It's the away game you have when you're not having an away game - Round 5, Whittlesea Zebras vs South Melbourne (at Lakeside)

Last Time They Met

It was round 23, 2008. We couldn't make the finals, but we could still in theory get relegated. It was Deano's last game, and in the end it was he who saved us on a multiple occasions, earning us a 1-1 draw. He got a standing ovation at the end of what was his final game. Now he's on the books at Oakleigh and on the bench ready to come on just in case.

Preview
We should win really. Of course, being on the bottom doesn't make you a bad team (unless you're Preston in 2009), and the Zebras have looked ok apparently in some of their games, but we should win this. It's Lakeside for a start instead of Epping. Win this one too, and go in with some nice momentum for a huge game with early pacesetters Richmond.

More on Apollo Athletic

I was looking for more info on Floros Dimitriadis (and Apollo Athletic) when I came upon this site. Unfortunately the book in question has not been released yet and will likely not come out in the forseable future. Note also the reference to the local Italian club Savoia, a predecessor of the once great Brunswick Juventus.

I am currently co-writing a book on the history of Greek-Australian soccer teams. The first official Greek-Australian sport club Apollon was founded in Melbourne in 1933.

The three young Apollo club members Martakis, Floros Dimitriadis and Basil Colligas were keen to establish a soccer team and already possessed some soccer experience from the old world. Martakis was an amateur wrestler in Constantinople but also played soccer, Floros played soccer in Cyprus and Colligas in Smyrna. The team was constituted in May 1934 so that it would be ready to compete in the Dockerty Cup competition. A cup competition open to all Victorian soccer clubs.
Colligas chose the name Apollon from the historic Apollon Club of Smyrna. On July 22, 1934 Apollo played its first unofficial soccer match against the Italian club Savoia at Middle Park, Melbourne. This is probably regarded as the first ‘ethnic’ soccer match played in Australia.

Fixture change for Whittlesea Zebras vs South Melbourne

This was meant to be played this coming Monday at Epping Stadium. However, owing to certain troubles that Whittlesea are having at the moment, which includes the inability to use the ground that was once 'theirs', the game has had a change in date and location. The game will now be played at Lakeside, on Tuesday March 31 at 8:30pm, with the reserves starting at 6:30.

From all reports this is still a Whittlesea Zebras home game and not a reverse fixture, so unless you have an FFV pass of some sort, sneak in the through office or kitchen entrances, you will have to pay to get in. But we keep the bar, so drink up!

Vale Jordan Ieremiadis

As reported on the official site, foundation South Melbourne Hellas player Jordan Ieremiadis has passed away. Ieremiadis played for South from 1960-64, and was a member of the 1960 Metropolitan League 1 North championship side, the club's first title, as well as the 1962 and 1964 State Championship sides.

Apollo Athletic - another predecessor of what we have now

This is a partially colourised version of the photo I used to have on this article.
The previous version was hosted on a third party hosting site, which stopped
working. This one has been sourced from the La Trobe Greek archives.

Before Melbourne's urban sprawl was filled to the brim with little Greek fiefdom clubs, before even the days of Hellenic, Olympic, Yarra Park Aias, Alexander and Florina, there was Apollo Athletic, which is as far as anyone knows, the earliest Greek Australian club of them all.

The club was born sometime around 1934, and didn't last much longer than 1935, playing in the 3rd division at the time, and reaching the 2nd round of the Dockerty Cup, where they lost 3-0 to Shepparton East. Curiously, another club calling itself Apollo participated in competition during 1952, but disappears thereafter... and it's late in 1952 that Hellenic is formed... is there any connection? Who knows. There was also one final team using that name, but this was more of an amateur outfit playing somewhere out of Fitzroy/Collingwood calling itself Apollo 11, during the early 1970s.

Apollo Athletic had a mix of Greeks and non-Greeks in the team, perhaps the most notable of which was Floros Dimitriadis. Dimitriadis later became involved with Yarra Park, and through this association was one of the two founding Vice-Presidents of South Melbourne Hellas (the other being South Melbourne United's Des Hamilton). It was also at Dimitriadis' hotel The Duke of Kent that the amalgamation between newly formed Hellas and South Melbourne United took place. Whether it's the same pub as the current Duke of Kent on La Trobe street I don't know, and any information on that is more than welcome. *see comments section for update.

The following information is from a La Trobe Uni pdf I found on the net somewhere.

Athletes and members of the Apollo Athletic Club in the early ‘30’s. In 1934, shortly after its establishment Apollo appears as the first Greek Soccer Club in Australia. In 1935, despite its progress to the 3rd category in the Victorian State Championship, it dissolved mainly due to lack of interest on the part of the Administration. In the front row from left is seen Mr Floros Dimitriadis, the founding member of Melbourne Hellas.

This Song Comes With A Picture

Apparently my little write up for Neos Kosmos English Weekly got a run yesterday... apparently uncredited which is a minor shame, but these things happen, and I didn't really much care for the piece as a whole to be honest. Too optimistic, too much pandering to the 'Hellas is Greek' (no pun intended) demographic and not enough stuff about how awesome I am. Because that's what I do with my spare time: think about great I am. I don't have the links to the two pieces that were supposed to accompany it... they might turn up eventually.


South now and in the future

by Paul Mavroudis

In mid 2004, South Melbourne FC - or South Melbourne Hellas to her fanatical devotees, both Greek and non-Greek - was on the brink of obliteration: financial administrators had been called in, its entire squad had left and most people thought the club was a lost cause. Fast forward to 2009 however, and after overcoming several highs and lows, South Melbourne this year proudly celebrates its 50th anniversary, with a wide range of events remembering the club’s enormous achievements, but also with an eye towards the future.

The club is patiently negotiating with the Victorian Government in regards to Athletics Victoria’s and the Victorian Institute of Sport’s move to Lakeside from its current home at Olympic Park, being careful to avoid the mistakes of previous committees in signing long term contracts which end up costing the club serious money in the long run.

The redevelopment of the club’s home of Lakeside Stadium is crucial to not only the club’s survival, but also its future prosperity on and off the pitch. After many years of failing to make the most of the venue’s commercial potential, South Melbourne has started reaping the benefits of the greatest asset at its disposal.

While the exact details of the proposed $74 million redevelopment remain mostly under wraps at this stage, the details that have emerged point towards South Melbourne entrenching its place in the local area, which it has called home for the past 50 years, and through the various mergers even back to the early days of Victorian soccer.

Beginning with several new pitches, including two with synthetic surfaces – situated near the pit lane buildings near the location of the club’s former home of Middle Park – as well as a new pavilion, the club will be able to bring back a local junior presence for the first time in over a decade, as well as expand and improve the quality of facilities for the club’s women’s division.

Closer to home, while the addition of a running track will lessen the viewing experience of what is still the state’s premier purpose built soccer venue (until the completion of the Swan Street Stadium), the possible addition of a new stand on the outer side and reconfiguring of the social club space will no doubt enhance the overall experience.

South Melbourne FC is one of the Greek-Australian community’s greatest achievements; from a neglected field in Middle Park; to multiple Australian and Victorian titles; and all the way to the Maracana in 50 years. After surviving through the most difficult part of its history, the club appears reborn and reinvigorated, and ready to face the challenges that await it in the next 50 years.

SMFCTV Double Feature!

This week a double feature of SMFCTV, with the first video being the goals from the Preston game, including Goran Zoric's early candidate for goal of the year.



The 2nd part of the double bill is the game against the Melbourne Knights. Didn't believe me that the first half was crud? Well this video includes only a very brief part of it. The 2nd half is soooo much better. The video also includes a bit of Antipodes stall action as well as a post match interview with Vaughan Coveny, who finally got off the mark for this season.

I don't want to jinx them but...

... the under 21s have won 3 out of 4 games, inclduing a 2-1 win against the Melbournre Knights who had been looking good this season having themselves won three games. Francesco Stella looked particularly good.

