Kiss of Death, Round 2, 2013

I found this in an email I received from the FFA about the upcoming Melbourne Victory vs Liverpool friendly. Talk about trying to educate your customers LOL. Right down the bottom under the ridiculous pricing schedule was this:

Important Notes about Active areas.

Active areas are designed for supporters who are extra passionate and vocal in support of their team. By purchasing in the active areas, you should already be familiar with active support and that standing and prolonged chant participation is mandatory.

In other words, if you are not willing to stand for 90 minutes, and participate in prolonged chanting which is mandatory (mega fucken lol), you are most likely opening yourselves up to abuse, violence, pepper spray, and everything else that comes with being involved in FFA gimmicks. Would love someone from the FFA to answer the following question since we are on the topic of crazy stuff.

When a customer (fan) receives an FFA Ban Notice, does this notice apply to footballing matches Australia wide, or just A-League matches? Because the last thing I want is for the shit that’s not good enough for you, which you have subsequently banned, rocking up to VPL matches trying to be all macho. Just because your shit stinks, doesn’t mean I want mine to. Believe me, my shit smells like roses.

Friday 12th April @ 8.30pm
Oakleigh Cannons vs Port Melbourne Sharks
Oakleigh copped a 3-0 hiding at Northcote, while Port Melbourne were dumped 0-1 at home by Hume. More of the same this weekend for Port Melbourne when they face Oakleigh. Oakleigh will be looking to rebound. The brown tongued lizards from Port will have no one but themselves to blame for this season's shambles. Four games to go before the change of coaching staff down there, with the popstars already apparently forming a bit of a clique. Oakleigh Cannons 2 – Port Melbourne 1.

Friday 12th April @ 8.30pm
Pascoe Vale vs Northcote City
Pascoe Vale lost 1-0 to the eight man Knights, while Northcote started with a 3-0 bang at home over Oakleigh. Dear Pascoe Vale. You were given a right royal chance of beating the Knights when they were down to 10, 9 and 8 men. In State 1, you might’ve beaten them. But this is the VPL. Where sometimes even 11 men isn’t enough to beat someone. You learned your lesson the hard and most embarrassing way. Good on the Knights though for persevering and scoring a pearler of a free kick at the death. That is what the VPL is all about. Northcote will be too good for Pascoe. Even with seven men, they would be beatable. Pascoe Vale 0 – Northcote City 4.

Friday 12th April @ 8.30pm
Richmond vs Melbourne Knights
Richmond was unlucky to lose 1-0 to Bentleigh, while the Knights had a 1-0 win against Pascoe Vale. A tough task for Richmond, but an even tougher one for the Knights, who will be without three regulars for this match. I’d like to tip the Knights, but I just can’t based on those red cards last week. I’ll dump the heart and use my head for this one. Richmond 2 – Melbourne Knights 1.

Saturday 13th April @ 6.00pm
Southern Stars vs South Melbourne
After a draw with Dandy last weekend, Southern Stars come up against a very good looking South Melbourne outfit. South Melbourne taught Gully a lesson in defending high up the park, with a 0-3 win last weekend. Southern Stars will be in for a long night if South plays the way it did against Gully. I am expecting them to do just that. I am also expecting Tsolakis to name an unchanged lineup. There is no need to change a winning formula, especially when you go to Gully and beat them convincingly. Standouts from last weekend, were definitely Hatzimouratis, Kearney, and RVE. But alas, the whole team was exceptional. Rare for a South outfit of the last six years, but I really couldn’t pick a weakness in the win. We defended high for a change, challenged pretty much every ball, were strong in the back, Gavalas was on his game, and restricted Gully's free passing football. Bumper crowd expected. Southern Stars 0 – South Melbourne 5.

Editor's note: For those foolhardy enough to make the trip out there on public transport, it will be an even more laborious affair than usual, as there are significant works taking place on the Frankston line that weekend. You have been warned.

Saturday 13th April @ 8.30pm
Dandenong Thunder vs Bentleigh Victory
The first of the lockouts for Dandy. No fans will be permitted entry from either team. Not that it matters for Bentleigh, they have none! Dandenong Thunder drew 0-0 at Southern Stars last weekend, and will be looking at this weekend to get off the bottom of the table and gain back those three points deducted at the tribunal. Bentleigh Victory as they have now been baptised, can stick their Victory rejects where the sun don’t shine. Dandenong Thunder 3 – Bentleigh Victory 0.

Saturday 13th April @ 8.30pm
Hume City vs Green Gully Cavaliers
Hume had a big 1-0 win at Port Melbourne, while Green Gully was spanked by South Melbourne 0-3. Gully looks ordinary, more ordinary than usual at this time of the season. Rumblings already apparently. Hume by all reports is doing enough to get the job done. Too hard to pick, so I’m going with a draw. Hume City 1 – Green Gully 1.

At Last! Finally! Επιτέλος! Green Gully 0 South Melbourne 3

Today sees a couple of firsts for this blog. Both of these are due to our regular real life sideman Steve from Broady, who has finally put his money where his mouth is and chipped in with his first written contribution - a match report from the under 21s - and also provided some stats work as well. We hope he continues to contribute on a continuing basis, and that our audience enjoys the extra variety and information.

In the end, it was almost anti-climactic. The standard implosion by South sides at Green Gully just didn't arrive. There were a couple of jittery moments, where Peter Gavalas was a little hesitant, but one can perhaps read too much into those incidents.

Indeed, there were several moments today where I thought, 'this is going too well'. Gully looked lackluster throughout most of the game, but we'd stuffed it up so many times before. Renco Van Eeken had his first half penalty saved onto the post, we'd missed a few sitters and half chances - and even though the much maligned Brad Norton had given us a 1-0 lead to take into half time with his flicked header, of course one felt that Gully would surely fire up in the second half.

But they scarcely tested our South boys. There was a period when we were 2-0 up, and we started to sit back a bit deeper, where Gully managed to get forward a bit more, and put in some crosses, win a few corners. But most of these were cleared with relative ease, and eventually we went 3-0 up, and even the most cynical and damaged of South fans had to acknowledge that there was no way back for the home team - and then attention switched to wanting a clean sheet.

There were no bad players. Alan Kearney seemed to get the vote of a few fans as best on ground, and certainly we controlled the middle of the field for most of the match. Dimi Hatzimouratis, playing out of apparent necessity in the unfamiliar position of right back, also played well. The forward set up seemed to click as well - indeed, it was one of those performances where you wondered, how and where are we going to fit in the players that missed out today? There were no Tsiaras, Rixon, Matthews, Fernando, Recchia (who is of course out for the season) - when we start racking up a few suspensions and injuries, it's good to know there are some capable players waiting in the wings.

Even Brad Norton thinks Brad Norton scoring is messed up. Photo: Cindy Nitsos

Soccer's one of those things that people love to over think. Today we saw that it does not necessarily have to be so. Restrict the room the opposition has. Move the ball forward quickly. Put a few more crosses in. It was a continuation of the sort of form we saw during the pre-season, albeit with some nicer finishing. Without wanting to get carried away - it's one win, in round one of a twenty two round season - there were good signs, and if we play like that most weeks, we'll do OK this season.


Steve from Broady's under 21 match report
South Melbourne's under 21s kicked their season off today away at Green Gully Reserve. There was some pre-game controversy with South Melbourne's second choice goalkeeper Sebastian Mattei, who was reportedly expected to start for the under 21s, not rocking up - this caught the coaches off guard and forced them to use a left winger in goals with no gloves which I thought was an absolute disgrace.



Not bad for a first try by Steve, except that this game started at 1:00.



The first 15 minuets were very sloppy with both teams turning over the ball 10+ times each. In the 18th minute South Melbourne received a free kick on the edge of the area and Baggio Yousif stepped up and placed it beautifully in the top left corner. South were in control for the rest of the first half and went in at half time 1-0 up. Green Gully come out in the second half immediately with some fire in the belly, picking up some corners early in the second half. Thankfully at the start of the second half the South Melbourne goalie had been given some gloves. In the 69th minute South Melbourne's defence was finally breached with a Gully defender rising above everyone and heading home from a corner. As the clock counted down Green Gully made one last charge in the hope of getting a win. The Gully winger ripped around three defenders and fired home in the last seconds to give Gully a 2-1 win.

