'Seth' from 'Caulfield' - South of the Border makes an enemy of sorts

A little while ago, one may remember this blog plugging an online radio show called the Pumpkin Seed Eaters. South of the Border's review of their debut instalment was generally and cautiously positive, with a couple of suggestions, most notably to an unnecessary anti-Semitic remark. After making the hosts/producers aware of the review, I received an encouraging reply from one of the hosts (who go under pseudonyms, though I know who one of the hosts is), basically saying thanks for the feedback, that they realise there's room for improvement, and that South of the Border would get a mention on the next show. Seemingly having taken my review well and with the bonus of the blog getting a reciprocal plug, the experience seemed to go swimmingly.

Alas, no. No plug for the blog (which is not really important, because I do this mostly for the amusement of trusted friends and associates and whoever else happens to stumble upon here), but also no genuine remorse or acknowledgment of the poor taste of the relevant joke. My words, used as part of a segment on feedback received of the first episode were attributed to a Seth from Caulfield - get it? only a Jew would be pissed off at an anti-Semitic remark - thus continuing to tap into the already far too prevalent strains of anti-Semitism that exist amongst certain 'traditional' fans, evidenced most notably in the past few years with regards to attacks on FFA head honcho (and former Sydney Hakoah chief) Frank Lowy.

Now, I'm for free speech. Having that stance means that I have to tolerate (not accept) the fact that this means opinions will exist that I do not like and am not comfortable with. And it also requires the acknowledgment that freedom of speech (in its varying degrees) is one of the core strengths of Western society, in that in the plurality of voices that should ensue we will be in a better position to critically analyse our society. Or something like that. But as you might have guessed, I have a pretty massive problem when people start using that freedom of speech to racist and defamatory ends. That kind of thing serves no one well. Nevertheless they'll still have their place on the 'link hall of fame' on the right hand side of the blog, because their program comprises the voice of a very underrepresented segment of Australian soccer, and that this voice, irrespective of whether you agree or disagree with its content and style is one that should be heard.

2008 membership package part 1 - Balls

There were complaints from those who were in charge of getting these that the blue on the panels was too light, especially when compared to the emblem's blue, but I reckon that they've come out quite nice actually. The alternate all white paneled ball (better for autographs) looks quite dull by comparison, but it's all a matter of opinion I guess.


Now I all need is a working bike pump and we're on our way. Classic book collection too don't you think?

South virtually defeat themselves - South Melbourne 1 Coburg United 2

From Tuesday to Thursday this week there'll be a thorough examination of the 2008 membership package, but for now, back to yesterday's game.


It was a disappointing result. Not because South had played well, but more so because they had played well enough to win. Coburg all up had three or four chances, and took two 2. South would have had closer to ten, and almost managed to stuff up even the one they did get.

South squandered possession so frequently yesterday - chiefly through Yusef and Poutakidis - that Coburg were not too often obliged to fight for the ball. When they did they were often unnecessarily crude in their attempts, and their discipline let them down and should have been punished more harshly than it was.

For South, De Nittis looked ok when he came on, Zoric was good in patches but goes missing to easily. Diaco and Fernando both played about a half each, neither fit, but the latter at least scored. Deano was responsible for the first goal conceded, while Nunes can play with both feet, which is an interesting novelty, but occasionally gets himself into the wrong position. The much maligned Caldwell did some nice things, but in general he and his team mates are not on the same frequency. Armenian is getting closer to a start.

South did have some bad luck - a blatant handball in the area not called - but mostly had themselves to blame for their loss. As a counterpoint, there were signs that when the team gels, they can do ok. The problem there is much the same as last year though, and that is whether they can keep it up for any significant amount of time. The pressure is starting to mount on Johnny A' and football operations dude Jim Marinis. Neither has solved the crucial problem of central midfield. There were too many sequences of players running around like headless chooks, only kinda rectified towards the end. We're the only pointless side after two weeks, and a turnaround in form is needed soon.

Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid

We now interrupt this program, in order to present this special address from Elbow's Australian Ambassador.


Ok, so I'm a bad little boy for having downloaded this a month before its proper release. But thankyou Soulseek people. Anyway, track by track. If you don't want to know the scores, look away now...

Starlings - one of the oddest little opening songs I've ever heard. But a very pretty song once it gets stuck in. Could've renamed this one Startling, because it has a few moments which just jump out at you.

Bones Of You - tremendous, has a measured urgency, propelling itself forward wonderfully. Also serves the purpose of picking up the pace of the record nice and early.

Mirrorball - absolutely gorgeous, I challenge anyone not to love this song. Reminds me of Asleep In The Back era b-sides, even if i can't quite figure out how.

Grounds For Divorce - a tough, bluesy, ballsy song, but with enough of the old Elbow touch to make it memorable. It's the kind of song Elbow needed to write in my honest opinion.

An Audience With the Pope - the first 'weak' song, sort of meanders around for awhile, not going anywhere in particular, but still ok.

Weather To Fly - an odd high vocal, the arrangements are a little awkward for mine, and like the previous song, seems to lack direction.

The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver - Starts off as a nice little waltz, before changing direction midway and then getting suitably big. The percussion reminds me of the Dancer In The Dark soundtrack - which is a good thing by the way!

The Fix - A duet with I'm not sure who, the voices complement each other well. The music has a wonderfully curious/mysterious air about it.

Some Riot - Brambles. But even better. Very interesting arrangement, seriously brought tears to my eyes how well they've executed this song. A song hasn't done that to me that much since Eels' Daisies of the Galaxy record, with its trio of the title track, It's a Motherfucker and Selective Memory.

On A Day Like This - fantastic counterpoint to Some Riot, cheerful and uplifting in the most awesome way.

Friend of Ours - Elbow ease us out with a nice slow song, which gradually swells before retreating gently.

The length of these songs is interesting, it poses problems in some songs, but mostly it works well. Overall, I would say it's the more maudlin parts of Leaders, via Asleep In The Back production wise, all sorts of different sounds in the songs. I love it. I'm not going to say it's a return to form, because Leaders was a good record, but this is a better record, no doubt much more consistent across the board and I just love the sound of it, the way they mix the natural and industrial for want of a better way of putting it. How will people unfamiliar with the band see it? Hard to say. I think it could be the record more than any other of theirs which could break them well and truly.

