Iraq! Iraq! Makedonia! More mingling with the mainstream

Trundled down to Swan Street yesterday for the Socceroos match against the Saudis. This post will likely have much the same content as this post last year, so if you're not keen on me repeating myself, you can skip this article.

Ah, the semi-dead rubber. That is, it was a dead rubber for the Socceroos, but for the visiting Saudis, there was everything at stake - they needed to win. I suppose there was some incentive for our side as well - apart from fringe players seeking to impress, it'd be fair to say that if there was one team that we'd rather not progress to the next stage, it'd be the Saudis, rather than Oman or Thailand.

Quite a decent crowd in attendance, about 25,000 people, quite good for such an occasion with a kickoff also pushed back an hour - on a school night! Plenty of kids in the crowd, too. If there was a rule about no club colours, it didn't get through to some. I had my South beanie on, and while most of the crowd were arrayed in some sort of green and/or gold merchandise, there were the usual suspects in their club tops, both A-League and overseas.

Credit to the bloke with the vintage Manchester City shirt with Danny Tiatto's name on the back. That was one bloke who'd obviously been following that team before City's Arab ship came in, when they were a team that went up and down several divisions and were just another side of no consequence. Speaking of Danny Tiatto, he was awarded some sort of accolade at half time, but the only club mentioned was his junior side Bulleen. A shame, as that Melbourne Knights side he was such a crucial leg chopping part of, was probably the best Aussie club team I've ever seen.

The Green and Gold Army may just as well have not been there for most of the match. I was in the corner about a bay across from them, and barely a peep was heard from their direction until Archie Thompson got some sort of whisper in his ear while he was warming up in the first half, and then nothing again really until we scored that barrage of goals at the end. They were put to shame by the Saudi away end (though really, it should be Saudi away corner, as they were shoved into the metaphorical crawl space on the Yarra side of the stadium). At least the Saudis had an excuse for eventually losing their voice - their team got done like a dinner.

At least the Mexican wave and Aussie, Aussie, Aussie chants didn't come in until the very end. I felt also that the crowd couldn't read the game. Fair enough, they booed what they considered were soft fouls, the occasional milking of a foul and the obligatory rolling on the ground. But we've been in Asia for something like 5-6 years now? Time to just get used to it, maybe even play along with it. Me and Gains were just laughing at both the Saudi antics and the crowd's reaction. The WWE should look into marketing to this crowd, they fell for that heel routine like nobody's business. The absolute best moment was when the Saudi player felled himself on the verge of halftime, when they were 2-1 up. Out comes the stretcher, eventually - of course within ten seconds of being stretchered off, the bloke gets up. Crowd goes nuts. Classic stuff.

Rudimentary clearances and interceptions were being cheered like it was Simon Prestigiacomo making a last ditch spoil on Warren Treadrea in his prime after Presti's deceptive closing speed made up a five metre gap. Case in point - David Carney came on late, had the ball kicked into him in a failed attempt to dribble past him, and the bloke behind me burst out with 'classy stuff, Dave!'. Indeed every player was a champion to this bloke. No questioning of the need to play a bunch of 30 year olds, or why Mark Schwartzer flew halfway around the world for his match, or why we played with four centrebacks, why we couldn't figure out the Saudis' fairly obvious plan for most of the match, why we couldn't hit a five metre pass etc. That's not to say that the Socceroos didn't improve as the game wore on, and the stereotypically mentally fragile Saudis collapsed in tremendous fashion. And it was nice to be at an exciting and entertaining national team fixture - thanks for nothing, Pim.

Still, as entertaining as the game was, crowd watching was still just as good. There was the bloke with the A3 sheet of paper with Arabic text scrawled in permanent marker. Not sure if his message got on screen. There was the young woman with the dyed blonde hair and tight shorts, wearing a Saudi flag around her shoulders - good thing there were no mutaween there. And then there was was the bloke with the modern Iraqi flag, who seemed to enjoy the win more on two fronts. They may have got rid of the sectarianism that held the national league back, but its heartbeat is still kicking on at some level in the present. Which is more than can be said for Richmond station, which had no electricity in its station building before kickoff and was still pitch black at 11pm.

Iraq! Iraq! Ma-ke-do-ni-a! This fan got two wins for the price of one. Photo: Gains.

Friendly vs Gully tonight cancelled

Apparently the pitch is stuffed. Your correspondent was going to be at the Socceroos match regardless, some of you may have intended heading down there. Our next game therefore, will be against the Hellenic Cup tie against Malvern on Saturday at the new time of 4pm.

A brief digression on only football people running football

Only because it is an issue which won't die. From page 196 of Josef Vondra's 1979 work, Hellas Australia = Ellada Australia.

Perhaps one of the most articulate explanations of the enthusiastic support received in those days comes from Anthanasios Hatzianestis (editor of the Hellenic Herald). 'I would like to tell you a story which to me is what soccer is all about. The story is about a Greek who is very big on the soccer scene in Australia now, and how he came to be involved with the sport. He told me that that twenty years ago, he wasn’t at all interested in soccer. Then one day, friends took him to watch a game; he was amazed at what he saw. He said he saw Greeks shouting and screaming  and it was obvious to him that Greeks went to soccer matches for other reasons than just to watch the players. They went to the game to release their emotions in the security of a crowd who spoke their language and understood. He realised then that soccer was a big part in the emotional well-being of the Greeks. I remember his words: “If soccer is so important to the Greeks here in Australia, then I’m going to devote myself to soccer.” He did just that.' 

South 1 Kingston 1

A very dubious penalty got us out of jail last night. Kingston were the better team, and should have scored at least one more. Fernando was back. Marinos Gasparis is out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury sustained during a midweek loss against the Georgies, hoping to be back for round 1. Looked a bit toothless going forward, not good. Here's to the keeping it positive crew, who are betting that a poor pre-season will mean a good regular season, the inverse of our last few years.

Highlight of the evening was a thin crescent moon in the western sky, bright Venus nearby, and a little further out, mighty Jupiter.

Peter Skapetis off to QPR

Don't know much about this player to be honest - but wish him all the best nevertheless.

Article from QPR site.

Sky Sports article.

A heartfelt message to the people at Western Suburbs

Hi, how you doing? It's been a while since I was last at your venue. Sure I was there on Wednesday evening to watch my South Melbourne play, but last Saturday's Hellenic Cup match day was the first time I've been able to spend an extended period of time at Ralph Reserve for several years.

I see you have a little covered terrace now. Very nice. Sure it faces the setting sun, and the rain will get through the gaps during the winter, but it's better than what a lot of clubs have. And your souvlaki, while a little salty for my taste, was still good value for $7. Throw in a soft drink and it';s an even tenner, no need to fiddle around with change. And the lady working in the canteen said she'd made it extra special for me. But despite all your improvements, I was most astounded - and as you'll see soon, disappointed - by one of your lower key acquisitions. It appears you now have a pinball machine tucked away behind the pool table.

But not just any pinball machine - a Family Guy pinball machine, a table I haven't played yet. It looked a bit sullen sitting hidden away in that corner. But it caught my attention anyway. Surely it couldn't have been as bad as the Pirates of the Caribbean table. Was it worth my time and money? Sadly, no. And not because it was a poor table - it's because you hadn't even bothered to turn it on. How can you have a pinball table and not have it on?

It's hard enough to find a pinball machine these days in Melbourne, thanks to the gradual death of video game arcades across Melbourne (except for those ones allegedly on Russel Street which are allegedly just a front for drug dealing, allegedly) - and most of those offer the same stupid music or dancing games or one on one beat em ups.

Back in my day lost weekend at Melbourne University, when I wasn't trying to lead John Stockton and the Utah Jazz to NBA Jam glory, I was across at the pinball machines - Dr Who, Indiana Jones, some blasted fishing one, Last Action Hero. At the old Playtime on Bourke Street, they had that soccer with the moving goalie, and sometimes he worked, sometimes he didn't, and one time he wasn't even there! Oh, and the dollar coins I threw into that slotted abyss at Highpoint! Those dreadful Star Wars tables, the legendary South Park table with the flushing toilet, the too easy but logical Monopoly table and the tolerable because it was the by then only one left Elvis table.