South Melbourne fought bravely today and I personally can not wait to see their next game away to Southern Stars. To the bloke who played in goals today for us, well done mate, you did an excellent job considering you are an outfield player.

Crowd Watch
Looks like Gully made a bit of an effort to get a few of their juniors out to watch the game, so the attendance was actually respectable for a Gully game. Someone said the crowd got up to around 1000, but that's probably being very generous.

Canteen Capers
An apple and a couple of bowls of corn flakes doesn't last too long, and I was momentarily tempted into perhaps buying something from the worst canteen in the league - but after taking the food poisoning experiences of others into account (and remembering my own horrible non-soccer related food poisoning experience of a few years ago), I decided to hold off. A victory for self-discipline or self-preservation?

Next Week
Southern Stars away on Saturday, at Kingston Heath. A dogged defensive effort was apparently the Stars' main weapon in their 0-0 draw with reigning champions Dandenong Thunder tonight, so expect more of the same next week. Dimi Tsiaras' will be available again after serving the remainder of his suspension. There'll be no Tom Matthews for about five more weeks, after he reportedly fell off a ladder at work and broke his arm.

Final Thought
I enjoyed that. Here's hoping it's not another false dawn like last year.

I Don't Care, You Don't Care - Kiss of Death, Round 1, 2013

About fucken time. Now to preview the real football action happening this weekend.

Saturday 6th April @ Green Gully Reserve @ 3pm
Green Gully Cavaliers vs South Melbourne
South haven't won there in like 20 years. Sounds really good, but if you take out the NSL days then it's actually not that many years. Please someone give me the real figure not this mumbo jumbo coming out of the media team at South. All I know about Gully is that Roddy (Rodrigo) Vargas is suspended until the 14th April so will definitely miss this one. South on the other hand have only Dimi Tsiaras suspended. It's good to be playing them round one. Gully are always slow starters, whereas South always start off kinda well. However, anything but a win here would be seen as a disaster and the doors might as well be closed down at Lakeside. Gus has a full squad to choose from. I definitely know who shouldn't be in the starting eleven, let's hope Gus has the same idea. Win this one and we are set, lose at Gully, and expect hell. Green Gully Cavaliers 1 - South Melbourne 3.

Saturday 6th April @ Kingston Heath @ 6pm
Southern Stars vs Dandenong Thunder
Both teams copped a pounding in the pre-season with player departures. Thats all i know. Dandy thought they would take on the FFV at the FFA, and copped a shellacking. A game of no interest to myself, yet I will still attend because I have no life. Southern Stars 2 - Dandenong Thunder 2.

How many mountzes will the Kiss of Death be dealing out this week?

Sunday 7th April @ John Cain Memorial Reserve @ 3pm
Northcote City vs Oakleigh Cannons
The Greek derby. The one that everyone wants Northcote to win, except for a handful of Oakleigh fans. Northcote has looked the goods in the pre-season. Oakleigh has been very, very quiet. Just like Elmer Fudd hunting rabbits. Dunno, don't care, but I will be there signing autographs. Northcote City 2 - Oakleigh Cannons 0.

Sunday 7th April @ Somers St @ 3pm
Melbourne Knights vs Pascoe Vale
Expect the Knights to be top of the table after round one. Pascoe Vale will go down as quickly as they came up. The Knights have recruited well, but don't ask me who, because it's a surprise. Pascoe Vale hasn't recruited shit. They have kept pretty much their entire State League 1 side. As much as I think that's great and promoted teams should do it, I don't want you in the VPL. Nothing personal, but I have a side wager on, and you staying up will cost me a few bottles. So work with me here. Melbourne Knights 6 - Pascoe Vale 0.

Sunday 7th April @ Kingston Heath @ 5pm
Bentleigh Greens v Richmond FC
Bentleigh. Big shamwow! Well done. Recruited well apparently, and got rid of all your youth. Bravo, bravo. I have nothing to say to you lot. You aren't even worthy of a review. Richmond on the other hand are looking OK. From what my sources tell me, they have recruited well, but need time. Who knows. Bentleigh Greens 0 - Richmond 2.

Sunday 7th April @ JL Murphy Reserve @ 6.30pm
Port Melbourne Sharks v Hume City
Port Melbourne. The first coaching vacancy will be here in five weeks. That's all the review they are worthy of. Hume City. Quiet, yet always a handful. Port Melbourne Sharks 0 - Hume City 5.

The worst season preview ever - 2013 edition

Finally, the new season is just about here. Let's get stuck in.

On-field, the expectations will of course be high. That's what South fans expect, and finishing inside the top three, with the double chance that comes with that, is the only acceptable outcome in the home and away season. For better or worse, there's no more Joe Montemurro on the sidelines for the first time in three years - and now it's all down to Gus Tsolakis and his crew. During this pre-season, however much you can take out of that, we've moved the ball forward more quickly, and haven't been reliant on two or three chances to score all our goals - even if our finishing has been poor this so far.

Defensively, the English trio of Matthews, Byles and Kelly, provided they stick together for most of the season, should provide a more solid defensive framework than last year. With Kiwi Rhodri Payne seemingly finally out of favour, the left-back slot will be a hotly contested position, though there don't appear to be any obvious replacements yet. Will much maligned utility Brad Norton get the gig? Will Phil Petreski be shifted out of his midfield roles to fill the gap? Or will they pull a rabbit out of the hat and give the passionate/temperamental Anthony Giannopoulos a gig?

Since waking up finally when he got a back pass against Port (all praise to mighty Baal), Peter Gavalas has actually looked hungry. He got benched against I think it was the Bergers and instead of a doing a casual warm down he was doing sit ups and push ups like a bit of a maniac. Rumour has it that likely second choice Seb Mattei doesn't give a shit about football anymore, but since it seemed like we had one of those last year as a first choice, who'd notice the difference this year if it turned out the same?

As usual we have more midfielders than you can poke a stick at, and how we fit them all into a starting eleven will be very interesting. With Carl Recchia done for the year, you'd expect Dimi Tsiaras to have the defensive mid slot sown up. Alan Kearney will hopefully add some much needed toughness to the middle, but the attacking midfield roles and wing positions are still all up for grabs, with most of the contenders not completely grabbing the bull by the horns just yet.

Marinos Gasparis looks fitter than he's ever been, but will that help him to overcome his chronic inconsistency? Joe Keenan has been given a fair bit of time this pre-season to show his mettle, but the Keenan of old, who was able to slide past players, slot lovely curved goals and put in good crosses hasn't been spotted for some time. Dimi Hatzimouratis's 2012 season was cut down by injury, and while he hasn't done anything remarkable this past month, there are still those who rate him highly

There are also several young players - among them James Karvellis and Andrew Cartanos - who got game time last year and during the pre-season -, who may be called upon if the above players don't perform.

And what of Fernando De Moraes? He didn't have one of his best seasons last year, and even though his work rate did go up to unprecedented levels for him, that's not what he's there for. A role off the bench role may be what's forthcoming, but will he bes satisfied by that?

There's also the question of Andy Vlahos, who could be used either forward or in midfield. While surely coming to the end of his career, he seems content with coming off the bench, and he was useful in that role last season. His greatest strength may lie in his several years of coaching experience, perhaps adding to the tactical arsenal available to Tsolakis.

Further upfield, Renco Van Eeken, and the Queensland pairing of Tyson Holmes and Rhys Meredith have looked fast and dangerous, without putting anyone other state league two Malvern City to the sword. I can't wait to see how they fit Trent Rixon into this line up. Hell, I can't wait to see Trent's reaction when his first touch in an attacking move isn't 15 metres in our own half.

Let's Digress and Have a Look at the Other Teams
Green Gully

What disaster will happen to us there this year?

Port Melbourne, Bentleigh Greens, Oakleigh Cannons (combined preview)


Richmond
I don't care about their management switch, or which players they've lost or brought in. Like Michael Lynch, all I want to know is, will the food still be as good?

Hume City
Back home again, no need for a trip out to Epping.

Melbourne Knights
Our very own Gus Tsolakis reckons people should keep an eye out for them this year.

Dandenong Thunder

Thanks to the FFV (and for me on two fronts!), this is where we'll be watching this game from this year.

Pascoe Vale
Another team going for the night game angle.