Best three tracks, Bones of You, Some Riot, Mirrorball.

Late NSL era sticker

Anyone want a sticker? Some may recall the passing mention of these artefacts seen while reading this entry. Well, I did manage to come away with seven or so (relax, there's plenty left), one's on a door, one's for posterity, one's for a folder for school but otherwise I have four left over. If you would like one, message me, and we'll arrange the safe passage of these relics to your preferred destination. I reckon they look quite nice. The non-cringing use of 'S.C.', the classic soccer ball in place of an 'O'.



It's going to be harder to keep up the daily posting once school starts again on Monday, but I'll try, Pride and Prejudice be damned.

Round 1, Under 21s - Bergers 3 South 3, plus bonus whinge

Owing to the Old Socceroos and Copperoos (or Piggeroos, as one BLF die hard near me insisted on calling them) game held prior to the seniors match, this game was played on Wednesday evening. Standard leaves a lot to be desired, but what's more troubling is how can someone like Adrian Luka (whom South of the Border thanks for his videos) be able to film, edit and upload videos on his own, but our own site can't? How can I pump out South related words on a daily basis, and yet the official South site seems to be move at pre-global warming glacial speed? And where is the promised upgrade to the whole thing?

I realise that perhaps quite a bit of what gets written here would not be appropriate for an official site, which is there to spread propaganda and such. But where is the info on stuff? Where are the promised commissioned articles? Why doesn't the board trust its own volunteers and supporters to contribute items? How can a club, with decent writers, excellent multimedia and IT skills personnel, and ordinary people who can film, edit, and upload, not have a decent site? It's an absolute disgrace I tell ya. And from what I hear, there's not going to be much change in the near future at least. Enjoy the show.

South look to relaunch seson at home - Round 2, South Melbourne vs Coburg United

Last time they met:
Never met in a league fixture.

Preview:
Halfway through 2006 North Coburg, as they were called then, had just lost against Altona East, leaving them in last position and a bit of hole to dig themselves out of. That they not only did that, but in the following year also won promotion to the VPL shows that this club means business. Coburg sought to bolster their squad with players such as one time South players and Aussie soccer journeymen Andy Vlahos and Anthony Magnacca, and have a solid side which should challenge for at least the lower positions in the finals, though the chance of them doing another Kingston City and burning out halfway through is always a possibility. Last week they belted Western Suburbs 3-0 away from 'home' (they play at Knights Stadium until their new ground is ready next year), and if that doesn't seem like much, only three sides came away from Ralph Reserve with maximum points last season.

For South, last week's loss away to Heidelberg seemed to show the club was continuing on from last year; a team with able players in enough positions, but without the gritty midfield general (or two), possession is scarce and when obtained is often squandered cheaply. Because of this there is added pressure on the defence as well, who have to deal with more attacks than they should. South may have some injuries to Fernando and Diaco to deal with, as well as injury question marks over possible forward replacement Armenian. If South can at least neutralise the effectiveness of Coburg's midfield then they're a definite chance, as most armchair pundits tend to agree that Coburg's defence is its weakest link. For my money, there are few sides so top heavy with attacking prowess. It's the problem of getting the ball there that is, well, the problem. If South can solve that problem or at least find a way of avoiding it, then a win is in sight.

Prediction: A free flowing 1-1 draw, with plenty of chances, and hopefully some good play on a decent surface.

South set to play AIS in Shepparton?

Ever since it was announced that the AIS would seek to host 'home' games in regional Victoria and it's own base in Canberra (with them subsidising travel costs for the visiting teams), there's been rumours flying around who would play where, with the most common ones being the Knights playing in Canberra and Preston in Shepparton respectively, where both clubs have numerous supporters. Frankston Pines are travelling up to Canberra this week, meaning this ain't no pipe dream.

But what about South? Up to this point it's been more of a wish-list sort of scenario without any real concrete evidence suggesting we'll go anywhere at all. Canberra seemed popular amongst fans, though allegedly players find Albury far more fun. Morwell would be a nostalgic option, a return to Falcons Park after so many years absence. But according to a recent article in the Shepparton News, negotiations are taking place to send South to the Goulburn Valley.

Shepparton South has targeted former National Soccer League champion South Melbourne's match against AIS on the weekend of June 21 and 22.

"We are hoping to play the match on the Saturday with Shepparton United as the curtain raiser," South assistant coach Joe Artavilla said.


Anywhere's fine with me, as long as we get a road trip of sorts. I've been to 'Shepp' only the once, the first time we stopped on the way to the Gold Coast for a school camp (more a theme park tour really). When we left Melbourne the temperature would have been in the low 20s and was overcast. When we got to Shepp, it was fucking hot, 30+ degrees, and there was someone aboout 50 years the wrong side of 17 working at the Hungry Jacks we stopped at, which only added to the culture shock. The old man used to work out there too in the tomato fields. If it does go ahead, and I hope that it does, it'd be good to actually get there early enough for the proposed curtain raiser between Shepp United and Shepp South. Come on people, make this happen!

One round in, relegation already the hot-topic

Following a hot lead on soccer-forum, I found this in section 2.3 in the 2008 FFV Regulations.

2.3 Those Clubs finishing in 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th position at the end of the Men’s Premier League season will be relegated to the Men’s State League Division One (State League 1) in the following season.

Very interesting. Followers of the local scene will recall that four teams were relegated because of this (from something I added to the VPL page on Wikipedia).

The end of the 2006 season also saw a controversial finish to the relegation battle. With three teams finishing on 30 points, Sunshine George Cross were relegated on goal difference. However, a post-season appeal to the tribunal on the grounds that Essendon Royals had fielded a suspended player (Ilcho Mladenovski in round 24) saw the Royals deducted a point and relegated. However the Federation had not notified the Royals of the player's suspension, and got itself out of a potential costly legal battle by retaining both clubs for the 2007 season, and adding the Australian Institute of Sport to even out the numbers, and as the first part of reforms to the competition set to be brought about in 2008.