Um, where was I? Oh yeah. Good folk of Panellinios. I am a sad case, yes. That is why I hang around soccer grounds where there is scarce interest from even the most diehard of soccer fanatics. But during that down time of half an hour on Saturday, while Heidelberg and Brunswick City warmed up, the former with a slimmed down Tommi Tommich, after he allegedly dropped 20 kilos after allegedly being dumped by his girlfriend - wouldn't it have been better for me to get out of the sun and away from the old men, and wasted some idle time, and maybe even earned a replay on Family Guy pinball?

There's a reasonable chance I will still be the same sad case next week. Will you have your pinball machine on then? I'll have a dollar spare just in case.


yours,

Paul Mavroudis

Professional sad case and pinball aficionado, despite my poor aim and reflexes

Hellenic Cup fixtures. Changed. Again.

Word has come through that our Hellenic Cup schedule has been changed yet again. Rather than playing Kingston next Thursday, we are now playing them this Saturday at 7:00PM.

We are trying our very best to keep up with these ceaseless fixture changes, but it's not easy.

Schadenfreude? What schadenfreude?

Normally, we here at South of the Border steer clear of A-League issues unless they have something vaguely to do with South. Not this time though. Following on from the mess that is the Gold Coast United situation, expectations were high for Clive Palmer's appearance on SBS' World Game program - yeah it still exists.

And it did not disappoint! This was material well in the tradition of Australian soccer comedy - no matter what your new dawn or bitter stripes may be, this stuff deserves a Logie. Look out for:

• As politically incorrect as it may be, simply how huge Palmer is. Luckily I was watching this on my little Hitachi, and not on my widescreen Sharp.
• The 'Come Play' world cup bid scarf. Facetiously outstanding.
• The accusations of rampant corruption directed at player agents.
• No mention of Miron Bleiberg at all.
• Deflecting all attention away from his own failures.
• The A4 sheet of paper he keeps looking at. Kinda like a certain person at South Melbourne AGMs.
• His 68-0 remark.
• His allegation that he was asked to dump the Gold Coast and become involved with a Western Sydney franchise
• His attacking of the overpaid bureaucrats and foreign lackey coaches.
• The chutzpah (to use a term Frank Lowy would appreciate) in calling FFA CEO Ben Buckley a 'non-football' person.
• The way he just would not stop talking, and the deer in headlights approach of the SBS team.
• Inferring that there is mass dissent among other A-League owners.
• His idea that somehow denying Fox Sports live access (by blacking out games within a city hosting a game) will mean a larger television rights deal.
• The implication that other media bidders have been blocked by the FFA from showing an interest.
• In general tearing apart Fox Sports.
• Inferring that the FFA's treatment of North Queensland Fury owner Don Mathieson lead to him being run of town and to his divorce!

Seriously, do check it out, it's worth it. It's what public broadcasting and Australian soccer are supposed to be all about.

Take whomever, whenever, for whatever reason

Melbourne Heart are off to some sort of pointless Hawaiian invitational. And they've padded out their squad for this trip with an assortment of VPL players, including South's new recruits Jason and Glen Trifiro. While I'm sure it'll be a lovely opportunity for them, I can't wait until one of the brothers does a season ending injury ala Joe Keenan playing for Adelaide United during an injury replacement stint.

2012 Hellenic Cup campaign kicks off this Sunday

South kicks off its Hellenic Cup title defence on Sunday against Bentleigh Greens. Venue is Kingston City's The Grange, time is 5:30. I'll be heading out there to catch a couple of matches before that. Looking to make an appearance on Saturday, too, at the North West component of the draw out at Western Suburbs. Should be able to get home before Star Trek Voyager starts.

Defensive midfielder Dimitri Tsiaras signs on for 2012

Friendly against Western Suburbs tonight

Inside the cage at Ralph Reserve, kick off at 6:45PM. Be there, and be square.

Saudi Arabian national team to use Lakeside

As rumoured among alert and/or bored members of our local soccer community, the Saudi national team will be using Lakeside for their preparation for their upcoming 2014 World Cup qualifier against the Socceroos on February 29th. Their use of the ground will consist of training sessions and a practice match.

When will this practice match/friendly be played? Don't know. Will it be open to the public? My initial mail says yes, but who knows? Who will be the opponent? This is where it gets fascinating. I've heard Malaysia, or Paraguay, or New Zealand's national teams will be flown out.

At one stage, even our very own South Melbourne Hellas was touted as a possible opponent! Now wouldn't that be something?!

Qu'est-ce que c'est ?

This blog links to us. Their description of their link to our site - What is this, Old Soccer? Does Ben Buckley know this kind of of subversion going on?

2012 Mirabella Cup entries open

Much the same format as last year. In the press release I was forwarded, there was no mention of whether our beloved A-League brethren would be participating this year.

Our youth system is not working

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2012 Fixture updates

Been a little bit of adjustment since these first came out. Notably 3pm home kickoffs changed to 5pm... our round three home match against Green Gully switched to an away game... and two Friday night games, against Southern Stars and Richmond.

South Melbourne - the team for the working class!

At least that's what coach Gus Tsolakis in thinks in this article from FourFourTwo. Apart from the very occasional frappe (sweet with milk, thanks), I don't drink coffee, so I don't know why latte drinkers get such a bad rap.

It's all so quiet

Been a bit quiet recently on here. That's partly to do with the lack of news, which has been a league wide issue. Guess that's what happens when you push back the season by a month. I've also been busy catching upon OzFootball work I've neglected over the past four years.

Still, they tell me that it's been a punishing pre-season for South's 2012 squad. Hopefully they have something left in the tank by the start of the season.

A plea for patriotism from the unpatriotic

In last Thursday's Neos Kosmos, tucked away in the sports pages, there was an editorial cum letter from a Melbourne Heart fan, Dimitris Konteleon. In this piece, he lists the reasons for his supporting the Heart - their colours match his first love Olympiakos, and he wanted to belong to a club here in some fashion.

Calling himself a Heart member since their founding, he goes on to lambaste Neos Kosmos' main rival, Ta Nea, for ignoring Heart entirely, and focusing exclusively on the Victory. The insinuation is clear - that Ta Nea's owner, the Greek Media Group, in turn owned and controlled by Harry Stamoulis, who also happens be a Melbourne Victory shareholder/owner, is deliberately starving the Heart of coverage.

Kontoleon goes on to talk about how discussions he had with one of Heart's admin personnel, a Mr Kentel, which included measures designed to attract members of the Greek community. He came out of these discussions slightly disappointed, as there was no follow up, though he was glad that his idea of regional games was taken up, as well the handing out of free tickets to youngsters.

He finishes up by talking about the quality that Heart has on the field, hopes they finish in the top six and that their coach is in the top five coaches in the league, if not the top one, (with a probably unintentional nod to Brian Clough). Somehow, when you have only ten teams, finishing in the top six is still considered a significant achievement.

To some of his other points - Heart played a game in Morwell because every club had to play at least one game in regional areas. Despite Morwell's soccer past, Heart still managed to get less than what most South games in the area would get back in the day. As for calling himself a member, it just goes to show how far this new notion of membership has carried - there are no members at A-League teams - only season ticket holders. Still, that lie will persist, another victory of marketing over reality.

What really grinds my gears with his letter was what was all too predictably absent. Where was South Melbourne? Where was Heidelberg? Where were all the other tinpot Greek community clubs?

As a reluctant nationalist as the very best of times, I'm uncomfortable with making appeals to patriotism in the name of South Melbourne, or indeed, Heidelberg or other once high profile Greek backed clubs across Australia. So I seek to turn the focus away from peasant nationalism to the sense of community. After all, there are many opportunities to be Greek outside of soccer clubs in Melbourne.

What I, and I imagine that many other South fans would have liked to have seen happen, is to have been proven wrong. That when the club was in its greatest hour of need, that people wouldn't abandon what they perceived to be a sinking ship. That a sense of belonging, of community, even of duty would have prevailed instead of the bandwagon cliche that has attached itself to the Greek-Australian nationalism of convenience.

