South Melb vs Victory

[The Kop]

South Melb play Melb Victory tonight at Bob Jane, apparantly is pissing down on the eastern seaboard but they're expecting about 2-3000.
Both sides are fielding second rate teams, cos of other commitments.


Some articles on the game......

[The Kop]

In tonights match program...

EVER SINCE the demise of the old National Soccer League (NSL) in 2004, the issue of South Melbourne becoming the second Melbourne team in 2010 has generated much discussion over many a Melburnian dinner and coffee table.

It’s a topic on which everyone seems to have an opinion whether they have followed the game in this country in its not so glamorous days or are a recent convert to the game. Needless to say, the fact that South Melbourne FC generates such an emotional response from football followers indicates that the club is very much alive and relevant in the Australian football scene, albeit as a club that currently plays in the Victorian Premier League.

To understand why there is so much emotion and fanfare concerning this Albert Park based club, one must firstly understand the club’s tradition and impact it has had on people’s lives and the game in this country.

South Melbourne FC is currently Australia’s most successful football club. It has won four National Titles (’84, ’91, ’98, ’99), and was the inaugural representative of Australia and the Oceania region in FIFA’s World Club Championships in Brazil in 2000. In its 17-odd years of playing state league football in Victoria, it has captured eight Victorian State League titles, an average of one championship every two years, quite an achievement in anyone’s language. South Melbourne along with Marconi, is one of only two clubs to have played every single season in the now defunct NSL, a true testament to the club’s calibre and resilience.

But football in Australia has changed . . . or has it? Certainly there has been a massive increase in the sport’s popularity and marketability – thanks to a national federation that is focused, competent and well resourced to finally convert the massive potential the code always possessed. However, a strong domestic league needs strong domestic clubs.

The fundamentals that make a club strong will always remain the same. The FFA might have changed the structure of the league but the cornerstone principles that contribute to a successful and strong club transcend country and culture and can be found in any great club around the world.

Building blocks such as passionate supporters, committed administrators, club traditions, facilities and financial viability are just but a few important traits needed to run a successful club. These are all traits South Melbourne FC possess and are able to contribute as the basis of a credible A League club in the future and more importantly ensure its ongoing viability. In a football context, this can be likened to a coach having changed the team formation, yet the skills needed to be a great player remaining the same.

In the last few years of the NSL, South was one of the few clubs to have gone professional and was still drawing an average of 7000 spectators with no marketing and promotional support from the national federation and media outlets. Imagine what it could do in a well run competition with national coverage! It might not break attendance records but it would be more than able to hold its own.

TONIGHT SOUTH Melbourne plays Melbourne Victory, a team formed in the last two years and a testament to the new era of football in Australia. It has recently won a national title in its second year and has set record domestic football crowd attendances.

Many people have questioned South’s involvement as not being appropriate given the era of ‘new football’ and success of Melbourne Victory; yet South may have an important role to play in the continued advancement of the code in this state and country.

A second team in Melbourne other than South would run the risk of splitting Victory’s newly found supporter base and compromising what it has already established.

Should a second team from Melbourne be established along the same lines as Victory it will not have the same success given that non-aligned supporters have already chosen to support the Victory. A South Melbourne option would draw on its current supporter base and those dormant supporters who followed the club in the NSL years but have not attended since South’s exit from the top fl ight.

Tonight is symbolic for those who have followed the progression of the Australian domestic football scene. It is the first footballing manifestation of a rivalry which currently exists without a ball having ever been kicked between the two teams. It is the commencement of a pure football derby between two teams from the same city. It has an almost perfectly scripted Hollywood plot of ‘old’ versus ‘new’ – the start of the biggest Melbourne derby ever.

This can only be a positive for Australian football. Great football clubs around the world have a local derby rival which motivate and inspire them to be better than the other. Derbies like Man. Utd/Man. City, AC Milan/Inter Milan, Liverpool/Everton have only ensured that those cities are football epicentres encompassing and involving all the city’s inhabitants expressing their allegiances through their club of choice. They exist as a symbiotic relationship, each benefi ting from the other’s presence.

Rivalries are an integral aspect of domestic leagues around the world. The inclusion of a South Melbourne team in the Melbourne market, would ensure two full houses a year for a South v Victory fixture and even the likelihood of requiring the game to be played at the MCG. A state rivalry is one thing but a real city derby has an extra edge adding to the intensity and interest level within that city.

The FFA would be wise to analyze the demise of Perth Glory and see why they went from record crowd attendances of 30,000 plus spectators in the old NSL to fewer than 7000 in an A League environment. The Melbourne market is strong and will only benefit from the inclusion of South Melbourne.

South Melbourne in the A League can only be a step in the right direction for the good of the game in this state and the advancement of the A League!

George Koukoulas

[The Kop]

From The Age, 20/06. "Old Guard and Newcomer play down clash".

MELBOURNE Victory will leave out key players and use some Victorian Institute of Sport youngsters to bolster numbers. South Melbourne will be without some regular first-teamers but will field "the most competitive team we can", according to coach John Anastasiadis.

Both Anastasiadis and Victory boss Ernie Merrick say there is nothing special about their clash at Bob Jane Stadium tonight — the first between the A-League champion and the most decorated club in the old National Soccer League.

"We are trying to use this match to further our preparation and to build 11 versus 11 scenarios so we can get the boys to understand the way we want to play," Merrick said yesterday. "It's strategic gameplay. It's just another match in our build-up and it's not important for us to win these games, it's important for us to be ready to win on the last weekend in August (when Victory plays Wellington Phoenix in its A-League opener)."

In sporting terms, Merrick and Anastasiadis are correct. It is a practice match between clubs from different levels of the soccer pyramid, one of which (South) is halfway through its season, the other which is merely warming up for its.