Thus after relegating 4 sides and promoting 2 last year we were back to 14, and back to 2 up and 2 down as was the previous system. I sent off an email to the FFV to see what's going on, as there is always the chance of a clerical error, though of course that's highly unlikely. Confirmed by someone else making a phone call even before I've gotten a reply that it is up to date. There is evidence to suggest, perhaps, that the proposed V-League is not too far away. And that certain clubs are in for rude shock.

Trying to sell the product on tv, as South Melbourne moves into the 20th century

This is the first of a series of advertisements which will played on the Antenna Pacific network, and which will hopefully appeal to the "Is South still around? Huh, how about that. Might go," Greek demographic. It's made by a couple of South fans, with love, Frozen Tears, and a little bit of Avalon Raceway sprintcar "beeeeee theeeeeeere!" action.

A couple of book reviews

I'm guessing most of the people that have read this blog have done so either because they are amongst the few who have been told personally by me of its existence, or because they got redirected here because of my work on Das Libero, where I sorta insisted that this blog be linked under every piece that I do. Smart, no? Anyway, here are two reviews that I wrote for that site, both of which mention South occasionally. The books that is, not the reviews.

The first book is on the history of Green Gully. It's pretty good, and it let's you know what all the little clubs were doing while we were kings of the world. A Tale of Two Gullys is a fairly appropriate title for it, so enjoy the review and enjoy the book, and don't just skip to the index to look for mentions of South.

The other book is called Soccer Boom, basically looking at Victorian soccer's changes primarily in the 1950s from a revisionist viewpoint. It's also good, but don't get completely sucked in to his stance, because as When Push Comes to Boom explains, there are a few inconvenient facts ignored to make it work. Once again though, a worthwhile read.

VPL guide to fashion

I should make it clear, that I'm not for changing strip designs year in year out. All you need to do is pick one design, stick with it eternally, and at most play around with your away strip, but really, there's no need for that either. I didn't take these photos, so thanks to whoever I'm borrowing them off for today's lesson.


That is the South home strip for this year. I don't really like it, but the sponsor on there looks rather nice for once. And I hate it a lot less after I saw what some of the other teams had cooked up.


Speaking of sponsor/strip clashes... Preston's strip has been universally caned but on reflection, despite the abomination that is that colour combination, they could be forgiven for at least looking after the colour-blind, who most frequently have difficulty with separating red and green.


Finally for now, a clear demonstration of what works, and what just doesn't. Fawkner last year had a pretty crappy strip. How do you fuck up light blue you may ask? By putting a stupid white slab slanting down across the shoulder, making it look like you've run out of dye. So kudos to Fawkner for embracing a neo-classicist approach of sorts. As for the Knights, they had one of the better strips last year. And now they've gone for tie-die. For a club with such rampant right-wing sympathies, it strikes me as an odd tactic that they're now aiming for the hippy/stoner market. But Australian soccer (the proper version, not that mickey mouse 'a' league divorced from reality) always has something up its sleeve to at once both depress and amuse.

The search for a central midfielder should have begun at the end of 2006 - Heidelberg United 2 South Melbourne 1

Firstly, a reminder to whoever left their bike (green one) in Darebin Creek, you should probably go pick it up before it rusts.

Let's start with the little problems. There were obviously players out there who were not going to last a full match. That will come in time I guess, but the players with niggling injuries or who had a distinct lack of match fitness should not have been played in my honest opinion.

The medium problems. There is a cultural problem at South Melbourne, of trying to repeatedly walk the ball into the net. Just have a ping! It might go in! There was also the abominable surface. But the players need to get used to that as at least 10 of the 14 grounds are probably going to be like that. You can't afford to let the ball sit up before shooting or passing, because it will not sit. The players can be warned about this and it can be changed. Whether they adapt is another issue.

The big problems. Still no central midfielder, to fight and win contested balls, and lay off simple passes to running players. Johnny A' still persisting with certain players in certain positions to which they are not accustomed. Certain players who are obviously not very good and who are getting games ahead of players that are good. Referees and their assistants. No idea about the last man foul rule, no idea about foul throws, no idea about not inventing bullshit free-kicks that only they can see.

Zoric will be a more than handy pick up. Deano had a blinder, but still provided two of his requisite heart attack moments. Caldwell should at least quit wearing red boots if he's not going to score sitters. And from now on I want the players to bleed for the shirt. Most fans would give almost anything to get out there for 30 seconds and play in that shirt, and yet the lack of fierce but fair tackling was offensive to me. The game seemed to carry on from last year's form, and that's troubling. If this is not the wake up call that we need then we seriously need a new direction. It may sound like I'm jumping the gun, but this was basically rinse repeat from much of what occurred last season.

2008 Jersey Presentation night roundup

So so night. Was sold out which was good. Had Michael Zappone as host trying to butter us up, and not doing a terribly smashing job, but he wasn't helped by the rudeness of a few people who kept talking over him. Service at Kinisi was pretty crap. Rarely if ever asked if we wanted drink refills, and tried to serve food like your mother ('you will eat it and like it', more or less). I heard rumours of dessert, but can't confirm its existence. Anyway, pleasure to be on the same table as Shane Nunes and Benji Vahid, they were good company, even with the extended discussion about freeways and such. For the record, Fernando De Moraes and Ricky Diaco came out equal first at the player auction. Other stuff that sorta happened:

* Which handsome and educated boardmember was hogging the attractive hostesses, who were meant to be flogging off raffle tickets?
* Which chump played $500 to be in a photo with said hostesses when they could have got one for free?
* How did that wine glass get broken on an adjoining table?
* Which ex-South goalscoring machine was drunk at the front of a Cold Chisel gig at Bombay Rock back in the early 80s?

I forgot to take my gift bag home with me, with the coffee and bucket-hat. Thanks also to any players I happened to be in photos with. Not sure if I'll do this again next year, but we'll see.

2008 VPL season begins - Round 1, Heidelberg United vs South Melbourne

This is the first proper preview for this site. I don't know if I will keep this format/style, but let's worry about that later.