So many people put so much money into this club, so many hours, to build it up from nothing to something remarkable, in spite of its many faults. And these people that have turned away from the club are ignoring that sacrifice, one that was made by people that they likely know.

Also confusing is Kontoleon's assertion about the need to attract more people from the Greek community. As a mainstream franchise, why should Heart seek to isolate ethnic groups like that? As much of a furphy as Heart targeting Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs was their apparent targeting of fans of the former NSL clubs. Every man and hos dog knows that those left at those teams are few and far between on all but the most special occasions.

It's a fair bet to say that most of the Heart's support is made up of Victory bitters. People who for whatever reason supported the Victory or went to their games, until such time as there was an alternative that was even remotely more pleasing to them. Sure, they may have picked up a few odds and ends of people from a club like South, who were able to convince themselves that the Heart are an entirely different ideological beast to the Victory, but there's no real benefit in targeting such a small spectrum of soccer supporters.

I've often wondered about the notion of club ownership and belonging - not in the sense of being a financial member, but that 'sense' that the club belongs to you and vice versa - and I've always been flummoxed by the notion that there is more scope for that sense of ownership to exist at something like an A-League franchise. While arguments have been made as to why people can't or couldn't support one of the ethnic teams - some of them quite sensible - I have not been able to understand this new found sense of increased ownership when there are heightened significant barriers to the club's management structure, less history to attach oneself to.

That lack of history, politics and specificity may just be the lure though. A clean start, and less responsibility for a club's success or failure. No clubhouse, no trophy room. And the illusion that you're at the forefront of something new and exciting. But we're now in the era where even the local Greek press, whose priority should be local Greeks and their institutions, are more worried about, in a sporting sense at least, those entities established to eclipse the social place of our community organisations.

Twenty years ago it was a fight between South and Heidelberg for press coverage. Now it's a fight between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum franchises on our back pages. Says something about the Greek community and its sense of loyalty and kinship in this matter.

Plumbing the depths of upper lower middle class pursuits

So bored during this extended off-season. There's things I could be doing I suppose, but instead I took up friend and once off contributor Chris Egan's suggestion of going with him to the Australian Open tennis. The other suggestions were Melbourne Museum (which I've done to relative death) and Melbourne Heart vs Perth Glory (I think you see the problem there).

I'm not a fan of tennis. I know the names, reputations, basic tactics and approaches taken, some of the controversies, but since I abandoned the clumsy television endorsed nationalism of my long gone youth, I've felt little connection to the players, especially those to whom the media attaches a greater cause. And besides, most of the tour takes place in another place and at godforsaken hours.

I'd never been to the tennis before. And on this hot, clear skied day, I felt most sorry for the little red headed child with the pale skin who was with his mum. Like us they couldn't get in to the court Casey Dellacqua was playing on. On a day like that, it was quite possible that someone of his complexion could spontaneously combust.

So we instead traipsed over to the next court where eighth seed Agnieszka Radwańska was taking on American journeywoman Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The first two sets were all about the American who racked up huge numbers of winners and unforced errors. Eventually the Pole came through in the third set to win.

Then we watched Stanislas Wawrinka against Benoît Paire. Wawrinka swept through the first two sets, we got bored and moved over to the Dolgopolov vs Jones match. Also an anti-climax. The gits starting the Mexican wave seemed to be having fun though.

Discussions on Australian soccer history and the cultural place of Perth Glory in Western Australia were more interesting to me. I wished I could have talked further about American football with the Packer supporting tourists sitting in front of me.

Was able to avoid for the most part those decked in Cronulla Capes, as well as their swarthier brethren in blue and white and those in red and white checks. Couldn't avoid some dreadful line calling however. One was so bad that even I saw it from the other side of the court. Also, apparently Tommy Haas is still playing.

It's also a lot noisier at a tennis match than what you see on television. Don't think I'll make it a habit of going to this event. There's not enough blood in this sport. Players get cramp, pull muscles, get tired, dispute line calls, but there's no sense of risk or danger, no genuine edge. At least the ticket didn't cost me anything.

Something vaguely to do with South tomorrow, hopefully.

Summary Edition

Can't be bothered reading the whole of the available South Melbourne material available on the net? Take this shortcut by looking at Pitch Invasion remembers the good and and not so good times of Hellas.

It was a marathon alright

In a bold fixturing move, the A-League decided to play five games in a row on a working day Wednesday, one after the other, starting in New Zealand and ending in Perth.

Day 2 at the SCG was what cricket is all about. Minus the rain delays, of course.

People have begun posting so-called strong rumours and inside information that a merger between South and the Melbourne Heart is on the cards, sooner rather than later. Cue bored and aimless speculation of a weary minority.

Despite his protestations, it was evident to all that Ross was not comfortable with Rachel's relationship with Joey.

I thought Melbourne Heart was supposed to have been broke by last September. People had sworn they'd even seen the paperwork.

Angela's ex-husband comes back into the picture, to tell her that he plans to remarry. He also wants to have his son, who is in Angela's custody, to be his best man at his wedding in Los Angeles. Somehow this becomes a pretext for the show to have a California special, bringing along the entire cast, with the requisite beach montage letting us marvel at Tony Danza's physique. The episode was to be continued.

I thought the A-League was supposed to be dead by now.

For reasons that escaped me, The Fonz was sporting a beard.

Whatever happened to that bloke who went by the moniker Western Greek? He used to rock up to our games dressed in exotic football jerseys based on the colours of the opposition, as part of some superstitious gimmick. He went over to the Heart, said he'd still follow us, and hasn't been seen since.

That 70s Show is just a Happy Days remake with marijuana. Discuss.

I wonder sometimes - despite the loss of 90% of our supporter base since the end of the NSL, are there still people supporting this team who are doing so only because they think our return to the top flight is imminent?

The Simpsons golden age is so long ago that it is but a distant memory. They could have stopped ten years ago, perhaps even five years ago, and that golden age would still have been deemed characteristic of the show's output. Now they're fishing for plotlines in the lives of Rod and Todd Flanders. Good luck with that.

How much have I backed myself into a corner, for the sake of a probably phony ideological purity, by resisting not only the charms of the A-League, but also of almost all overseas football?

While The Cleveland Show is for the most part a successful and funny spin-off, there is a meanness that has been added to Cleveland's character that is troubling to me.

The Hellenic Cup released its draw yesterday. Within a few hours, they released an altered version. In about a month's time, the annual pre-season public transport and walking trudge to the south-east begins for me again.

2012 Hellenic Cup Fixtures now out

Not up on their website just yet, but our 2012 Hellenic Cup group stage fixture is now available. Fewer groups, and probably higher calibre competition because of that - but also because the state leagues this season begin very soon after the VPL season, and thus those teams won't be in the early stages of pre-season.

All games at Kingston.

Sunday 19th February, 5:30, vs Bentleigh Greens

Sunday 26th February, 7:00, vs Kingston

Saturday 3rd March, 7:00, vs qualifier

Top 2 from group progress to quarter finals.

Bye bye balls

In 2008 fans received these balls as part of a merchandise push, and they're still available to junior members who sign up and such. Last year at the Lakeside re-launch, members who signed up got Coca-Cola branded balls. Which was convenient, as I was finally able to get them pumped up and flogged off to the children of two South sell-out relos of mine who I see maybe once every 18 months these days.

Cool story bro.

KB's Korner feature on the new Lakeside

'KB' hosts a sports segment on Mondays on 3XY Radio Hellas 1422 AM (in English) on Monday afternoons at 5:30. Branching out into the big bad world of online video, here KB takes a look at the Lakeside opening.

Four More Years! Four More Years!

Another year gone by on the blog. Least amount of posts in a calendar year, but still kicking on.

From the beginning of the year, thanks to Walter Pless and everyone who made the blog's trip to Hobart so enjoyable.

Thank you to The Kiss of Death, whose infectious enthusiasm kept the blog ticking over. Too bad you didn't get around to doing your end of season roundup, but I understand the reason why. Much praise also to everyone who provided photos, or had them used by me. I hope I provided proper attribution.

Thanks to the organisers of the Hellenic Cup, whose inability to maintain a coherent and up to date website meant that this blog was the only place for people to get even a semblance of what was going on, thus getting us some heavy off-season hits. Thanks also to Jim Marinis for the unintentional lols and resultant hits.