Southern Stars
What now after the end of the Irish Free State? I suppose there'll be some prurient interest in seeing in how Rama is getting along, a bit less so for Jason Ricciuti.

Northcote
Should not be underestimated.

As usual there will also be the myriad off-field shenanigans.
The social club's progress - or rather, lack of it - will be felt more and more as the season wears on. What was meant to be one of the linchpins of our return has yet to materialise, and the dispute with the government about the social club redevelopment fund could well drag on. What would be good would be to see some information from the club on this issue, and though there have been inferences that it is forthcoming,

The end of the year also sees elections for the boards of SMFC and SMH. Will there be any rival tickets this time around? We've not had an actual election for so long. There's been much dissatisfaction from among certain former board members, but will they make a move? And if they do, what will their platform be? Who else will be on their ticket?

Another question to ponder is what role will the expanded suffrage will have in determining our future. Now that voting rights have been opened up to a whole lot more people, will there be increased interest in the behind the scenes working of the club? There were signs at the AGM that outside the ranks of the old social club clique, there were people who were willing to turn up and participate or at least be witness to the nitty gritty of our club's planning.

There's also the question of the National Competitions Review. There are those out there who are claiming that it won't come in next year - witness the splurging by some state league 1 clubs for a promotion spot that probably doesn't exist - and yet you also have certain VPL clubs spending cash like it's going out of fashion for what exactly?

Assuming that the NCR does go ahead next season, how will we be forced to adjust? Will the rumoured 280 point cap - instead of 200 - come in? If it does, will it be permanent, or phased down over subsequent seasons? Will the FFV allow us to keep charging our $3200 a year?

Of course, there is the ongoing issue of the re-conciliation efforts with SMWFC. Progress seems interminably slow on this front, and yet a women's unit will be an essential component of the NCR. Does SMWFC even want re-conciliation, or just co-operation for the sake of the precinct? If they want to remain a social/community outfit, what are our options after that? Is there demand for $3200 coaching for junior girls' teams?

And how much more South for the A-League nonsense will we see this year? Every time I think this issue is going to finally go away for good, it comes back with a bit of vengeance. What will be the next phase in this consuming obsession?

Hint: Another Melbourne Heart is doomed or moving to Geelong is already gathering steam.

As For The Blog

Expect more of the usual sweet nourishing (Krusty Brand Imitation) gruel from myself: match reports where the actual game is almost incidental, more calls to give 'Gia' a run, rushed experiments in stylistic alternatives to our normal writing (thinking about Our Man in Kandahar style things - I'm halfway through Egon Kisch's Australian Landfall at the moment), and the usual South of the Border Cheap Eats guide - we've already lost our original and most loved fall-back place Es Teler '77 on Swanston, now that they've moved somewhere else and re-branded themselves as some sort of Indo-Malay place instead of just plain old Indo.

Maybe even a a retool of the blog's look, because I'm not convinced that we've got close to plumbing the depths of hideous web design that only looks semi-decent on a seven ( I think) year old Benq notebook.

There will also be the usual off the wall observations from the Kiss of Death that has earned this blog its cult audience of movers and shakers, and boy are we looking forward to its contributions before the KOD's usual late season slide into 'too much busy farken, can you do it for me farken' status.

Of course if anyone else (lol, bahahahaha) wants to write for us, just drop us a note. Some more comments would be nice, someone apart from the ever reliable Savvas Tzionis and whichever board lackeys decided to add their two cents of propaganda. Also, maybe this year we'll actually get to see Steve from Broady pitch in with his long promised regular comments or even some stats or something.

I have no idea how much time I'm going to lose for this project now that we're working(!) three days a week and are also expected to do PhD level research and writing, but if my honours thesis year and half was (or more like three months of actual half-arsed effort) is anything to go by, I don't think you'll notice any difference, except for the soccer fiction reviews I'll have teed up for the off-season at the end of the year.

Final Thoughts
I've already seen Oakleigh Harismidis at two separate matches at Chaplin Reserve, once with a knock off Brisbane Bears scarf, and once talking to the canteen ladies telling them how valuable they are to that organisation. It's going to be hard top off that spectacle, but the VPL hasn't disappointed before. Chances are another farcical loss at Gully this Saturday will do the trick.

Easy Come, Easy Go

After being an accredited media person in 2009 (as a research assistant) and in 2011 and 2012 (for my work on this here project), our application for a media pass in 2013 has been rejected.

Apparently, while our work is 'enjoyable' - their word, not mine - it does not merit a media pass.

We will still receive a season pass via our work for the FFV's historical committee, but that won't get South of the Border into the round four match against the Thunder, which will of course be behind closed doors.

So at this stage, it looks like we'll be joining the rest of great unwashed who will be watching this game from the supposed vantage point on the freeway. Such is life.

Friendly against Northcote tomorrow

At Lakeside, at 7:30.

Draw made for fourth round of Dockerty Cup

And wouldn't you know it, the only all VPL clash is between South and Oakleigh. No need to get too excited yet though, the tie is scheduled for May.

Friendly against Altona Magic tomorrow

3:00 PM afternoon kick off, at Lakeside. Once again, match chat in the comments section after the game.

Humourous take on South Melbourne Coast Mariners

Not sure of this image's origin, but full marks to whoever came up with this.

Where the hell did that come from?

South Melbourne Mariners? Central Coast Lakers?  South East Central Coast Melbourne Magic Spectres?

Before we get stuck into this, here's the offending article from the World Game site, followed by commentary from several related sources.

A majority of the Central Coast Mariners board has agreed to sell the club to a Melbourne-based consortium, consisting of three South Melbourne directors, for $4 million. 

The World Game understands the deal was agreed on Wednesday, with a 10 percent deposit due on Thursday. 

It was reported in The Australian that a member of the Mariners board flew to Melbourne on Wednesday to meet with an interested party, while a Russia-based investor is still keen to pump $15 million into the club and its valuable land assets. 

It is believed key Mariners investors, chairman Peter Turnbull, Lyall Gorman and Mike Charlesworth, who own a combined 64 percent stake in the club, had been stalling with a view to wooing the Russian group. 

The new arrangement would see the Mariners relocate up to four of their home matches - those perceived to draw the lowest gate - to Melbourne. 

The news is set to come as a relief to the embattled playing group, which has been embroiled in a dispute with the club over unpaid wages. The existing Mariners board met with representatives of Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) on Thursday afternoon in an attempt to resolve the matter. 

Football Federation Australia (FFA) is yet to ratify the agreement but is believed to be satisfied with the nature of the deal. 

Mariners coach Graham Arnold praised the attitude of his players in a torrid week of speculation that culminated in reports they were prepared to take strike action if their wage demands were not met. 

“It’s been a tough week for the players,” Arnold said. “But they are a great bunch of boys and the leadership group has done a great job of keeping them all together.”
“Today is the first day that I have seen them because I gave them a few days off, but morale is high.” 

“Before training the Peter Turnbull and Mike Charlesworth had a chat to them over loudspeaker on the phone to inform them what’s going on and I think that’s relaxed a lot of the players.” 

“On the football side of it the players have a job to do. I have a job to do as coach and we’ve just got to get on with things. We’ve got a big game against Adelaide this weekend and we’ll make sure we’re ready for it.” 

Arnold said he has confidence in the club’s capacity to rectify its ownership and financial issues. 

“There has to be a resolution and I am pretty sure that it will be sorted out quite quickly,” he said. 

“There’s no hiding the fact Peter Turnbull has publicly asked before for new investment in the ownership. It’s probably come to the stage now where something has to happen.”

Ray Gatt, chief soccer writer from the Sydney Morning Herald

Can tell you with absolute assurance that the SBS story is totally wrong
— Ray Gatt (@Gatty54) March 21, 2013

So to start off with, he's claimed Mike Charlesworth will take over the Mariners, but then goes on to say:

@deanrosario lol.I've been wrong many times and will happen again! If I am now then so be it.at least I've been at forefront of this story
— Ray Gatt (@Gatty54) March 21, 2013

Professional Footballers Association
They've also released a statement on the matter.

PFA MEDIA RELEASE

Sydney: Thursday 21 March 2013

The playing group of the Central Coast Mariners has instructed the PFA to express, in the strongest possible terms, their frustration and disappointment surrounding the negotiations of change of ownership at the club. 