More games like this please - South Melbourne 2 Melbourne Knights 1

The first half was a waste of time, so there's no need to go over it. Bogged down in midfield. The 2nd half however, we were attacking from the outset. And we looked like scoring, and we actually did score! Twice! And then somehow, the Knights, who had done very little for most of the game to that point, got one back. And it was game on. It was end to end stuff for the last twenty minutes, with a period where we also pegged in our own half, but we held on. The atmosphere was fantastic, there was chanting from both teams, two sets of South supporters going awol... all we needed was for Nunes' shot to have gone in off the post instead of straight back to him, or for Zoric to have iced the game at the death when he had rounded Knights keeper Savas Ozdemir... but three points in the bag is sweet enough, Next week is against Whittlesea Zebras, when or where nobody knows for sure, because of recent develeopments there involving Chicken Men, Local Councils and the continuing saga of the local Italians trying to destroy seemingly every club they have in ther northern suburbs.

Last 6pm home game for the year - Round 4, South Melbourne vs Melbourne Knights

Last Time They Met

South Melbourne 2 Melbourne Knights 2

South did really good they were scoring goals, 2 in fact, and should have had a third except Gianni hit the post when he should have scored to make it three and we had a player sent off (Nunes) and then the Knights scored twice and it finished a draw. It was the best game of the season but I wish we'd won.

Preview
Knights should be at least slight favourites for this; realistically they have some more runs on the board, but the loss of Frakie Lagana evens it out a bit. South has an interesting situation in terms of who to put in and leave out. Sfetkopoulos should keep his spot in goal; he had so little to do last week that it near impossible to make a mistake. Rama's suspension is over and conventional wisdom says your captian must play... so if he comes in, who goes out? De Nittis has not been looking likely of late, and there's the possibility of a shuffle involving Zoric partnering Coveny up front. How much chopping and changing happens depends on how much Michalokopoulos buys into tyh hype of burying a dead opponent the wek before.

South at the Antipodes Festival this week

For the first time in years South will have a presence at this weekend's Antipodes Festival. From what the official site has said, there'll be some players to meet and greet, merchandise to order and/or purchase, as well as memberships. I haven't been to the Antipodes Festival in many years, basically because it's not my kind of scene; not my kind of music and way too many people having a good time for a start, though I might to have a look at what films they're playing. I think Neos Kosmos is brining out special Antipodes issue, and there's a possibility that if James Belias likes my space filling contribution, that I'll have something there too.

Fanatic of the Week - Paul Mavroudis

So we've exhausted our stash of genuine vintage Fanatics of the Week. And I'm bored and dismayed - and just because I'm typing this up on a rainy Saturday afternoon for release on a Wednesday, it doesn't mean that I won't be bored and dismayed at the moment it's published or when you read it.


FANATIC OF THE WEEK

Saturday, 14th March, 2009

This week’s fanatic is Paul Mavroudis who likes the club because, to paraphrase Lift To Experience "we have to, not because we want to".

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NAME: Paul Mavroudis

AGE: 25.

SUBURB: In the Darkness On The Edge Of Town

INTERESTS: 'Football'; the other football; books; alternative 'music'; Wikipedia; collating statistics; blogging; providing highly educational but seldom understood pearls of wisdom on Internet forums; stopping myself from writing cliched serial killer fiction where I annihilate everyone that shits me and handing it in as part of my coursework; public transport; retro gaming; providing constructive criticism of classmates' mostly pisspoor attempts at short fiction; stickers; Fred Negro's 'Pub' strip when it isn't just St Kilda in jokes; a fair few crazy animated television shows; dessert.

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS: South Melbourne.

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Yes. Until the Hellas Fan Club comes in and sets everything right again, back to the way it used to be, in the Beforetime, the Long Long Ago. Soon I hope. Put us all out of our misery.

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
Probably around 9 years old, the home game against West Adelaide in season 1992/93 where we won won 4-2. They were introduced as our cousins from South Australia or something like that, hmm.

WHITE COLLARS OR BLUE?
Seriously, should it really matter?

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
The day everyone realised Acropolis Now was actually farken shithouse. Which is technically not a memory since it hasn't happened yet, as can be seen from this review of Stephen Hawking's 'Brief History of Time', which I did end up reading the entirety of, and not just get bored by page 3, thank you very much John Safran. Not that I understood all or even most of it, but I got something out of it I think, and Carl Sagan's question in the introduction to that book about why we can remember the past but not the future struck a quixotic physical and philosophical chord.

Our ability to remember past but not future also coincides with the arrow of entropy. The reason, Hawking says, is that whenever a memory is made, in either a brain or a computer, the smidgen of energy required to light up a neutron or move an electron is released as heat. Heat ---roiling, chaotic heat--- increases entropy. Memories, then, because they release heat, increases disorder, too. Entropy increases from yesterday to tomorrow. That`s why memories are made in the past --- to Hawking a more convincing explanation than the pedestrian statement that one can remember only what has already occurred." (Newsweek, January 4, 1993.)

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
The 2006 VPL Grand Final, because within a few seconds a whole bunch of people forgot we'd just won a championship and were more interested in throwing rocks at other people who were piggy backing for a day on the fat woman's current club in order to pursue some sort of justice for issues of blood, land, culture and history located mostly in the Balkans and who were also throwing rocks. Halcyon days.

FAVOURITE DEGRASSI MOMENT
The scene where Wheels is for some inexplicable reason wearing a Footscray guernsey.

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
James Spanos. Doesn't even have to do anything to be part of the senior team. Doesn't make mistakes. Known by people who don't even know of the actual players.

FAVOURITE BISCUIT
Arnott's Kingston, the grownups chocolate biscuit.

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Paul Trimboli. Stupid question.

ASTERIX OR TINTIN?
Asterix, but they're both pretty cool.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Oh wow, where do you begin? For starters, I like the lies. The little ones, like why we didn't wear the South Melbourne United heritage strip, to the medium ones, to the big ones, with the claims of 10,000 strong crowds at pretty much every game in the 1980s, because the people making those claims either have dementia or only went to the games with 10,000 people, and not to the games with 800 people against teams such as Brisbane Lions.

I also love the fact that we've never played in South Melbourne.

I love the hypocrisy which pours fourth constantly out of every orifice, especially with regards to the A-League and the AFL.

I love people living off past glories and thinking it's enough to last a lifetime.

I love the fans who see only what they want to see and never what's actually in front of them.

That's just the stuff off the top of my head.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
The food could be better at times.

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
No.

WHY?
Well, the league doesn't exist anymore, so I guess it's impossible to support another NSL team.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME PAUL!
My pleasure.

Off the mark for season 2009 - and how! Preston 1 South Melbourne 7

It was a great win to be sure, but before we get carried away, sure we played well, and finally started actually shooting (and on target too!) but Preston's performance was the most inept thing I've seen in my 16 years of watching the game. There was no heart, no pressure, no method and not even one chance after their goal. It was bizarre. Best on the day were Zoric, for sure, Joseph Youssef , Coveny, O'Dor, and Nunes played probably his best game for the club to date. A much tougher ask next round against the Knights.

So the South Australia Super League has started...

... with some old South Melbourne faces popping up amongst the scorers. Scott Tundbridge and fucking Adam Van Dommelle of all people both scored for the MetroStars (stupid, stupid name) in their 3-1 win against Adelaide Galaxy. What I also want to know is, what's the deal with something like 8 teams (not just in their top flight) having the word Adelaide and an attached gimmick as their name? Don't they have enough suburbs to go around? And what's the deal with the Super League being above the Premier League? You'd think Premier meaning, well, premier, ie; the first, best etc., would be above it. Ah fuck it, Vam Dommelle scored!

Preston vs South live at Lakeside

Someone's put their cojones on the line and managed to come up with this nice little solution to all those who don't want to venture out to BT Connor Reserve tomorrow. The game will be streamed live at Lakeside, with doors open at 4pm, with the bar and kitchen open. That's where I'll be. And before anyone makes the accusation that I'm doing it for the money, I do have a media pass remember - so I could get in and not pay a cent - it's the principle of the thing. They didn't think I was worthy enough to enter last year, let's continue that tradition.