Kudos to Mia Hayes, erstwhile of the FFV, who thought it fit that I should have access to a media pass in my own right. Costa from Goal! Weekly for letting me write in his paper; and to Southpole for having such poor internet access combined with superfluous social and sporting commitments that I was able to write on state league soccer for the aforementioned paper.

Thank you to every reader both South affiliated and non-South affiliated, especially those who left a comment at some point. Some notable mentions: Soccer-forum.net's Needledown for eventually getting the bee out of his bonnet; and Krizar, for discussing similarities and differences over a quiet drink.

The South Melbourne Hellas Hattrick crew. Most of us are slugging it away in divisions four and five, but in our own way we punch above our weight.

It's always a pleasure to spend time with Gains and Steve from Broady; the bus rides, train trips, quiet dinners and weekly stories starring Greeksta made the season that much more tolerable.

And of course, Ian Syson, who points out tics in my writing that I never seem to see for myself.

Review of John Maynard's 'The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe'

This review first appeared in Goal Weekly. It's a pretty sloppy review which probably doesn't do the book justice, but I do hope people give it a chance (use any book vouchers you got for Christmas if you must), as there's several important stories it has to tell.


There are plenty of people out there who will tell you that sport and politics should not mix. And yet throughout John Maynard's The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe: A History of Aboriginal Involvement with the World Game (Magabala Books), for many of the Aborigines involved in soccer, the two are impossible to separate.

Make no bones about it, Soccer Tribe is an important book. In large part this is because it seeks to cover new ground in an uncharted part of our soccer history, and attempts to link the game to the broader Indigenous struggle for social justice. Soccer Tribe's best sections are those which merge the personal with the political, recounting the important players of the past, and the social and political obstacles still in place preventing more Indigenous Australians from taking up the game.

In the 1950s, when Charles Perkins, John Moriarty and Gordon Briscoe emerge on the Australian soccer scene, Maynard showcases the role that soccer played in this trio's overcoming of social disadvantage and their subsequent entry into the political and public sphere. The self-esteem gained from their success in the game, and their treatment as equals by the Continental European migrants who had come to dominate Australia soccer by the early 1950s was crucial to their political awakening. The late Perkins recalled that soccer:

“brought me into the migrant community where I found great satisfaction, no prejudice, no history of bad relations, no embarrassing comments or derogatory remarks, they welcomed me into the fold and I've been there ever since”

Also crucial to their political awakening was that all three travelled to Europe to try their hand at soccer careers. Most Australian soccer fans would be aware only of Joe Marston and his appearance for Preston North End in the 1954 FA Cup final. But Moriarty, Briscoe and Perkins were just as pioneering in their endeavours, though they mostly played for high ranking amateur clubs. There too, they found an acceptance among the English that was wanting in Australia.

Harry Williams, the first Indigenous player to play for the national team, also gets his due recognition. A powerful advertisement for what soccer can do for Indigenous people, Williams was part of the groundbreaking 1974 World Cup squad. As Aboriginal activist Warren Mundine noted on watching Williams play in that tournament, 'with his big afro hair, he was a big inspiration to us all, because in those days only a handful of us played the game'.

Maynard also dedicates several sections to current and future Aboriginal stars of the game. This is one area where some may consider Soccer Tribe to have slipped – and it's a somewhat inevitable failing in a book seeking to celebrate Indigenous achievements in soccer – as Maynard is prone to over-hyping the talents and potential of several contemporary players. Some readers may query the merits of some of Maynard's appraisals.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the book is the significant section on Aboriginal involvement in women's soccer. Though several of the player profiles are short, those that do go into more depth provide stories equally as gripping as those of their male counterparts.

The story of Karen Menzies in particularly moving. Taken from her mother as an infant, raised as a 'white' child without any knowledge of her Indigenous background, breaking through barriers that female athletes have always faced in pursuing male dominated sports, and being openly gay to boot, Menzies reached the heights of playing for the Matildas. Sadly, her involvement in the game stopped when she became faced with further discrimination when she sought to a high profile assistant coaching role. More reassuring is that there were and are still Indigenous women who have followed in her footsteps towards playing for the Matildas, such as Kyah Simpson and Lydia Williams.

Maynard also covers the problem of getting more Indigenous Australians into the game. Soccer in Australia, apart from the notable exception of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, is a sport whose heartland is based in the large metropolitan centres. To counter the appeal of rugby league and Australian rules in particular, who have such a healthy engagement with regional Australia, and thus with Indigenous people, the game must make a concerted and committed effort to promoting the game outside the major cities. In addition, Indigenous soccer players need to be better utilised in promoting the game, and showcasing the huge opportunities there within it. As with all codes, emphasis is also placed on the particular needs of Aboriginal players, especially those from remote communities and the problems of homesickness.

While all those points are crucial, occasionally Maynard also neglects to provide the wider context of a given situation. While being an Aboriginal soccer player from a rural area such as the Sunraysia region is not easy, especially with regards to the huge distance from the game's metropolitan strongholds and higher standards of competition, these same problems also exist for non-Aboriginal soccer participants, albeit obviously not to the same extent.

Likewise, the lack of primary accounts in some sections also creates a jarring effect when put up against those parts of the book where participants and their families are interviewed by Maynard. When relating the story of Mildura United, and Chris Tsivoglou's noble attempt to provide opportunities for Indigenous youth from the surrounding missions, Maynard relies on reports from the Koori Mail and Sydney Morning Herald, thus denying people like Tsivoglou and his charges from providing more in depth analysis of the wider Mildura soccer scene.

One other issue pops up repeatedly in Soccer Tribe – the lack of a binding narrative. Given the history of Indigenous Australians since European settlement, this is easily understandable, to the point where this lack of narrative becomes a key part of the narrative in itself.

To illustrate this point, Maynard uses the story of Bondi Neal, a star goalkeeper who played for several clubs around Newcastle and the Hunter Valley in the early 1900s. Despite several reports on his goalkeeping prowess in contemporary newspaper accounts, there are scarce details of his origins – and after the passing of stricter laws controlling Aborigines circa 1910, Neal disappears entirely from the public record, along with any known Indigenous participation in soccer.

Soccer Tribe's main flaw is almost an inevitable one – in the past, so little effort has been put into compiling work on the past, present and future of Aboriginal soccer, that it is difficult to know where to begin. Maynard opts to go for a sort of sprawl, trying to cover as much content as possible. Nevertheless, it is still a satisfying and intriguing starting point for coverage into the Indigenous soccer experience, and a worthwhile addition to the collections of Australian soccer aficionados. Hopefully it contributes to being a launching pad for more investigation into Aboriginal soccer.

Lakeside opening video

Lucky With Disease

Fell like a crippled crow/
Spinning through and breaking branches

I was filled with a lot of bitterness last night. And yes, even this morning when posting the initial AGM gist. But then again, people have claimed that I'm very bitter and cynical anyways - I could go on about the assisted epiphany I received in early 2004, but it's kinda pointless.

I suppose people want more detail. And yet, how do you go about providing that sort of depth which is reserved for the members of this club? One angle may to provide details of things which may happen in the future anyway, and thus will become common knowledge in due course.

Like the social club redevelopment. Why hasn't it started yet? Well, because they were waiting for WATPAC, the construction firm in charge of the stadium redevelopment, to finish up and move out. And what are they going to do with it once we can get in there? Use it for a bistro/restaurant kinda space, along with a museum feature - hopefully I'll be having something to do with the latter when the time comes.

There's also stuff on which I've been unintentionally been misleading people with. With regards to the food and drink vendors, apparently we do get a cut out of that. So eat and drink up! Also, with regards to the VIS gym and pool facilities, while they are currently off-limits to us, that may change in the future. Even if they don't, MSAC is not too far away.

Some pet peeves. Serving food and drink was a neat touch. Too bad the twit behind me thought it was fine to crinkle and crunch his empty plastic cup throughout the majority of the meeting. Still, better than that other twit who kept kicking my chair. Also, would it kill some of our members to shut up and let someone ask a question? Or ask their questions at the suitable time and place instead of interrupting my carefully planned attack on certain board members?