Despite been assured on a number of occasions that payment of their salaries would be imminent, these promises have failed to materialise placing the players under enormous financial pressure and hardship. In some cases the players have been unable to pay for their families groceries.

The players have acted in good faith however there is a limit to their goodwill. The players have agreed not to take any industrial action at this time but the PFA does not rule out this possibility in the coming weeks.

President Simon Colosimo said “Once again this matter shows the precarious nature of being a professional footballer in Australia and ironically comes at a time when the PFA is seeking to negotiate greater contract security with FFA as part of our new CBA”.

Chairman John Poulakakis said “The players have suffered enough. Once again they are being forced to subsidize poor governance and management of the game. The players’ basic entitlements have been trampled on. Whatever is creating this delay must be addressed immediately. It’s time for certainty and the FFA and the club’s Directors to do the right thing by the players and the fans.”

Central Coast's official point of view

We can state that moving matches from Gosford to Melbourne is not in our plans. #aleague
— CentralCoastMariners (@CCMariners) March 21, 2013

And then you have Ray Gatt again 

Mariners deal done. Papers to be signed off tomorrow. Mike Charlesworth now controlling owner. Club in good hands 

— Ray Gatt (@Gatty54) March 21, 2013

What we're going to take a guess at
That a South takeover or relocation was to be used or is going to be used, or has been used as a way of forcing a resolution to the longstanding issues with regards the ownership of Central Coast Mariners. Somebody somewhere at FFA headquarters got fed up with 'the Russians are coming' rumours, and this is how this situation has been resolved.

The best part of all of this
That so many people were caught out this, I suppose rather like our entry into the Singapore Cup a few years back, albeit here on a much funnier scale.

My ultimate position, for future reference
The only acceptable solution for any theoretical South Melbourne A-League bid, is

• a member run and owned club
• called South Melbourne
• playing in blue and white
• with all games in Melbourne
• with approval granted for entry by the members

Bring anything less than that to the table, and you can forget having my vote. No Pirates, no Lakers, no mergers, half-arsed takeovers

Whatever the end result of this is
That was the most fun I've had over a three hour period for a long time. Aussie soccer delivers the goods again, and long may it continue to do so.

The time has come...

...for South Melbourne Heart!

Now this is a Facebook page that could surely do with a bit more publicity.

Previously, we here at South of the Border have covered the 'South should merge/takeover with Heart' phenomenon only sparingly, and with the utmost reluctance. Most notably, there was the moment of comic relief at the end of the 2012 AGM blog entry, from January 2013. More substantially, there was this article from December last year.

Still, most of the talk on this issue is refers to possible takeover plans rather than a merger, so it's nice to see someone put up the merger point of view, if only for a bit of variety. On their page they've put up videos from both teams, tried to come up with a home strip - the Paraguay national team style thing on the right hand side, with hooped socks no less - and one person, I assume the page's creator, tried to post a comment on the official South Facebook page in order to advocate for this idea. Sadly, it appears that comment was taken down by one of the humourless drones who monitor that page.

And even though we disagree with this idea on principle, we'll be keeping an eye on seeing how much support - legitimate or otherwise - this campaign is able to muster up.

PS.
And then, just as I hit submit and schedule this article for a later date, someone comes up with this. Good grief. How long until this nonsense ends?

PPS.
And then the Facebook page's creator puts up a thread on the Heart forum, which quickly gets locked. Need him to post a comment here, lol.

Friendly against Bergers tonight

Tonight, Lakeside,, 7:30. Even when they get relegated, we just can't get away from them. As usual with the pre-season guff, wrap up will be in the comments section.

2012 Season Preview Memorial Entry

Clatter, crash, clack!
Racket, bang, thump!
Rattle, clang, crack, thud, whack, bam!

Who could forget our article from last year on Michael Lynch's imaginary tour of the kitchens of the Victorian Premier League? Well not me, and certainly not Ian Syson nor Lynch himself. Here's a recent twitter exchange.

@micklynch_age @tweetwhiteline @gatty54 @ecpkoko be time for your vpl preview Michael?
— Ian Syson (@IanSyson) March 18, 2013

@iansyson my guide to multi racial Australia's cuisine you mean??
— Michael Lynch (@MickLynch_Age) March 18, 2013

Anyway, even if you had a look at that blog entry last year, take a look at it again - I added a couple of 'year on' observations, one much sadder than the other. You can decide for yourselves which one fits that bill.

Social club work not progressing

Club must be upfront with its supporters

One of the most anticipated events of this season for our fans was to be the opening of the redeveloped social club. Of course, this redevelopment would not have taken place without the approximately $900,000 grant obtained in our deal with the previous Labor state government to give up exclusive access to Lakeside.

Along with the 40 year lease and the annual stipend guaranteeing a minimum income, the redevelopment was at the cornerstone of the future of the club - a chance to right the wrongs of previous administrations and use our facilities to become self-sufficient.

Earlier this year, at the AGM, the board indicated that it had been in dispute with the current Coalition state government over the funds allocated to the redevelopment. It was said that they were not willing to give the money - the inference being that they were most unpleased with our deal.

It is my understanding that the club has been seeking legal counsel on the matter. However, of equal importance to my mind is that they are open and honest on the matter with the club's supporters.

Yes, there will be a backlash from the usual suspects - but the board may find that they might gain some sympathy and support by displaying some openness rather than pretending that no one will notice. Because come May 11th, the date of our first home game, people will notice. And their reaction then may not be so pleasant.

South of the Border hopes that the club will take the initiative in this matter, and not revert to longstanding past practice of keeping everything to itself.

Friendly against Port tomorrow

A chance for South fans to see the favourites for the 2013 VPL title on their own turf, in a game that probably won't provide the embarrasment of our meetings over the previous two seasons - we're hopefully saving that up for the season proper. Game is on at 7:30PM tomorrow at Port Melbourne. Be there and be square.

Nando going overseas?

Former South championship midfielder David Clarkson released this curious tweet on his Twitter page last week

Good luck to @smfc @nandojogado who leaves tomorrow to play in China for Zhenzhen FC.

When I asked if this was futsal or outdoor, Clarkson replied with 'outdoor', which would probably mean Shenzhen Ruby, a second division side, which is puzzling in all sorts of ways.

Another source though seemed to indicate that it was a futsal trip - possibly an AFC futsal club championship. Wait and see if anything comes out of it.

Friendly against Pascoe Vale on Saturday

Our next friendly will be against Pascoe Vale at 3:00 this Saturday, on Altona Magic's side of Paisley Park. We might well get a better idea of where we'll be at this season. But then again, we might not.

Bit of a shame to be missing out on a Dockerty Cup tie somewhere in the burbs, but South always comes first, doesn't it?

Fire Up For Friendly Action! (and other news)

South finally step out of the cotton wool for pre-season 2013. First up, a friendly against Malvern City this Wednesday, at Lakeside, at 7:30.

There are reports that recent re-re-acquisition Carl Recchia has done his knee. Not good news if true.

Fernando has changed his number from 15 to 8. Dimi Hatzimouratis has taken up Fernando's old number.

Young defender Matko Budimir has been offered a senior contract.

Marinos Gasparis is reportedly in terrific shape.

And 1960s multiple championship player George Papadopoulos has passed away.

I went and watched North Sunshine lose 2-1 to Sunshine George Cross in the first round of the Dockerty Cup at Chaplin Reserve. Kinnie and the last minutes of the match were the highlights.

And today I went and saw the Friendship Cup between Melbourne Croatia and Sydney Croatia. Not much of a game to be honest (even with four goals), but I did get to see Glen Trifiro play more forward passes in this match than he did for the whole of last season.

Also, some schmo got here after looking up 'south melbourne a-league 2013'. Do you know something that we perhaps don't know? Something that would turn everything we think we know about Australian soccer on its head?

Or do you perhaps think that we know something that we're not sharing? Something so ludicrously amazing to do with your query that, if I revealed it on these pages, eyeballs would literally explode?

Well, I don't. But if you know something, please share! We don't care if its ludicrous.

Joe Gorman on David Hill's attempted shoving of the NSL into the 'mainstream'

This article is, I think, a well researched and balanced look back at the mid 1990s attempt at de-ethnicising Australian soccer. A bit Sydney centric, but very interesting - and good to see someone analysing the multicultural factors more thoroughly then I'm used to seeing.