Boutsi's 100th NSL goal

Who could forget it? Marconi needed to beat us by four goals to make the finals. They suffered a setback when Boutsi scored a 40 metre half volley lob over Michael Turnbull. And then he came up with this to bring up his ton, and seal the visitors fate well and truly.

Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? Round 3 - Preston Lions vs South Melbourne

Last Time They Met

I think it was about half way through last year. They won 2-1, avenging their loss at home earlier in the season. The winner was one of those mishit crosses that goes in. Funny that.

Preview
Not that we can't win - we did it last season, and actually haven't lost there since we dropped down to the VPL - but I don't think we will. A good fighting draw is my guess.

Jenny Mikakos and cancer

South receiving the love and giving it out in equal doses. First up, MP Jenny Mikakos says some stuff, about us. the same way Nicola Roxon wastes valuable Federal Parliament time saying how delightful it is to go down to Point Gellibrand and watch the Towners beat those rapscallions from Box Hill.

Visit the relevant VicHansard page

Then we also got into the news... or at least were able to out it on our own webpage, that we donated some of our players, from both men's and women's teams, time and some merchandise to cheer up some kids who are sick with cancer. Now cancer can be funny, but this time no jokes from me. Great stuff by whoever thought of the idea, and to the players and club for making it happen. People interested in the organisation involved can head to Challenge's website for more details.

Needed more shots of Victorian soccer

SBS TV bit on the tip top relationship between the FFA and the state Federations. According to FFV Prez Tony Dunkerley anyway. 

Fanatic of the Week no.2 - Anthony Christodoulou

Ok, so we didn't have any responses about the whereabouts of Helen Menidis. Last roll of the dice here with the only other Fanatic Of The Week file we managed to have access to.


FANATIC OF THE WEEK

Friday, 29th June, 2001

This week’s fanatic is Anthony Christodoulou from Noble Park who likes the club because it is much more than a soccer club, it's a way of life

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NAME: Anthony Christodoulou.

AGE: 19.

SUBURB: Noble Park.

INTERESTS: All sports, soccer, going out with friends, meeting new people, watching T.V, having a good time & watching South Melbourne play.


FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS: South Melbourne, Endeavour Hills Soccer & Sporting Club, Liverpool, Olympiakos, Celtic, Barcelona, Kaiserslautern, PSG, Ajax & Fiorentina.

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Yes I am & will be till the day I die!

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
6 years – South vs Heidelberg, 1988/89 Season at Middle Park – What a debut!! >; P

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
Probably falling through the players race at Bob Jane Stadium after we beat Carlton in the 98/99 Grand Final, then spending the night in hospital, only to return the next day to Bob Jane for family day!

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
Every single game I watch is memorable, but one that really sticks out, is when we beat Olympic 2-0 with 9 men, 4 days after losing to them 6-0 at Belmore.

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
I’m a keeper myself, so I have to say Petka. But all the boys are top guys.

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Charlie Egan.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Everything, from the administration, to the fans, to the team, to the stadium itself. Basically the whole set-up.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
I suppose the only thing I dislike is all those ‘critics’ up in the stands, but what can you do, each person has their own opinion, so you just have to build your bridge and get over it >;P

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
Hahaha….. HELL NO!!!

WHY?
I live and breathe this club, as anyone who has supported this club or is married knows, once your with South Melbourne, your with South Melbourne for life & until death do us part!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME ANTHONY!

SMFCTV Episode 3

The truth about Coveny's South Melbourne stats

It has been widely circulated that Vaughan Coveny had played some 247 odd games, and 88 goals for South. The information was collated by myself from OzFootball stats and used for Wikipedia as well. It was brought to my attention by John Kyrou that these stats were incorrect, and that Vaughan has in fact played 278 league matches for us, and scored 97 goals. While I can't quite pinpoint the place where I made the error, my suspicions turn towards not counting finals matches. Happily though, the error has been corrected, and Horsey only needs 3 more goals for his South ton.

SM United Jibbed

Where was our only real heritage strip?

That was disgraceful - South 0 Bergers 1

The 50th anniversary game of the century! Round 2, South Melbourne vs Heidelberg United

Last Time They Met
Preview
I've been too busy giving the bourgeoisie hell in working class writing this week to type out something meagingful. Ok, that's not entirely true. Just on Friday afternoons. And spent the rest of the time doing the following
1. Arguing with Hellas fans
2. Trying to get smfcboard opened up
3. Arguing with Melbourne Knights fans
4. Dropping a subject I was somehow enrolled in twice.
5. Adding heaps of people on Facebook.
6. Knocking back invitations to join some crew in Mob Wars
7. Telling that summer league agenda spouting twat Teo Pellizzeri to answer the damn question.
8. Getting reeady to join the Offset 2009 crew.
9. And other things.
Anyway, I provided plenty of stuff for this week, so get off my back. Should be a good game but. We'll be wearing the red and white jersey of South Melbourne United this week. The question on everyone's lips though: will there be hooped socks? It's the hooped socks that make the original South Melbourne Hellas strip complete and well balanced aesthetically.

Footage of the AFL's new ad filmed at BJS

There've been some misleading photos in the press about the new AFL ad, and what it will look like. We here at South of the Border have actual footage of the filming which took place at Lakeside, and which the AFL will use to destroy not just the A-League, but soccer itself.

Reardo Luka's gone... and someone's not well pleased about it.

It's business...

Reardo LUKA did not have a chance to play for the senior team at South Melbourne FC in the 2009 season. Better saying it, the club's managers did not give him a chance to play for that team he strongly dreamed and genuinely believed would be involved.

After he broke his leg playing for SMFC in 2007, Reardo worked to prepare himself non-stop in both ways, physically and mentally, to challenge the existing 'high standard in that standard of players' and the 'sharp requirements' for professionalism in this category of soccer, looking forward to a magnificent season with SMFC.

My harsh criticism goes to the club's managers that did not value his huge efforts to recover quickly and his hard work to get back on track for the sake of this club and for sure to give a positive contribution for this club.

Looking after their club’s interests, an interest to gain big things and other profitable deals, momentarily out of reach, the managers ruled out Reardo, demolishing his sincere belief that the club would give him a chance… and if he didn’t work as they expected in the club’s preseason games, he would be out of this squad and surely seek other options.

Now, Reardo has registered himself to play for Werribee Bees SC in 2009, a second division team, as he seeks to gain some ‘confidence’ lost after that terribly bad news from his previous SMFC managers… and by playing close to home, he looks to fulfill his family duties as well.

Good luck SMFC and cheers!

Fanatic Of The Week - Helen Menidis

This probably breaks at least some aspect of copyright and privacy laws, and probably lacks a bit of decorum, but there's two things I'll say about it before we get into the nitty gritty. Firstly, it's still on the net, and therefore I can use it as long as I make valid comment; and secondly, you people can do an online search with my name and see my halcyon days of making faux-teenage intellectual comments on Monsanto and Trent Croad, and the other Paul Mavroudis who's the president of Melbourne's 'Thessaloniki Association'.

Anyway, while searching through the ancient archives of South Melbourne websites past, I found an interesting semi-regular segment called Fanatic of the Week. Naturally, everyone claims their loyalty to South forever in these things... but where are they now? Are they still supporting the club? Unfortunately the archives don't work in their entirety... so this segment will last for three weeks or so. Shame really... some people are getting off lightly. We'd love to know if these people have jumped off South and onto some other bandwagon and professed their new undying love for that cause - or whether, against the odds, they're still hanging round the joint.

In it's own way, this is a similar idea to the Pumpkin Seed Eaters 'Poulimeno of the Week' (which should be 'Poulimeno of the Month' seeing as how it's a monthly show... and perhaps should have been 'Poulimeno of the Fortnight' seeing as it used to be a fortnightly show, but I digress), but with the added possibility of some genuine redemption for the individual and South itself, if they're still following this great club. And now on with the show; this edition first hit the internet airwaves Friday 8th June, 2001.



