Never a dull moment at South Melbourne, alas

Here we go again.

Link to article

The president of Greek-based soccer club South Melbourne FC, Leo Athanasakis, said Mr Vlahogiannis was a serial pest.

"These guys seem to be the common denominator in all of these incidents. They've got no credibility with anyone, especially the Greek community," he said.

And now a whole lot of argle-bargle has been started about this more or less true statement. Why did he say it, why say what he said, why say anything at all, why dob in your your own race, I'm tearing up my membership; all the usual and all too predictable comments have started flowing thick and fast. It's times like these when all the usual suspects come out to play, and yet when the time and opportunity is there to act or take up the challenges the club faces on a daily basis, it's never or seldom their turn, and after all, who has the time, or knows how to actually do things away from a keyboard? As evidenced recently in an unrelated incident (which, alas, is not for publication) everyone always seems to know better when they're not the ones faced with the responsibility of making the tough decisions, which more often than not whichever fork in the road you choose will get the bile going in our all too frequently emotionally combustible supporters.

Pause.
Take a long deep breath.
Play.
Chris Vlahogiannis and some members of his posse are far from my favourite people in the cosmos. I don't know the bloke well enough, and he seems like a nice enough person, but he's got an ideology and a way of going about things that seriously clashes with my own strongly held beliefs. What went down at the tennis I don't know. I wasn't there and it's all second hand information that I'm getting. Perhaps he and the Hellas Fan Club are in the right this time. As far as I'm concerned that's for the law to decide, and for the Victoria Police and HFC to sort out amonsgt themselves.

Pause.
Went out to the city to see if I could get Missing Link to get me The Autumns self-titled disc. They'll get back to me tomorrow.
Play.

But the stick Athanasakis has been copping is, in the main, uncalled for. The wording wasn't great, and he underestimates also the respect that Vlahogiannis has amongst some in the Greek community. But he was basically damned if he did and damned if he didn't. The mainstream media in this country is fairly lazy. Even before the President made his comments, the media were linking it to soccer and South. It's probably reasonable to say that the public in general were linking it to soccer and South. What's a guy to do? Obviously to say nothing or 'no comment' would seem like an admission of guilt to the media hounds. Saying what he did, in his vernacular style, probably didn't help, but at least he wasn't being defensive and negative. But ultimately a no nonsense, neutral toned press-release style statement like the one below would probably have done the trick

South Melbourne FC has nothing to do with what happened at the Australian Open tennis, and is disappointed that the media has linked us to this incident. 

Chris Vlahogiannis, the leader of the Hellas Fan Club is not a member of South Melbourne FC. 

All further queries should be directed to the Victoria Police and Hellas Fan Club. Have a nice day.

Pretty easy. Even easier in hindsight, especially for someone who's done Intro to Media Writing. Of course, you're never going to please everybody. And at South, unless you bring in the championship three years in a row, most people will always find truckloads of things to whinge about. What's done now is basically done, and the ramifications will play out over the coming days, weeks, months, and become another chapter in the typically over the top, never by halves history of this club. But for now at least, there's going to be a lot of showboating, grandstanding, frothing at the mouth, and higher than usual amount of random crap being spilled out. How long it goes for, and what the net effects of it will be remain to be seen.

But until it all subsides, and eventually one way or another it more or less will, the sane supporters on both sides of the issue (and there have been opposing statements made to Leo's comments that have been within the calm, reasonable part of the spectrum), this is just another one of those really stupid things the club will have to ride out. How many more of them the club can withstand is probably a good question, but I'm not going to panic. I saw a $12 million turnover student union go insolvent. This really is minor stuff, and the club itself has gone through worse. But the more pessimistic amongst us may not see it as just another thing to get over, but rather as part of the whole process of the club's decline. The sad things is, they may be right.

2008 Hellenic Cup

That's right, everyone's favourite pre-season tournament the Hellenic Cup is upon us once more. We won this last year of course, so we've got a crown to defend. This year the competition is being played out at Kingston Heath and The Grange, with finals at Olympic Village. How they ended up choosing two south-eastern grounds is something I haven't quite figured out yet. Of course it doesn't really suit north-western clubs (and people like me from the west), but the south-eastern oligarchy that runs these things probably doesn't give a stuff.

For the record, in the group stage South is in the south-east section (at Kingston City's The Grange) with the following games and times. Your correspondent foresees a chance of appearing at the first two games, work permitting, with a preference for the 'derby' against Port.

Saturday 19th January vs Port Melbourne (4:00)
Saturday 26th January vs South Springvale Aris (5:30)
Sunday 27th January vs Serres South Springvale (4:00)

Top team goes through to the sudden death rounds. I wouldn't count on South progressing through for certain, even though the group features two state league 2 sides 2 months out from their season starting, as well as an amateur team, playing weakened sides due to play simultaneous games with more senior players elsewhere means there's always a chance of screwing up.

After sitting out last year's tournament, our women's side is in this year playing out at Bentleigh Greens, here are their games, and there's a few junior sides in there as well. Should be a lot of fun all round, hopefully the men's side can go back to back and the women can at least make it to the final.

Rockem Sockem Poutakidis

Last year there were plenty of times when the fighting qualities of our side came into serious question. Thankfully, South's new re-recruit Sam "Knock Your Block Off" Poutakidis appears to be coming onboard with a new attitude, which hopefully inspires or at least scares the shit out of some of our more timid players to have a real crack this coming season. Pouta's set the standard and now it's time for the rest to follow.

* Pre-Fight
* Round 1
* Round 2

South Melbourne 2 Heidelberg 1

Game out at Keysborough last night, yesterday, whatever. Pice here. Didn't go of course. I went bowling instead, my first time, apart from four gutter balls to start off my career generally picked up after that, and really enjoyed myself. Good thing there's a centre just up the road from my place.

South Melbourne, Western Suburbs, in radical ground sharing arrangement

The FFV cops a lot of flak, most of it totally justified. But they also don't get the praise they deserve when they get something right. The drought has affected sporting grounds quite massively across many sports. The FFV's solution is quite a novel one actually, which I cannot do justice by describing with words.



Bravo FFV, and Excelsior!

South Melbourne 0 Richmond 5 2008 preseason friendly

A bit of a belting last night. Apparently we hit the woodwork four times, and Deano's back to his best.

Found an old chant awhile back

Was browsing the world game forum once upon a time, and saw this. Not sure how good it would've sounded, but an interesting find nevertheless. Allegedly sung at the 2001 grand final/

*to the tune of Rule Britannia*

We're South Melbourne,
the Lakeside is our Home,
we shall never, ever, ever be defeated

All you wankers, we do not give a toss,
South Melbourne 'll always be boss.

South Melbourne Army
Blue and White Army

2008 Memberhips

Time for my HD in Intro to Media Writing to start paying dividends (though I only got a Distinction for the advertising component, because someone didn't quite appreciate my colourful, minimalist style, which was not done to cheat my way out of the word limit, but for maximum impact).

South memberships are out now for season 2008. Maybe you're a lapsed member or supporter. In which case head over to the official site and download a brochure and form, or just rock up to the club and buy several in person. Perhaps you've already got that brochure sitting around somewhere, perhaps as a stand in coaster because you're too lazy to use a proper one. Maybe you'd rather spend your money on stuff like 'food', 'bills' and 'essentials'. Personally I can think of few things more essential than buying than an SMFC membership, preferably one for the 2008 season, because you probably won't get any value for 2007, and anyway that was a pretty piss poor year. But 2008 will be much better, because we've got new players, new old players, a new futuristic sponsor, and some really awesome merchandise as well. Have you seen the hoodies? According to people who like hoodies, they look freakin' sweet. Me, I'm more of a jacket person, and can honestly say the jackets are awesome too. I'm probably going to get me a beanie, because I'm also a hat person and because I'm going to need one for freeze your arse trips like Epping Stadium.