2013 memberships released

Here's the advertisement. Looks very slick and professional. Sneaky addition of a 'Hellas' banner in there. Nioe emphasis on the blue and white colours, (in Colin Mochrie voice) if you know what I mean.



Of course the very interesting thing for me is the change in who gets voting rights and access. Previously, it was only social club members - aka South Gold and above -that got access to the South Melbourne Hellas (owner/controlling body of everything) AGM.

And when the FFV brought in their mandatory changes to club constitutions, allowing parents and participants more access and rights at their clubs - I suppose as part of the Crawford reforms - we were told that it would not have much of an effect on us.

But that appears not be the case. Not that I have an issue with it, but certainly others more paranoid than me certainly do, and it wsill be interesting to see how this plays out. After all, this is an election year!

Anyway, the other thing to consider then is, if a regular season pass holder now gets access to both AGMs, why should anyone bother putting in an extra 60 or whatever it is dollars to go for the social club membership?

It's something I thought about for all of about five minutes. I decided to go 'Gold' again for the extra merchandise, the $25 voucher (which is there to encourage me to buy more stuff!) and 10% off social club food and drink, but will completely understand if people start dropping out of that membership category.

Let's not forget though, that the main benefit of taking up any of the membership options is that all the money goes back into the club, and not to anyone else.

South pull out of Bouzis Cup?

They certainly seemed to be no-shows at today's match day, so I'm assuming they've pulled out of the entire thing. A bit of a pity for the three of us that made the trip out there, but what can you do except blame everyone responsible for this mess, especially those who informed no one

Still, we got to see Altona East draw 0-0 with a youthful Oakleigh side. East probably should have taken all the points, but scoring goals has been their achilles heel for a while now.

Also got to see Malvern against Essendon United. United took the lead, but eventually Malvern's dominance of posession told, with them winning 2-1.

The highlight of the day was heading over to Song Huong on Alfrieda Street afterwards for their fantastic (and cheap!) rice vermicelli with braised chicken, lemongrass and chili, and opening up my schedule to do something else with my time. Maybe go see a cup game next week.

First pre-season matches this weekend

Against Westvale on Saturday, against Old Camberwell on Sunday. Check the results/fixture tab for details, but don't blame us if something goes awry. Reports are that we'll be using youthful sides anyway.

Dutch striker signed + and confirmation of three outs

We've signed a new Dutch striker, one Renco Van Eeken. Apparently here to study, he was an off the street acquisition. He seems to have played in the third and fourth tiers of Dutch football, which as far as I can tell are mostly amateur. The brains trust are very excited about this player. Here's hoping he proves them right. The video footage available of him is promising, though most of us will reserve judgement until he starts performing for us. I still miss Jasper Valentijn.



On the way out are Steve Burton, Jason Saldaris and Glen Trifiro. I liked Burton, his finishing and strength were very good, but it doesn't appear to have worked out for some reason. I thought Saldaris was very unlucky not to get more of a go last season, especially considering Peter Gavalas' nightmare run. Glen Trifiro just never really got going in his year long South stint. Reports from some Sydney United people suggest that he's looking good during their pre-season. South of the Border wishes all three players well in their future footballing careers.

FFA announces Claytons Second Division

It's the second division you have when you're not having second division.

Example of a squad list, under possible NCR guidelines.
I saw this last year at an FFV information evening. Click to enlarge,

There was a bit of excitement caused on the forums - and nowhere else really - about the FFA launching the findings of their National Competitions Review. As far as I'm concerned, there was no need for that excitement, but people in offices have got to lower their productivity somehow.

FFA Cup coming? It's been coming for years now, not that I see it as a priority. Promotion and relegation? In a few years, maybe, but we'll make it as hard as possible for A-League teams to drop and for state league teams to go up.

Again, no surprise and from me, no complaints. I don't care what the 'purists' have to say, but just because it may be 'traditional' in other countries, it doesn't mean it would work here.

The other thing to get some people in a flutter was stuff that was released last year, namely, the player points cap system to be used for the revamped state leagues. It got some people hot under the collar. 'What will happen to 42 year olds! What about club loyalty! What about our juniors!'

Some Sydney Olympic fans should seriously learn how to read through a document before predicting the end of the world. Maybe they should also take a leaf out of  Matthew 24:36

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only

The time to get more excited and panicky for South fans is when the FFV eventually gets around to releasing the criteria for its adaptation of the NCR. At the South AGM back on the Australia Day long weekend, we were told the FFV would release their criteria within a couple of weeks. We're still waiting.

First pre-season games this weekend

Westvale on Saturday, Old Camberwell on Sunday. For details, see the results/fixtures tab. Don't blame this blog if something changes though. Rumour also has it we'll be playing youthful sides, but who knows for sure?

Bourgeois Anthropology - Middle Class Handwringing Edition

It's funny, you live in the universe, but you never do these things until someone comes to visit
Still waiting for South action, and thus I made my debut appearances at the water polo and international cricket in the one weekend. My old Perth Glory supporting mate Chris Egan was in town last week. So that meant taking a chance that the world hadn't succumbed to nuclear apocalypse since the end of the last VPL season, and actually going outside and doing things. I managed to live to tell the tale - but only just. So think of this entry as a variation of last year's tennis escapade.

Water Polo at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre
The UWA Torpedoes (men's and women's teams) were in town to take on the Victoria Tigers. I'm not quite sure what person thought that a tiger would be the best mascot for an aquatic sports team. The Tigers won both matches, the men's game a little more comfortably then the women's, but neither match was a blowout.

Anyway, it's quite a nice little set up they have going there at MSAC. Shot clocks, sponsor boards, scoreboard. I could have done without the continuous commentary though. I wouldn't have minded elaboration on scorers and ejections, but the rest seemed superfluous. They had a match program, and in retrospect I should have picked one up. Gold coin donation seemed fair. The team and player intros included bizarre clapping ceremony.

As for the sport of water polo itself, I'm sure it's a hell of a lot of fun to play for the participants, but like my opinion of field hockey, I reckon it's just another inferior version of soccer. There's a very limited range of scoring methods, and limited ways of moving the ball. Still, the fast breaks and bounced shots were exciting to watch, the constant minor fouls not so much.

Perhaps it would have been more exciting with some flares and ethnic tension. But then again, wouldn't everything?

I also learned that former Fremantle Dockers coach Gerard Neesham - and his water polo background - is the progenitor of flooding in Australian rules football. There's something for Steven Alomes to follow up on.

Paisley Park Prattle
Trundled over to see Altona East's seniors and ressies in their first friendlies for the season. Ressie lost to Melbourne University 9-0, so some work to do there. The seniors won 2 or 3 nil, I wasn't paying that much attention. Found out how Andrew Nabbout got the call up to Melbourne Victory ahead of several other possible. No disrespect to Nabbout, but it appears there's serious issues with talent identification in Australian soccer.

Prior To Yesterday
My only experiences of watching cricket live in the flesh - apart from seeing the odd ball bowled while my train was stopped was at South Kensington station on a summer Saturday - was at some regional junior representative match, and one day's play of Carlton's fourths against Footscray fourths at Tony Dodemaide Oval. So even though I know rules, histories, players and all the other hoopla, this experience was new to me.

Embracing Your Inner Billboard
Mike Hussey cardboard sheets sponsored by a bank. A tea break on field dance session sponsored by a brewer. Faux watermelon hats sponsored by a telecommunications company. And best of all, said telco handing out free clip on radios which were able to access either the ABC's and Channel Nine's commentary. Which was hilarious considering that outside the ground another variation of said radio was being sold at $20 a pop.

Future NFL Hall of Famers
Commiserations to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who almost made it to the end of the match without getting kicked out. After having thrown an American football three times from the bottom of M10 - including one which smashed into the signage on the second deck - he wandered back to his seat as if nothing had happened. A little bit later on, it looked like he'd been escorted out, only to return a few minutes later.

As blokes were being thrown out left, right and centre, our group was wondering how the hell Brady was still in the venue. Later on during the evening, he moved around to the bottom of section M8 or M9 and threw the ball again, after posing with the ball for about half a minute. Eventually, his luck ran out, somewhat amazingly after he had taken off his jersey and tried to go incognito. It took until 10:15 for the Old Bill to finally get rid of him for good - perhaps they were waiting for Brady's mate Brian Urlacher to get out of the picture.