And yes, the cost of water has gone up in recent times, but is that any reason to have to get up every five minutes to refresh your glass? And did we really need that five minute digression on not calling Peter Tsolakis 'Gus'? And could clowns turn your phones off or put them on silent?

Also, yes I blew a gasket with regards to the thankfully aborted hiring of George Angelopoulos as general manager, but the shutting down of that debate was a disgrace. It's not just about what we supporters think of Angelopoulos - it's also the process that lead to that point which needed to be addressed.

The timing of the event wasn't great. Four days before Christmas? Still, most of the usual suspects turned up, while most of the usual absentees also did their thing. Presidents room was nice. A beautiful view of the field, air conditioning - for a certain period at least. Maybe one day we'll even start on time, though the initial projector problem didn't help.

I wonder what my buddy Gains made of the whole affair, after attending his first AGM? When it comes to Greeks and South Melbourne, simple black and white answers seldom emerge. No wonder they made a national holiday of the one time they did take a definitive position.

As for that clown who thinks that there's not even a perceived issue with his son playing in the under 21s while he sits on the football sub-committee, he should perhaps open his eyes and ears and acknowledge the disbelief and fury that exists some of our South Melbourne family. Too bad he seemingly has enough support from others on the board to justify his stance that it's not an issue. Coincidence that they left this issue to the very end when everyone was busting to get home to their loved ones/repeat of Letterman?

No one asked where the World Club Championship money went.

Also, I apparently have to watch more things that Tim Roth has been in since he's on a t-shirt of mine.

2011 AGM gist

Off-field, they have a plan, and it's decent enough. Well planned, seemingly achievable and sensible. On-field, if we somehow do win a trophy that isn't the Hellenic Cup, it will be in spite of the board and its football sub-committee, and not because of it.

Some board members were willing to answer questions patiently and in appropriate detail. Others sought to shut down debate. Unfortunately, some of our members, who were more interested in talking among themselves and asking about trivialities, helped these wannabe oligarchs control the meeting.

John Bedford passes away after long illness

Sad news from yesterday, that 1960s and 70s South stalwart John Bedford passed away after a long illness. Australian football historian Roy Hay was kind enough to provide this overview of Bedford's career, along with the accompanying photos.

The only notable thing omitted from this obituary is his status as a South Melbourne Hellas Team of the Century squad member. 

John Bedford (7 August 1941–18 December 2011), by Roy Hay

Springheeled John Bedford leaps to control a high ball. Source: Les Shorrock collection. Deakin University Library.

John Bedford was part of the South Melbourne Hellas team which won the first State League championship under the auspices of the Victorian Soccer Federation in 1962.

John died this week at the age of 70 in Wodonga. He was born and brought up in Box Hill and Bill Stewart persuaded him to start playing soccer at the age of seven. After heavy defeats in the early years, the Box Hill juniors won their leagues from under-9 to under-11 and by the age of 15 John Bedford was making his debut for the Box Hill seniors. He won the club’s best and fairest award twice in four years. Unfortunately the glory days of Box Hill were behind them and in 1961 the team was relegated from the State League.

In the match against Hellas that year, however, the young Bedford played and scored, and coach Manny Poulakakis moved quickly to sign him. Box Hill did not want to let him go, but eventually the transfer went through. His first game for Hellas was against Sydney powerhouse Pan Hellenic and he scored twice in a 3–1 win. But as John tells it, the details of his move to Hellas had not been settled when he went along to watch an Ampol Cup night game between Hellas and Polonia. Someone grabbed him from behind and told him he was playing. So he took the field and scored. Not a bad start to a career at Hellas which lasted until 1974. He was ever present as Hellas won the State League title in 1962.

Some weeks into the 1964 season, Hellas signed some new players and John was told that he would be on the bench. ‘No, I won’t’, he replied and went off to play footy with his mates at Box Hill Pioneers, winning a premiership in the process. Next year new coach John Margaritis came back for Bedford and he resumed his soccer career. A tendon injury and a bout of hepatitis kept him out of a number of games in 1963, but he contributed to the 1964-66 seasons when Hellas completed three in a row.

His form with Hellas saw him selected for Victoria 28 times and he was on the fringes of Australian selection but unfortunately never received his full international cap, though he had a couple of games for the Australia B team. The only two games he remembers missing for Victoria were against AS Roma in 1966 and Manchester United in 1975.

John Bedford (right) of South Melbourne Hellas and Eddie Sacco of George Cross at Olympic Park in 1962. Photo: Uwe Kuessner.

In his 18-year career he played 553 games and took part in 6 championship victories. Hellas also won the State League in 1972 and 1974 when John had reached the veteran stage. In the 1960s he represented Australia in the Laidlaw World Cup for local ‘national’ teams. He had a very strong left foot and began as goalscoring winger, though often moving back to a midfield role as his experience grew.

A signwriter to trade he retired in 2007 but still kept his eye in, helping out with the firm when necessary. He was as enthusiastic about the game and his part in it as he was when he was playing. He played for some of the great coaches, including Manny Poulakakis, John Margaritis, Bill Curran and Les Scheinflug. ‘The teams in New South Wales thought they were the best. We went up to play against Prague in the Australian Cup one year and were told we would be hammered, but we beat them 5–1. The only team which beat us was Hakoah,’ he said. A Soccer Weekly writer said John Bedford was ‘a fast, brainy and determined player, who is never beaten till the final whistle’.

John Bedford is survived by his wife, Margaret, his two sons, Darren and Andrew and four sisters, Anita, Sue, Catherine and Julie. His funeral is in Wodonga on Thursday, 22 December.

Gus Tsolakis on his return to South

Trifiros onboard - a few lols in here

2012 membership ad - it's not bad

First official details on 2012 Hellenic Cup

HELLENIC CUP TOURNAMENT 2012

The Hellenic Cup tournament will commence on Sunday 22 January 2012 with the play offs between the lower seeded teams. Games will be played on Sundays only but no games on Sunday 29 January (long weekend). It will finish on Sunday 12 February and the four (4) top teams will join the other 12 teams in the tournament.

The 16 teams will then commence their games on Saturday 18 February 2012 with the finals taking place on Saturday 10 March 2011.

The venue will be advised once all applications have been received. Closing date is 27 November 2011 and no late applications will be accepted.

You may download the application form from our website and either post back to our post office box or email to elliniko@yahoo.com.au

Notes from the return to Lakeside

Just very quickly, as I have a throbbing headache and am feeling a little nauseous.

Was there from about 12:45 until the end of the last game. It was by turns chilly and warm, but the rain held off, and it was a pleasant day overall.

Bought my membership, and got a Coke ball and Coke plastic 'glass' as part of some sponsorship arrangement. Was told that memberships were selling well, but they say that every year now, don't they?

Our stand is looking fantastic. New seats, new lights, new facilities. I'm not sure exactly how they're going to patrol and make sure only Gold members will have access to the padded seats, but they were comfortable. The view, while of course distant, is more than adequate. The media/scoreboard room is terrific.

The opposite stand is a bit more bare bones compared to our side, but the view is just as good, though leaving design holes in the back of the stand at the top will mean it gets a bit chilly during winter time. The setting sun still gets in your eyes, overall making our side the better choice.

Behind the goals is problematic, though those who insist on being part of the behind the goals faction will still probably soldier on. Standing room in between our stand and the track is not too bad. I managed to get a lap around the track before security got a more serious with that kind of thing.

Food wise, you're probably better off bringing something from home, or bringing your cheque book. Pricey and mainstream for the most part. Will have to wait and see what kind of fare the social club offers when its renovations are complete. But we do have vending machines!

The scoreboard is visible from outside the ground, but is angled more towards our stand, again making our stand a better choice. Its software crashed at one point, but the potential is there for some awesome usage. Hell, even having a match clock is something to be proud of.

The lights came on, but weren't really needed. Nice that we can do that now, and hopefully there's the possibility of a couple of night games there in 2012. The surface itself looked a treat, and seemed to play just as well.