But seriously, there's some good deals in there. And there's like balls for every junior member, and they're really nice balls, I've seen myself. If you pay $150 for the Gold Membership, as I did, you get to go to the AGM (how many A-League fans can say that?) and ask where the 3.8 million from the world club championships went (a combination of going professional, debt paying, player bonuses and stupid accounting). And you get a kickarse polo top as well. According to the brochure, if you sign up to the corporate package, you get sandwiches, and who doesn't like sandwiches? That's right, no-one.

I went out and bought mine even before the brochures came out, and felt guilty because I didn't do it on the first day. I'm also still pissed off that I was only gold member number two, because some chump was given the number one card before me because he had to leave early on the family day. This year that card is mine.

Day whatever: Compatible

For whatever reason the goddess Fortuna has now seen fit to make editing with Opera compatible, which is great. Also sorta fixed an admin/editing issue, so if you see at the bottom two 'Pauls', they're both me. Logo probably coming soon, manifesto probably sooner. Thanks to amongst those who few I have shown this blog to who have given encouragement.

While you were sleeping, part 2.

2007

* During the pre-season, South defeats Oakleigh in the Hellenic Cup final on penalties, triggering the most half-arsed pitch invasion in history.

* Also during the pre-season, a young Dutch defender named Jasper Valentijn makes his mark, and is never seen again except in the annals of myspace.

* A highly professional membership drive (by VPL standards) is enacted, but despite the effort, the membership numbers remain essentially the same.

* A press-release is er, released, signifying South's intention of making a bid for the A-League. Lots of people get very excited, and hell, even optimistic.

* South gets off to a reasonable start, but poor squad management (everyone knew those players were going to leave for the A-League) coupled with a goalkeeping crisis, leads to some very inconsistent results, from which the side never truly recovers.

* Owing to a foofoorah between certain people at the Australian Open tennis and Water Polo championships, South decides to play its home match with the Melbourne Knights behind closed doors. The FFV says no. The Police have it both ways. The FFA looks the other way. South lose, as the game is never played, and the three points are awarded to the Knights, using some sort of FFV logic.

* A breakaway faction from the Clarendon Corner supporters group, calling itself Gate 1, forms.

* Despite playing pretty crappy football throughout the tournament, Australia almost in spite of itself, almost reaches the semi-finals of the 2007 Asian Cup.

* Halfway through the season South hosts the Melbourne Victory in a pre-season warm up match for the latter, and gets spanked 5-1, with Nathan Caldwell scoring for South. But the game will be remembered more for the large crowd (7,000), the large amount of flares ripped by the visiting fans, with one hitting fringe South player Andrew Bourakis in the head, and the argle-bargle which essentially lead to the dissolution of Gate 1, and which also earnt them the nickname, 'gate one game'. The optimism of the press-release dies a lonely death.

* South struggles to score for the rest of the season, except for a brilliant 5-2 thrashing of Oakleigh.

* South's finals chances come to a dispiriting end at Ralph Reserve against Western Suburbs, losing 3-0. A 2-0 win against Kingston in the last round follows, but no one really gives a toss.

* A bit of a clean out starts taking place.

* Some people, for reasons perhaps known only to themselves, start peddling the notion that 'big things' are in store for the club.

* In a rather strange coincidence, the club's coterie group is renamed Southern Cross, the same name as an alleged bid of the second Melbourne A-League license.

* South starts off preparation for season 2008 proper by winning two meaningless games against Altona Magic and Coburg United with a bunch of nobodies who still got to live one of my dreams by playing for South.

While you were sleeping, part 1

This is for those former readers of Park Life (and anyone who has just woken up from the last two years) to get them up to speed, more or less. Yes it's incomplete. Feel free to add stuff in the comments section, or maybe I'll accept your offer of joining me on this literary crusade.

2006

* South fields a full strength side against the Oakleigh Cannons in the Hellenic Cup final, with hopes of winning not just the game, but also the $10,000 in prize money. They fail.

* A couple of days later, South takes out the FFV's pre-season cup with a very young squad against Fawkner Whittlesea, and wins only $5,000.

* After the big crowds against Heidelberg in all three games the previous season, and on a perfect day for football, an underwhelming crowd of about only 5,000 turn up in round 1 to watch South steal victory with two goals at the death.

* Australia plays Greece in a friendly, and a big crowd turns up and watches Australia win a pretty half arsed game.

* A few days later football's growing popularity is reiterated when the Matildas play Mexico. Despite the obstacles of soccer and world cup fever, a beautiful day and free entry, Bob Jane Stadium was bursting at the seams with the massive crowd of 150 patrons, including the massive contingent of 3 Green and Gold Army personnel.

* After losing a few players to the A-League during the season (Coveny, Salley) and probably some others to injury or 'bad' behaviour, South 'recruits' three players (Dino Djulbic, Andreas Oliveira and Antonion Naglieri) from the Frankston Pines. These players become a crucial part of the side immediately, though Naglieri will only be missed when he's gone.

* The World Cup comes around, Australia do quite well, and football becomes even less eviler.

* An injury to star striker Kevin Nelson sees him leave the club in acrimonious circumstances. The fact that he had the first touch of an elephant, mostly couldn't be arsed jumping, running or defending, and mostly only finding himself in correct positions by accident, has little to do with his departure.

* South finishes the regular season in third place, on the back particularly of strong form in derby games (5 wins and 1 draw against the Bergers, Knights and Preston).

* South earns a grand final place after consecutive wins against Green Gully and Altona Magic. In the grand final itself, also against the Magic, 5,100 or so people turn up on a cold and very windy day to see Gianni De Nittis head home Fernando De Moraes' cross from close range, to lead South to a 1-0 victory and its 8th state title. Most South fans are at least momentarily happy.

* World footballing legend and South's 1991 NSL championship coach Ferenc Puskas passes away. Thankfully, very little of his time in Australia is mentioned in the media, thus avoiding publicity for South Melbourne and any mention of football pre-2005 without reference to an ethnic riot.

Day 1: Incompatible

Have realised, much to my dismay, that this blogging software does not get along with the wonderful Opera browser, and thus I am being compelled to use Firefox. Either that or have text chopped off or have odd line breaks.

Zeus induces Chronos to vomit up his children

While searching for Lester Abalos and smfcboard simultaneously on google cache (the internet equivalent of an archaeological dig, only much less magical), I came across some bloke's old SMFC blog which, as he somewhat fatalistically predicted, only lasted a couple of weeks. His parting shot was if anyone wanted the url, he'd hand it over. That was in January 2006, so it's perhaps no surprise that my plea in late December 2007 to take over that blog has gone unheeded. So undermining my own tendencies of not trying very hard unless someone makes me, I decided to start my blog, which I know is a really cutting edge move.

I suppose this blog will contain the occassional match report, general thoughts on the club and game, sensible soccer 96/97 updates and mostly correct spelling and/or grammar. It will also eventually likely have some kind of logo, but at this moment I'm off to play Kartrider.

Round 22, 2007 - Altona East 6 Pascoe Vale 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Round 21, 2007 – Altona East 2 Maribyrnong Greens 3

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

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

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

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

Round 20, 2007 – Altona East 1 Thomastown 2

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

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

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

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

Round 19, 2007 – Yarraville 0 Altona East 2

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

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

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

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

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

Round 17, 2007 – Altona East 1 Keilor Park 1

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

Round 16, 2007 – Altona City 1 Altona East 6

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

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

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

South Melbourne 5 Oakleigh 2 (soccer-forum artefact)

I thought it was a really good game to watch, but i don't expect any less when you have two good sides who are looking to score goals, unlike certain other outfits who think crossing the halfway line is an achievement. Finally we played a game where we played well for the majority of the match, rather than 20-30 stellar minutes. Waterson was BOG, left everyone in his wake on so many occasions it wasn't funny, but Ricky's free kick was the outstanding moment of the match.

2007 Hellenic Cup Final - South 1 Oakleigh 1 (South wins 4-2 on pens - soccer forum artefact)

Touching a ref is just something that you should never ever do, no matter what the comp, one of those things that goes beyond the game itself, so should make no difference what kind of comp he was playing in.

