Tuesday, 7 September 2010 9:19 AM
By John Kyrou
Fernando De Moraes capped off a superb individual season by winning the 2010 Theo Marmaras Medal last Thursday night. The midfielder completed a clean sweep of the awards by also winning the 2010 Golden Boot award.
De Moraes finished on 63 votes in the Marmaras Medal count, four ahead of vice captain Steven O’Dor and Peter Zois, who both finished equal second on 59 votes. In the Golden Boot tally, De Moreas finished with 13 league goals from 19 league games, six clear of second-placed Gianni De Nittis (7). Even more remarkable was the fact that De Moraes claimed both awards having missed three league matches during the season and that his goals during 2010 elevated him to equal eighth with Doug Brown (1983-1985) on South’s all-time leading league goal scorers list (48 goals each).
In his speech after accepting the awards, De Moraes spoke glowingly of the fact that South Melbourne FC was like a second family from him, and that all he wanted to do was play as many matches and score as many goals as possible for the team. De Moraes also spoke highly of his team-mates, noting that “football is a team game and it takes great team-mates to work hard to set you up for goal scoring opportunity…and I am lucky to play in a great team.”
South Melbourne FC congratulates Fernando De Moraes on winning the 2010 Theo Marmaras Medal and the Golden Boot award and looks forward to seeing his outstanding form continue in the 2010 RHB Singapore Cup before the 2011 Victorian Premier League season.