FANATIC OF THE WEEK

Friday, 8th June, 2001

Welcome to 'Fanatic of the Week'.

This week’s fanatic is Helen Menidis from Ringwood who misses Ange Postecoglou as senior coach of the club.

See below for full fanatic profile:
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NAME: Helen J Menidis

AGE: 20

SUBURB: Ringwood

INTERESTS: Soccer, shopping, travelling and sleeping

FAVOURITE SOCCER CLUBS: South Melbourne


ARE YOU A MEMBER OF SOUTH MELBOURNE?
No, but I will be next season

WHAT AGE DID YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST MATCH?
My family and I have always followed this club and I watch all the games on TV, but my first ever game attended was the Major Semi-Final 2nd Leg against Wollongong this year. I also attended the Preliminary Final against Sydney Olympic and the NSL Grand Final at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney.

FAVOURITE SOUTH MELBOURNE MEMORY?
Meeting all the players and staff behind the team.

MOST MEMORABLE GAME WATCHED?
Our win at Olympic Park because I was there and it was much better than watching it on TV.

FAVOURITE CURRENT PLAYER?
All of them. I see them a lot and they are a friendly and down to earth bunch of guys.

BEST SOUTH MELBOURNE PLAYER EVER?
Ange Postecoglou because he was a fantastic player and a legendary coach. He had the passion that champions are made of as a player and a coach, and took the boys all they way to give them the great reputation of being Australia's Most Successful Club. I miss him as a coach!

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Everything

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE?
Nothing

WOULD YOU EVER SUPPORT ANOTHER NSL TEAM?
Never

WHY?
Because they are the team I strongly support, and I will always cheer them on through good times and bad.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME HELEN.

SMFCTV episode 2 2009

South of the Border Confessional - Goal Weekly

Confession time again... I have not been a frequent purchaser or reader of Goal Weekly. I took its role for granted, and justified not buying it because I could get most of the news I wanted on the web. But this was the totally wrong attitude to take. Therefore I'm going to make a commitment to become a regular reader of the magazine, in support of the fine work put in by its contributors and staff to provide Victorian soccer fans with regular print news and opinion.

Under 21s start season off with a bang

Now at the time I was at the Limerick Arms up the road eating food that other people had paid for, but while I was doing that, South's much maligned under 21s scored a 3-0 win over Dandenong. How about that.

2009 SMFC Membership experience - plus a mystery solved!

Rather than stretching it out over a few days as per last year, we're doing this all in one go. The actual obtaining of the membership was an absolute delight, especially when compared to previous years. One line in the social club for people who have already paid for theirs, and another at the usual tent for people who hadn't. Simple and effective, at least for those of us who love paying for memberships as soon as possible.

In the picture on the right, we have some of the goodies that come with a South Gold membership. The keyring has been described as 'officially without leave', and one has to agree. It is stunning. It works well with my 3RRR keyring, which doesn't come with a South membership. There's a sticker, of which I had already swiped one from the office during a trip there, and also have another two from the Jersey Presentation Night. One is on my car, and another on my 5 subject notebook. There's also a nice lanyard... for some reason the membership card (not pictured) was not equipped with a slot to attach the lanyard to, but you can get a hole clipped by your friendly security guard or boardmember waiting at the social club entrance on match days. I use my lanyard for attaching my usb key... card can go in my wallet.

But it's not like I need a membership card anymore anyway, now that I have an FFV Media Pass! Oh yeah, thanks to being the FFV Writer In Residence's official lackey, I now have the opportunity to not only visit opposition grounds for free, but also take advantage of media facilites, attend press conferences, and all sorts of other benefits hitherto unrevealed to me. And the solved mystery? Groundskeeper Argiri calls me 'president' because of my classy hat, which I'll have to make my signature now at South games. Maybe.

Shit game, shit result - South Melbourne 0 Dandenong Thunder 1

The first half was mostly slop. The second half was less slop, if only because Thunder were sitting back on their lead and let us have more of the ball. One could whinge about Rama's farcical own goal... but that would be taking away credit from the Thunder who, while not even remotely technically brilliant, harassed and fought hard for most balls and deserved to be one up at the break though we did hit the post. Second half we had some chances, two missed handballs in the box, an advantage play denied and some bizarre fouls and non fouls... but to be fair, we barely deserved a point in the great scheme of things.

Our strength lies in playing the ball on the ground, as was seen last week against Heidelberg. Once the space is shut down though, instead of sticking to the game plan, panic sets in and we take up long ball tactics. Despite the obvious problems we caused their defence when we ran at them, we didn't stick with it consistently, and started lofting long balls wide and high. We lost too many 50/50 contests, and weren't at the fall of the ball when set pieces dropped in the box. Neither side will get to the finals based on today;s performances; the difference being - and its one we shouldn't forget in a hurry- is that's about as well as Dandenoing Thunder are going to play, whereas we have do have the potential to play far, far better than that... we've seen as recently as last week,

SMFC brings you live scores via Twitter

No more using potentially dodgy Asian and European betting sites for your South score updates! If you're a Twitter user head to http://twitter.com/smfc and do your thing. Or you could just turn up to a game. See the real thing. Just saying is all. Mildura Vasili is excused of course. 

I'm feeling kinda old

I remember when an adult ticket to to the VPL used to cost $10, and a concession ticket $7. So, unless you're a member, and why you aren't is beyond me, because you should, adult tickets now cost $12 and concession $8. I suppose this is their way of trying to further dissuade people from coming to the VPL. 

South Dandenong declares independance from Australia

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

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

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

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

Footy's Back! - Round 1, South Melbourne vs Dandenong Thunder

I had to look at last year's crappy template to see how I did these things.


Last time they met

Never met

Preview

Dunno about this one. I reckon it's going to be a fiercely competitive league this year, at least until half the teams stop paying players. Dandenong Thunder have a half decent squad and an experienced coach despite his failures in finals series. It's their third stint in the big league, and their first since 2001; their two previous stays in the VPL saw them relegated withing 2 and 1 seasons respectively. They've looked solid by all reports during the pre-season, but this is the real thing now. South knows this too despite its own more than solid pre-season. Apart from Caldwell's season ending injury and Blatsis' permanent status as everyone's favourite non playing player. I'd love to be listed on the teamsheet just once, hell even as part of the squad, which will bamboozle future historians looking at the data. Anyway, no predictions, because no one holds me accountable, and it's just so cliched.

Why in Quetzalcoatl's name are people applauding this?

Ok, so I can get the part about how people are enjoying having their egos stroked, furiously. But take a step back from the initial good feeling, and you realise the guy has next to no clue what the fuck he's on about. Either that or the work experience kid (or more likely one of the uni labor students who work in MPs offices) got into the liquor cabinet.


South Melbourne FC celebrates 50 proud years with a big win

by Michael Danby MHR
Monday February 23, 2009
from Hansard


Mr Danby (Melbourne Ports) (6.53 pm) - On Saturday night I celebrated with my friends at the South Melbourne Football Club the opening of the 2009 season and 50 years of tradition of the great South Melbourne Football Club. I want to congratulate President Leo Athanasakis and his commilla on a glittering event marked by a beginning to the year, with South Melbourne winning the Hellanic Cup, defeating Heidelberg United by 3 - 0. It was a good beginning to the year and I hope the club will have continuing success under its coach, Michael Michalakopoulos.


Now I don't what the fuck a 'commilla' is, but I think it's married to the Prince of Wales. As for 'the event marked by a beginning to the year', I'm not sure that even Kevin Rudd's 'education revolution' can save us from words strung together in such a manner which might make intuitive sense to some clod out there, but will probably leave most people struggling to remember proper English syntax after encountering it. Ahem.