Round 15, 2007 – Altona East 2 Moreland City 3

Not one of the best games I've seen, despite the amount of goals (the 0-0 against Werribee a couple of weeks back was of a far better standard in my opinion, despite he conditions). East could have wrapped this up in the first 15 minutes. Four genuine chances gone begging with some good keeping and a little luck. On about 20 minutes East's keeper piss farted around with it instead of just clearing it long, which led to a Moreland corner/throw in/whatever, the ensuing cross had a header flicked across goal and headed in for the opener. Five minutes later they had a shot from outside the box go wide. East got back on top after that, and eventually got a penalty, which was slotted away nicely by Gaffar (who had won the penalty) on about 40 minutes, 1-1, at the break.

Moreland were a better side in the 2nd half, both sides fairly even. Moreland got what to me looked like a soft penalty, which they put away for the lead once more. A bit of controversy for East's equaliser, as the cross came over the top with the keeper missing it, it hit East player's elbow, but the referee (and linesman) was on the wrong side to see it. Slotted away, 2-2. Moreland's winner about 15 from time, was a very disappointing way to lose the game. For some reason, about 3 East players peeled away from the area into which the Moreland player in possession was due to run into, he slotted a decent through ball, which our keeper probably really should have run out and at least deflected if not collected, but he did neither and was beaten on the angle, and that was the game. Moreland had one more chance on the counter but didn't take it, and East couldn't muster up too much by the end.

Some thoughts.
A studs up tackle is a studs up tackle in the 5th and 85th minute. So why won't refs give cards early on when they have the opportunity to impose the rules of the game, and discourage players from putting in bad/silly tackles? This has been really infuriating me this season in particular because i reckon it's getting worse.

Moreland tread the line between hard and reckless when it comes to tackling. One of the least impressive teams I've seen so far, but they're more than competitive, as opposed to Lalor, and they put up a better fight than Yarraville did.

Speaking of Yarraville, ex-coach Fred was there, seems much happier, and unless he's being using Just For Men, the colour (or at least, a deeper shade of grey) has come back into his hair.

How important is positioning for a keeper? Being in the right place gives you a much better chance of making a save, even from point blank range. Some keepers should take note.

One Moreland old fart seemed to check his sense of humour at the gate. After a sliced attempted clearance in defence went up into the air and was caught by the keeper, some wit yelled out 'backpass', and this guy thought he meant it.

Reserves, score was 2-0 to Moreland, both goals in the 2nd half, East put some ok moves together, but defensive fuck ups and Moreland's much more experienced team were pretty much always going to win this one, i caught the 2nd half. Was funny and perplexing to see Twist and Shout used as a club song, but it's all good.

Big game this week, Altona derby. Six points from 3rd to 10th, and we need to start racking up the points. This week is as good as any place to start.

Round 14, 2007 - Williamstown 1 Altona East 7

I said that there'd be one unlucky team this season that would cop a belting when East's chances went in, and the prediction thankfully came true today.

First Half
I think about 14 minutes in East ran the ball up the field, and slotted it nicely past the keeper. 0-1

Willy hit back within a few minutes, a stuff up in defence allowing Willy a relatively easy goal, 1-1.

East player evades two sliding tackles as he streamed forward, eventually easily beating the keeper, 1-2.

Late in the first half, great pressure by East on Willy defensive right hand side, stolen, ball taken up, cut across the face of goal, defender puts it in his own net, 1-3.

Second Half
Free kick whipped over the top for a header, 1-4.

The next two goals i can't remember the sequence.

Cross from the left, ball flicked with the head over the keeper, 1-5.

One i can't recall, 1-6

At the death, low close shot unable to be held by the keeper, scrambled over the line, 1-7.

Summary.
East did almost everything right for the entire day, except after scoring the first, where they for some reason stayed back and let Willy have time on the ball. Their pressure was fantastic, their pace overwhelmed Williamstown far too often. Willy were kept to few chances, and East had others they could have scored from, but nevertheless, a wonderful performance today, and their hunger to go on with it the icing on the cake.

Round 13, 2007 – Altona East 0 Werribee City 0

This game should be known as the game of the missing goals. Difficult conditions today, rain throughout the whole game, muddy and sticky in some places, bouncy in others, crowd mostly huddled under the limited cover. East going to the golf course end in the first half.

Very even first period, with the Bees having the better chances. East's keeper saved a one on one in about the 2nd minute, both sides had crosses and shots go across the face or wide at the near post. Near disaster for Werribee about half an hour in, after fluffing a golden chance, the ball went up the other end and the attempted clearance by the Werribee keeper hit Marco Tolli i think and rebounded just wide of the goal. Bees also missed a shot from 6 yards out, shot over the bar.

Second half East the better team, but the Bees never out of it. The visitors discipline started slipping, as more rash tackles started coming in. East had a few goal mouth scrambles they couldn't put away, while Werribee were denied late with another brilliant stop by the East keeper, from a passage of play that should've perhaps been called offside. Game should've finished about 4-4 but finished scoreless. Such is life i suppose.

In normal conditions the game would have more than acceptable. In the conditions provided, the game was excellent. Both sides were quick, tried to keep the ball on the ground, almost universally played very fair (very few stupid tackles) and looked to attack.

Round 9, 2007 – taking a detour – Williamstown 5 Yarraville 0

First time venturing out to JT Gray reserve. A bit spartan but welcoming nonetheless, though the ground wasn't in great nick, and the ball was bound to bobble around. Willy heading to the social club end in the first half.

Four minutes in, cross to the back post squandered by Willy. About 11 minutes in, Willy player on the right strolls between two defenders, beats a third, shoots and scores, 1-0. Yarraville have a good header from a cross saved on about 15 minutes, and a shot from moderate range saved in the 17th, but Willy grab their 2nd on about 23 minutes. Ball/cross/corner can't remember from the left, goalmouth scramble, shot, goal, 2-0. Yarraville tried and occasionally put something good together, but 2-0 it was at the break.

2nd half, at about 53 minutes, long ball dealt with poorly by the Yarraville defence, 3-0. Not long after, a corner from the right headed in at the near post, 4-0. At about the 75th (?), free kick over the keeper's head, 5-0. Willy wasted numerous golden/unmissable chances and could have well doubled their tally by the end, but sent most of them over the bar. Yarraville for their part got worse as the game went, but still had some ok chances, a couple of shots/crosses across the face which could fallen well for them but didn't.

Willy are slowish, but reasonably skilful and very efficient. Yarraville are energetic, sort of, but generally barely competent. The Yarraville coach is a nutcase, resembling a 1970s VFL coach, from back in the days when yelling and belittling players was considered the height of technical thinking. Many on the sidelines wondering why Nick Tsaltas is still getting a game. Surely the boys who recruited him would have seen him play last year?

Round 8, 2007 – Altona East 0 Yarraville 0

Entertaining game, shame it was goalless, but I'm starting to expect East not to score goals so not as disappointed as i perhaps should be. First half was quite willing, and a good even contest. Both sides looked to attack, Yarraville looked to tee up shots from the edge of the box, and that yielded perhaps their best genuine chance of the first half, a shot gone wide. They also scored a goal called back for offside, and a had a couple of dipping freekicks go just over the crossbar. East tended to piss fart around with it outside the area, but also set up some good chances, and perhaps deserved better from some of the corners they got, one which flashed across the face of goal.

Second half, East got on top, controlling the midfield, and limiting Yarraville mostly to counter attacks. East's pace on occasions was fantastic, plenty of good runs, and some good chances too, but no goal. Best chance was a spilled/saved shot by the Yarraville keeper which really should've been blasted home but was alas only half-chipped back into his arms.

Decent crowd which was good to see, tore my pants coming back over the fence after having a kick on the ground at half time, my fellow Hellas following mate was pleased at recognising Ryan Dinse playing for Doxa. Overall, while there were certainly scrappy elements of the game, the standard was quite pleasing, and some of the individual skill shown by the PAOK players in particular was very good. Should have got the win though, story of our season perhaps.