Believe it or not, there was actually a game on as well - well, several to be precise, as our juniors took their turn to christen the stadium. The main game got off to a lively start, as one of the Trifiros scored within the first 30 seconds after some sweeping play across the ground.

We could have scored a couple more in the early stages, but then Olympic woke up and played the better for the rest of the half, deserving their 2-1 lead I suppose. They were a little too keen for my liking in their attempts at the tackle, and it ended up costing one of their players a trip to the hospital.

Both sides threw on some young players in the second half. We managed to get it back to 2-2, had a blatant onside called offside, copped a late goal, and the match finished 40 minutes into the second half. Then most of the estimated 3,500 crowd left while another junior side played for some reason.

Geoff Lord turned up, as did apparently several belly crawlers from bygone eras. Dom Barba, coach of Whittlesea Zebras was there. Clarendon Corner was there... or was it over there... or perhaps over there, as they struggled to find consensus about where to place themselves. The Olympic Ultras, if they were there, were barely noticeable.

All in all a good day, and now with only the AGM to go before the new year, the people responsible for providing the entertainment - and this wonderful facility - can rest a little easier, knowing that their efforts were worth it.

Pity that one of my preferred Clarendon Street eateries has changed branding/hands and I can't get a club sandwich there anymore.

Article on the architecture of the new Lakeside

A decent article looking at the architectural challenges of combining old and new architecture. There are some factual inaccuracies - our stand is not from the 1970s, it's from the 1990s - but other than that, it's not too bad of a read.


Splendid rebirth of stadium from mish-mash of decay

Joe Rollo

LIKE Lazarus, the old South Melbourne football ground in Albert Park has risen from near-dereliction as the new home of track and field sports in Victoria. And a pretty splendid vision it is, too.

Olympic Park Stadium, the hub of athletics in Victoria since 1956, is no more, fallen prey to the tentacles of the Collingwood Football Club, so welcome to Lakeside Stadium. It is here, amid the pleasant green surrounds of Albert Park and its eponymous lake that fans of athletics will come at twilight tomorrow to see the 51st running of the Zatopek 10,000 Classic.

H2o Architects, the design architects for the $60 million redevelopment, were handed a mish-mash of rotting and degraded buildings and managed to transform them into a world-class track and field arena and FIFA-approved soccer field, home of South Melbourne FC soccer club.

The heritage-listed grandstand of 1927 has been preserved, a 2000-seat stand from the 1970s designed by Daryl Jackson refurbished, the soccer pitch brought up to world-class standard, a new eight-lane composite running track laid and two new structures - a 2500-seat stand and a hall for ball sports - added. Gently-raked grass terraces grace the goal ends and an electronic scoreboard and screen have been erected. In all, 8000 people can be accommodated now in pleasant and comfortable surroundings, in close proximity to the action on the running track or the soccer pitch.

In contrast to the spectacular, cloud-like forms of AAMI Park, next door to the old Olympic Park Stadium, the architecture at Lakeside Stadium is modest. But in its sum of parts - the white concrete of the new buildings, the brilliant sky-blue composite running track, the old red-brown grandstand, its setting within the park and the intimacy of its scale - watching the action on the running track or the soccer pitch, sitting in the stands or standing on the terraces on a balmy summer evening, is going to be a joy.

The new northern stand is a plain affair, remarkable only for its sequence of sculptural diamond-shaped concrete piers supporting a cantilevered roof of steel and corrugated iron, folded like the roofs of petrol service stations from the 1950s and '60s. The ball sports hall is a cube of white concrete and glass attached to one end of the old grandstand; the hexagonal pattern in its concrete panels ''fractured'' along the top and filled with glass to introduce natural light and soften its appearance.

What seems incongruous is the preservation of the heritage-listed 1927 grandstand, which now houses the Victorian Institute of Sports. The ground floor has been extended to include gymnasium and sports sciences facilities, a 50-metre indoor training track and a series of pools. The seating in the stand is gone; the original timber slats ripped out and in their place, a series of minimalist two-storey modules inserted, containing the VIS offices and administration facilities.. Sadly, the net result is that all that's left to see of the original grandstand is the overhanging red iron roof and redbrick structure.

Two rows of seats were left at the front of the stand as a gesture to its past. But these, though not for public use, are all but useless for watching track and field events. Pushing the ground floor training facilities closer to the running track and soccer pitch means an extended roof creates a vexing blind spot that obliterates all views of one corner of the running track.

It must have seemed like a good idea on paper, but it reveals how complex is the job of marrying old with new in the design of modern stadiums.

Mass exodus of junior teams?

Reports have been circulating on soccer-forum.net that former head of football Ange Dallas has left the club entirely, and taken five 'elite' teams with him. Apparently the vacant slots have already been filled, and the renegade teams attempts to join with Bayside Argonauts have been slightly hit on the head, with one of the coaches seeking to move his team across being effectively barred from doing so.

Party like it's 2004 - South Melbourne vs Sydney Olympic this Sunday

Everyone else has been talking it up for some time now. The re-opening of the stadium is at hand, with tons of junior teams playing games throughout the day, and the main game between ourselves and Olympic at 5:30.

Entry is free all day, memberships will be on sale, so encourage everyone with even a passing interest to come on down and have a look at the facilities.

I know the people behind the scenes are super keen and raring to go, especially one particular reader who can't wait to play with the electronic scoreboard.

For those extra keen to have a look at the stadium, there's also an athletics launch tomorrow evening, with the main event being the Zatopek Classic. Still undecided if I'll head for that after an unrelated FFV shindig, as Star Trek Voyager is on television that night.

No Heart of Victory youth teams in 2012 VPL

The FFV today issued a press release announcing that the Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory youth teams would not be participating in the 2012 VPL season. There had been much speculation in the local soccer scene that their inclusion was likely, if not inevitable, but the FFV said that the FFA's competitions review, due to be unveiled in the first quarter of 2012, meant that any changes to the structure of the VPL were best left until after the review was released.

Luke Byles signs with South

As one observant fan noted, pay attention to the Melbourne Victory shorts he's wearing during the training footage. Also with Joe Keenan and Kyle Joryeff already on board, the addition of Byles harkens back to an earlier, 1970s and 80s British influenced South Melbourne, albeit one that is now more English than that period dominated by Scots.

Yeah, I've finally snapped

But blue was doing my head in.

2012 memberships available

They've been out for at least a couple of weeks now, but this relatively late post is still worthwhile, to emphasise the remarkable point that new season memberships are out before the new year.

It's also worth noting that you'll be able to purchase memberships at the Lakeside relaunch on Sunday, which is what I'm planning to do.

Kudos to the membership department for streamlining their packages (corporate packages will apparently be launched separately). Also good to see the costs have remained relatively stable.

My pick as per usual is the South Gold. No polo this year, but you get a scarf, hat (and I really need a new South cap) and 50% off your ticket to the jersey night, as well as the usual social club rights, which is my main reason for choosing this package.

It is also worth noting that since the Trust which oversees Lakeside now takes a percentage of our gate takings, it is even more imperative that our supporters become members, thus ensuring that more money stays with the club.

There's also an interesting deal in conjunction with the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre whereby South members can get some decent discount and access to their facilities. Not my cup of tea, but might be good for those more athletically inclined or who live in the local area.

For more details, head to the club's membership page.

Everyone should have the opportunity...

...to have lunch with former FFV president Tony Dunkerley, at the very least to disagree with him.

Just don't do it at Leo's Spaghetti Bar, or if you do, avoid the ricotta and spinach ravioli - blandness personified.

It is also politically incorrect on a heinous level to afterwards play Slayer's 'Angel of Death' on one's music player, and feel that it's the perfect song for the situation.

I suppose I came out of it understanding, or believing that I understood, where the concept and ideological spark for the zonal system and Victorian Champions League originated from, as it was intended to run by Dunkerley.

I've been lead to believe, by people who could be considered responsible adults (unlike this writer), that discussing the contents of off the record and off the cuff remarks are not suitable for public comment.

For shame limiting me to just my feelings.

AGM on Wednesday 21st December

About freaking time.

Apparently we have a womens branch again

After a very long time of hearing nothing about the state of our affiliation with the entity calling itself South Melbourne Women's Football Club, comes this press release. It appears that we have a (re-)started our own branch, being headed by an Irene Stamatopoulos. Things just got kicked up a notch.

