out down to impatience, lack of skill or family connections at other clubs. But for the sake of topicality, let's name two recent apparent departures: Jake Vandermey and Josh Colosimo. Unlike several of their under 21s teammates, they did not move on in mid last year, but rather spent a large portion of it playing with Hobart Olympia. They started every week, and were credited by  several southern Tasmanian observers with being integral to Olympia's turnaround in form.

As part of the deal for playing for Olympia, Vandermey and Colosimo would have been promised and expected to have been given a genuine shot at senior football in 2012. Now of course it's a coach's prerogative to select and seek to recruit players of his choosing, within the budget allocated to them by the football committee. But at the same time, let's not pretend that the football sub-committee does not have any influence in the general direction the club's recruiting may head.

After all, it's quite well known now that the football sub-committee ignored the preference of new senior coach Peter Tsolakis in the hiring of the new under 21s coach. Added to this, despite the shambles at the end of last year after the external academy affiliated personnel in our system upped and left, we're now involved with a partnership with another academy in our junior system, with a group and individual whose reputation at best could be described as controversial.

The football sub-committee, in its various forms, is also responsible for the selection of our senior coach. The previous two choices have been, well, catastrophic. Firstly in the way that they have destabilised and worn down the morale of the senior squad, and secondly with their ethos of playing favourites and ignoring other players, whomever they may be.

If one was to point to an on field ethic or raison d'etre at South, historically it would have been, ignore our own youth system, purchase quality veteran and/or up and coming players from other clubs, and play some decent football. It was arrogant, short term thinking, but it was at least consistent. Almost no player or coach was safe from being sacked, and while that created a lot of bitterness in the ranks of our ex-players - put Paul Wade's departure right at the top of that list - it was no secret how the club operated.

Now there's no longer any sense of a coherent on field direction. In contrast to the off field direction, which has been mostly people pulling in the same direction, and seemingly getting real close to securing the future of the club in a prosperous, self-sufficient state, on field it's a mess. And now that there's a bit more money floating around, the club can afford to splash out on some of the more 'professional' players running around the league.

Of course, like most players in this league, they do enjoy playing the game, but they seem to enjoy it more when and where they get more money for doing so. Most clubs with ambitions of success would rather deal with this sort of 'proven' talent then take even a reasonable risk on players they have in their own backyard, and have seen (if the coaching staff is even interested in watching the reserves, but that's another story) for a number of years.

This is not of course a problem that only South faces - Green Gully and Oakleigh are just two of the other VPL clubs that routinely cop a beating on the forums for the lack of players they source from their own ranks. But if young players are coming and then staying at South with the expectation or promise - sometimes explicit, sometimes not - that they are a genuine and realistic chance at being considered for senior football, and then continually find themselves on the scrapheap, then perhaps the club should be more honest about its senior football recruiting ethos, and make it so obvious that no one can be in any doubt as to what it is.

Of course, there are a legion of parents out there who think little Johnny is the next big thing. Sometimes it's the clubs that foster this belief, other times the parents are deluding themselves. And admittedly, the VPL's under 21s is not the greatest standard of competition. Neither is Tasmania's Southern Premier League. But in the case of our 21s competition, it is the most likely place a half-talented player of that age will get noticed by A-League scouts.

Certain people will tell you that it is better as an 18 year old, to ditch the VPL under 21s competition and play regular senior football - if they're good enough, they'll be back soon enough. And if they're not, well, it just goes to show that they weren't really all that good in the first place. It's a valid position to take, but it's not one that will work for all players. Danny Radojicic, often acknowledged as a promising midfielder with a powerful long range shot, dropped out to play for lower league teams, and has been through half the clubs in the state league system. A good striker or promising young defender saddled with a sub-par midfield can cause myriad issues.

While initially being in agreement with the concept of an under 21s competition for the VPL, I've since come around to the position that in the long run, this does not help young players. They would benefit more from playing in a high standard competition with older players, who know more tricks of the trade. In addition, there are only so many places on a senior list - how many players does one expect to graduate from a sub-par competition like the VPL under 21s? At best you may have one or two genuine prospects in a given year - the problem for South is, do we even see those one or two come through?

