On the alleged absence of second tier sport in The Age

VFL preview part 1

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-year-ahead-for-vfl-20120317-1vco8.html

VFL preview part 2

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/vfl-the-year-ahead-20120318-1vdjo.html

And most shockingly, it's online! Let's see what Michael Lynch and The Age can come up with...

Model of efficiency; Shopping Trolley Shenanigans

Trundled out yesterday all the way to South Dandenong to watch us play our last friendly game before the real stuff starts next week. First surprise - we didn't play on the main field, but on the one behind the stand. More of a rural atmosphere, what with trees hanging over the edge of one side the field.

The game itself - we had all of two shots on goal, and scored from one of these. Dandenong peppered the goals, and fed through their new college superstar recruit on the counter, but they also only managed one goal. Our defense was makeshift, so whole it struggled to contain and clear the ball, there's plenty of of experienced players to come into the squad.

Judging by their approach to the game, Dandenong are pumped for this season after last year's relatively poor effort. Craig Elvin still allowed to get away with murder. Hopefully the refs start clamping down on such players across the league. I'm not holding my breath.

Public transport in the south-eastern suburbs - or Dandenong at least
Well patronised, punctual and effective.

Until some idiot leaves a shopping trolley on the tracks before Huntingdale station on the way home. Cue the train smacking into said trolley, being damaged, and after sitting idle for about 40 minutes (or whatever it was), then dumping us at Oakleigh (because in the driver's words, the train was being held together with a stick). And there's also some probably pseudo marine corps dude giving me greasy looks for who knows what reason.

Another story to add to the public transport filebook.

Vale Ian Marshall (12 February 1949-13 March 2012)

With thanks to Roy Hay for providing the news and obituary.

Ian Marshall died on 13 March 2012 in Christchurch, New Zealand after a long battle with cancer. Ian was a key member of the South Melbourne Hellas midfield in the 1970s, playing alongside Jimmy Armstrong, Peter Bourne, John Bedford and Steve Walker. He helped South Melbourne to the State League championship in 1972 and 1974. He was selected in an Australian squad but did not take the field in an international match. From Hellas he joined Juventus and then went to New Zealand, from where his wife, Christine, hailed.

Ian Marshall was born in Ross-shire in Scotland and started his senior career with the local club Ross County in Dingwall. He was spotted by Tommy Docherty when he was managing Chelsea and the ebullient Scottish manager intended to take the young man to London. However a serious leg injury kept Marshall out of the game for some time. By the time he was back on the top line, Dockerty had left Chelsea so the big move never came about, and Ian Marshall played for some time with Rotherham under Docherty. In 1970, however, he made an even bigger move, when he was recruited by South Melbourne. Marshall and Peter Bourne hit it off in the midfield and Laurie Schwab in 1972 wrote, they ‘look and play as if they were brothers’ knocking off league leader George Cross at Middle Park in front of 11,000 fans and rarely allowing their opponents John Gardiner and Kevin Walker a sniff of the ball. South won that game four-nil. The arrival of Jimmy Mackay from Sydney in 1975 probably limited Marshall’s opportunities and he moved on. At Juventus he played with Jim Armstrong, Jack Reilly and Pat Della Rocca. In New Zealand he continued to play and coach and was involved with the national team, the All Whites. He was an inaugural inductee in the South Melbourne Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife Christine, son Callum and twin daughters Alana and Vanessa.

I am indebted to Robert Levene and Jim Armstrong for assistance with this tribute.

3-3 vs Port; Another keeper; Another friendly;

Last night, Port Melbourne 3, South Melbourne 3. Decent half arsed game I guess. Some tidy work up front by Rixon and the Trifiros. Were 2-0 up, then 3-2 down, and equalised later. One ripper goal from Port from Zeus knows how far out. Steve from Broady is at Bible Camp, so I'm enjoying three days of peace and quiet.

Jason Saldaris
The Perth keeper who's been doing the pre-season with us is signed up. Apart from his name, his vague origins, and rumours that he's a male model, I don't know much about him. Expectations are that he will fight with Gavalas for the number one spot.

Of course this means that George Malliaras, long time under 21s keeper, is now on loan to Springvale White Eagles. They're apparently a young side, and expected to struggle in state league 1. Has a player ever come back from a loan period since we've been in VPL? 


Final Friendly
Our last friendly before the season starts will be on this Saturday, 17th March, away at Dandenong Thunder at 6:00PM. Undecided about this game - may opt for statewide knockout cup match instead.

Can the Hellenic Cup be saved from itself?

Normally, once the Hellenic Cup is over, there aren't too many recriminations from this blog, outside of our own progress at least.