Fat Kid Messenger Services
One of the two off-field highlights was the use of a fat kid for the purposes of picking up chicks. Some blokes from the front row sent this kid to pass on a message to an attractive woman about 20 rows back. Kid became an instant legend.

Footy's Almost Back!
The roll call of footy jumpers I saw.

• 1x St Kilda
• 1x Footscray
• 1x Collingwood, heading back towards Flinders Street before the match.
• 1x Geelong, with matching shorts.
• 1x Essendon - as soon as he appeared in M11, the 'Essendon are drug cheats' chant started.
• 1x Sydney, dressed as Warwick Capper, including shorts which left nothing to the imagination.

Kostume Kapers
For some reason the marketing gurus at Cricket Australia thought it would be a good idea to encourage people to dress up in costumes, because goodness knows it's not the like actual game matters in any way. There were some good efforts, but where I was sitting, it seemed like an extra reason to get drunk for most of those people. Some of the more notable efforts in our vicinity included:

• Warwick Capper - see above.
• Spiderman - when not drinking, he spent a good portion of the match performing an incredibly annoying dance, trying ever so hard to get on camera. He succeeded.
• A wizard, but not Gandalf or Harry Potter related.
• About 5-6 blokes dressed in Jamaican bobsled outfits ala the film Cool Runnings, but sadly without anyone in the role of John Candy.
• Some bloke wearing a pretty crap wedding dress.
• Wonder Woman - perhaps unusually (considering the usual demographic of nerd dress up shenanigans), she was actually a woman.
• Bananas in Pyjamas
• The bloke in an obviously very hot and sweaty panda suit, on whose face one could read a ton of regret about wearing that suit on such a warm day.

Sneaky Sound System
Still going, still crap.

Pitch Invasions
Just the one individual. Tried to take on security, did not get far.

Strippers!

One bloke stripped down to nothing. He got turfed out. Later on, one bloke thought he'd be a bit of smartarse, and started having a go at two of the female coppers as they were going back up the stairs, by beginning a slow and sleazy striptease routine. Unfortunately for him, the most veteran police offer on duty came up from behind and grabbed his arms as he was about to lose his jacket - and the beauty of it was that everyone saw it coming but him. Even I had to laugh at that.

Western Australians
Along with Chris, I was with several other Perth Glory fans at this match. I hope no one mistook me for a Western Australian while they went off their nut every time a Western Australian player did anything. They were quite excited by Adam Voges' maiden international century. I liked Johnson Charles' equivalent effort a little better, but at that stage not many people were watching.

The Actual Match
In the sections we were in, the on field contest seemed incidental. You read newspaper reports about the bad behaviour, but it's worth getting a look at it first hand. As a newbie from a soccer background, several things struck me as significant.

I never realised how boring this game is.

Firstly, the way the rowdy patrons actually put some effort into getting thrown out was fascinating, like they were actually aiming for that result. They drink a lot and drink quickly (one group enjoyed smashing the empty plastic cups against each other's faces). The attempt to curtail the drinking culture by not opening the bars (or food) outlets on the bottom of the lower deck did not work at all. One bloke near me (whose mates had already been thrown out) threw an empty Pringles cylinder, and then followed it up with an empty Coke bottle. He tried to feign ignorance but it was no use, and he didn't put up much of a fight when he got spotted and asked to leave. I wonder if he and others like him will get charged the $563 on the spot fine for throwing items.

The second thing was how little fight most people - including bystanders - put up in trying to avoid being evicted. If that happened in a soccer crowd, I can easily imagine other people quickly becoming involved out of a sense of camaraderie. Here, while not dobbing in their fellow supporters, most seemed perfectly willing to let them be evicted. Indeed the well known chant 'you're going home in the back of a divvy van' seemed to undermine the notion that someone tried to put forward yesterday, that the performance of disobedience was an indicator of Australians' natural distrust and dislike of authority.

Thirdly, the different reactions of the police and security. The police seemed to laugh a lot of the incidents off. The security seemed to take more of an interest in trying to control matters, though that may have been because they tended to be targeted more by the antics of the fans. As the night wore on, so did the frequency of people getting booted out, with scarcely a ten minute period going by without one or more people being escorted out.

I can see why certain people want to get rid of this format of the game. Eight hours of meaningless play, low crowds, attracting mostly people who see it as an opportunity to get tanked. But it was good to get to a game. Unfortunately, cricket is a game in the wrong era. It's not suited to a culture that lacks patience and has no time for it anyway. Attempts to convince its constituents otherwise, by speeding up the game and taking every semblance of nuance out of it, just seem pathetic to me. They might as well convert to baseball.

Pepe in Papua

Want to know what happened to former assistant coach Joe Montemurro? Well, he's ended up in Papua New Guinea. Also good to know that the National Soccer League lives on.

NEW kids on the block, FC Port Moresby, WNB Tavur FC and NC Civil Works Oro FC will be out to impress their supporters when they debut in the 2013 Telikom National Soccer League tomorrow.

Aspiring newcomer, FC Port Moresby will face a baptism of fire against reigning champions, Hekari United FC, while Oro will take on neighbouring Milne Bay franchise, Eastern Star FC, in their opening match.

Under Italian coach Joe Montemurro, FC Port Moresby have been preparing well since making their intention known to take part in the semi-professional competition.

Known as Pepe, Montemurro was extremely impressed with the talent of his charges, which include eight national reps plus prominent emerging youth players who have won age group international caps.

“This blend of youth and experience of PNG’s finest home-grown players is a coach’s dream,” he said.

“FC Port Moresby players come from all four regions of PNG and we are excited about building a fan base that extends nationwide.”

On the prospect of facing Hekari first up, Pepe said “Every team wants to play against the champions to truly test themselves.”

“This is a fantastic introduction to the 2013 NSL season, of course, the premiers will start as favourites but I am confident that we can promise Port Moresby residents that your team is here to play.”

Senior player Reginald Davani said his squad had been preparing well for the opening match.

The club has secured the services of former Hekari United player Neil Hans, who will lead the side against his former teammates.

Hekari coach Jerry Allen could not say much about his chances

The results of very novice hoarding

Bit of a slow time of year, isn't it? Not much going on for this blog to report on. So let's go back in time a bit, and relive some highs, lows and mundane parts of South history.

While doing some cleaning, I came across some old copies of Neos Kosmos English Weekly from 2001 and 2002. I don't know why I was collecting them, and I'd forgotten I'd even had them.

By contrast, I remembered that I had a half dozen copies of the AFL's Football Record. Goodness knows why. Biggest waste of money, but those were the days before you could get them all online.


You can rest assured that I'm no hoarder - it was just some stuff that had gone from drawer to shoe box to slightly less worn shoe box and so forth for about a decade or so. Then again, I have to share this place with four other people and their crap, so proper hoarding is not so much of an option.

There was other stuff, too, such as:

• Reform of Soccer Australia, which of course we all thought would never happen.
• Ian Knop and the state federations trying to justify the player levy increase to bail out Soccer Australia.
• Something about Ned Zelic wanting to play for Australia again.
• Soccer Australia frantically trying to get the National Soccer League finals onto television.

But none of that had any specific mentions of South. There were only four articles in that lot to do with South at all, and for the most part it's routine stuff. Thanks to my bro for scanning, cropping etc.

The first article is about one time South VPL player Evan Karavitis, when he was just a fresh faced youngster at the Victorian Institute of Sport, looking to make it big in the world of soccer. He got called up for one of the national underage teams, along with a bunch of other hopefuls including then South junior Stefan Piorkowski. Kristian Sarkies is there as well. Some bloke called Postecoglou was in charge of things. According to some basic research, the bloke couldn't coach his way out of box of corn flakes.

The second article is from when we 'miraculously' stormed into the finals of the 2001/02 season after being just awful for about half of it. Much harder these days to have these kind of occurrences when more than half the teams in our national competition qualify for the finals.

The third article is about Paul Trimboli looking to stay at South. Also has some bits about Steve Blair getting involved with the administrative side of the club.

The final article in this collection is about South's first home game of the 2002/03 season, and the difficulties Zeljko Susa had in getting a clearance from his club in Croatia, even though they no longer wanted him.

AGM 2012 - Onwards Toward the Final Victory!