But the symbolic significance for many will suggest otherwise. This is the most intriguing meeting yet between "old soccer" and "new football", a fascinating clash between clubs that are seen to represent different aspects of soccer's cultural development in this country.

For South, much more then Victory, the stakes are high. The club was hugely disappointed to be left out of the reckoning when A-League franchises were determined and felt that its "Greekness" was made to unfairly count against it.

After the NSL was disbanded in 2004, South was left with nowhere to go and moved into the elite state competition, the Victorian Premier League.

Since then, the Albert Park team has worked to position itself as the club most likely to be given the licence for the second Melbourne franchise when — as it inevitably will — the A-League expands to include at least two clubs in Melbourne and Sydney.

South won the VPL last season. When Victory was still undecided about whether to take up the chance to play at the new purpose-built Olympic Park venue alongside the Melbourne Storm, South declared that it was happy to be the second club and play out of the new ground when it is complete in time for the 2010-11 season.

South is conscious that it does need to change its image — fans clad in blue and white waving Greek flags and chanting "Hellas" would meet with little support from Football Federation Australia — but says it has plenty of investors willing to stump up millions of dollars to underwrite a bid to form the second club.

"The plan for us to be involved in any new franchise would definitely revolve around playing at the new stadium," Jim Marinis, the club's football director said. "From a training and administration base point of view, Bob Jane Stadium would be quite appropriate.

"We might not be called South Melbourne, or we might not play in blue and white if we are part of the consortium and it does not fit in their business plan."

Merrick has given centre-back Adrian Leijer a week off, while his fellow Olyroo Leigh Broxham is out for a month with glandular fever. Grant Brebner is feeling "tight", the coach said, and won't be risked, while Kevin Muscat is in a similar condition and may not play, either.

[The Kop]

The Age, 20/06, "A chance to stick it to new football", Ian Syson

AS A Melbourne soccer fan, I have a terrible confession to make: I don't support the Victory. There. I've said it. My heart lies elsewhere: with South Melbourne, the four-time National Soccer League champion, one-time Oceania club champion and provider of more Socceroos than you could wave a souvlaki at.

But how the mighty fall. In 2004, stigmatised by its ethnic alignment and economically crippled, South was unable and unwelcome to join the A-League. It eventually ended up in the Victorian Premier League and the despair of suburban soccer in Melbourne's industrial belt.

Like many, I initially climbed aboard the Victory bandwagon, believing South was finished as a meaningful entity.

But the trappings of "new football" soon started to disappoint. The Olympic Park North Terrace and Southern Death Crew were (and still are) loud and passionate, but they were drowned out by the gee-up music and the announcer telling us all to cheer (er … we already were, thanks!). It's all very well having giant video screens thrusting replays at us, but what's the point when they censor all the contentious ones?

Paradoxically, the A-League's "success" has driven me back to South and the VPL, where decimated crowds struggle to create a decent atmosphere; where the quality of play (though not the fitness of players) sometimes can match the much-hyped A-League; where passion is still high. The recent 3-3 draw between South and Preston deserved an A-League crowd but got little more than 500.

While I won't see much of the Victory this year, I will be watching it tonight when it plays South in a practice match at Bob Jane Stadium.

There's a truism in soccer that friendlies are meaningless. Tonight that truism is on hold because this may be the most significant friendly ever played in Australia.

Despite having not met on the field, the two clubs already have a deep sense of rivalry. Some South supporters see Victory as the entity that stole their future. For some Victory fans, South represents the forces that held back Australian soccer for decades. Many are casting the game as old soccer versus new football.

So there's a lot at stake tonight. On the field, the contest will bristle. Several players will have points to prove: South's Ricky Diaco and Fernando de Moraes will be looking to press their A-League claims; Kevin Muscat and Daniel Allsopp will have mixed feelings about returning to Bob Jane Stadium in opposition colours.

But it's off the field where most is at stake. While the game is an opportunity for the supporters to display passion and commitment in a crackling atmosphere, any eruption of violence will reflect badly on old soccer and new football alike.

It is my hope that the future of Australian soccer can begin tonight; that this game can usher in a new era in which old and new can meet in mutual respect; that the idea of a Melbourne derby will be seeded in a night of brilliant attacking play and vociferous support.

Oh. And South to win 2-1, with Mitchell Langerak saving a last-minute Muscat penalty.

[The Kop]

Victory won 5-1.
Both sides started off with their weakened lineups possible Victory were missing Brebner and someone else whilst South were resting 5 first XI players for the derby vs Heidelberg on the weekend. 2-1 at HT, the game then turned into Victory/VIS vs South Reserves/U18s, the VIS youngters outclassed Souths youth.

Crowd of around 7000. Around 15 people ejected for unruly behaviour. 7 Victory fans for lighting flares, 1 dickhead actually launched it on the field and it struck a South player in the head!!.

[Red Soldier]

Victory won 5-1.
Both sides started off with their weakened lineups possible Victory were missing Brebner and someone else whilst South were resting 5 first XI players for the derby vs Heidelberg on the weekend. 2-1 at HT, the game then turned into Victory/VIS vs South Reserves/U18s, the VIS youngters outclassed Souths youth.

Crowd of around 7000. Around 15 people ejected for unruly behaviour. 7 Victory fans for lighting flares, 1 dickhead actually launched it on the field and it struck a South player in the head!!.

Farken wanker.

[The Kop]

Victory fans have quite the repuation of hooligans. this is about the 4th or 5th time somethings happened.

whats disspointing to see is the FFA so lenient on them, they backhanded the NSL for not cracking down on this kind of stuff but let these stupid acts go under the radar.