One also doesn't want to knock the efforts of a group of volunteers just for the sake of it. In the past, I have been prone to defending the Hellenic Cup committee, especially in their efforts in rejuvenating what could have become a moribund competition.

Certainly, their inclusion of women's, youth and veterans comps has added another dimension, and increased the participation base of the competition. Considering that this is where this sport is headed at this level, that was a good idea.

And the prizemoney is still good, let's not forget that. $10,000 for the winner of a pre-season competition, when the top prize for winning the VPL or the state cup is worth not much more than double that, is fantastic.

And yet, the organisation of this year's tournament has been shambolic. Constant fixture changes and confusion; grounds destroyed by weather and overuse; the lack of any website updates; and now the prospect of high profile teams not even bothering to enter.

And yet this should have been the best tournament yet in terms of competitiveness. The provisional league teams were whittled down before the state league and VPL teams entered. The state league teams, courtesy of the FFV pushing back the VPL season to late March, now had a pre-season alongside the VPL sides, meaning fatigue woild be less of a factor.

And yet somehow the competition was still a shambles, and Western Suburbs' surprise victory overshadowed by the calamitous organisation.

There were constant fixture changes, even before the tournament started. The tournament programme booklet was rendered all but useless. The decision to change a South fixture twice due to the Antipodes Festival was ridiculous.

The confusion about who would play where, especially in the north/west portion of the tournament, was even more confusing, after the Ralph Reserve field succumbed to the twin perils of overuse and the weather.

The effect of all this would have been lessened if they had made use of their website even in a rudimentary fashion. But since they could not even manage to update results, what hope of informing the public about the other changes.

Last year, Hellenic Cup committee chairmain Jim Massis told me that the reason the website hadn't been updated was because the person responsible was in Greece. I had made an effort, for the general public, to keep track of results as best as I could, using a google document and updating scores as I learnt of them.

It wasn't a perfect solution - at one stage I was copying notes by hand from Massis' notes - but it seemed to be reasonably popular among people wanting to get that information. No single topic/entry has even been half as popular on this blog as this post.

Massis' reassurance that the website would be running for this year's tournament was enough for me to not offer any assistance. Of course, once again, there were no updates on their site. Information could only really be gleaned by looking on soccer-forum.net, which is blocked again; the socceraust.co.uk site, which only had senior men's results, and not all of them; and the south-east results as provided on the Kingston City website by the soccer-forum user known as 'Psycho'.

The lack of reliable information was not the only issue. Despite managing to get it down to four senior groups of four teams each, the tournament still managed to force them to play matches on consecutive days. When Altona East chose to forfeit their quarter final, due to a lack of available players after what was apparently a tough encounter the day before, rather than acknowldege that there perhaps was a problem with the fixturing, the Hellenic Cup committee tried to get Brunswick City to play the match agaonst South - fortunately, they had the good sense, or the necessity of also declining the offer, and South eventually went through to the semi-finals on a forfeit, as they should have in the first place.

Massis was later apparently waiting to unleash on Altona East's refusal to play on Greek radio - fortunately for all concerned, 3XY's phone hook up wasn't working for anyone, and thus further embarassment was avoided, for the time being at least. But then came the semi-finals. Played at different venues, at different times, with different rules. While both semi-finals finished level after regular time, the match at Ralph Reserve, owing to a lack of match lights, went straight to penalties, while the game at The Grange went to extra time.

And while it's easy to point out all the things that went wrong, one is obligated perhaps to provide some possible solutions. And  while that's not usually my strong point, I should give it a stab.

Firstly, do not charge such a high entry fee. $8 for an adult ticket to watch 70 minute matches of a pre-season quality is not value for money.

Secondly, do not charge any entry, let alone $8 for the pre-tournament qualifiers. How much money do you think was going to be made from these games?

It might not be under your direct control, but do try and lean on the host clubs to stop them from price gouging on food and drink. Apparently the cost of a souvlaki at Kingston went from $8 to $10 for the final, and other food drink went up in price also. Way to piss people off.

Think about getting rid of the under 21s competition. The reserves teams below state league one play in an all ages competition, making it very difficult for them to field competitive teams made up only of players under 21. It might also ease your scheduling issues, even if it forces reserves teams to seek other games outside the tournament.

Either use your site properly, or dump it. I'm happy to offer my limited talents in running a site for you, provided I can be provided with accurate fixtures and results in a timely manner.

And lastly, don't piss off any more teams. While not necessarily your fault, it was disappointing not to see the big spending Clifton Hill in the tournament, and even the struggling AEK Waverley. Getting in non-Greek teams to fill in the gaps is counter intuitive to what this tournament is about.

When Officer Friendly Comes Calling

Tucked away in an entry last week, we warned you that a South Melbourne flavoured mudslide was ready to flow down FourFourTwo mountain. Unlike the article referred to last week, this latest article, by the mysterious 'Staff Writer', does have real world consequences for South supporters, unlike that other Clive Palmer related nonsense.