One could argue that I'm here to provide a public service. But at the same time, the AGMs are for members only, so why should we spill all the beans to those who aren't members of the club, or who can't be bothered making the effort to turn up?

Anyway, yes, the Australia Day long weekend was a crap time to host this delayed event, but the turnout was still made up of pretty much exactly the same people you'd normally expect to see, give or take a couple of people on holidays and one or two who slept in and missed it.

Money
The club recorded its first profit since the Brazil adventure. There was no applause for this milestone. A sign of maturity from the members?

Social Club
Will it be ready by the time they want? Have to wait until FA Cup night. Here's hoping for a Brentford vs Luton final.

Women
The club as usual claims progress is being made. I get the feeling that the two parties are still on very different wavelengths.

National Competitions Review
Not much change from the last time we talked about this. The FFV and FFA insist it will go ahead in 2014. Off the record, one proponent suggests that most of the VPL clubs acknowledge this fact, and that they are beginning to at least consider applying for an 'elite' licence. George Koukoulas, who is a member of the FFV men's standing committee, claims the opposite, that most of the clubs are still fundamentally opposed. South claims it is prepared for either eventuality. The FFV comes put with its next stage of recommendations and and possibly bidding process information in two weeks.

Vote Early, Vote Often
An election is due at the next AGM. Unlike all the post-NSL elections, which have seen no rival tickets showing their hand (despite murmurings at the time that there would be), we could see some more action for two reasons.

Firstly, this will be the first elections after the FFV's constitutional reforms which saw players and parents of junior players added automatically to the list of people who can vote. In our case, we have been assured in previous AGMs that these people will only be eligible to run for SMFC and not SMH (the SC got dropped off the end of SMHSC at the previous AGM)

Secondly, there is the obvious dissatisfaction with the current regime shown by former(?) board members George Koukoulas and Lucky Chrisomalidis. Will this be enough to get them to start their own ticket? And who would be on it? Whatever happens, I hope that there is at least some sort of opposition, not because I think the current board are doing a bad job, but just to see a different set of ideas so we can weigh them against what we have now.

Ruthlessness
The club needs to be more ruthless in vetting who is a member and who isn't, and in which meeting they should be in, and if they should in a meeting at all. Having the SMFC and SMH AGMs on separate days seems like an obvious solution to at least one of these issues.

Apparently Melbourne Knights are far more thorough with their arrangements, not even allowing notes to be taken (there goes my question sheet!) and all documents given out during a meeting to be returned at the end of the meeting - and if that doesn't happen, no one goes home. Sounds like another level of fun to be added.

Not Around The Grounds
I was disappointed with the representatives of the football department, when it came to explaining their attitudes towards going to watch other VPL and state league matches.

You see representatives of other clubs at grounds all the time, in their thick, club branded tracksuit jackets. I even made the quip (which got a few laughs!) that I see  Heidelberg coach George Katsakis at so many games that I sometimes think he's stalking me.

Yes, I have no life, and that is why I can be seen at 1-2 games a weekend which don't involve South. But I would expect to see South football department people at other games every now and again, instead of rarely. It's not just about scouting players and reconnaissance - it's about being seen mingling with the hoi polloi. It may not mean that we won't be seen as aloof, but at least they'll see us being aloof.

Farewell, Steve O'Dor
The rumour circulating during the off-season has been confirmed - Steve O'Dor has apparently retired, at least from VPL football. Work commitments appear to have taken their toll.

The Best Question
Someone, I assume new to this whole experience, asked about a rumour he read on the internet about whether we were going to take over Melbourne Heart. This is what happens when you let your children read FourFourTwo forums unsupervised.

Bouzis Cup/Almost Famous/SMAGM 2012/Fries With That

Bouzis Cup
Those of us who have been dragged kicking and screaming into the local asylum for lack of South action, will be pleased to note that some South Melbourne related pre-season fixtures have been released.

With the Hellenic Cup taking a sabbatical for this year at least, it looks like some individual clubs are attempting to fill the void with their own tournaments.

To that end, Westvale Olympic is hosting what they're calling the George Bouzis Cup, starting on February 23rd. It's three groups of four, and we're in group one with Westvale, Western Suburbs and Old Camberwell. I've added the matches to the fixtures/results page.

There's no women's, veterans or youth competition, just senior men. They're using both pitches out at McKechnie Reserve, which is good to see, but sadly they've already committed to the mistake of trying to crowd too many games into the schedule - instead of having the three group winners and the best second placed team play semi finals, they've got the top two of each group and the two best third placed teams going through to the quarter finals.

Which results in the semi-finals and final on consecutive days. Have people learned nothing from the farcical scheduling capers of the Hellenic Cup?

Northcote and Oakleigh are the two other VPL clubs taking part, so there's a good chance we'll be meeting them at some point during the tournament.

I'm mostly glad that I get to see pre-season South matches in the western suburbs (and across the road from St Albans station!) without having to travel to public transport black holes in the eastern suburbs.

Almost Famous
The following notice has been issued from the SMFC Ministry of Infomation.

Calling all SMFC Fans!

Do you want to be a part of the 2013 Membership Commercial?

If yes, register your interest by contacting the clubs Marketing Manager George Kouroumalis via email at multimedia@smfc.com.au.

Please note!

You MUST be available on the evening of Wednesday January 30th and MUST own a piece of SMFC attire or any BLUE clothing.

South Melbourne AGM 2012
The AGM so Greek that it'd be late to its own funeral is on this week. I wonder what surprises the committee will have for us...

Would You Like Fries With That?
If you're going to be charging $29 for a chicken parma, could you at least provide hand-cut chips instead of something out of a freezer bag? And would it be too much to ask to not chuck them under the schnitzel? First world problems, I know.

Dina Dounis - Soccer At Middle Park

In my other line of existence - being a career student at university - my honours thesis looked at the history of Australian soccer literature. That is, creative written work by Australians on soccer, and by Australians or otherwise on soccer in Australia. As has been mentioned previously, the nature of this work was in large part bibliographic - trying to find all the disparate texts and create a genre of sorts for them. The secondary goal was to begin analysis into the issues of the naturalisation of soccer in Australia; that is, at what point and how will soccer become genuinely Australian, and not subject to the whims of the cultural cringe.

One of the more interesting aspects of this research is how little of the substantial work has been done by members of the major community players in Australian soccer. That is, where was the work by the Greeks, the Italians, the Croatians, etc? Yes, there are certainly works about these groups and their involvement in Aussie soccer, but often times these are written by people from outside these communities.

So the question that leads on from there is, why are there so few texts from Aussie wog writers dealing with soccer? The easy answer is, combined with their under-representation in Aussie literature anyway, and ingrained antipathy among the intellectual class for sport (David Malouf's poem 'At a School Athletics Day' always comes mind) and it seems utterly natural that these works shouldn't exist.

But when you dig a little deeper, you find the apparent lack of even mentions of soccer within migrant written works as problematic. Soccer clubs are some of the major institutions created by Continental European migrants. And it's not like other major areas of their lives are not covered in Australian literature. Social life, family life, church etc. And yet soccer seems to fall by the wayside for some reason.

Maybe the texts do exist, but are hidden in language/community specific literary journals (like the Greek 'Antipodes' journal)? Perhaps because they are written in languages other than English, it makes it more difficult for databases to annotate and archive their existence? Perhaps, influenced by their Anglo brethren, writers from non English speaking backgrounds do not conceive of sport as important enough to be written about 'seriously'?

All of which is a circuitous way of getting to the thing that I wanted to cover most in this entry. While having another look at the AusLit database, which collects and categorises works of Australian literature (sadly for the general public, access is generally limited to people with university library accounts), I found something intriguing. Among several new entries, there was this poem by Konstandina Dounis, who also goes by the name Dina Dounis.

I was happy to find it for several reasons. It's about South and it's (of course) about Middle Park. It's the first text that I've found that deals with our club outside of allusions one could take from David Martin's 1962 novel The Young Wife and my own haiku phase, and disregarding uses of Middle Park and South in the film adaptation of The Heartbreak Kid and of course the still much loved sitcom Acropolis Now.