Round 7, 2007 – Altona East 0 Lalor United 1

This is the kind of game that if you're on the losing side makes you want to give up football and take up knitting, except for the fact that you probably won't see another one like it for a long time. Altona East absolutely dominated this game from almost beginning to end, but have nothing to show for it except yellow cards, a broken nose, a very angry coach and a lot of effort wasted. Sunny conditions, half moon visible in the eastern sky, golfers and the miniature train audible in the background, moderate slightly chilly wind towards the refinery end, and East went towards that direction in the first half.

East started off well, and within minutes already had numerous chances, despite being down a man for a little while, while a player got attended for a bloody/broken nose. The best of the early chances was a free header from a corner sent over the crossbar. Lalor tried to get into the game, and when they got the ball they weren't totally useless with it, but they got so little of it that it was a moot point. East thought they had scored on twenty minutes when a cross from the left went across the face to the right, back across again and in, only to be called back for offside. East continued to press while the Lalor keeper tried to marshal his beleaguered defence as best he could. East peppered the left, right and over part of the goals, and occasionally got one on target, Lalor's best was having a shot blocked, half-time, 0-0.

Second half, if possible, East dominated even more. Shots were getting on target, being blocked, crosses flew across the face of the goal, plenty of free kicks in various positions, but no dice. One East player even knocked himself out on one of the uprights, quickly came to, asked what happened, the Ref replying, “You ran into the post mate”. The game went on, surely East would score? Er, no. On about 70 minutes or so, Lalor took the ball up and scored. I can't even remember the passage of play, except that it started from a throw in from the left hand side of defence. East desperately tried to pull the goal back, and Lalor had more room and opportunity to grab another, but neither side could add another, and with the ground covered in a cold shadow it finished 0-1 to Lalor.

Credit must got to the Lalor keeper. Had a very good game, especially in the 2nd half when he was obliged to make a few good saves and cross intercepts. But perhaps most enjoyable was his upbeat demeanour, his instruction and encouragement to his defenders was something a lot of keepers could learn from I reckon. The officials were actually pretty good today i thought, though the epidemic nature of FFV refs steadfastly refusing to almost ever give a handball call continues. The reserves game finished 1-0 to Altona East. I caught the last 25 minutes of this very scrappy affair, the goal being pretty much the sole ray of sunshine, a lovely lob over the keeper from an acute angle.

South Melbourne 6 Springvale White Eagles 0 (soccer-forum artefact)

Three goals in each half. Only time Springvale really did anything was from the 30-45 minute mark where we took the foot off the pedal, but by then it was already too late. SWE aren't very good, however today was one of those days for us where we scored some ripping goals as well, when against Fawkner for example we missed two from a metre out. Go figure. The back half is a little suss, but the front half when it clicks is good to watch. Havuibng Baser back makes a noticeable difference, we're keeping our shape better and there is much more fluency is our forward movements

Round 5, 2007 – Altona East 2 Altona City 3

A bit late, but what the hey... Entertaining, but nevertheless very average game standard wise. East were horrible in the first half, City at least put a lot off effort into their defending, and created a few chances as opposed to their hosts who could only manage one underhit shot for the first half. City went ahead about 13 minutes in I think, very slack marking from East, City player had about 5 years to put it away and he did. After about 20 minutes, 2-0, bizarre mix up in the East defence, players including the keeper all out of position, and the ball eventually went in.

East coach chucked a wobbly at half time, but City got the goal on about 55 minutes, a nice counter attacking move with a good finish to boot. Game over one would have thought, but City fell away as the game went on, and East pulled a goal back in controversial circumstances with the incoming cross appearing to be knocked out of the keeper's hands for a headed goal, but i was too far away to make that judgement, maybe he hadn't hadn't caught it cleanly? Later what some said was a foul about metre inside the box was given as a free kick which East hit into the wall. City player got sent off late for a second yellow card. Goal for East with about five to play, and all of a sudden it was on, but City held on for a deserved win. East improved markedly in the 2nd half, but one shouldn't expect miracles once you're 3-0 down, but at least they've broken their goal drought. City are the hardest working side I've seen so far in VPL or State 2, but can they run out games? Finally, refereeing was shocking for both sides more so for City, some perplexing decisions and non-decisions.

Round 3, 2007 – Altona East 0 Williamstown 1

Decent game, with the better team not taking the points but that's football i suppose. First 5 minutes or so Willy better team, until the East coach sorted out the situation on Willy's left hand side which was where they initially seemed quite dangerous. For about 25 minutes thereafter, game became a bit of a midfield battle, both sides willing but unable to penetrate, both some crappy passing at times but also good defending contributing. Only real chance of this period fell to Willy who sent a header wide from about the six yard box after 15 minutes.

A minor push and shove melee eventuated on the half hour mark, and after that East clearly the better team for most of the game. A couple of underhit shots, numerous crosses which no one went for and a skied ball from a good deep cross (when it should have been centred/cut back perhaps) were the only things to show for it, 0-0 half time.

Second half, Willy recovered somewhat, but East still looking more likely, but on about 55 minutes the whole East team seemed to go to sleep, and with quick movement down the right hand wing all the way to the byline, cut back goal, Willy 1-0. East rang the changes, but couldn't get the goal. Missed opportunities included an almost own goal, a powerfully struck free kick which the Willy keeper parried well in front of him with no follow up in sight, and a great sliding effort to knock the ball out for a corner from a shot. Willy perhaps should have had another goal late, though this was on the counter as East were looking for the equaliser.

Willy are an ok team (love the retro looking longsleeve tops), they can hold the ball and pass it, but again as with East's game against Sunbury, the pace that East have will worry a few teams, especially once they start using it defensively to shut down the opposition, as they did for most of the match except for that sequence of play where they conceded the goal.

Protest detail missing - Fawkner 0 South Melbourne 0 (soccer forum artefact)

Game was shit. Fawkner had the best chance of the first half, but the shot from a poor clearance went wide. Second half South improved, but still lacked fluency, and the crossing was very poor, but they got better as the game wore on and as Fawkner were more willing to settle for the point. Diaco got to the byline well a couple of times, but on both occasions South failed to capitalise. Tilovski made a good save from another shot, and Caldwell at the death following a stuff up between the keeper and the defence failed to put away a gimme goal. First time seeing Fawkner this year, not a finals side, will be happy to avoid relegation. As for South, a better team on the park then last year, but the difference between their best and their worst has also opened up a bit, last year much more even i felt. Need Baser back asap.

Round 1, 2007 – Altona East 4 Sunbury United 0

Funny old game to start the season. One relegated team, one promoted. East got off to a blinder with a goal in the first minute, Sunbury giving the ball away cheaply in midfield, and East putting away the chance well. Sunbury started to get into the game a bit, put on about 5 minutes of extended pressure with some scrambly defending from East. Then about 13 minutes in, a quick counter attack from Altona, 2-0. Sunbury had a couple of good chances they should have put away, one shot over the bar from very close range i think. I believe one of their blokes got sent off about half an hour in, can't remember. East had a shot across goal, another disallowed for offside by Tolli, but went into the break 3-0 up with Tex completing his hat-trick while i was getting a souvlaki. Fairly even first half apart from the score-line.

Second half pretty much all East, another goal disallowed for offside again by Tolli, a few one on ones missed (including a bizarre one where Tolli hit it into the keeper, came up ok but only managed to hit the post with an open goal), but late in the game, he got his reward when he rose above the pack from a corner to send his header over the keeper and into the net, even the ref gave him a pat on the back for it. East's pace and fitness troubled Sunbury more and more as the game wore on, to the point where they were almost strolling through the defence, could have been 8 or more if not for better finishing. Not that I'm an expert or whatnot, but Sunbury look like they'll struggle this year. East defensively aren't great, but have some pace to play with up front.

Hellenic Cup semi final - South Melbourne 2 Western Suburbs 0

South beat Suburbs 2-0, both goals in the 2nd half from De Vito and Baser.

Bah

This post was first published in the Park Life blog by Supermercado/Adam 1.0.

Frankly I can't be fucked.

If you want this URL let me know and it's yours.

Footballing With The Stars

This post was originally published on the Park Life blog by Supermercado/Adam 1.0.


Sure, it's Glenn Manton as a Goalkeeper part two - but tell me you didn't yelp when you flipped over the Herald-Sun and saw the back page with a massive picture of a South home jersey?