The Laurie Schwab and Les Shorrock collections at Deakin

Today I traveled down with Ian Syson to Deakin University's Waterfront campus to be shown around the Les Shorrock and Laurie Schwab collections by Roy Hay. This was part of work being done with the FFV's historical committee, which I'm now a part of, as well as part of work which may help South related historical research.

The collection of photographs and other materials is quite substantial. Most of these photos are in black and white, and date from the 1970s onwards. They are arranged in some sort of alphabetical order, but they are not indexed in any way. Therefore one may find, as we did, a photo of John Kosmina grabbing an opponent by the throat (A-League supporters may note some sort of irony there), but with no identification of said opponent. Still, those obstacles can be overcome by cross referencing with other materials.

More problematic are the complex copyright and ownership rights, which make it difficult for the general soccer public to access and utilise this treasure trove for its own efforts at historical preservation and education. There are few digitised elements of these collections, and unless the ownership and related preservation issues are resolved, the usefulness of the archives may well be restricted to those in academic circles, who can make use of the rules allowing access and creation  of duplicates for research purposes.

Hopefully a mutually beneficial solution can be found.

Bradley Norton signs for 2012

2012 VPL fixture released

You can view it here. A section for only our fixtures will be created on this blog some time this weekend.

First up, home again, home again, jiggidy jig, against newly promoted Generic Black and White Italian Backed Team, with a few of our exes playing there. Of course again we play Oakleigh away in the first half of the season. No ANZAC Day Cup nonsense against Hume. And a final round trip to Olympic Village. No sign of the mooted inclusion of the Heart and Victory youth teams, nor of the NTC/VTC.

Before we go, kudos to the FFV PR person for their sense of humour on their media release.

It’s the always popular battle of the Greens when defending champions Green Gully Cavaliers travel to Kingston Heath to take on Bentleigh Greens.

South Melbourne in FIFA 12... sorta

If you have the FIFA 12 game for xbox, ps3 or pc, you can also play as South Melbourne - albeit only in exhibition matches, online friendlies and user-created tournaments.

To access this service, you have to visit the FIFA 12 site, sign in, and select the 'Creation Centre' under the 'Play Now' tab. You then do a search for South Melbourne, where you should be taken to a section where there are several South Melbourne sides available, including one by our old friend Cliff. Select the one you want, and bookmark it. When you next connect online to your game on your console, select 'Creation Centre' and download the teams.

There are also other former National Soccer League teams, including extensive if arbitrary selections by users named 'NSL Warrior' and Australian soccer forum veteran ZimzuM - Parramatta Melita Eagles have a team, but their Maltese cousins Sunshine George Cross do not. Add the of course already in Perth Glory to the list, as well as several random teams - yes, there's an Inter Monaro team available to download - and you can go back to the hazy, crazy days of the NSL in your own self made tournament, albeit with completely unrealistic crowds.

Another side of the unrealistic nature of this scenario is that the teams tend to be greatly overpowered, being mostly in the range of 4 1/2 stars, which I suppose helps you play against people who insist on using Barcelona, Manchester United etc. One wonders why people insist on full licensing when 3/4 of the online crowd pick the usual teams.

I suppose it doesn't matter - what counts is that there's people out there having a go at some sort of tailoring this game, and South of the Border is proud to promote these people's initiative.

Trent Rixon officially signed up

Lex Marinos reading Neos Kosmos

I'm allegedly busy with trying to complete my honours thesis, which is due next Friday. In the meantime, this blog will hopefully be very quiet. Here's something to tide you over for a little bit longer. So allegedly busy I didn't even bother editing out all the stuff like the browser tabs.

AGM? Happening any time soon?

Seeing as it's one week into November already, and there needs to be a certain amount of notice given to the members, one wonders when and where it's going to happen. Anyone?

The Pig is in the Poke

Seems as if I'm now on the FFV's history committee. I'm pretending that I'm not sure how that happened.

Comprehensive sports coverage

Time for a change, perhaps

Have had this layout for a long time now. Colours, fonts and widths have changed, but the basics have remained the same. Not a huge fan of the new dynamic templates, but chances are I'll be switching to one of them soon enough. Will look a little less cluttered I hope, even if some of the functionality (ie, long list of labels) bites the dust. So don't freak out if it all comes up looking a little different some time soon.

Vandalising wikipedia... how 2006

Allegedly busy writing my thesis, I turn my back on the South Melbourne wikipedia page and this crap turns up.

2011-Onwards

With the recent signing of the Scotch College product David Henning, South Melbourne has come under heavy scrutiny from FIFA and the Royal Spanish Football Federation for negotiating with the prodigious goalkeeper while he was already on contract at FC Barcelona, where he was the understudy of Víctor Valdés. South Melbourne were not fined for their illegal meetings with Henning and the two parties managed to come to terms with FC Barcelona agreeing to send Henning on loan to South Melbourne FC for the entirety of the 2012 Victorian Premier League season. The addition of Henning has strengthened South Melbourne's defence and pundits have tipped the club as the favourites to win the Victorian Premier League as a result. Henning has been rumoured to be interested in making the loan agreement permanent due to his fondness for the club as a youth but this appears unlikely as South Melbourne is unable to afford the €5 million necessary to activate the buyout clause in his contract.

There's No Place Like Home

Football's coming home and all that, and it's about time too. As speculated upon earlier, the new, improved Lakeside will be officially launched on December 11th with a match against Sydney Olympic. It's still a little bit aways, suffice to say entry will be free, and there'll be tons of junior games throughout the day beforehand, giving people plenty of opportunity to get there early and explore the venue. And hopefully we give those Olympic tossers a right thrashing, too.

Stuck in Sydney

Memories, light the corners of my mind

Meh, Melbourne Victory in some early strife on field, and for some reason Michael Lynch cautiously infers that a successful NSL/VPL coach might have been a better choice. Not one of ours thankfully (?!), but the VPL's King of Kings, Ian Dobson. Strange how people start thinking in a crisis.

Anyway, more curiously, Lynch's Age colleague Greg Baum thought it would be pertinent to compare the current Melbourne derby to one of former years - ours and the Knights rivalry.

This is not the derby of Manchester or Milan, because it cannot be. It is certainly not Glasgow's Old Firm. It is not yet even South Melbourne versus the Melbourne Knights, from Australian soccer's pre-reformation.

It's only one line, but someone remembers, or at least pretends to. Of course Baum then does what he does best, and brings aussie rules into the picture. But this is Melbourne and thus it is unavoidable I suppose.

Australian soccer's pre-reformation is an interesting notion though. I always preferred the imagery of the Rapture, with the well-behaved and pious A-League fans taken up to some kind of dull heaven, while all us unrepentant wogs are left below to deal with the Apocalypse as best we can.

To make Baum's analogy work however, we'd surely need a counter-reformation. Armies of wog club missionaries - maybe like the Olympic Ultras! - walking down the (internet) streets, proselytising. But who will be our Ignacio de Loyola?

More Braindead B-League Banter

The B-League idea is the proverbial thing that will not die. Good to see also that the FFA's competition review is also still going. Wasn't it supposed to be released like six months ago? Or was that another review? And what was our input into this review? My goodness what a slow off-season we're in. This is from Adelaide's 'Advertiser'. 

Asia's demands would transform the competition

LYALL Gorman says a B-League is high on the agenda as the A-League prepares to manage soccer's biggest laws upheaval in two decades.

The A-League chief is keen to expand the game professionally with promotion and relegation.

Dino D'Ottavi, president of three-time national league champions Adelaide City, welcomed the incentive, "but the figures would have to stack up as we're establishing our home base at Oakden Central," he said.

Gorman is also preparing for FIFA to re-write the Laws of the Game. On the agenda is two extra match officials, goal-line technology and radio communication for match officials.

The changes are set to be endorsed by the International Football Association Board at a special meeting after the UEFA European Championships in July.

IFAB is the only body that can change the Laws of the Game. Its voting structure is made up of four FIFA representatives as well as the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish governing bodies.

Changes are likely to start in the 2013-14 season.