It is very interesting to see the development of the South Melbourne team. Its new captain is a young Turkish Australian called Ramazan Tavsancioglu. My friend, Martin Foley, the Member for Albert Park, and I are working very hard with the S.M.F.C on the refurbishment of the South Melbourne ground - the Bob Jane Stadium - with Victorian Athletics, the Victorian government is undertaking a $74 million proposal for the refurbishment of the whole ground.


Ok, so now the money's gone up from $50 million to $74 million. I take back everything I've said so far, and will say in my next paragraph. Just gimme, gimme, gimme!


Ultimately, South Melbourne deserves its place in the A-League - it will get back there as it must get back into national competition. It is now exclusively hooked up to the local community in training youngsters. It is not simply an ethnic based club anymore and South Melbourne will get its rightful place in the A-League when it is recognised as a more widely based club. When a new round of clubs are being asked to join the A-League, S.M.F.C. should be considered on its merits.


I don't know which youngsters being trained by us he's referring too. Surely not the ones out at Caulfield though. Unless he's talking about one of the junior girls teams... but somehow I don't think so. And where the fuck did he find this connection to the local community? Unless he means himself and Foley. And then he goes into this A-League thing... while we have unlimited space for me to go over this whole thing again, we sadly don't have enough people with unlimited attention spans.

To be fair, the version on the official Hansard transcription reads better, if only because it is not the result of something written by a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters, but the sentiments to me are opportunist and typical of the hobnobbing efforts of local MPs within their constituencies. Maybe I've just read too many of Shane Maloney's Murray Whelan books. Or maybe I recall when we had the patronage of an even more prestigious political advocate, who pissed off when we he didn't need us anymore, and an important lesson was forgotten somewhere along the way.

Yarra Park never stood a chance

Looks like the collective amnesia has shifted from South Melbourne United to Yarra Park Aias. I'm sure in another 50 years we'll sort that out too. I've ordered the jersey Rama is wearing, but hopefully the other two become available for purchase as well, seeing as how there has been a fair bit of interest in the Hellenic strip in particular.

SMFCTV now has its own youtube channel

Visit and subscribe to www.smfc.tv to watch new and classic episodes (ok, there's only one episode up there at the moment, but it''s called being optimistic; you should really try it some time), and if you have any bright ideas for the show, contact the clubs multimedia/communications wing at multimedia@smfc.com.au. Or just spam them with crap. In the end it's really up to you.

Lost South Melbourne Interviews part 1 - Peter Buljan

ON THE COUCH WITH PETER BULJAN

Goalscoring hero Peter Buljan shares his feelings “On the Couch”

Peter this is your second year with the club after a fairly difficult first season. This season you are currently one of the clubs leading goal scorers. What has been the difference?

After having a difficult season last year, l have mentally changed the way I am going to approach playing this season, and when I scored my first goal of the season in my first start it gave me extra confidence and things have progressed from there.


Peter when you joined South Melbourne the team was in fulltime training. This season they have reverted back to part-time. As a player does this make much of a difference in terms of fitness and playing levels?

I think it does because it means less time to work on your game, but in turn it is very hard for clubs these days to pay players to be fulltime. But in saying that Wollongong won two Championships with a team that was part-time, so it may not make that much of a difference.


Peter, sport in general in Australia seems to be going through a roller coaster ride, with some Sporting clubs asking there players to take pay cuts. What do you think the general public wants and needs to create interest in the sport?

It’s very hard to say, soccer has been trying to work this out since the National League began, but I do think it needs to be advertised and sold on mainstream television a lot more. If the game isn’t televised or even publicised in the mainstream media then it makes it a lot harder to attract corporate dollars (sponsors) and therefore the game itself struggles.


Peter, you have had two opportunities to trial overseas at clubs in Germany and in Belgium. What differences and experiences have you brought home to help you with your Soccer career?

When you train and play it has to be at 100% and that there are no friends in the clubs, it is very ruthless and very competitive, so you must stay strong at all times. I’m a true believer in the fact that you play the way you train. The main difference between Soccer here in Australia and overseas is that the game of Soccer in Europe and South America is professional. Even the lower leagues are full time and that is there full time job. You can’t compare it to a part time competition.


Peter, as in sport and in life, there are always highs and lows. What have been your highs and lows with your time in the National Soccer League?

One of my biggest highlights was being voted the leading goal scorer and player of the year for two consecutive seasons at the Canberra Cosmos. Being given the opportunity to further my career with the South Melbourne Soccer Club has also been a highlight for me. The lowest point of my NSL career would be when I joined Perth Glory and I suffered two bad injuries to my quadricep and ankle, which kept me out of the game for 7 months.

South Melbourne TV is here!

Do you remember last year, when I lamented the lack of coverage of the real local game, yet more so the lack of using what we had at our disposal to do it ourselves? If you don't, follow this link for a reminder. Anyway, it's way overdue. No one knows how long it will last or how often it'll come out. The match footage is a little creaky at the moment. And we so desperately need a tripod and/or microphone. But it's here. It's farken here! SMFCTV! Interviews with fans, players, match footage, done by ourselves. No more waiting for others to pick up the slack! Great work by all involved.

Jesus Christ on a crumpet

The Pumpkin Seed Eaters are back. Fuck. Me. Dead. The link is on the sidebar somewhere down there. They're doing it on a monthly basis now. You should know by now if you like their thing or not. I still think they miss the point somewhat. Not sold on the use of Kenny Rogers either. It will be interesting to see how they avoid controversy and legal action this time around.

Oh yeah, the major sponsor...

... was also announced at the season launch. Miroamer has stumped up the cash for another season, making them the first company to go for the major sponsorhips in consecutive years since... well, I'm not sure, but it's been a while. Good to have them on board for another year, after it looked like it probably wasn't going to be thus at the AGM last year. George Parthimos, who was on hand to represent the company, made a quip about some of the complaints they've been getting from their German customers, that the signal drops out when they're driving at over 180 kph. Those crazy Germans.

The suit faction is in there somewhere

Yes, your correspondant dressed up for the occasion. Photo by Pavlaki.

Holy mass of dead insects

Or, I guess I just wasn't made for these times, again,

Or, a slightly jaded version of what went down at the season launch, with the order of events probably messed up bigtime.


What a night! It was the most awesomest, magical, drunken... hold on, that's actually someone else's story. Let me start again.

I'm being driven to the ground in a board member's car. He's got recent AC/DC playing at a decent volume, and though my fingers gently mimic their dinosaur rhythm section, that music's not really my forte. Neither is the Greek music put on, but it's his car, he can play what he wants. And it's not like everyone can get pumped up by listening to Manic Street Preachers 'Mausoleum'. So us people with a more defiantly miserable taste in music sometimes just have to make do. But it's more about the company than anything, which was as usual was quite enjoyable. Especially in regards to a phone call made which we can't elaborate on sadly, for fear of alienating and offending one of our regular readers with its delightful wickedness.

So we get to Lakeside, and we park the car through the side gate, making us like bigshots. After repeatedly being called "Proedre" (president) by South's groundskeeper Argiri over recent months - which was added to in its bizarre backhanded compliment fashion by certain alleged South of the Border fanboys, but that's a story for another day, maybe when I figure out where sincerity ends and irony begins - but it does make you feel like someone important. But by doing it that way, I missed out on walking along the candle lit path in the social club... the right way at least.

After some squandered time which I'll never get back standing around doing not much, I went into the office where people were putting the finishing touches on slides and rundowns... but it was probably best that I leave that area, and so I did. Eventually people start arriving and we chit chat and eat finger food. There's certain stunners there you'll know you'll never see during the season, and the same old diehards who are pretty much always there. And then we get called finally to go in, an hour after we're supposed to have started. Greeks. Go figure.

Seating for 300, with apparently 296 of those spots filled. Walking through the spaces between tables is tough, but manageable. The television screen is at one of the rectangular complex, near the players tables, and the majority of the Clarendon Corner crew here tonight as well those who might be considered mere associates of said crew were at the extreme opposite end of the marquee. Not sure which cake eating boffin came up with that arrangement or why. I pop the sticker in my pocket... more than one person makes the mistake of sitting on their programme and membership brochure.