And wouldn't Rocket Batteries be dancing around in celebration at their investment paying off for the first time?

STROKE victim Angelo Lekkas is threatening to sue his former club Hawthorn for more than $1 million while contemplating an audacious career switch to soccer.

Lekkas, 29, has been training with Victorian Premier League club South Melbourne for the past two weeks and has not missed a session.

While Lekkas and South are suggesting his appearances at the Albert Park ground are "just for fitness", it is believed club is hopeful he can succeed.

The 180-game AFL on-baller played soccer as a junior and has not looked out of place at training.

Meanwhile, Lekkas is embroiled in a bitter battle for compensation for his career-ending stroke, sustained in a practice match in Western Australia in 2005.

Lekkas said last year his neurosurge on had warned risk of another stroke had increased.

Originally Lekkas was believed to be seeking about $150,000 compensation, with the Hawks offering only 10 per cent of that.

But negotiations soured after a meeting with Hawthorn officials last week.

Lekkas' manager, Jacques Khouri, said yesterday the officials asked Lekkas to sign a waiver, absolving the club and its doctors from any blame if a he accepted the payout.

But when Lekkas refused, Khouri said he was told he was no longer welcome at the club.

"Initially they promised Ange he would be welcome there, either way, whether he pursued a claim or not," Khouri said.

"The boy's got 30 per cent damage to his brain and will be on medication for the rest of his life, and any further head injuries could cause death."

Khouri said he had been approached by a legal firm to take on the case for free and it was looking at the exact nature of Lekkas' injuries.

When asked if Lekkas could seek damages of $1 million, Khouri said the claim could exceed that figure.

"Brain injuries can be life threatening and the brain doesn't recover," Khouri said.

"It's an absolute insult to be told he is no longer wanted around the club.

"What if it was Shane Crawford who suffered a similar injury or the chief executive (Ian Robson)? How would they deal with it then?"

Robson said last night he was not prepared to respond to specific claims made by Khouri, given that the matter could be subject to litigation.

"What I will say is that we have always shown an on-going commitment and interest in Angelo's welfare," Robson said.

"Given that the journey with Angelo is almost 12 months since he suffered the stroke, I believe the club has been respectful of its obligations to his welfare at all times."

Robson said Lekkas was encouraged in his recovery, firstly with Box Hill in the VFL, and then in the AFL.

"He was placed on the list in 2006 and a contract offer was made to him, but he chose to retire," Robson said.

"We then offered him part-time employment while he assessed what he wanted to do next in his life."

Khouri also stressed that Hawthorn would receive a summons for compensation within the next three weeks if any further offer was not forthcoming.

Khouri also wasn't prepared to confirm Lekkas' South Melbourne association as any more serious than keeping fit.

"A lot of his mates play soccer and he has been doing a bit of jogging with them," Khouri said. "I don't think he has any intention of taking up the game."

Lekkas is a friend of a South director and South coach John Anastasiadis was happy to include him in the senior squad's pre-season training program when Lekkas indicated he was looking at ways to stay in condition.

Pre-season training is more about fitness than ball skills and match practice and that has presented Lekkas with an easier way to blend into the surrounds.

He would be unlikely to walk straight into the first team if he decided to register with the club but his touch on the ball is reasonable and he is a natural athlete who would not find it hard to adapt if he stuck with the task.

South has reserve and junior teams which would be a more reasonable vehicle if Lekkas was just looking for fitness.

It's believed South hopes Lekkas succeeds at the club he followed as a junior before turning to Australian rules.

Lekkas' long-standing association with South Melbourne included a substantial donation when the club was trying to buy its way out of administration two years ago.


Nice to get a mention in the press but don't expect him to line up at the Village in Round One and smash home the winner against Heidelberg. The bit about how blows to the head could kill him is hardly compatible with a sport that consists largely of knocking a heavy object around with your head. But, let's milk that publicity while we can.

Pre-Season Madness

This post was originally published on the Park Life blog by Supermercado/Adam 1.0.

Note: This site does not go in for match analysis and rating. In fact we don't know what the fuck is going on half the time. Until somebody else writes a match report that we can beg to print it'll be half arsed observation and farce all around.

The South pre-season world tour continued at Oakleigh's Jack Edwards Reserve on Sunday in front of a relatively large crowd. Bigger than what we got in the last round of 2005 at home to Bentleigh anyway. SMFC took the lead in the first half through new signing Kevin Nelson and were unlucky to go into half-time at one apiece after a scramble in the sandpit goalmouth at the city end of the alternative pitch resulted in the ball being kicked out of Dean Anastasiadis' hands and into the goal.

The makeshift defence, consisting of a triallist from the Ivory Coast (!) on the right and a guy who was a 100% dead ringer for Thomas Gravesen on the right held up well in the 2nd half under almost constant pressure, and only cracked in the 90+ minute when former NSL player Esala Masi scored the winner for the Cannons and sent a group of watching Fijians into rapture. One in particular completely lost the plot. Standing up on a chair and yelling like they'd just won the World Cup. Maybe somebody told him it was the A-League and he was enjoying football but not as he knew it?

Next stop - Springvale White Eagles in the Crazy John's Cup @ BJS next Sunday.

A disappointing debut. Must try harder 3/10

This post was originally published on the Park Life blog by Supermercado/Adam 1.0.

Welcome to Park Life. Inconsistently posted news, rumor, undue speculation and outright slander about events surrounding the four time Australian national champion South Melbourne Football Club. That's football in the world game sense of course. If you've come looking for wild Sydney Swans post-Premiership celebrations you'll go home empty handed. Face facts, they ditched you and moved north. We've flogged the name now. Cop it.

What we've missed posting in the last couple of years,

* South Melbourne plays in the NSL.
* The NSL is abolished.
* A new league is created.
* The new league declares that each city will have only team.
* Everyone realises that we're no chance of making it.
* The VPL refuses to admit South and the Melbourne Knights for the 2004 season because the Whittlesea Stallions would have been forced to reprint thousands of fridge magnets with fixtures on them.
* With no money coming in South go into administration and come ludicrously close to going out of business. Extinction is only avoided due to big donations and creditors accepting insultingly low payouts on what they were owed. Thanks for that.
* The Whittlesea Stallions were relegated and forced to merge with Fawkner to avoid dying in the arse. They were then invited to stick their fridge magnets fair up their arse.
* South finally admitted to the 2005 Victorian Premier League, along with the Knights.
* 13000+ show up to the first game of the new season against Heidelberg and everyone wonders why we didn't do this years ago
* 5000 show up to the next game and we realised why
* The world came to Bob Jane to punch on against Preston. Result = we lost, people knocked down a fence and the next two days were spent with frenzied media reports about the evil nature of football in this country.
* By the last home and away game of the season there were 600 people there.
* South were defeated by Heidelberg in the preliminary final.
* Australia qualified for the World Cup and suddenly football wasn't evil anymore and everyone loved the World Game.
* Another season rolled around and left us right at this spot.

This page has been created as a way of dissecting all the important things covered on the SMFCboard forum but without having to go through two hundred "OMG! ROFL! LOL!" posts to get to it. Thanks to Adam 2.0 for our logo. I think the picture of Albert Park looks a bit like a giant cock and balls but he assures me that's it's stylistically off the charts and worthy of any number of design awards so I'm sticking by it.

Stay tuned. There's at least a couple of months of this to be had before I lose it and give up. If you want to contribute to Park Life please contact me via the forum (username: Supermercado) and you'll be firing off lengthy slanderous diatribes against Neos Kosmos journalists before you know it.

Victoria Bitter

This post was originally published on The Supermercado Project by Supermercado/Adam1.0

Sports fans will recall that despite being a massive soccer football fan for the last fifteen years, and having been sledged as a “wog” more than once for it, I’ve got no love for the new Australian national competition. For the last year we’ve had the same debate again and again - why South Melbourne should have been in it, why they shouldn’t have been etc.. Now on the verge of the new Victorian Premier League season, and our attractive clashes against world class sides like Richmond and Sunshine George Cross, the arguments have come up again. I’d like to say I’m over it, but sadly that would be a complete lie.