It's also by a Greek, unlike most of the main literary texts dealing with Aussie-Greek soccer. It's by a woman, which helps undercut the notion that it was only blokes at the soccer in the old times - indeed, Dounis says it is a family outing. Dounis also brushes aside the issue of crowd violence as something 'occasional'. It also brings class issues into the picture, something which I told my students in my Australian Literature tutorial to do, but which they seemed to not be interested in.

My guess is that Dounis seems to be talking about going to Middle Park at some time during the 1960s. The poem makes allusions as to why crowds have fallen at all ethnic clubs (putting aside for the moment South's exclusion from the top flight). That sense of ethnic community solidarity, which was once so necessary for newly arrived migrants, on an individual and community level, is no longer a driving force. As discussed by Matthew Klugman in his work on Sydney's Italian-Australian soccer community (which you can find in here), while there is still nostalgia among first, second and third generation migrants for that part of Australian soccer, these days it is almost entirely a nostalgic phenomenon.

In the present, members of these communities do not feel that they need that tangible or formal bricks and mortar style of community interaction in order to be 'Greek' or 'Italian' or whatever cultural tag may apply. The same could probably be said of regional associations, local community groups and churches. The decline of the ethnically backed soccer club does therefore not exist in a social vacuum. The poem is balanced in both undercutting and confirming stereotypes of supporting South, but being anchored by a nostalgic tone, it avoids making a direct comment on the present and future.

If you want to find out more about Dounis you an start by going here and here. If anyone out there knows of any literary texts dealing with Australian soccer, no matter how trivial and whatever the quality or language, do let us know. We'd love to know about them.

2013 preparations slowly building steam

This off-season has seemingly lasted forever, and there's still two and half months to go. And without a Hellenic Cup to add structure to the pre-season, it will be an even more meandering affair than usual.

The latest news is that we've signed another forward/striker from Queensland, one Rhys Meredith. Meredith has been another one of those types on the edges of making the A-League.

Of course, we've already signed one Queenslander in Tyson Holmes. Interestingly, Hume City have also signed a couple of Queensland based players. Is this the beginning of a trend, or just an aberration? And why the VPL rather than NSWPL?

We've also signed Alan Kearney from Southern Stars, an apparently hard working Irish midfielder. Could do with one or more of those.

The players have started their pre-season schedule. Some of the players people thought may have been on their way out are still around. Goalkeeper Peter Gavalas is perhaps the most high profile of these. Gavalas had an awful year in 2012.

But with a two year contract, it was either keep him or find a club willing to buy his time out. It looks like he'll be number one again for this season - here's hoping he gets back to some of the form that prompted us to sign him in the first place.

Apparently former under 21s keeper George Malliaras is also taking part in pre-season with us, after a year at state league 2 outfit Clifton Hill. I saw him play for the Hillmen against Altona East last season, and to be honest I saw nothing in that game to suggest he had rectified his weaknesses. But maybe that was an off day.

Marinos Gasparis is still around, as is Dimi Hatzimouratis. I was prepared to see Gasparis leave - at his best he is one of the more effective midfielders/forwards in the VPL, but consistency has always been his enemy. Hatzimouratis was severely restricted by injury last season, so I'm interested to see him with a full and proper pre-season under his belt.

Steve Burton is reportedly gone back to Perth, as is back up goalkeeper Jason Saldaris. The status of Rhodri Payne's tenure depends on who you ask. Some claim he's still wanted, at least for pre-season, while others think he's gone. I tend to fall into the latter group. I liked both players, and felt that Saldaris was stiff not to get more opportunities considering Gavalas' woes in 2012.


Nicky Jacobs will miss most of the year recovering from the broken ankle he received while playing school football. Some of other 21s like Matko Budimir, Anthony Giannopoulos and Baggio Yousif are also training with the senior squad, but is that much different to last year?

Not too much word on random trialist types, but then again, we haven't played any friendlies yet. I was so bored last week that I went and watched an Altona East pre-season session last Saturday.

Our Lakeside lease in the Victorian Gazette

From here. What's interesting about this is that we had been told at an information meeting that the club had to use its exclusive areas for in a particular manner - for football purposes. There was argument about why we couldn't use the space for say, the previously medical or corporate suites, as opposed to the board's choice of establishing a futsal court.

The board's explanation at that meeting was that commercial enterprises such as corporate suites were not allowed under our lease agreement with the government. The Victorian Gazette though, seems to contradict that - you can see the details below. Perhaps by the time it got to the minster, it became out of date?

Or perhaps the board meant to explain it in the sense that our government grant for the redevelopment of the social club could only be used if we redeveloped the space for football purposes? Either way, I'm happier that a facility is being provided, in the form of a futsal court, that can be used by our own juniors. The commercial implications of taking this route have been and will be debated for some time though. I'm also interested to see what the board's response is to the seeming contradiction.


Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978
ORDER GIVING APPROVAL TO GRANT FIVE LEASES UNDER SECTIONS 17D AND 17DA
Under sections 17D and 17DA of the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, I, Ryan Smith,
MP, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, being satisfied that there are special reasons which make the granting of five leases reasonable and appropriate in the particular circumstances and to do this will not be substantially detrimental to the use and enjoyment of any adjacent land reserved under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, approve the granting of five leases by the State Sport Centres Trust for the purposes listed in Schedule 1 below, over parts of the Lakeside Stadium Reserve described in Schedule 2 below, and, in accordance with section 17D(3)(a) of the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, state that:

(a) there are special reasons which make the granting of these five leases reasonable and appropriate in the particular circumstances and

(b) to do this will not be substantially detrimental to the use and enjoyment of any adjacent land reserved under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978.

SCHEDULE 1
South Melbourne's lease arrangement will see it Administration offices, members lounge and bistro, change rooms, medical suites, museum and shop.

Glenorchy Knights striker Simon Strang to trial with South

Here's some pre-season player news from Walter Pless' blog.

Simon Strang shakes hands with his coach, Chris Hey of Glenorchy Knights [PlessPix]

Simon Strang, the 22-year-old Glenorchy Knights striker, is off to Melbourne on Wednesday.

Well-known Melbourne football identity Jimmy Armstrong will take Strang to South Melbourne and Moreland Zebras for trials.

Strang has played for Tilford Zebras, New Town Eagles and Glenorchy Knights.

He scored half a dozen goals for Knights in the Southern Premier League last season.

“I’m going to South Melbourne first and see what happens,” Strang said.

“After that I will have a look at Morwell Zebras and I’m very excited about it all

“I have to thank George Krambousanos and John Muir for all their encouragement and help in arranging this.”

Krambousanos has in the past assisted local players James Sherman and Matthew Hill to find clubs in Melbourne.

“Jimmy Armstrong has strong links with South Melbourne and he’s a leading figure in Victorian football,” said Krambousanos.

“He’s always doing something for people and he’s just returned from Scotland so he’ll help Simon out on this trip.”

What happened while we were on break...

Tyson Holmes officially signed. Here's a brief interview.



In a great example of South Melbourne FC Digital Media Team™ tomfoolery, the signing of Carl Recchia was announced with a video interview on youtube - only for it to be changed to 'private'. Then opened up again when they felt the time was 'just right'.

Even though, it's not open, I'm not going to bother linking to that video. Instead I'll do the churlish thing and describe it. It's a very brief chat with Carl, interspersed with highlights of Carl's previous South stint - this will be his third? - combined with the requisite fawning over the new facilities and goodtobebackisms. Just don't expect any illumination as to why Carl left in the first place.

There was also an AGM date announced - Sunday 27th January. About time, though some are grumpy because it's over the Australia Day long weekend.

I lost my patience at some new dawners. First time for everything.

The best book I read over the break was Miles Vertigan's 'Life Kills'. The story of plane hijacking told from the point of view of the terrorist, two bimbo stewards and a couple of macho pilots. A hyper-passive nihilist death march to the justified end of western civilisation. It's also funny.

Lastly, a mystery has also been apparently solved - the mysterious jersey which no one could identify was probably a women's team jersey. Check out 1:45 of this video.

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Zeljko 5

We wrap up this series with one last Zeljko talking about crowd fudging

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Zeljko 4

Zeljko thinks that Culina isn't as good Postecoglou

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Zeljko 3

Zeljko discusses issues at the Melbourne Knights with regards to community integration.

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Zeljko 2

This time Zeljko complains about Socceroo selection

12 Days of NSL Talkback - Zeljko

To finish off this series, we now present the first of five Zeljko calls.