Speeches are made, and videos are played, choc full of corn which has its fans but not everyone can survive on a diet of pure polenta. And so we were served what I suppose they called the first course, the appetizers, a selection of dips and antipasto on which there was little room to place on our overly crowded tables, and therefore nigh to impossible to fully enjoy. No matter. Soon it was time to tug at the heartstrings some more, by asking people to buy a membership. While I can admit the fact that there were plenty of wives and girlfriends there last night there who wouldn't necessarily turn up to a game, surely everyone else would have or would soon purchase one anyway. But you probably can't take anything for granted anymore... a lesson learned the hard way.

Rama, Horsey and probably Stevie O'Dor were called up to don the three heritage strips we'll apparently be wearing this year. The thinking behind it was that we were celebrating or acknowledging the triumvirate which made South Melbourne Hellas... and everyone lapped it up. Except me, because I'm a trainspotter and I know the truth, or about 95% of it anyway. Hellenic were represented by a striped jersey, United by their amnesiac red 'V', and Yarra Park by ostensibly the main strip we'll be wearing this year which is copy of a 1983/4 Buffalo Cup jersey. So what did happen to the Yarra Park Aias jersey? I'm betting they just didn't know what it actually looked like. Hell, apart from the alleged colours, I don't know either. What were those colours? Yellow and black. Probably best to move on right now.

Time to auction off the players. The auction was split into two parts, with defenders and goalies first and the midfielders and forwards second. Smfcboard purchased Shane Nunes for a lazy gorilla, and bumped up the prize probably on a few players. After a bit of a break - was that when we had the main course? I'd been hanging out for that since lunchtime, and unfortunately I didn't get the chicken. I got veal , which was ok, but the question on every hungry person's lips was, where was all the food? The serving sizes were that modest, and sure the food was good, but seriously, where was it all? And don't get me started on the deserts. How was I supposed to eat my pannacotta without a spoon? It took about 15 minutes to get one, while I sat and watched my little chilled delicacy slowly warm up.

Now where were we? Oh yeah, the auction. The second part saw higher prices, with Fernando winning the title for highest pricetag, somewhat surprisingly perhaps with Horsey back at the club. Every player was given their shirt by a former player, who was asked to say a few words, but usually declined. Jimmy Armstrong told a Scottish joke, Jim Pyrgolios had a spiel in Greek (pretty much the only Greek spoken in an official capacity on the night - interpret that as you wish), and Ulysses Kokkinos was introduced as the Hugh Hefner of Australian football. The hearty welcome for him made me feel uneasy. How is it possible that a convicted cocaine trafficker and shameless user of women can be so loved, but Con Boutsianis be so reviled?

Former President George Donikian got his chance to hold court once more. Seeing him previously outside the tent, I was struck by how much less he looked like George Donikian in person than on television, if that makes sense. His speech inspired most, but I thought he rambled on too long without really any distinguishing remarks. His groupies didn't seem to mind though, one telling me how much she loved that man. It's about the closest we came to celebrity on the night. One wonders which semi-famous people will crawl out from their rocks when the anticipated really big 50th anniversary bash happens. And with the raffle, silent auctions, and constant and infuriating noise of people talking over the speakers, that was pretty much it.

The highlight for me was. Rama getting named as captain. It's a deserved accolade, which also showed to all those people who have already made their minds up about this issues, that perhaps we're not the ethnic enclave they think we are. In the programme provided his ambition was not to play A-League, improve as a player or go overseas; it was to earn the respect and admiration at South that player like Trimmers are held in. While the eras are different, and he doesn't have the skill, the fact that he wants to achieve his goals here, that he wants the responsibility of being captain is tremendous.

I got to hold the Hellenic Cup trophy, which is nice and heavy. There's a photo of me and one of the local larrikins somewhere out there in the digital realm. What is it with people acting like dickheads in the city these days? In the cab on the way home some dickhead deliberately struck the driver side mirror. You could see him lining up the shot. What was the point of that? Maybe I need to be like everyone else and drink more, than it'll all make sense. I had one glass of wine and people's heads turned. You may be surprised to learn that I had a good time overall. And this morning I had a 25 minute spell on my $5 exercise bike, while everyone else was fucked up. So there.

Women's Hellenic Cup Result - South 0 Bergers 4

Missed this game so dont know what happened to see such a reversal in the scoreline from their previous meeting where South won 1-0. Disappointing for the girls I'm sure.

South crush Bergers 3-0 to claim first silverware of the season

I got there at what I thought would be 15 minutes late, only to see the Lalor-Oakleigh game for third place still being played out. Lalor Florina won that game on penalties, and showed a fair bit for a state 3 team. Apart from the first 20 minutes or so, where Heidelberg did better with the benefit of a squally breeze, South dominated the game at the times it mattered. Zoric's turning inside out of his opponent on the left lead to first goal, with Coveny coming and putting away what last year would have been another wasted opportunity. So 1-0 at halftime.
Second half all over them when we needed to be basically. A Heidelberg freekick hit almost timidly into the wall let to a lightning counter attack, with a two on one situation be being put away with no fuss by De Nittis. After that the game lost much of its edge. South took off some of its key players, and Heidelberg had little clue about how to break down South's defence, but also looked quite disinterested, like being 2-0 down didn't matter at all. Some people were concerned about getting players off with so much time left - truth be told, if we couldn't hold a 2-0 lead with all the momentum and 25 minutes to play, we probably didn't deserve to win it. Heidelberg did end up with one good chance at this stage of pulling one back, but Vassiliadis, who was given far too much time and space on this occasion, had his dipping shot saved onto the post by Tommich. Icing on the cake was Fernando hitting a curling 25-30 metre shot after a slightly comical bit of play where the Bergers keeper was left temporarily stranded outside his area, only for his defence to eventually clear, but a vintage Nando shot ended the contest as we knew it. Or something.

Zoric was man of the match, while Petrovic was subbed early due to obviously not being up to it on this occasion. We kept possession quite well, generally made good overlapping runs, and controlled the tempo of the game. Whoever said Coveny was finished might want to re-think their comments after this game. Heidelberg looked uncreative and flat for most of the game. They have a decent team, but maybe they've been overhyped by a few people. Clarendon Corner was in fine voice for much of the game, even storming the changerooms for a bit. There was no chanting from the Alexander side, and the infamous snake charmer only managed to blast away once on his clarinet. All in all, a good day.

Great Moments In Scaffolding

So I was out at the club yesterday, to help move some chairs from the top of the grandstand down to the marquee on the field - a pretty tiring and boring task which had to be done sometime - but before that I was given the chance to take a ride in the scissor lift being used to repair the scoreboard. Now I'm scared of heights amongst multiple other things so I initially politely declined, but eventually I caved into peer pressure and we went for a little ride, first up, then around from the back of the scoreboard to the front in order to measure the perspex panels in case we decided to replace them. By then a fourth person wanted to come up in the scissor lift, so we went down, picked him up, and went up again. When we wanted to go down again however, the machine decided there was just too much weight on board. Manuals were read, weight redistributed and buttons pressed, all to no avail.

So while trying to figure out what to do, we watched the lads train on the other side of the marquee... and waited some more. Eventually someone decided to give Niki from the office a buzz, to come and work on the manual controls - I'm not sure why, but that didn't seem to do the trick either. Eventually a combination of Niki and boardmember George Triantos managed to make the manual controls work, and we were able to dismount. Except for the fact that I got to go on a scissor lift joyride around the BJS outer. Of all the things that I thought I could experience as South fan, anything involving scissor lifts didn't seem to the enter the equation.

Oh and the scoreboard? It's in its best shape since like, forever man.