Last time they met:

Round 16 2007 at Olympic Village

Heidelberg United 3 South Melbourne 0

Heidelberg gained confidence and the ascendancy after grabbing two early goals, and were by far the better team. South looked jaded and out of sorts for most of the match, partly because of it being its 3^rd game within 8 days after the infamous Melbourne Victory friendly midweek. But the performance was also indicative of the poor 2^nd half of the season that lay ahead.

Preview:

Derbies between the two sides have been harder to pick since South's drop from national league ranks. How much difference a decade makes. Back then, South was almost always assured of taking all the points, no matter how well the Bergers played. In contrast the seven contests between the two sides in the last three seasons have been all over the place, with 2 wins each and 3 draws, with the only score that has come up twice being two scoreless draws, those being the first two games played in 2005.

For whatever it's worth, Heidelberg have been perhaps the form team of the pre-season, including winning the Hellenic Cup against Oakleigh last Saturday night. That win did come at a cost though, with goalkeeper Peter Gavalas involved in a serious collision and suffering injuries which will likely rule him out for six matches. Heidelberg have boosted their squad significantly, with perhaps the most significant being the return of Eric Vassiliadis, in an obvious effort to both atone for missing the finals last season and to make a serious bid at winning the title in their 50^th year. Heidelberg looks like one of the teams to beat this season, though the constant on and off field instability which continually plagues the club is never too far away.

South on the other hand have had a very inconsistent pre-season, changing up squad makeups and collecting mixed results accordingly. The defence has been revamped and time should be given for it to settle, but the lack of a tough and no-nonsense central midfielder, so obviously a problem last season, does not seem to have been addressed. Question marks also still hover around the goalkeeping position. With Mitchell Langerak's loan spell ended, it appears Dean Anastasiadis will regain the no. 1 position after suffering a season length knee injury last year, but doubts abound amongst quite a few South supporters not only because of the injury, but also because he will be turning 38 years old this year. Further up the field, South has attracted the likes of Goran Zoric and Hamlet Armenian, and will also be hoping to see a fully fit Fernando De Moraes regain his 2006 form after playing far below par in large part due to injury last season. I'm struggling to see South taking all three points this week, but the combination of being a derby and the end of the mickey mouse stuff means anything can happen.

Final prediction: an energetic but scrappy 1-1 draw.

Minor awesomeness

For awhile there I didn't think it would happen. Typing in 'South Melbourne FC blog' into Google used to make Park Life come up first, despite the fact that it had been dead for nearly two years. This blog on the other hand would only come up on the 2nd page. But not anymore. We're on the first page baby! Just another little step towards greatness for the good ship South of the Border and her captain.

LET THERE BE SOUTH!

This is absolutely brilliant, and what's more it's an original South Melbourne Hellas creation (yes, yes, with a touch of AC/DC, too), forged in the roaring fires of smfcboard, during a dark era where every second thread was a stupid popularity game, created by people whose main goal was to add to their already overinflated post counts. I wish I could take the credit for this, but alas I cannot, as it is the work of a great man who goes under the pseudonymn Conya. Enjoy.


In the beginning
Back in 1959
Man didn't know about a soccer show
And all that jive
The white man had Matthews
The black man had Pele
No one knew what they was gonna do
But Marmaras had the news, he said

Let there be Red, and there was Red
Let there be White, and there was White
Let there be Souvlaki, there was Souvlaki
Let there be Fans, there was Fans, ah
Let there be SOUTH

And it came to pass
That Soccer was born
All across the land every soccer fan
Was ripping up a flare
And the trumpet man got famous
The souvlaki man got rich
And in every ground there was a superstar
With a seven year itch
There was fifteen million juniors
Learnin' how to play
And you could hear Lefteri's trumpet
And this is what they had to say

Let there be Blue, White, drums, 'n Trumpet, ah
Let there be SOUTH

One night in a club called the Hindmarsh
There was a 42 decibel CC band
And the feeling was good
And the chanting was loud
And the leader turned and he said to the crowd

Let there be SOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watching grass grow

I spoke to a friend of a friend at the Family Day, and we got to talking about this blog. One of the things he said I should do is write every day. Well, sometimes there isn't anything too interesting to write about, and you have to rely on your b-grade material. Thanks to George Kouroumalis for the photo.




Over the off-season, Bob Jane Stadium had new a drainage system installed. It should have been put in when the surface was relaid at the end of 2006, but Parks Victoria apparently didn't think it was worth it with the possibility of Athletics Victoria moving in. And then half way through last season it bucketed down during one week, and the water didn't drain away. Anyway, the surface is looking pretty good now, and the drain lines should have a decent covering of grass by Sunday week, the date of our first home game against Coburg United.

Pumpkin Seed Eaters and format changes

You may have noticed some minor changes in formatting recently. Or not. Nevertheless these should be explained. There has been a counter installed at the bottom. This is mostly for me so I can see if people are visiting (apparently they are, which is good), and how many are returning. It is a little disappointing that you people seem to prefer Internet Explorer and Mozilla over the brilliant Opera browser, but whatever. There's also been a little blog bio and disclaimer put up. There's a couple of new blog adds as well, worth checking out. The number of articles on a page will also be increased.

But perhaps the most significant addition has been a link add for a new online radio show by and for self-styled traditional fans called the Pumpkin Seed Eaters (based on a comment which they attribute to Gary Cole, but I'm pretty sure was actually made by Melbourne Victory supremo 'Evil' Geoff Lord). Anyway, for less than 10mb, and at 42 odd minutes, it's pretty good, taking into account also that it is their first episode. There's an interview (at the cost of pizza) with Rockem Sockem Poutakidis and some Berger chump, and regular segments and whatnot. A warning though: it's not intended for people with weak hearts or those who love the A-League. It's a bit South-centric at the moment, but that's probably a good thing. In short, I enjoyed listening to it, and reckon it'll get better. The anti-semitism at the end wasn't really necessary though. And boys, there are plenty of frogs in Greece, trust me.