I think we’d be slightly less paranoid about it if the New Zealand and Central Coast teams weren’t in it. Everyone knows the NSL was a farce, and even if we don’t say it openly most of us will admit that the major markets needed a “broadbased” team to get people interested. The problem is that there’s only five major markets in Australia - and you can’t have a competition that’s just Melbourne vs Sydney vs Perth vs Adelaide vs Brisbane every week. So they forced a few experimental sides in there and are being rewarded with pathetic crowds for those teams. Relatively speaking the “big five” are doing well in crowd numbers (despite drops in Adelaide and Perth they’re still thrashing most of the NSL averages) but what are they going to do for the other three? Hang in and hope that some miracle is going to occur and suddenly all of New Zealand are going to start following their team? Their last gate was 1500. And what else can you do in a city like Newcastle? Either these people are going to go for it or they’re not. And at the moment they’re seriously lukewarm about the process. They pulled off 10k for a top of the table clash last night, but their crowd has been hovering around 5k all season.

The Brisbane Strikers of the NSL weren’t even close to an ‘ethnic’ team, and by the last days of the competition they found themselves with a thousand fans and rapidly losing money. All that says to me is that there was nothing you could do for the game in this country without decent coverage and media attention. Replace the Strikers with “Queensland Roar” this year and suddenly they’ve got 15000 fans from nowhere. Maybe South/Knights/Sydney Olympic/Marconi etc.. wouldn’t have grown to be the huge powerhouse clubs of a properly marketed and run competition but we sure as fuck would have contributed to it’s overall strength.

Personally I think that by pissing off Parramatta, Northern Spirit, Auckland, Brisbane, Wollongong and one of Marconi/Olympic/Syd U and introducing Victory, Sydney FC and Qld Roar it would have created a perfect balance. 3 teams in Sydney, 3 in Melbourne, one in the next three biggest markets and a relatively well established country side for a ten team competition. The people with a hard-on for “mainstream” teams get their wish, and the established “ethnic” clubs survive to play in a league where there’s no danger of any of the violence that everyone is so scared of.

But instead we get to watch a team from Gosford (current population, lest we forget, of 154,654) run around a stadium owned by a board member of the FFA in front of a couple of thousand people and are somehow expected to stand up and applaud this new leap forward? Fuck that for a joke. It’s painful to see it. To paraphrase the Timmy O’Toole charity song from the Simpsons

Well there’s a hole in my heart
As deep as a well
For another summer with no NSL
We can’t get in the A-League
So we’ll do the next best thing
Go on the net and WHINGE! WHINGE! WHINGE!

Still.. I’d rather stand with 750 people watching a club that I love than 10000 in front of a heartless corporate machine chanting “[team name] CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!” for 90 minute

Loving you is easy ‘cos you’re beautiful

This post was originally published on The Supermercado Project by Supermercado/Adam 1.0

Ten months ago I stood in Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium and saw a penalty hit the net that should, for all intents and purposes, have been the death of the South Melbourne Football (nee ‘Soccer’) Club. With no prospects of playing in the pumped up, corporate fantasy world of the new Australian national league the years of financial mismanagement and general apathy that surrounded the place collapsed in on top of the club and they ran very, VERY close to going out of business forever. It wasn’t until September/October last year that we knew for absolute certain that the club had been saved. The world’s greatest chairman was appointed and the task of rebuilding started. And today we saw the first step to regaining the glories of the past.

We stashed the official Reg Reagan “Bring Back The Biff” Holden whetever-the-fuck-it-is in my work carpark, unzipped my jacket so the t-shirt that was last worn on that fateful day in Adelaide was visible to all and set off for the now traditional Cricketers Club Hotel. Upon arrival it was clear that a star-studded cavalcade of the who’s who of South fans were in attendance. Just like old days. Almost enough to bring a tear to the eye. But not close enough. I was wearing the official Boutsianis Balaclava in dedication to our former midfielder, and armed robbery getaway driver, who turned his back on our club for roughly the 5th time and joined Heidelberg instead. It wouldn’t have been appropriate to shed a tear in such a fearsome disguise.

I did, however, see this redundant sign on the way,

The poor bastards only changed it from “Ericson Cup matchdays” a year ago, presumably after somebody had rolled them in a challenge, and now the NSL gets killed as well. I predict they won’t know what to do. I also predict a riot when somebody gets booked for parking there during a Victorian Premier League game.

The pub action was awesome. It reminded me of why before every AFL season I start to think South are barging their way to the front of my sporting priorities. I’ve never met one person ever at a Melbourne game, I just don’t give a fuck. But here I was outside a pub with 30 people who I only knew because of South. That’s ace. The balaclava came off lest the people run that pub think I’m trying to knock-off their takings, Boutsianis style, but made a reappearance when the Heidelberg team bus got stuck in traffic right in front of us. What can you do? I danced around a bit. From on bus it was probably reminiscent of the dwarf doing a jig around Stonehenge in This Is Spinal Tap.

Eventually we got to the ground. South won the reserves/U21’s 2-1 in an encouraging sign. Even though I came in with ten minutes left and missed the winning goal. As the minutes before the game ticked on it because clear that there was a fucking huge crowd there. I mean huge. For Australian domestic soccer huge anyway.The official tally was 12000ish. Absolutely remarkable for a state league game. I don’t give a fuck if it’s an all-Greek derby, or if it’s the first game of a new season it was an amazing crowd anyway. It’s fair to say that I thought I’d never see anything like it at Bob Jane again. Especially in the days of June/July 2004 where the old trophies and memorabilia were being loaded into storage lest we fold and they get ransacked. Let’s hope that at least half of this crowd bother to come back for South vs St. Albans next week.

The game itself? If you’d offered me 0-0 pre-game I would have not only taken it but humped your leg at the same time - our pre-season form was so bad that even against a side promoted from the State League I was terrified of a first up loss. Looking back now, having just seen the game end 0-0 I want the three points. I feel robbed. The most experienced outfield player in our entire side, NZ international, Vaughan Coveny missed two sitters and we were all over the Bergers from the word go. Only for a few brief minutes did the opposition threaten to break the game open with a goal. Our elderly goalkeeper, and brother of coach, pulled out a couple of cracker saves that I honestly didn’t think he had left in him to deny them their best chances. I’m encouraged. Very encouraged.

Still shocked at the crowd. If that doesn’t get some positive press I will fucking go ape. Of course there’s more chance of the Herald Sun and Peter “F’ing” Desira taking a picture of the two of us in black balaclavas and writing a front page rant about 12000 right-wing Combat 18 fanatics hijacking the game in this country. And if they did that.. Insert random threats here. Of course there was a picture taken of us by one of the Greek newspaper photographers. It was only after he’d snapped off a couple of pix that I realised my t-shirt was in full view during the shots. If they just print those without even thinking - and god knows why they would because if you didn’t get the Boutsianis-related comedy aspect of it you’d think we were total lunatix or actual Neo Nazi’s - and I open Neos Kosmos to see a shot of myself in a black ski-mask with the word CUNT prominently displayed it will officially be the greatest day of my life. I’ll have it framed and put it on my wall.

Click here to see the power and force of the fence run when Boutsianis was taking a corner right in front of us. I was too nervous at 0-0 to join in sadly. And the steering wheel I planned on bringing didn’t eventuate so there was really no point when so many young and enthusiastic practioners of the art.

So,

South Melbourne 0
Heidelberg Utd 0

Not the best 0-0 draw I’ve ever seen (vs Perth, Australia Day 2004. Another huge crowd) but certainly the most emotional. I was so tense during that second half I could barely stand up, I fear that if we’d scored I may have just broken down on the spot.

I realised something the other day as I looked through my diary. Given that the ancient gods of scheduling have come together to ensure that work/South/Melbourne AFL don’t clash more than a few times during the next few months it means that I’m going to be at one sporting event or another one pretty much every weekend day I’ve got off until September. And then I go to England in October to watch more soccer. I think it’s fair to say that next cricket season I won’t even turn the TV on. I will start to understand why people hate sports.