Hellas sells out to multiple enemies in the name of solvency

Well as most of you are aware, recently South's been making a tidy sum - at least we hope so - in hiring out the ground to both our real and imagined enemies, including such worthwhile organisations as the FFV (summer league and VPL finals), the Victory (their youth team) and the FFA (W-League). Now we've apparently gone one step further, by accepting moolah from our oldest and most shameless competitor, the AFL. Add to that there being an ad for financial services company Colonial First State also incorporating footage of rugby training and running up the terrace steps and you start wondering why didn't we make the most of this asset until so very recently? It does your head in.

 

Sneak peek reveals gridiron theme to new AFL promo

Chris de Kretser

February 17, 2009 12:00am


THE AFL's promotional ad this season includes an American football theme and is filmed in a soccer stadium.

Brisbane Lions strongman Jonathan Brown will run through a team of linebackers in full regalia, with refs wearing black and white stripes ready to call the shots. 

Bob Jane Stadium was taken over for the shoot yesterday by a convoy of trucks carrying props and film gear. 

Brown looked on as his stuntman stand-in bowled over a field of burly gridiron tacklers. 

In the morning, Hawthorn star Lance Franklin, St Kilda big man Justin Koschitzke, and North Melbourne's Daniel Wells also filmed segments. 

"It's a closed shoot," declared AFL brand manager Jane Ballantyne. 

She suggested yesterday's filming was only one part of the ad and that the league preferred to release it in its entirety to the media.

Hellenic Cup final this Saturday against the Bergers

A reminder that trhe Hellenic Cup final against Heidelberg is on this Saturday at the revised time of 4pm (changed from 6pm to accommodate our season launch, which starts at 7:30). That game, and all the other finals including the women's team final also against the Bergers, is at Northcote City's John Cain Memorial Park. This reporter doesn't know yet if he'll be there, but we'll see I guess.

Andrew Bourakis joins Perth SC

Former South midfielder Andy Bourakis - who through no fault of his own will be forever remembered at the guy that got hit by a flare against the Victory - has joined WA side Perth SC (aka Perth Italia). Thanks to Mildura Vasili for that info.

South stroll past Northcote in friendly

There was another Northcote vs South friendly last night, South won 5-0.

Get to know Sebastian Petrovic

As we fast approach the start of the 2001/02 NSL campaign, (can you feel the excitement people!) we here at South of the Border thought it'd be great to get to know one of the youngsters set to make their mark in the famous Blue and White this season.

Full Name: Sebastian Petrovic
Nickname: Saba
Date of Birth: 05/10/1982
Age: 18
City & Country of birth: Melbourne, Australia
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Positions Played: Midfield
Left or right footed: Right
Eye colour: Blue
Hair colour: Blonde
Height: 180cm
Weight: 74kg
Do you wear glasses/contacts: No
Representative Honours: -
Medals/Trophies won: -
No. of seasons with South: 1st
Clubs played for: Port Melbourne SC, South Melbourne Youth
Overseas experience/trials: -
At what age & how did you get involved in soccer: 6 years old - older brother played
Junior clubs: Springvale United, Caulfield United, Altona City
Career Highlight to date: Playing Melbourne Knights in Charity Cup at Bob Jane
Ambitions: To be the best
Favourite actor: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton
Favourite actress: Halle Berry, Julia Roberts
Best movie ever made: Titanic
If you could be a character from a movie, who would you be?: Batman
Favourite comedian: Jim Carrey
Favourite magazine: World Soccer
Favourite band/singer: Tony Braxton
CD you couldn't live without: -
Favourite food: Asian, Indian
Favourite drink: Lassi
Favourite alcoholic drink: -
Favourite TV show: Soccer Scene
Favourite TV Character: Jerry Seinfeld
Favourite cartoon character: Homer Simpson
Most watched sports program: Fox Sports News
Favourite overseas player: Sylvan Wiltord (France)
Favourite overseas team: Red Star Belgrade
Most admired Australian (local): Lleyton Hewitt (Tennis)
Most admired Australian (OS): Mark Viduka
Hardest opponent (player): -
Hardest opponent (team): -
Most admired sportsperson: Michael Jordan
Major influences: Diego Maradona
What is the best advice you've received - and from whom: Work hard, harder, even harder - Sam Myer
Do you like to cook? Garden? Paint? any hobbies? Gamble, golf, horse riding
What is your dream car: Ferrari
What do you eat before a game? Pasta
What do you eat after a game? Pizza
If you could invite anybody to dinner - living, dead, fact or fiction - who would it be? Nelly Furtado (singer)
What is your worst habit? Drinking coffee
Do you have any phobias? -
Soccer superstitions: No.13 jumper is bad luck
What do you do when you're not training/competing? Relaxing, eating
What is your most prized possession? -
Funniest team-mate: Chris Jones
What do you wish you could do, but are bad at? Golf, tennis
Describe yourself in 3 words: Motivated, funny, serious
As a child, did you play any other sports? Athletics, football, basketball, tennis
Did you ever consider a career in anything else/sport? Actor
Do you follow any other sport? Athletics, Washington Wizards

Oakleigh 3 South Melbourne 2 Hellenic Cup Youth game

A bit of poor form on my part, but one of our readers posted some videos hidden away in the comments of an earlier entry, when really the site could do with some more colourful things aside from text. The footage below is from a Hellenic Cup youth game between our boys and Oakleigh's.

Con Boutsianis talks about taking free kicks

Con Boutsianis was on SBS last Sunday, on the Lakeside Stadium it self, talking about various free kick techniques, with a touch of the proto-scientific to make even more interesting. Features some great freekicks and freekick takers from around the world, including one of his own gems, and South's 50th annivesary gets a mention as well.  Watch here.

I'm going to the Jersey Presentation night. Are you?

Iy's on this Saturday, 21st February on the Lakeside surface underneath the marquee. I mean, are tickets even available anymore? This sold out last year, and one would expect it to do so again., Call the club and book your place I reckon. And bring cameras so you can be in photos with players and spare time supermodels and shit.

Family Day 2009 - The Good, The Bad and The Raspado

So where to start? Well, I'm sure the club would wihs it to be otherwise, but once again the lack of new merchandise to show the people wasn't great... neither was the inability to pick up membership packs. Now, not that there were not quite a few people signing up for memberships, especially the kids (that free ball is a hit once again this year) but imagine how much more merch we could have moved, if only we had even just some samples to show off? Equally disappointing was the lack of kids sizes and no hats at all, which was a bummer on such a sunny day, as they would have sold like, well, hats on a really sunny day.

Anyway, enough whingeing from me, because on the whole it was a great day. There were plenty of kids and plenty for them to do, there was a steady stream of people buying memberships, but of course, the most popular item was sno cones (which are apparently called raspado in Spanish). Me and Cindy's little popcorn stand did quite well considering the kind of day it was, but that little sno cone machine went through something like 15 bags of ice. Once again I didn't win the raffle - this time for one of two grocery hampers - but that was to be expected really. Word is that numbers for the season launch on this Saturday are looking pretty good too. Equally pleasing was the fact that people are taking advantage of the ability to purchase memberships online this year. So while it can be self-righteously satisfying to harp on all the bad things, it does pay to remember that the club is steadily making progress in a number of areas.

South Women also through to Hellenic Cup final

I've been a little negligent in this regard but the South Melbourne Women's team have also booked their place in next week's final, after wins against Brunswick City (13-0) and Heidelberg (1-0). In a neat double header of sorts, they'll be playing Heidelberg next week, as will the men's team as well. While the finals matches are slated for next Saturday, there may be a change in the time or even possibly the day (to Sunday) to accomodate us because of our season launch/jersey presentation night which is also on next Saturday. News at it comes to hand.

South through to Hellenic Cup final after bruising win over Oakleigh

South Melbourne is through to the Hellenic Cup final next week after outlasting Oakleigh Cannons with a 3-2 extra time win. South were up 2-0, before Oakleigh leveled the game. Scorers for South were Fernando with one and Coveny two, including the last minute winner. The joy will be tempered though to what appears to be a serious and potentially season ending knee injury to Nathan Caldwell, after he was crudely tackled by former South defender Robbie Wynne.