Family Day 2008 wrap up

This started off real slow, but by the end was in full swing. Kids were having a great time with the rides, face painting and such, but the highlight of course was the impromptu match with mixed teams of kids and senior players. In fact it was also very pleasing to see a whole bunch of the senior squad there, who were also more than happy to give their autographs to the littleuns, even coach Johnny A' who was asked somewhat stupidly by one pathological idiot to sign a couple of kids jerseys while clutching a half eaten souvlaki. Also good to see new recruit Shane Nunes bringing in the future missus and their toddler while I was on my way out. I welcomed them to the club in a real farkknuckle way, being of course the social inept person that I am, but it's the thought that counts.

I went there with the intention of buying a beanie, paying for the jersey night and potentially picking up my membership. When it turned out they didn't have any beanies, I decided instead to buy one of last year's jerseys at the insanely good price of $40, a saving of 30 bucks! I had a gander at the new season's top; frankly I thought they looked shit, and if you happen to think so too, getting one of last years seems like a good option. Then again, I'm hardly reknowned as a style icon, and they might be more up your alley. Alas, memberships were not available on the day to pick up, as the cards will apparently arrive tomorrow, but there's still plenty of time before the start of the season, and of course those magnificent balls are yet to arrive.

Away from the main action. there were a few interesting tidbits divulged as well by a well meaning but loose-lipped player. Recent departure Tansel Baser may not even make it on the park for his new club Coburg United, the osteitis pubis he suffered from during last year still giving him grief. A new keeper to replace the once prospective Neill Young has been found from somewhere in Sydney, first name Nick or something like that. Some players are carrying niggling injuries, but should be right for round 1.

I also had a blue and white gelato (a bit much at $4, when I can get them from Laverton Market for $3 and with more on top), the thematic significance of which was recognised by the same bright spark who after she recovers from whiplash and finding homes for players, will be creating a kick arse logo for this site, not that there's any pressure, because this blog's doing quite well without one, and we wouldn't want to rush the impending masterpiece. As my old man likes to say, "to kalo pragma argi na gini (the good thing takes a while to make)".

On Persistance

I swear this is almost certainly the last you'll hear from me on this issue, but it's interesting to note how 31 people, and mostly high, drunk or stupid people at that, can have such a huge impact on the top brass. I'm usually amonsgt the first to point out the lack of grass roots street cred in the A-League, but this link proves that if you try for long enough, and no matter how insipid your attempts may seem, you can make a difference. Even if it takes 3 years, the lesson is to hang in there kids.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mvfc2005/petition.html

Hellenic Cup 2008 Finals round up

Now I wasn't there, so don't shoot me if I've got any of this wrong.

Two junior sides and the women's team had finals yesterday. Our u13s won 9-0 against Oakleigh, while our u14s side lost to the same opposition 3-2. According to slightly more than semi-reliable 2nd hand information, our women's side apparently played quite well and kept up with last season's WVPL champion Heidelberg, improving significantly on the previous 7-0 loss to draw the final 0-0 and push the game to penalties where they alas lost 7-6 in the shootout. Nevertheless, there appears to be much hope for our ladies this year, and perhaps now something better than merely survival can and should be aimed for.

Tomorrow a wrap up of the wildly enjoyable Family Day, which is partly dependent on my receiving a couple of photos to help illustrate a couple of points.

One last bit of 2007 clearing out

At around about this time every year, people and pundits all over the place start making predictions they will never go back and have a look at. Most say it's all in good fun, but really it's just a dreadful waste of time. Therefore South of the Border will buck the trend and avoid making any list predictions for the coming season whatsoever. It's a hard habit to kick, and South of the Border stands in solidarity with all those who suffer from this disease. What I will do however is hand out way overdue awards for last season. Seeing as this blog did start last year, and the new season hasn't started yet and we're still catching up and all, it's totally allowed.

• Player of the year: Ricky Diaco. The bloke sadly lacked consistent support, but even then he showed he was a class above most of the year. His free kick against Oakleigh is already legendary, but his in-close work was a joy to watch, particularly his skinning of defenders on the byline.

• Youth player of the year: Mitchell Langerak. Young keeper, came in with an unsettled defence, and did a more than decent job. While he still has problems with low balls and coming off his line, his aerial work and his ability in marshaling the defence were very impressive.

• Goal of the year: Ramazan Tavsancioglu against Whittlesea Zebras. Yes we lost this one 3-2, but I cannot do enough justice to the brilliance that was Rama's goal, so I'll let George Kouroumalis' poetry do the rest:

South equalised moments later, with what can be described as a contender for goal of the season by Ramazan. He produced a strong defensive tackle, reclaimed possession of the ball and began to dash up the right hand touch line. After stepping past one defender and spinning past another, he hit a speculative and intentional 35 yard rocket towards the goal, with the ball swinging and dipping into the top right hand corner and over the fully-stretched Gerohristodoulou, sending the South fans into blue delirium.

• Best performance over a whole match: The home win against Oakleigh 5-2. The 2^nd half in particular was an absolute joy to watch. These two teams have turned it on repeatedly in recent times, but that game will be hard to top. Diaco's free kick was merely the cherry on top of a great contest. Sadly South never reached that level of play for the rest of the season.

• Best period of play during the season: The first 20 minutes or so against Heidelberg at home in round 1. Despite the goalkeeping fuck-ups, the team was that shit hot that even the most boring and relentless cynics proclaimed it as an excellent NSL-era standard. Perhaps if we'd won that game things would have gone differently.

• Best away game: Sunshine George Cross. It was rainy, windy, cold, slippery but the dedication of the fans that day (and the win of course) made it totally worth it.

• Best call on the terraces: After we re-took the lead against Oakleigh one wit said, "Hey Turnbull, you didn't even get to finish your smile". Concise, precise, and understated.

• Chant of the year: Colombo's chant at the game against Preston. The police were doing nothing to move the Preston fans from outside the perimeter fence, as they have the power to do so, much to the annoyance of the South faithful. Can't remember the exact way it went, something like "I thought we were major events, why are the skops behind the fence..." there was more to it, of course, but it had this ramshackle rhythm to it that was just off this planet.