One wonders what the future is for young striker Nicky Jacobs. He is still training with the club, and may very well have to fight for his place in the pre-season February and March schedule - but reports are also that Gianni De Nittis has found his way back into the Lakeside fold. And what of all the other promising young players in our system? Is it worthwhile playing beyond a certain age in the South Melbourne youth system?

Notes from an almost South-less weekend

Don't know about you, but for once it wasn't too hard to find things to do without the eight hours I usually spend on a Sunday in the cause of watching South, which involves public transport, the ressies, the main game and a quite dinner with Gains and Steve from Broady, preferably at somewhere good and cheap.

On Friday night I became the victim of public transport crapness but still managed to catch about 70 minutes of the game between Port Melbourne and Fawkner. Port dominated the match, but ex-South goalkeeper Stefaan Sardelic had an excellent game, making several vital saves, including some excellent double saves. Would have been nice to see him receive some more encouragement from his teammates. I also saw someone get clocked in the head by a falling branch while standing behind the Plummer Street goals, thankfully no damage done.

Also got a call asking if I could fill in again for writing the state league 2 and under report for Goal Weekly, and I said yes. Then after my driver stopped for fuel and a sandwich, I somehow ended up in Oakleigh for a gin and tonic. Maybe because it was my birthday and people just about begged me to go outside of the house.

On Saturday afternoon I trundled over to Paisley Park for the state league 2 north-west match between Altona East and Westgate. Had a great souvlaki and saw the reserves snap an eight game losing streak by managing a 1-1 draw, and joined by Ian Syson, watched the senior match which was OK I suppose, a lot of effort but not a lot of method, before East got on top in the second half and probably should have won by more than the 1-0 margin. Overheard someone going on about the World Club Championship money, again.

Fahrudin Mustafic volleys home Singapore's third goal. Photo: PoHui Ko.

Felt like the supporter of an unpopular club when I had to listen to the Pies on the radio instead of watching them on free to air television. Became satisfied that the game was done and decided to watch the Singapore vs Malaysia 'Causeway Derby' World Cup Qualifier, Asian Zone, Second Round 1st leg tie. Stream was choppy but worked well enough for me to see all eight goals. Spent Sunday morning writing the state league report and a match report for the Singapore match and round up of other related results, which you can read here.

Olympia's Joshua Colosimo clears ahead of Devonport's Brad Chilcott. Photo: Walter Pless.

Then I watched about five minutes of the season 1996, round 22 match between Hawthorn and Melbourne, then had some lunch. Checked Walter Pless' blog for discussion of Olympia's win over Devonport City, which sees them through to the state wide cup final against South Hobart. And then went to Aldi and bought a lot of junk and a couple of bottles of cider. Oh and courtesy of Oakleigh's win today, we slip down to third. Joe Montemurro apparently got the sack as well. And rumours are circling that James Spanos is due to fly in this week from Greece to resume his South career.

Highlights from win against Bentleigh

About four years ago - reminiscence of Langerak's brief VPL stint

Dean Anastasiadis got injured in round four against Green Gully. On came a skinny kid by the name of Mladen Tosic who, try as he might, was never able to convince the coaches, the fans or even his fellow defenders that he was the right man for the spot between the sticks.

So for the second half of the season, in came a young lad by the name of Mitch Langerak, a Queenslander on loan from Melbourne Victory. He made mistakes, to be sure - the worst of which was letting a harmless grubber of a cross by Henry Fa'arodo go through his legs for a tap in and the win for Richmond on a dispiriting Friday night. But he also showed enough in his aerial exploits, dubbed by Ian Syson at the time as either 'solid as a rock' or 'safe as houses' - I can't remember which, but it's the sentiment not the wording which matters - that even I was making uncharacteristically bold predictions like 'future Socceroo keeper'.

The years and keepers have come and gone at South in our VPL era. Deano came back after his injury and apocryphally kept Neil Young out of a job; Nick Jelic filled in for a game or two, as did Andy Sfetkopoulos; Tommi Tommich was awesome on short notice at the tail end of 2008, and then fell in a heap the year after; and the still young Stefaan Sardelic has pinch hit over the past few years without being able to nail down the starting keeper's spot.