But before this occurs Gorman is devising an A-League strategy in the hope of conforming with demands put together by the Asian Football Confederation's Professional Leagues Project committee.

The committee is forcing the introduction of second-tier competitions across Asia's better men's leagues. The 14-point plan includes promotion and relegation, a Cup competition and the league to run as a separate entity rather than being controlled by Football Federation Australia.

Gorman said the FFA Cup - involving all of Australia's FIFA-sanctioned men's teams - was planning to kick off next year but was not set in stone, nor was there a deadline in place for the B-League.

"We've undertaken the national competitions review," Gorman said.

"It will be complete within six months and there's a time factor and infrastructure needed to make sure we can move to that." He said the game's second-tier competition was tipped to be aligned to a unified states' competitions calendar but the finer details were still in their infancy.

When the AFC issued the ad-hoc document in 2008 it also alluded to taking Champions League spots away if nations didn't meet the new second-tier demands by 2012.

"I don't believe the process would cost us a Champions League spot," Gorman said.

"We are determined to get the competition stronger all the way through, A-League, youth league, where we're helping to take that to another level."

Say it ain't so, Joe

Daniel Vasilevski and Carl Recchia both gone to newly promoted Whittlesea Zebras. Which is a pity, because even though Vasa didn't have a great year he could still be useful, and Recchia when he was available was our best and most important player, also showing a fair bit of leadership. That's part of the consequences of having a sort of cashed up club get promoted replacing clubs that had no money.

Gus Tsolakis confirmed as South coach for 2012

It was the worst kept secret in Victorian soccer in quite some time. But I don't blame anyone for that. One could argue that it was a given, once soccer-forum's Northcote posters changed their tune from 'he's staying at Irakli 100%" to "99% sure", to the recent Neos Kosmos article where the man himself said it was "50/50".

So, Peter 'Gus' Tsolakis is back for another stint in the top job at South, after previously having had a couple of caretaker matches in charge after Danny Wright got the chop just before the end of the 2002/2003 NSL season. His coaching reputation has been won the hard way - taking Northcote to successive promotion from state league 2 to the VPL, finals last year and a goal short of it this year. And all on allegedly one of the smaller budgets in the league.

Good move. or bad move? Hell I don't know, ask me again in about 12 months time. Gus is just about South royalty, one of the few father-son combos in the club's history - so he at least understands the culture of the place. How will this affect the sister club relationship nonsense with Northcote? Buggered if I know. Who's staying and who's going and who's coming over? Dunno, Vasilevski and Recchia allegedly and dunno again.

Good to get it out of the way at last. Would have been nice to hear a few words from Gus himself, but that will come in time.

The Continuing Adventures of Jim Marinis

It should be noted that this has naught to do with SM Hellas, so if you don't care about the AFL, you can look away now.

Yes, it's true, away from South Melbourne Hellas, I do take a more than passing interest in the Collingwood Football Club. Feel free to send all hate mail via the comments section.

Been wondering what our old friend Marinis has been up to of late? Me neither until this:

Collingwood furious as manager shops Alan Toovey around via email 

All I can say to Jim is, take that overrated poor man's Rupert Betheras and fuck off.

Hopefully something more South related in the next post.

Sivasspor 1 Buyuksehir 2

Yes, this bloke played for us this year. Also, does anyone still watch SBS's The World Game?

Would South get more mainstream coverage if it was in the NSWPL?

Just killing time until Gus Tsolakis comes back from holidays.


With all due respect, both teams in the New South Wales Premier League grand final can go to hell. But what's more interesting is that apparently they have heaps more space to use in the Sydney Morning Herald, allowing for a sort of grand final preview, while The Age and Michael Lynch simply can't manage to scrounge up the requisite inches.

Old soccer still has a place in the new football world 

There’ll be more than a scent of past glories at Belmore Sports Ground tomorrow. And, no, we’re not talking Bulldogs.

It’s the grand final of the NSW Premier League between two of the game’s proudest clubs. Sydney Olympic, the minor premiers, and Sydney United. Both formed at the same time to represent the local Greek and Croatian communities respectively. Both formed in the same year, 1957, that newly-arrived immigrants precipitated the split between Newcastle and Sydney and created what was then known as the NSW first division, but is now known as the NSWPL. They’re as old as the competition itself - a semi-professional competition Sydney United have won five times, and Sydney Olympic just once. But it’s at national league level that these two clubs really made a name for themselves, helping to groom some of the finest players of the modern era. Brett Emerton. Graham Arnold. Robbie Slater. Zeljko Kalac. Ned Zelic. Jason Culina. And many more. Sydney Olympic won two NSL championships [1999, 2002] - one in front of nearly 50,000 fans in Perth. Sydney United, heartbreakingly, lost three grand finals - one in front of 40,000 fans in Brisbane. The bridesmaids but never the bride.

Times moved on, and these clubs didn’t move quick enough. The NSL closed down in 2004, and they were never likely to survive the transition to the fully-professional A-League. ‘Old soccer’ became ‘new football’, and there was less room for ethnicity. Besides, neither club had the money. It’s been a tough adjustment back to the ranks of part-time football for two clubs accustomed to being at the pointy end of the pyramid. Sydney United have done marginally better, winning the NSWPL title in 2006. This will be Sydney Olympic’s first grand final in the post-NSL era, and it will be the first time these two fallen giants have met to decide the title. There’s talk of a record NSWPL grand final crowd, upwards of 5,000. There’ll be the chants ‘Cro-at-zia, Cro-at-zia’ and ‘O-lym-pic, O-lym-pic’. Bet on a flare or two, and mindful of the usual braggadocio from would-be hooligans, officials have put plans in place to try prevent anything more serious than that. It’s old soccer, out and proud.

Mark Rudan and Ufuk Talay are as proud as anyone of their NSL heritage with Sydney United and Marconi Stallions respectively. After the match these best mates are heading into retirement, and there’s a big chance they’ll be reflecting on their achievements with a post-match smoke behind the grandstand. Two of the better players never to have played for Australia - and teammates when Sydney FC won the first A-League title - they’ll be aiming to go out as winners. Rudan, especially so, because he’s back where it all began.

It won’t be easy. Sydney Olympic are favourites, marginally. Like Sydney United, they’ve got a clutch of players [Chris Triantis, Paul Henderson, Brett Studman] with A-League experience. And they’re playing on their home ground.

For rivals coaches, Jean Paul de Marigny and Peter Tsekenis, there’s also the chance to put a stake in the ground. Tsekenis, 38, is a young coach with a growing pedigree. This is his fourth NSWPL grand final, and twice he emerged victorious with his former club, Bankstown City. Like Rudan, the shirt has special meaning. ‘‘I grew up supporting Olympic, I captained the club, and now I’m the coach,’’ he says. Where his coaching career takes him remains to be seen, but his apprenticeship is going nicely. ‘‘I definitely want to get involved in the A-League at some stage because I believe I’ve got something to offer,’’ he says. ‘‘But I’m not looking too far ahead because I know I’ve still got a lot to learn.’’

De Marigny, 47, is further down the road, and it’s a travesty he’s still waiting for his big opportunity. An assistant coach at Newcastle Jets, and shortlisted for the North Queensland Fury job, the former Socceroo keeps banging at the door. De Marigny guided Sydney United to their last NSWPL title five years ago, and is clever enough to do so again.

The waft from the souvlaki stands will tell us this is not A-League. But it’s the next best thing. With the new A-League season kicking-off next weekend it’s a timely reminder of the game’s heritage, but also of it’s potential. Rejuvenating, and respecting, second-tier football is an issue which despite six years of neglect from head office simply won’t go away. Next year, the FFA Cup will be launched in the first concrete step to mend the fences.

In the meantime those in the know appreciate where things stand. Robbie Slater will be there to present the medal for the man-of-the-match award named in his honour, and has promised to wear his old Sydney United shirt to the ground. Mark Bosnich will be there as a board member of Sydney Olympic. A-League coaches, and players, will be there in abundance. Fact is, despite plenty of propaganda to the contrary, the game does have a history and it’s not going away. ‘‘We are Football’ is the new slogan for the A-League. That, you’d assume, means everybody.