Don't forget, Family Day on tomorrow. Jersey Presentation night on Friday. Round 1 away to the Bergers on Sunday week. All which of which hopefully mean the end for now of these time killing pieces.

Australia vs Qatar 3-0, shame I missed it

Firstly, here is my favourite picture of Socceroo training at Bob Jane Stadium. Why? Because it actually includes the smfc.com.au 'a-frame' that I helped move across so it would get into some media shots. Of course the media being fuckwit revisionist monkeys, you likely didn't see it on mainstream television stations. More photos on the South forum.


I also totally picked the wrong day to start throwing up every couple of hours. Pissed off that I missed this game, and of course the tv rights being the way they are, could only listen to it on the radio, and even then only the first half because I fell asleep due to exhaustion early during the second. Of course, we're not alone in this. The most important thing is we got off to a great start.

Please stop, that hurts

Quick post until my next undergraduate level 'serious' piece. The Futsalroos drew with Argentina 3-3 in their last group game (Nando scored again), before being hammered 7-0 by Brazil in the semi finals. Also getting caned 7-0 was the SMFC women's team by Heidelberg. Still, they've qualified for the final on Saturday, against Heidelberg once more. A couple of our junior teams have also reached their respective finals, so good luck to our under 13s, 14s and women's teams. A slightly tweaked version of my Tony Ising getting the arse piece is up on Das Libero, but not on the main articles page for some reason. Probably because it sucked, but who cares about Ising anyway? He's last week's news. Next piece will be likely be after the Socceroos-Qatar match, should be a ripper win, lose or draw.

Fernando kicking ass at KL 5s

Scored goals in all three Australian victories so far. Highlights below from the first game against Indonesia.

South Melbourne 0 Bentleigh Greens 1 - Hellenic Cup

Knocked out last night, with not quite a full squad, but disappointing nevertheless. Didn't catch this game, but this result was always on the cards based on Bentleigh's form, combined with not having a full squad. Expect more friendlies to come up now.

The old and the new

While killing time until the next major event, I thought I'd put these up. I can't remember where I found the first pic, only that it was taken by some guy in a hot air balloon. The second pic was taken by the fellow who runs this blog.

The joys of volunteering and collecting statistics

When you're a community based club, and in particular one in the lower leagues where every cent counts, volunteers of all sorts giving up their time are hard to put a price on. Back in the NSL days, my involvement with the club didn't stretch too far beyond going to games and catching up with the occasional and where possible replay. Since our descent into the doldrums of the VPL, and the emaciated crowd numbers that accompany it, one starts to get to know and appreciate the many behind the scenes people putting the club first.

They range from the quite old, to the quite young, with tasks ranging from ground and venue upkeep, fan mail-outs, website updates and maintenance, and not forgetting the under appreciated work done by various board members. My personal volunteering time is quite minute compared to most of the people who give up their time, but still, every bit that I do makes me feel me ever more connected to the club and its members. Last Saturday, some of us cleaned out boxes, picked up and moved rugby posts, and also continued pursuing my personal niche area, helping to build up the statistical history of the club, no mean feat for as the further back one goes, the more records become sketchy and elusive. Amongst the disappointments of certain frames and pictures not being up (such as one of South's first president Theo Marmaras with Sir Stanley Rous), one also comes across stashes of match day programs, some dating from as far back as 1979, as well as stickers, Ballarat Red Devils key-rings, a Rangers pin, and an audio cassette tape (in Greek) of the 1999 Oceania Cup final (which I am putting onto my PC as I type this).

Currently, some fans (of which I am just one) are attempting to put together a website dealing with as many players, coaches, games, and ephemeral stuff of this great club we can possibly get our hands on. While some of the people involved are doing this stuff as part something specifically South related, my own interest in the area is slightly broader, using my work as part of the Ozfootball site to complement both areas. As part of the process of clearing up the names, positions, and even existences of some players primarily from the 1960s, myself and two other fans traveled out to Oakleigh to a humble souvlaki joint; on entering one notices a South Melbourne Hellas vase, and that the walls are filled with framed articles and pictures of a long gone era, with the jewel in the crown being a copy of the South Melbourne Hellas Team of the Century painting. The proprietor of course is none other than South legend and Team of the Century member Jim Pyrgolios. After finishing off our meal, we sat nervously for awhile wondering how to approach Jim. In the end, my apparently superior Greek language skills made me the default choice. Jim invited us out to the back porch where we sat under thundery skies, going through old players and photographs. Rest assured that efforts are being made to preserve these artifacts for future generations.

Jim's memory was magnificent. Forty years on, after numerous championships as a player with South, and coaching stints as disparate as a minor premiership in NSL season 1992/93 and coaching Floreat Athena to a league and cup double, it was amazing how he remembered the first names and club origins of so many players, as well their positions and the clubs from which they came. As we handed him picture after picture to help us identify players, officials and grounds of yore, the most frequent comment was "kati omada" (what a team!), and who would be game enough to argue! Going back inside (he was meant to be working after all!), he pulled out one scrapbook and one photo-album from behind the counter. Inside were well preserved photos similar to the ones we had brought to him, as well as dozens of articles, including one which reported on him winning the 1971 Bill Fleming Medal. The standout item which floored all of us though, was a rare early photo, with the team clad in the original strip, in colour. Eventually the time came for us to go, but as there is still much more information to elicit, and many more fine souvlakia to feast on, we will return.

Throughout our time with Jim, one thing stood out. Here was a bloke who had played in the top flight for a top club in Greece, was a legendary striker in the glory days of 1960s and 70s Victorian soccer, who'd been assistant coach under no less than Ferenc Puskas, and yet his humility and generosity was pervasive. In another country, and perhaps another era, Pyrgolios would be feted as the legend that he is.

Pedestrian and awful - Hellenic Cup group games

This is basically a wrap up of the two remaining group games played over this weekend.