Top night. Football is back. I still don’t get that sick feeling in my stomach for the whole game that I do when watching Melbourne play but the post-match tension is still there. I won’t sleep all night now.

If this game isn’t given massive coverage in the papers tomorrow then I’m going to ballistic. Fuck the A-League. South forever! Get all your asses down to Bob Jane next Sunday night against St. Albans.

Con Harismidis fragment no. 1

Stolen from some long dead Berger forum

Good see Con Boutsianis is here

There is Boutsianis and he play or he play for national leage but now he is here.

Well done Con Boutsianis. You are very good and best player.

Con Harismidis fragment no. 2

Nicked from a long dead Berger forum.

Con Boutsianis is the best player

You know John Anastasiadis is best player from your team.

I follow Boutsianis as he is best player to play now.

Fragment No.7

South is playing their second leg match tonight, could be their last ever in Australian top flight competition, so I’m quite disappointed at not being able to go.

Fragment no.6

Went and saw South Melbourne defeat Parramatta last week, my first game in awhile.

Fragment no. 13

Sunday I hope to go to see the Australian under somethings play against Fiji at Bob Jane Stadium.

Fragment no.5

South won 4-2 against the Knights, or so I’ve heard.

Fragment no.4

Went to see South win this evening against Olympic, 6-4 the final score after we led at two stages by 4-0 and 5-1.

Fragment no.3

South Melbourne won their first game of the season yesterday against Perth Glory at home, 2-0.

First Home Game For South - Neos Kosmos English Weekly

Trimboli To Stay At South - Neos Kosmos English Weekly

Fragment No.8

I went to the soccer yesterday, we won 2-0. Could have been more.

South Gallop Into Top Six - Neos Kosmos English Weekly

Karavitis Makes Junior Squad - Neos Kosmos English Weekly

Fragment no.12

Once again my beloved Australia failed to make it through to the World Cup Finals. I personally believe that it is further proof that Oceania should have its own direct place, rather than a redirection through another zone.

Fragment no.2

Today South Melbourne defeated Marconi 6-1.

Fragment No.1

I also went and saw a South Melbourne soccer match for the first time in about a year. We won three - nil so that left me feeling pretty good.

Rescued match report - Carlton 3 South Melbourne 5

This match report was rescued from a dormant NSL era South Melbourne fanpage. If you happen to have been the owner of the fanpage, I'd love to hear from you

Friday, 14th April, 2000
South countered early Carlton pressure to open the scoring in the 13th minute. Goran Lozanovski crossed into the box and Steve Panopoulos got in a difficult shot. Carlton keeper Dean Anastasiadis saved well but the ball fell for Vaughan Coveny at the far post. He made no mistake in what probably was his easiest goal of his career.

On the half hour, South keeper Chris Jones kept South in the lead when he was called on to make two great saves in quick succession from close range shots. South looked like they would hold out Carlton until the break but it wasn't to be. In the 44th minute Carlton got on level terms. Bad marking allowed Dave McPherson a shot on goal but he mishit the shot and the ball bounced across the face of the goal. Striker Archie Thompson was on hand to tap the ball into the net.

After the break Carlton hit the lead when Simon Colosimo scored his first goal since injuring his knee in a Socceroo game against the visiting Manchester United. South defender Robert Liparoti had his attempted clearance blocked by the exciting Colosimo, the ball fell nicely and he made no mistake, slamming the ball into the corner of the goal.

Three minutes later though, South hit back when Michael Curcija got the first of his double. Vaughan Coveny held the ball up well on the left and delivered a cross to the feet of Curcija. He controlled the ball and cut inside the defender and hit a rising shot that gave Anastasiadis no chance.

But the joy for the small contingent of travelling South fans was shortlived as Carlton made it 3-2 moments later. Liparoti, who was not having his best night, was caught in possession just outside the area by John Markovski. Markovski raced towards the byline and cut the ball back brilliantly for the well positioned Archie Thompson. Thompson made mo mistake with a shot to the far post.

It was 3 goals in 10 minutes and things were looking too good for the Blue and Whites. South coach Ange Postecoglou made some changes, taking off Paul Trimboli and David Clarkson, and replacing them with Jimmy Tsekinis and Anthony Magnacca. The team now seemed to have an extra yard of pace and were able to stretch the Carlton defence. Despite this, Carlton still looked the more dangerous and likely to win.

Just when the fans were probably thinking it was over for South, 3 goals in the last 18 minutes turned the glum faces into happy ones. It was an amazing turnaround, as South's play resembled the once dominant team that won back to back Championships. Man of the match, Goran Lozanovski, did well to chase down a bad pass played back by Curcija. He kept the ball in play and then beat the advancing defender, looked up and clipped a beautifully weighted cross onto the head of goalsneak Michael Curcija. Curcija, now with a league leading 19 goals, beat Anastasiadis with powerful header.

The goal of the game came 7 minutes later and what a goal it was. 100 gamer Steve Iosfidis played a fantastic defence splitting long-ball to the running Fasuto De Amicis. De Amicis hit the ball from well outside the area and it raced into the back of the net, giving the despairing Anastasiadis no chance in the Carlton goal.

South super-sub John Anastasiadis sealed the win with a well taken goal in the 89th minute. Midfielder Steve Panopoulos robbed sub Vasilevski of the ball at halfway. He played a ball outwide to Anastasiadis. Anastasiadis took on his defender, made his way into the box and neatly slotted the ball under his goalkeeping brother.

South Melbourne 5 (Coveny 14th, Curcija 51st, 72nd, De Amicis 79th, Anastasiadis 89th)
Carlton 3 (Thompson 44th, 54th Colosimo 48th)

South Melbourne : Jones, Liparoti, De Amicis, Blasis, Iosfidis, Clarkson (Tsekinis 55th), Panopoulos, Trimboli (Magnacca 55th), Curcija, Coveny (J.Anastasiadis 67th)

Carlton : D.Anastasiadis, Douglas, Horvat, McPherson, Colosimo (Moriera 75th), Atkinson, Lapsansky (Terminello 65th), Slater, Packer (Vasilevski 88th), Thompson, Markovksi Yellow Card SM - De Amicis 61st

SM Hellas - The Professional Soccer Club? (article in Studs Up)

This article originally appeared in the February 1998 edition of Studs Up magazine. This version of the article was sourced from this site. We present it here as part of our ongoing and erratic project of documenting independent writings on the club outside of work undertaken by contributors to this blog. The only changes made have been some formatting of quotes.


SM Hellas - The Professional Soccer Club?
From Peter Kartsidimas
(To be published in SU29 - Feb 1998)

Over the next couple of pages I will attempt to tell you a story that, if told in full, would fill at lest five editions of the World Book Encyclopaedia. I am a founding member of the South Melbourne Supporters Group (SMSG), a group that started with a few friends after we witnessed what some of our fellow SM supporters did on the bus trip back from last season's Preliminary Final at Parramatta. (Ed note: See SU24, it's a gem!)

We'd had enough of George Vasilopoulos' pussy-footing around, seemingly doing nothing about these thugs and most importantly doing sweet diddly about promoting our club to mainstream Australia. So we went off to see SM's then general manager, Peter Filopoulos, with a list of grievances ten miles long. After a lengthy conversation, Filop suggested we do something about it and create OUR OWN Supporters Group. Despite being hesitant about it in the beginning, we quickly got into action by organisising a meeting, with all SM members being invited.

This meeting showed the first signs of how certain people on SM's board felt threatened by us. A now past boardmember had agreed to come and open the social club for us, yet he somehow changed his mind and never came until numerous phone calls tracked him down on the day and he begrudgingly let us use the room, even though he was about an hour late. This meeting was a complete success with about fifty, mostly young, SM fans turning up and it was obvious that we weren't the only ones wanting the club to open its doors to all.

Some members of the Supporters Group (SG) also became club volunteers, helping the club with endless amount of things. One of the first things we did was to do a letter drop of the local area, where 5,000 letters were dropped off informing residents about SM and inviting them to the Tynan-Eyre Cup game against Carlton and to the club's family day.