It looks like the introduction of a supporter code of conduct is gathering pace. This has been an issue that has been around for many years, and which has always been viewed with suspicion by the people most likely to fall foul of such rules.

And until recently, the club has had a dreadful record in making disciplinary action stick, that is when they've even bothered to dish it out. Rather than go off half-cocked though, I think we should wait and see what exactly the club has in mind.

Of course there will be questions - such as how will this be any different to the FFV's code of conduct?

Will foul language be targeted? Will foul language in Greek be targeted?

Will talented, handsome, but prone to roguish behaviour media volunteers have the rules applied to them in the same way as their non-volunteer friends?

Is any of this necessary when we're at a 'major events' venue where specific laws already exist to deal with offenders?

And is it true that some fans are considering bringing flares back to games, not realising they could be up for a fine in the realm of $6,000?

And is it true that there are security cameras and people operating them just waiting for some dolt to do something stupid?

So many questions, and not enough information. Not quite yet, anyway.

South snare third place in 2012 Hellenic Cup

Apparently came from 2-0 down to beat Northcote 3-2. No idea on lineup, I wasn't there. I was, rather, at McKechnie Reserve watching Westvale Olympic beat Cairnlea 5-2 in the statewde knockout cup. Next South match is a friendly against Port Melbourne this coming Wednesday.

South exit Hellenic Cup; two new signings; FourFourTwo shenanigans; Beachcombing

It was a farcical evening of football last night at The Grange. For the second time this pre-season South has come up short against state league one outfit Western Suburbs, this time bowing out in a penalty shootout, after both regular and extra time yielded no goals.

After all five penalties were scored by both teams in the shoot out, Suburbs went ahead 6-5 in sudden death - and they won the tie when Steve O'Dor hit his penalty too close to the Suburbs keeper who easily kept the ball out. This will be the first time since 2008 that South has not made the tournament final.

The game was open, with chances ate both ends, though the shooting of both sides left a lot to be desired - in South's case this was worsened by the apparent fear of shooting from anything other the six yard box.

Suburbs played a counter attacking game, clogging up the middle of the field, pushing South wide, and attacking on the counter. Their speedy players were able to race up the field and place the defense under serious pressure - especially considering the apparent disconnect between O'Dor and Gavalas.

After being nursed through the pre-season, Trent Rixon came on late, though Gus Tsolakis appears to be a coach who is wary of using his bench. Crosses that were in the right spot were not met by players being in the right spot. Players that were in the right spot saw crosses fly over them.

It's hardly end of the world stuff though - and it goes to show how the alignment of the state league and VPL pre-seasons have enabled a more closely fought tournament - however this has been overshadowed by even more ludicrous actions from the organising committee.

The original kickoff time for the game was 6:30PM. Of course most, if not all of our players are semi-professionals, who work day jobs. Some even work as late as 6:00 PM. The time would have been even worse for the Western Suburbs, whose players would have likely had to have journeyed an even longer distance than most of our players.

I can't even recall what time the game eventually started. To my surprise, the game also went the full 90 minutes, instead of the hitherto usual 70 - if my recollection is accurate, in previous tournaments 90 minute matches were reserved for the final.

The most ridiculous portion of the evening though, was when news filtered in from the other semi-final, being played by Heidelberg and Northcote. Remarkably, it was being played at Ralph Reserve, whose surface, by all accounts, has been ripped to shreds, and had whole days of action cancelled on it, and matches relocated.

That match, too, failed to yield a winner, but rather than going into extra time, the match went straight into penalties. The lack of suitable lighting was given as the reason for this occurrence. One wonders of they were finishing their match in the dark, and why we had to play extra time.

As it is, our involvement in this tournament is now over, except for the wearisome 3rd/4th place playoff. If last year's match between Oakleigh and Bentleigh is any guide - the single worst game I have ever seen - there will be no point in attending this match. I would feel confident in predicting a largely under 21s squad will take the field on behalf of the club.

Tournament highlights next week.

Need More Greeks!
Boy, hasn't this angle being worked to death lately. Two more officially on board - goalkeeper Peter Gavalas signed over from Bentleigh Greens - confirmed as both a Greek speaker and of the Orthodox faith; and Dimi Hatzimouratis, a pacy forward type who has been at a few clubs around Melbourne but has also spent some time in the Cypriot leagues. Gavalas' signing means the exit of Zaim Zeneli, most likely to Dandenong Thunder. Probably part of their 'need more Albanians' push. Hatzimouratis' signing means that Nicky Jacobs and Gianni De Nittis will probably be fighting over a bench position - unless Jacobs can somehow win a spot out wide.