Saturday's match was against South Springvale Aris, a state league 2 outfit. Mix of regulars and ressies. Got there late, so missed Caldwell's opener. Caldwell also got the 2nd, and was denied a hat-trick by a spectacular save from a free kick by the opposition keeper. In general, South barely raised a sweat and rarely looked inspiring, but having said that, Aris never even got close. Ricky Diaco missed the game with a groin injury but should be right for the start of the season. Your correspondent had a terse conversation with Rockem Sockem Poutakidis about the whereabouts of Perth goalkeeping recruit Neill Young. Rumour is that he hasn't signed, unhappy about having to play second fiddle to Johnny A's brother Dean. "No comment" was the response, in my opinion more or less an admission that it was true. He stuck to his guns and I stuck to mine. I reckon I won that argument on a points decision, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, what with an experienced and seemingly quite capable keeper being let go for reasons other than talent.

Sunday's game was against amateur side South Springvale Serres. With the exceptions of Natsioulas and Tosic in goal, no one else could be considered even close to a senior player. Still, the performance was very disconcerting. A bunch of young, fit and allegedly talented guys struggled to put together almost any decent moves. Luckily, Serres almost never threatened to score, but still, Hellas needed a dubious penalty to make sure of the result. There were some bad tackles in this game, the one that will stick the mind the most is that of a South player lucky to stay on the field after committing an atrocious and plainly deliberate two footed studs up tackle. Johnny A's absence was also noticed by some supporters, and not with pleasure either.

South now goes on to meet Bentleigh Greens on Thursday evening, with the winner of that going through to the semi final on Sunday.

Alex Duric on The World Game

Continuing on from an earlier entry, comes this very poorly done but still clear enough video of Alex Duric on The World Game show. All time leading scorer in Singapore? Jeebus! We had him as a defender!

Fernando to play for Futsalroos

Fernando 'Nando' De Moraes has been selected to play for the Futsalroos in some Kuala Lumpur (France) tournament.

South fans are already familiar with his fancy footwork on the big field, including his wonderful trickery which set up Gianni De Nittis winning goal in the 2006 VPL grand final. Bravo Nando, and good luck to the entire team. And don't come back injured Nando, or there'll be hell to pay.

Reports on the weekends Hellenic Cup games (and other adventures) on Monday.

Nothing to do with Ising getting the arse

* Gully game set for Saturday morning - canceled or postponed.
* Hellenic Cup games - still very much on.
* Family Day announced for the 10th February - should be fun.
* Jersey Presentation night on 15th February, $60 - I'll probably end up going, about time I turned up to one of these things.

Oh and in only slightly relevant news

* Some Victory fans chuck a sook because Tony Ising gets the arse from Melbourne Victory, while others are glad to see him gone – in a somewhat inverted reaction, some South fans dance on his metaphorical grave, while others are a little more philosophical, and some do both.

Poor Tony. Or not. The man's dream started in the Carlton SC outer back in the bad old NSL days (saying 'old' together with 'NSL' is still mandatory; 'bad' is optional, used with venom by the new footballing breed, while 'old soccerites' make use of it with sarcasm or irony). He even posted it on a webpage which he later had torn down. He apparently tried to ram his idea through the South board at one stage; either that or they weren't very perceptive or progressive.

Anyway, in this writer's opinion, there are essentially two factions operating at A-League level. One is represented by your Ising types, who in numerous interviews prior to the A-League's beginning, made more references, at least in my opinion, to uniting existing soccer supporters, and creating some sort of new footballing culture. The other types were your Geoff Lords, who let's be honest, are in it for the money. And if Ising thought he was going to be able to buck the general sporting trends in this country, well good on him, but I reckon he was wrong, even if hindsight works a treat.

Because it works like this. Say you're a rock band with a heavy leftist political slant, calling itself for all intents and purposes, The Machine Rages On. Now if you happen to stay small time, your ability to make a difference is compromised by the fact that you're preaching to the converted, and frankly, the converted are fairly few and far between and already doing their bit. Of course, should you have a surprise breakthrough song, perhaps with some anti-police/authority motif, you may find yourself with quite a few more fans, word spreads, radio's playing your song everywhere, and heaps of people love you. But people are more in tune with the heaviness and the barely restrained anger of your song rather than with the politics. Some of your original fans criticise you for selling out, while others feel uneasy with you being the in thing with a lot of people who are merely on the bandwagon. Your message of social upheaval and change gets lost in the pop-cultural milieu. And all of a sudden the idea you had of starting a political rock band to make a difference stares you back in the face. Yes you did make a difference, but what sort? In the end and despite all your best intentions, rather than making the difference you wanted, you only made a difference in so far as you furthered the capitalist ambitions of someone who saw your idea and happened to see it differently, and was able to make money off you and those whom you sought to help or call to action, who frankly couldn't have cared less to begin with. And the world keeps on turning in more or less the same fashion before you and your lofty dreams arrived on the scene. And it's not as if you did anything wrong per se; after all, you yourself maintained your integrity for the most part. But once your idea wasn't just yours anymore, but also that of some guy who saw a chance to make some dosh and as well as it getting attached to some guy semi-consciously nodding along in his car, your control of that idea is gone, and you ain't getting it back.

There was a time in this country, and I was born into the tail end of it, where most of the people at sporting clubs really gave a toss about their team's fortunes. They were at the home games almost every week, most got to as many away games as they could, their emotional barometer was heavily affected by a win or a loss. This crossed sporting codes and all strata of society. Their club was something they believed in, it was their imagined and at the same time very real community, at a time when sport and entertainment industry in the same sentence would have been incompatible. But the times changed, the old community clubs were eventually destroyed from without by those who couldn't appreciate what was already there, and often from within when the money ran out, and revolutionary steps were taken to bring in more people, more money, and in turn more success, whatever the consequences.

And the price paid in the end, in this writer's opinion, was far too great. The AFL destroyed itself, in its quest to dictate what culture should exist, by choosing the corporate and fairweather over the philanthropists and diehards. In soccer's case, the diehards were essentially most of those who were left at NSL level, whether ethnic club or broadbased. The money wasn't there, people across the board generally felt that changes needed to be made, but pretty soon it was obvious that the baby was thrown out with the bathwater, and we were going to have a fresh new start, for people who believed that stuff's possible. And so about 50 years of accumulated culture, the good, the bad and the bizarre was discarded, and not even consigned to a history book. Everything had to be new, even the primordial creation myths had to be reinvented. But I digress.