Somehow this family day turned into a Athens 2004 day, with Greek flags and music becoming the theme. Luckily, it was a wet and miserable day and not too many local families turned up, but those that did quickly walked back to their cars, and so they should.

Despite this we continued helping with things like manning a stand at the Royal Melbourne Show (even though we had to pay to get in!), endless administrative work, club mail outs and out biggest success has been producing the new SM matchday programme 'Inside Lakeside'. On match days we man turnstiles, do the ground announcing, sell raffle tickets and sell 'Inside Lakeside' amongst other things. In order to do these tasks some of us were given ground steward passes, even though we never asked for them, but we were simply told that they were to prevent any hassle in getting into restricted areas, nothing else. More on that later.

Despite all this work we somehow found some enemies, some of the club's old Hellas boys. These people were hellbent on making sure the SMSG was eradicated by feeding people lies, especially the Greek media. We hardly knew these guys, yet they came up to two of us and told us "watch your backs". They seemed to be angry about us removing the 'Club Hellas' sign from the social club, a sign a club official asked us to take down (a sign that is still to go back up, thank God!)

Before much longer a Greek newspaper started writing some false allegations about us, saying that we had banned Greek flags and symbols from the ground and they plaguarised our page on the SM Lakers internet site. The next thing we knew these Hellas old boys were on this newspaper's radio station absolutely slagging the hell out of us, implying we were anti-Greek and calling us "monkeys" amongst other things. The funny thing is these guys hardly knew us or spoke to us, so you can imagine the amount of ies used to vindicate their story. And some of the ridiculous things they were saying aren't even worth repeating.

I rang the station demanding a word of reply, and after much persistence they finally let me on. This resulted in some of us being invited to air our views on the same show a few days later. We accepted this invitiation and everything seemed to go quite well, they even promised us a new story in their newspaper telling the true story, funny how it never appeared. I guess they felt they had given us the bad name and they wanted to keep it that way.

Our continued volunteer work seemed to keep us away from what we initialy intended to be, the progressive fan's voice, and other than conducting a second meeting - attended by about 15-20 people, we had neglected our fellow SMSG members. So it was time to make our first newsletter, appropriately titled 'The Maverick'.

'The Maverick' was a newsletter letting every SMSG member know exactly what had been going on since our initial meeting, there were no lies and was written in a satirical manner, much like a fanzine. Despite this somehow the @#*% hit the fan due to the article titled "Fatman, Moustaka and 3AB', which was an in-depth description of the situation described above. The SM board were very unhappy, as they felt we offended one of their sponsors, 3AB. Mind you, the owner of 3AB once went on radio slagging SM and saying that SM helped sink Heidelberg United. The only thing we did that may have offended them, other than tell the truth, was to call them Radio Heidelberg, and when you consider all the above information, you could think of worse names. Of course people rightly or wrongly thought they were one of the characters in the article, some of whom we had never seen in our lives let alone know who they were. For them to think they were the characters they must have done something, where there's smoke there is always a large fire at SM, and the smoke isn't from grilling souvlakia.

These old Hellas boys kicked up a horrendous stink, Moustaka even threatened to hit me in front of George Vasilopoulos, SM's fence sitter (ah, sorry, president). We told some committee members that we would discuss the situation on the night of the next SMSG executive committee meeting which coincided with the club's board meeting. We all turned up, with even some support from Flying Start's Andrew Neophitou, yet we were told that we were not required. Despite this we offered our services for 'Inside Lakeside' and for nothing else, but this request was denied. We were not wanted to do the programme anymore.

The board went ahead with the main topic being 'The Maverick', a decision was made without hearing our side of the story. Even Martin Bryant got a fair hearing! This is what was sent to me by our new general manager, Peter George, about nine days later.

Dear Peter Due to the circumstances pertaining to the newsletter sent out, headed 'The Maverick', we South Melbourne Soccer Club hereby would like you to hand in you off-field passes immediately, thus relinquishing your duties as an official of the club for season 1997/98 However, this does not mean that your role in the supporters group is jeopardised in any way. We still believe that the supporters group is a big part of our club and wish it to be for a long time coming.

What's actually laughable is the fact that he feels he can control who is part of and who is not part of the SMSG, like he is the SMSG president of something. The club has no say whatsoever over what we decide to do or not to do. It is the Supporters Group, not Peter George's or Vasilopoulos' Group.

What I like about this letter is the part that states "due to the circumstances". What are the circumstances? Did we slag the club? No. Did we lie? No. Then what is the problem? We even had a disclaimer saying it was not the views of SMSC.

It seems the problem is that we at one point advised people to call the club if they wanted to be FORWARDED on to one of us and that we used the club's P O Box as a forwarding address. Well, we had asked for our own separate P O Box, to be paid from our own funds raised and it was denied. Another problem it seems is that Peter George was upset that we didn't tell him what was in the newsletter and that we somehow deceived him.

Well Peter, I photocopied the newsletter right in front of you, did I hide it from you? I think not, it's not my problem if you kept your face glued to your photo in Neos Kosmos, any anyway, why should we tell you what's in OUR newsletter anyway?

He also complained about using the club's facilities to do the newsletter. How nice, that after all the manhours we put into the club that he should see this as an issue. It seems he is clutching at straws.

Despite all this and the fact we were told we were no longer wanted for 'Inside Lakeside', he still had the nerve of calling one SMSG member the day beofre the programme was due at the printers, to ask him if we could do the articles!

SMSC is a great club, one with much prestige and history. It has produced some exciting players in the past and this year may well bring a third national title. Most SM fans are pasionate and loyal, that is exactly what the SMSG members are, we do not want to see our club bcome anything less than the best soccer club in this country, that is why we got together. Despite this it has been painfully obvious SM is one of the least professional clubs in Australia. Which other club would make such an issue over a newsletter made by the fans, for the fans? Especially when there was NOTHING in it that slags any individual or official of the club, just other fans. They feel that because they made us officials ofthe club, that we shouldn't say waht we want to say, that's why they took away our passes. As I stated earlier, we were not asked if we wanted to be officials, it was simply pushed upon some of us and we were never told that we couldn't express our views.

At this present time many SMSG members have withdrawn their services from the club, the circumstances surrounding The Maverick was the final straw for many. The club has made it very obvious that they see us as club volunteers and nothing else, in other words, free labour. They suddenly showed great concern when they realised we were no longer their slaves, but what were they doing to keep us happy? Very little.

The club is simply heading in a different direction to that which we were initially told it was. We were also initially told that we will be consulted with any major issues. That definitely didn't occur. We read about the Hellas issue in the paper like anybody else. I would call that a major issue. Our vision for the club seems to be well off the club's visions and it is difficult to work with people who can't see the big picture. In fairness to some people on the board, they're not all that bad, the problem is there are 22 (twenty-two!!) board members (an issue in itself) and most of them are old Greek migrants who mix with the old Hellas boys.

In hindsight, something like this was always going to happen, but it shouldn't have happened over somethin as insignificant as this. It seems the club has bowed again to the pressures of the old Hellas boys. The club always talks about a lost generation of SM fans. I now know why we do have a lost generation, it's because they look to please the older generation.

Fragment no. 10

I am very happy to say that after a slow start to the season South Melbourne is third on the ladder and going strong. As for Collingwood, the Warriors seem to be picking up the pieces with three wins in row. But they are still a very outside chance, and if sixth place Wollonging won and Collingwood lose they're gone.

Fragment no.9

On the holidays I went to two soccer matches. South Melbourne vs Perth was the first I went with my cousin. South won 1-0. As we got to the car park my cousin had a bit of trouble figuring out how to use the jack to replace the flat tire we had acquired on our way to the car park. I also got to see South beat Collingwood 4-0.

Mark Taylor's Scrapbook - South Melbourne vs Newcastle, NSL, February 1993

For more on Mark Taylor's scrapbook, see this post.

Mark Taylor's Scrapbook - Preston vs South Melbourne, NSL, January 1993

For more on Mark Taylor's scrapbook, see this post.