The Agitator leaves his mark on the scoreboard

But for whatever intangible reason none of these guys excited me like Mitch did on a cold and rainy Sunday in June at Chaplin Reserve, against a dogged Sunshine George Cross outfit. It was a hard fought 2-0 win, well earned in the mud by the players, as the South fans huddled together under umbrellas not always their own on the hill at the Anderson Road end, and scoreboard shenanigans by one of our stalwart fans kept us amused as we fought off the onset of frostbite.

But just one of the enduring memories of that game was our old foe John Markovski, who was coaching George Cross at the time, doing his by that stage almost compulsory act of subbing himself on against us. When the home side won a free kick within Markovski's range, there was just that moment of dread. Loathe his as we do, he still had a phenomenal left foot shot - he hit a volley as sweetly as he would have done in his prime, but Langerak made the save, and was re-christened 'Mitso' by the faithful.

Billy Natsioulas fights for the ball.

It was a glorious day all round, back in the day when there was still a sort of VPL  camaraderie amongst South fans before we divided ourselves into innumerable factions; when Gate 1/HFC faction splitting was the height of our worries; when some people still thought we were a shoe-in for the second Melbourne A-League spot when it opened up; when a few wins against some of that season's strugglers, which included the aforementioned game, had us run into a bit of form halfway through the year before the Victory game and the subsequent collapse into an inconsistent heap, whose misery was only occasionally punctuated by moments such as this.

This morning Mitch 'Mitso' Langerak made his Bundesliga debut for the ladder leading Borussia Dortmund away at Bayern Munich. Dortmund won 3-1, their first win away at Bayern in 20 years. From all reports, Langerak had a good game, including making one great reflex save against Mario Gomez. Four years on from what for most football fans would rightly be viewed as a game between two also-rans of Australian football, a young man brought in almost as a last resort to try and solve a goalkeeping crisis at Lakeside is one step closer to achieving his potential. Now, as then, I have every confidence that he will fulfill his promise.

Albanian Adventure Playground Experience - Dandy 2 South 1

Game played at fairly casual pace. Started off with quite a few senior players, fell behind 2-0, gradually took off most of the seniors and replaced them with 21s. The 21s did better, but the pace of the game died in the arse even more so. Pulled one back late when Joryeff slotted home a ball across the face of goal. Both Stefaan Sardelic and new signing from Sydney Olympic Zaim Zenelli had a half each in goals - too early to tell who if either of them is the frontrunner. Only one player in the game who got out of second gear really impressed - some 16 year old called Rob Naumovski or some such, who was at Altona Magic (and hence why when I asked equipment manager Frank Piccione who he was, he replied 'Rob Altona'). Anyway, the highlight of a day spent in the rain and cold for no apparent good reason, was the playground adjacent to the field, decked out patriotically in Albanian red and black.

South of the Border awards 2010

Finally we get to the end of this utterly bizarre season marred by everything, and with an AGM and election still to come. I'm not sure how much more I can take, but here goes.

Player of the year: Fernando De Moraes had this sewn up half way through the season. Then Peter Zois did his thing, rescuing us from several beatings. But Fernando was just so good to watch, he brought others into games and even took out the VPL's player of the year award. Zois' defection to Oakleigh had nothing to do with my decision.

Under 21 player of the year: The Cliff Hussey Memorial Trophy goes to Stefaan Sardelic. Under 21s players in the senior squad were incredibly thin on the ground in 2010. Sam Torrens and Sash Vranesevic were the only two outfield players under that category at the beginning of the year, and both departed for more opportunities elsewhere during the season. Sardelic's performance in the Singapore Cup quarter finals though were more than enough reason to give this award by default.

Goal of the year: Fernando's curling shot from outside the box, late in the away game against Bentleigh, giving us a hard fought 1-0 win in the rain and slush out at Kingston Heath. One of those shots you knew was in pretty much instantly.

Best performance: The second leg against Bangkok Glass. No doubt.

Best away game of the year: Oakleigh away. We won, and we had some fun afterwards at the train station with the vending machine. Nothing illegal, mind.

Call of the year: Quack. I'm not sure it actually quacked even once, but whatever,

Chant of the year: I spent a lot of time away from Clarendon Corner this season, for obvious reasons, but the rendition of the Pink Panther theme in loving tribute to Dandenong Thunder keeper Stuart Webster's all pink outfit (except for his black socks) was clever and tasteful. Runner up was the medley of classic chants run through during the last game at Lakeside.