There are people who cling on to some notion of the A-League being for the 'real' football fans, people who went to the NSL, people who couldn't make an association with existing clubs or the NSL, yadayadayada. And maybe it was a little like that in the beginning. But pretty soon it was taken over by people who needed something to do over the summer, those sucked in by the far too serious and self-referential 'atmosphere' and those who wanted to be in the 'in crowd', and who saw soccer as giving them some sort of cosmopolitan flavour in a country torn between cringeworthy parochialism and a need to be loved by everyone overseas.

But all this could just be the bitter nostalgic rant of a disenfranchised NSL supporter. And for all anyone knows, Tony might be happy with how the club and league ended up. But on the same token, it is worth wondering why Tony did get the sack, who gave him the sack, and the potential reasons for this. Because for all the bullshit propaganda of a new era, Tony was one of the many remnants of that past mythical age, and therefore his departure does mean something, even if it doesn't exactly correspond with the general thrust of this piece.

Reardo Luka on his to way a full recovery

Found another South related blog, seems to have been started recently, and is still alive. The most interesting news is that Reardo Luka's recovery from a horrible injury last season is nearing completion. Luka broke his leg in last year's Hellenic Cup in a collision with the opposition keeper. The following borrowed from the above site, contains the low down on his current state.

After a long period of time out of the game, due to breaking his leg while playing soccer, Reardo LUKA is back to training with South Melbourne FC.

Facing many difficulties to recover, which were directly related to the bad job that was on his leg done by one of Melbourne’s hospitals, Reardo is very happy to return to his beloved game.

Starting light sessions yesterday January 8, he aims to be back on the field by the end of March 2008 and give his best to regain the top goal scorer position, which he lead for 2 years in a row with SMFC Youth Team.

Sincerely, Reardo thanks all supporters who helped him pass this hard time and at the same time is determined to reach his ‘shattered dream.’

South of the Border wishes Reardo all the best with his recovery and with the hope that he gets back on the field and regains his scoring touch.

No lah, so old lah, so tall lah - Alex Duric plays for Singapore National Team

When I first heard about this, I was like no way, but good on him, another South player on the international stage, scoring a goal as well against Tajikistan. It came a bit late for my presentation last year on soccer and globalisation, but what the hell? And yes i realize this is old news, but this is still a new blog, it's still catching up.

Some forum

Straits Times profile

Singaporean blogger eating his words

Original still the best - South Melbourne 1 Port Melbourne 0

South vs Port. One came from the other, and yet the parent has ever outshined its bastard son. One just about did as much and went as far as an Australian team could, the other failed, in its own lesser domain, to take the oppotunities it was granted. Today's meeting once upon a time may have contained some spice, but these days both sides are far from their glory days.

With Port now two divisions below South and fielding a young team, there could only be one winner. South threatened throughout most of the match, and in particular a stylish first half, to absolutely destroy Port . Caldwell got the only goal in the first half, while poor crossing and the usual walk the ball in stylings of South kept Port in the game, and to their credit, they improved sufficiently to trouble South on a couple of occasions, but luck not being on their side they didn't manage to get the equaliser. The game was entertaining enough, but defensively there are still concerns.



Poor picture I know, taken with a crappy camera while the train shook violently, but somehow despite that Crateman managed to get in the photo.

Apparently this was a friendly - South Melbourne 3 Melbourne Knights 1

Perhaps it's because a fair few of them live around Sunshine, or perhaps it's because they've got real high hopes for the upcoming season, but there were plenty of Knights fans at Chaplin Reserve. The MCF even had their 'MCF' and 'Against Modern Football' (whatever that means; a more accurate description would perhaps be 'against post-modern football') banners out. On the flip side the South contingent was very small. A couple of board members, some support staff, an out of action for this game (courtesy of a keeper collision in the Heidelberg friendly) Hamlet Armenian, the odd fan and one grand slam tennis line caller who turned up at half time. Of course attendance by South fans is rarely anything approaching awesome at these things, but this was pretty poor. Maybe they were at the tennis, or still on the forum banging on about Leo. Goodness knows the forum's rarely that lively when there's an actual soccer match to talk about, which is a little bit of a cause for concern.

Anyway, the game itself lacked any real fluency, on a level but rock hard ground. For South, Poutakidis, Diaco and Fernando played the first half, Natsioulas did not play. New South recruit MacDonald scored about 10 or so minutes in from a corner. Knights leveled after the break with Deano in goal. Perhaps a little against the run of play South scored twice late to take the game, with Caldwell providing a good low pass for the third for De Nittis to put away. A number of players from both sides received knocks. Fernando hurt his left knee, but should be fine. New keeper Neil Young collided with Ramazan, the former getting a cut inside his mouth as a result. Danny Miller somehow got a broken rib which made it difficult for him to breathe.

I'm concerned that De Nittis is still being persisted with in a midfield role, instead of his usual place up front. Goran Zoric is a real gem, but will his small stature work for or against us? A pleasing aspect was the hard tackling put in by some players, a very good omen. Not the most brilliant work from either side, but there were enough signs that both will be up there probably fighting for a top four spot. Most noticeable on things to work on for both sides was the back half. South's new look defense is still taking time to gel, but should have enough games in between now and Round 1 to sort most of them out, as well as working on linking up with the midfield. For the Knights, their defense seems a little slow, and a little vulnerable on the counter attack, so quicker sides, like South, may well be some of their more difficult opponents this year.

So now on to Saturday (tomorrow) where a decent squad will take on Port Melbourne at the Hellenic Cup, so that should be worth going to see. On the way home while sitting on a bench at Sunshine station, some nut driving by in a car I presume threw an egg which missed me by about a metre, hitting the rock on which the stolen plaque which contained the names of the victims of the Sunshine train disaster used to be. And also in between Spotswood and Newport stations there is a crateman on one of the buildings (west side). If it's still there by tomorrow might try and get a photo.

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.