South sides with the FFA
In the latest and perhaps most pointless chapter of the Clive Palmer - FFA feud, FourFourTwo is reporting that we're not saying that much at all about the matter. Word on the street is to expect more hot air blather in the coming months from us or about us in FourFourTwo


South at the Beach
Finally, in a revolutionary move, this year's version of South in the suburbs/aka membership fun day is actually taking place somewhere within rock throwing distance of South Melbourne! Well, more so rock throwing distance with a mortar launcher, but still better than requiring an intercontinental ballistic missile to deliver your payload.


It's on next Sunday, March 17th, from 11am to 1pm, at (new sponsor) Beachcomber Cafe, 10-18 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda. I think I'll give this one a miss. They seem like nice people over there, and the beach soccer volleyball to be played by South people sounds interesting (even it's no sepak takraw), but I think I should spend some time at home. Or maybe even at a Statewide Knockout Cup match.

So what the hell have they been doing for the last

SMHSC and SMWFC Joint Statement

Monday, 5 March 2012 5:23 PM

South Melbourne Women’s Football Club (SMWFC) and South Melbourne Hellas Soccer Club (SMHSC) are pleased to advise they have agreed to engage in a process to explore mutual benefits for both clubs and recommend a way forward.

As part of the process, representatives from both clubs will examine many areas including the organisational structure, governance model, strategic plan, operations and club culture required to achieve the best outcome for our members.

Once the process is completed, the organisational structure which is recommended may be a merger, affiliation or operating as separate entities.

We will regularly keep our members and supporters informed of progress and seek feedback along the way.

During the 2012 Season, SMWFC will continue to field Women’s and Girl’s Teams and SMHSC/SMFC will continue to field the Men’s and Junior Boys Teams.

As part of the exciting 2012 season ahead, SMHSC and SMWFC will play Premier League matches at the newly completed Lakeside Stadium.

Hellenic Cup semi against Western Suburbs

We have eventually been awarded passage through to the semi finals, after the Hellenic Committee finally and correctly giving us a forfeit win over a team that told the Hellenic Cup committee they were forfeiting.

Of course it took the brains trust running the comp a day or so to figure this, to them at least, uncommon sense arrangement out - some of which will be elaborated on in a sort of written highlights package of the day's action when we have some free time next week. Let's just say it involved listening to 3XY Radio Hellas for two hours and copious use of the word 'fuck'.

So the semi final is on this Wednesday 7th March, at The Grange, against Western Suburbs. Kick off 6:30 or 7:00. I don't know, maybe they'll end up starting it at 6:45 just to be smart. I'm just here giving you a very rough guide to things.

Fuck the Hellenic Cup

Seriously, it's fucken fucked.

We were supposed to play the runner up of one of the north-west groups. Turned out this was Altona East, but they've pulled out due to a lack of players.

Rather than award us the win on a forfeit, apparently the Hellenic Cup committee have tried to wrangle the third placed team from that group, Brunswick City. At the time of print, there was no definite word on whether they would agree to play.

So, if you make the trek out to Clayton South today, you do so under the full realisation that South may not play a match today. As founding member of the Public Transport Faction, I refuse to take the chance that there might actually be a game today, and make a 90 minute slog for probably no good reason. Was happy to deal with heat, rain, the blatant ripoff entry fee and even my team's substandard performances, but this crap is one step too far even for me.

Jim Massis, you're a good bloke, but fuck it, I'd rather we just enter the Eastern Lions or Casey Cup comps next year, even if the Hellenic Cup is the only thing we've won since our last VPL title..

South beat Malvern 3-0 and move into Hellenic Cup quarter final

Don't know who are opponents are at this stage, but our match will be on tomorrow, that is, Sunday 4th March, at The Grange, at 4pm.

Stand up, all victims of oppression!

There have been some people visiting this site, seemingly in order to gather what this blog's and the general South fan's response has been to the Clive Palmer situation.

Well, things move so fast, and are so surreal, that any rational response is pointless. There are some - I repeat only some - South fans who not only believe this is the beginning of the end, but also that Clive Palmer is some kind of hero, who will usher in a new era where South will reign supreme again.

Let me make it clear, that I don't share that view. I'm of the view that Palmer is a deadset loon, who put no more foresight into his latest shenanigans than he did Gold Coast United's success. He's not the messiah, he's just a very naughty boy so to speak, albeit one with a lot more money than your average idiot.

But having said that, it's not like I'm not enjoying the spectacle. This is the stuff that Australian socce was created for, the kind of comedy heights only our game can produce. I could re-publish so much material that's been sprouted on the forums lately, but for succumbing to the sheer farce of the situation, this video is my current favourite item.

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.