Best retrieval and return of a ball that had gone over the fence: Gains against Sunshine at Northcote. The ball had gone over the fence for a corner. Gains threw the ball gently over the fence, only for it to roll around right into the corner arc, to mild applause from those paying attention. Only for the player taking the corner to adjust the blessed thing anyway. Poor form.

Best after match dinner location: Well, we ended up going to several places during the season - I even went with Steve (aka Chris Griffin) to Subway once, but I never eat there, because if I want an overpriced baguette style sandwich I'll get it from Waffle On in Degraves Street. Es Teler 77, a cheap Indo place on Swanston Street near Melbourne Central wins this because of its Ayam Balado, spicy deep fried chicken served with steamed rice and chicken broth.

Friends we lost along the way: Old Blacky. Rest In Pieces. And Aussie Disposals Blue and White No. 1.

Zois jumps van 't Schip

News tonight is that Peters Zois has joined the Melbourne Heart ostensibly as their second choice keeper. Zois was already goalkeeping coach there, but why they felt they needed to sign up another veteran as opposed to an up and comer - and surely there's at one young keeper who could use the experience - is beyond me. Apparently there's a a special FFA provision that should we make the finals, we can keep him, but that won't extent to our Singapore Cup fixtures. I don't really get it to be honest. Tommi Tommich was taken up late in our season by Melbourne Victory two years ago, which necessitated us using Stefaan Sardelic for our last game against Frankston Pines, though there was nothing on the line except pride on that day. Last year we should have got rid of Tommi earlier then we did, but that's another story. Message is pretty clear though. You want to be an A-League back up keeper? Come to South. This could hurt Pete in my calculations for this blog's player of the year award though. I'm a small man in some ways; a small, petty man. Three months detention. No, wait - make it four months detention.

Thanks for the peanuts, but seriously

Or how the global financial crisis is hitting Green Gully fans hard.

I was at Altona East today, and after watching two lacklustre games, I figured that I've got my media pass with me, why not watch the qualifying final next door between Altona Magic and Green Gully?

Not a bad crowd considering the small fanbases these two clubs have, as well as the complete irrelevance of this competition to everyone. Some interested onlookers included South assistant coach Phil Peladrinos, two game senior veteran Stefaan Sardelic, spanakopita heir/Heidelberg coach George Katsakis, and remakarbly, even FFV CEO Mark Rendell.

The game being a 6 goal, extra time, penalty shoot out thriller had its moments, but you can read about those elsewhere. What those match reports won't tell you is about how hard Green Gully's fans are doing it in this difficult economic climate. The stimulus packages don't seem to have trickled down to Green Gully Reserve though.

The reason I say this is because rather than purchase any food or drink from the venue - and Altona Magic is one of the cheapest canteens in the VPL - the Gully fans, a whole swathe of them, came prepared with everything they needed. Thermoses full of coffee, a sugar box, paper cups, biscuits, scones. Even the peanut/pumpkin seed man got the short end of the stick, as Gully's fans had even brought their own peanuts (which admittedly some of which they offered me).

My thinking on these matters has always been that either you buy food or drink at the ground, or you take care of all that business before the game and discreetly. The flaunting of their refusal to partake of the local delicacies was most intriguing, and gives one wild ideas about going absolutely nuts with the idea: Clarendon Corner bake sale fundraiser at Green Gully next year?

Time to say goodbye

Deano farewell vid, as done by Doc. Some good stuff in there, some good stuff left out, but Deano seemed to like it, as did everyone who's seen it, and that's the important thing. He won't be keeping today by the way, I think Sardelic will be in that role.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to Frankston...

... you could very well see Deano playing this week! For you see, current South number 1 Tomislav Tomich has been called up to the Victory for three weeks to be their number 2, while their number 2 and one time South number 1 Mitch Langerak replaces their number 1 and one time South benchwarmer except for five games Michael Theoklitos. Got it? Good. Anyway, I reckon they should give th gig to the kid from the ressies Stefan Sardelic, seemed to know what he was doing the few times I've seen him, Which is more than can be said for the rest of the under 21 squad unfortunately.