Vaughan Coveny lobs the ball over the Oakleigh keeper to give South a 2-0 lead. Photo by Pavlaki.

Hellenic Cup semi tomorrow against Oakleigh

Details finally confirmed by someone, thanks Tony. Game is against Oakleigh at 3:30pm at Bentleigh Greens once more.

Come on you 'Roos!

One of our fellow South fans was over in Japan for this match, but I don't think he's responsible for this banner, which admitedly made me :smileyfase: but also explains perhaps why the Australian supporters didn't get on tv much.

Hellenic Cup Q/F - South Melbourne 1 Bentleigh Greens 0

Once again I was not there, but apparently Steve O'Dor got the goal for the good guys. Don't know who were up against next or where, but as usual will inform everyone out there in the real world as soon as possible.

Family Day on Sunday

Family Day is on this Sunday, 11am-3pm. Will there be memberships and merch to pick up? I certianly hope so, but going on our past track record I doubt it for the latter. The club will also be collecting donations for the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.

ZOMG! South Melbourne in the press! Not riot related!

Well, maybe not the press exactly, but certyainly at least on the screen. Not sure where they bgot the highest ever goalscorer information from though. Trimmers has nearly 30 more goals. But hey, it's a start.

Vaughan Coveny returns to South Melbourne

February 10, 2009 12:00am

VAUGHAN Coveny, South Melbourne's highest ever goalscorer, has returned to the State League club after four seasons in the A-League.

New Zealand international Coveny spent nine years at the club in both the NSL and State League. 

He scored 88 goals in his 247 matches before moving on to A-League clubs Newcastle Jets and Wellington Phoenix. 

Coveny was a member of the South Melbourne team at the FIFA World Club Championships in Brazil in 2000.

Hellenic Cup Quarter Final Tomorrow

After some confusion - which is not my fault because they had the fixtures all wrong, and I was merely seeking clarification - South Melbourne will be taking on Bentleigh Greens at Bentleigh Greens at 6:30pm, Thursday 12th. Let's hope it goes a bit better than last year's attempt, where we were knocked out at 1-0 at this stage by the same team.

2009 squad announced

This is the 2009 squad... as announced on the official website. Sfetkopoulos is a goalkeeper, signed from Altona East and is quite solid, having seen him numerous times out at Paisley Park. Foschini is a youngster from from Oakleigh/Victory youth, and a signing confirmed from a while back. I'm not quite sure who Torrens and Payne are, but Radojicic has been impressing in trial games apparently. Some number changes as well with De Nittis going to no. 10 from no. 9, Tommich to 1 as you'd expect, Petrovic(h) loses his no.8 to Horsey, and a probably a few others I've missed. The number 16 vacated by Tansel Baser is still vacant, and the question of who's going to be captain is still up in the air. Will Coveny or Rama get it? You'd think Vaughan would have to be the favourite at this stage, and that Rama will have to wait another season at least for the honour. 

1. Tomi Tommich 
2. Shane Nunes 
3. Rhodri Payne 
4. Steven O’Dor 
5. Con Blatsis 
6. Eddie Cetkin 
7. Nic Curtis 
8. Vaughan Coveny 
9. Joseph Youseff 
10. Gianni De Nittis 
11. Yusef Yusef 
12. Sam Torrens 
13. Francesco Stella 
14. Ramazan Tavsancioglu 
15. Fernando De Moraes 
17. Stiven Mrkela 
18. Danni Radojicic 
19. Goran Zoric 
20. Nathan Caldwell 
21. Stefan Sardellic 
22. Matthew Foschini 
23. Sebastian Petrovich 
24. Andrew Sfetkopoulos

Will wonders never cease

Das Libero... it's back. With new stuff. Yeah, I can't believe it either.  Maybe I'll write something for it. 

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

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

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

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

Distant relative of Bamboo Harvester signs for South

There goes the youth policy. And the balanced budgets. Oh well, if he bangs in the goals like he's supposed to, then who am I to complain. Actually the entry title reminds me of a Maurie Fields joke. I didn't care too much for Maurie Fields' style of humour to be honest. I'm prepared to weather any and all hatemail that I get for having that opinion. 

South Melbourne 12 Moorabbin 0

South now through to the quarter finals, against who I don't know, but probably on Thursday at the same location. Since I wasn't there today, let's do something else to pass the time. According to the wikipedia entry, the word Moorabbin is believed to have come from the Wurundjeri Aboriginal word for resting place. There used to be a fully fledged Moorabbin soccer club called Moorabbin City, but they sadly went broke several years ago. There also used to be a Moorabbin Football Club, whose death can directly be linked to its ground being taken over by the St Kilda Football Club. Man, when they had cake in the boardroom that day I was there, the smell was just unreal. I should have asked where they got it from, because it looked so good. Just when you think you're entertainment spending is set to take a break, Elbow announces a sideshow. There goes another $60, when I eventually purchase a ticket. At least it doesn't interfere with soccer this time.

I love chocolate cake

After several months of speculation, South of the Border has been informed by a distant relative of William Felt, that Vaughan Coveny, 247 game South veteran and member of the back-to-back and World Club Championship sides, is coming back to Lakeside for the club's 50th year. A fan favourite, Vaughan is also just 12 goals shy of completing his league ton for Hellas. With the defensive line being shored up and a plethora of injured midfielders coming back, Coveny's signing would be the icing on the cake, providing valuable experience and firepower up front. Time to break out the Horsey plakat again? Well, not until the brainstrust in the rich chocolate cake with fresh cream boardroom at South say it's true. Any minute now... 

Left: Vaughan Coveny in happier times for the club, donned in the heritage strip adopted for a game or two in 2004. Below: A cake likely resembling the one that South Melbourne boardmembers enjoy during important club meeting. Not pictured is the fresh cream which can be doled out at a diner's pleasure, nor the sweet, intoxicating aroma of high quality cocoa. 

Ancient Hellenic history

"Hellenic: The first roots". Year and location of photo unknown. This version of this image is a replacement for an earlier (inferior) one which was taken down by the third party site which posted the image. I found this version - which is a laminated poster - in a drawer in the old social club.
Back row: Con Papapantos, Con Papas, Chris Picoulas, Alecos Nanos, Tony Karagiannis  (listed here as Carayiannis), Bill Gizoris, Charlie Moshakis, Costas Zinis/Tzinis.
Front row: Fotis Antipas, ??? Paleogiannidis, John Tsarouchas.

Petkovic hero for Sivasspor, saves three penalties

Last time we checked in with Michael Petkovic, he was scoring a near length of the pitch goal. This time he's in more familiar territory for a goalkeeper, saving three penalties in a cup shootout for Sivasspor against Galatasaray. Sivasspor also lead the Turkish Super Lig halfway through the season

Sivasspor topple Galatasaray in Turkish Cup

Sivasspor became the first side to book a place in the Turkish Cup semi-finals with the league leaders beating Galatasaray AŞ 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the 4 Eylül Stadium.

Late dismissal
Having drawn 1-1 at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in the first leg, Bülent Uygun's side lost their theoretical advantage within eight minutes of kick-off when Arda Turan scored for Galatasaray after robbing İbrahim Dağaşan. However, the Anatolian side responded on 30 minutes through a brilliant long-range strike from Yannick Kamanan. Sivasspor's Mehmet Yıldız was sent off deep into extra time but there was to be no winning goal.

'Cruel victory'
Australian goalkeeper Michael Petkovic then saved shoot-out penalties from Arda, Ümit Karan and Yaser Yıldız, with Hakan Balta the only scorer for Galatasasary, while Mamadou Diallo, Pini Balili and Kamanan scored for Sivasspor after Ali Kurtuluş missed their first effort. "Today there was good competition on the pitch throughout the 120 minutes, and although it is a cruel victory for us – as it always is with penalties – we are happy to be in the semi-finals," said Bülent Uygun.

Result from last night's Hellenic Cup game

South Melbourne 1 Kingston City 0, Caldwell goalscorer.