Friday, 18 February 2011 12:09 PM
On the first episode of southRadio in 2011, we review the Hellenic Cup win, and preview the upcoming game between South Melbourne FC and Green Gully. Furthermore, David and John caught up with Eddie Krncevic for a chat as well as preview the upcoming season.
Should you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback for southRadio please email the club at multimedia@smfc.com.au
Click here to download episode 1 of southRadio (MP3) – Right Click and Save As
Friday, 18 February 2011 10:45 AM
By John Kyrou
South Melbourne FC will enter the 2011 Victorian Premier League season confident in challenging for the Championship, something that has eluded the Club since defeating Altona Magic 1-0 in the 2006 Grand Final.
South experienced a year of both ups and downs in 2010, which began in February with a penalty shoot-out loss against the Bentleigh Greens in the 2010 Hellenic Cup final. South began its season slowly but gradually built up good form heading into the RHB Singapore Cup first round against Gombak United in May. South recorded a historic 2-1 victory over Gombak but suffered a hangover when returning to Melbourne, gaining only nine points from a possible 18 and slipping out of the top five.
With five matches left in the season and with a finals position looking out of reach, South turned things around and recorded three wins and two draws to finish the regular season in fifth spot. However, it needed to rely on a drawn match between Northcote City and Dandenong Thunder in a match played three days after the final round of matches in order to secure a finals position. Northcote had other ideas and denied South a finals spot by defeating the Thunder 4-1 the following Wednesday.
With the Victorian Premier League season over, coach Vaughan Coveny was replaced by Eddie Krncevic, who returned for his second stint as South manager, having coached South in the 2001/02 National Soccer League season. Krncevic needed to keep his players fresh for six weeks before meeting Bangkok Glass in the RHB Singapore Cup quarter finals. In this time, goalkeeper Peter Zois departed so Krncevic promoted Stefaan Sardelic from reserve to senior goalkeeper.
Despite losing the first leg 1-3, South outplayed their opponents from Thailand in the second leg and was incredibly unlucky not to win in a thrilling 3-3 draw. Bangkok Glass went on to win the competition so it was no disgrace that a semi-professional South Melbourne FC side lost to the eventual Cup winners, who were a professional side.
South has enjoyed a solid 2011 pre-season, traveling to Tasmania and winning the Hill Street/Thrifty Cup with a 5-0 victory over Tasmanian champions South Hobart. In the now annual pre-season Hellenic Cup, South won all of its matches comfortably before defeating rivals Heidelberg United in the final 2-1 after extra time. This gave South its third Hellenic Cup triumph in five years.
Expectations are high at the Club in 2011, with South aiming to make the finals and win the Championship. A big season is expected from 2010 VPL Gold Medalist, Theo Marmaras Medalist (South player of the year) and South Golden Boot winner Fernando De Moraes, who is two goals shy of becoming only the eighth player in the Club’s history to score 50 League goals. New signing Jesse Krncevic is also expected to have a good year following a solid pre-season that has seen many goals scored.
With Lakeside Stadium still undergoing renovations, South will play all of its 2011 Premier League home matches at Northcote City’s John Cain Memorial Park. South faces a tough start to the Premier League season, hosting Champions Green Gully on Sunday evening at John Cain Memorial Park, with the match kicking off at 17:00.
Friday, 18 February 2011 10:38 AM
South Melbourne FC is proud to announce that Star21, Coffex Coffee, Antenna Pacific, K&A Accountants, AIS Insurance Brokers, and Clean Start are its Major Corporate Partners for the 2011 Victorian Premier League season.
As mentioned previously, Star21 is the Major Sponsor for the 2011 Victorian Premier League season. Star21 is a fully accredited Telstra Channel Partner that provides a full range of expertise, experience and capacity on offer as a broad-spectrum telecommunications solution. Furthermore, Star21 enjoys the reputation of being one of Telstra’s most successful channel partners, and has earned this position due to innovative and leading edge solutions to its many loyal clients. Its dedication to its client base is second to none and Star21 believes in the longevity of business relationships.
They can provide access to the latest Telstra technology and the very best in professional customer service. They do this by delivering Telstra’s world class technology, products, solutions, service and performance to a client’s business. Star21 can plan and build a network strategy that takes the best that technology has on offer and tailors it specifically for your business needs. With years of expertise, your data is in the best hands.
Renewing their sponsorship for another season is Coffex Coffee. Coffex was founded in the late 1950s, in response to the shortage of quality espresso coffee beans in Melbourne at that time. The first Coffex beans were roasted in the first Coffex shop in Coburg, Victoria, using equipment which had to be especially imported from Europe. From these humble beginnings Coffex has grown to become one of Australia’s largest suppliers of premium ground coffee and beans. As Coffex’s reputation for quality spread, the public demanded the same great taste in their homes as at their local Coffex café; Coffex was happy to oblige and today Coffex is sold at leading retailers all around the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition, Antenna Pacific TV has renewed their association with South Melbourne FC. Antenna Pacific TV has been a corporate partner since 2007, and has allowed South Melbourne FC to be one of very few clubs outside the A League the ability to advertise on national television. Currently, Antenna Pacific TV has over 70,000 subscribers on the Foxtel, Optus, Austar, and Select TV platforms, reaches over 200,000 viewers nationally. In addition to the live news bulletin, Hellenic series, entertainment and current affair shows of Antenna Pacific TV, the daily schedule is enriched with tailored features for Greeks living abroad including: Hellenic movies, children’s programming, a weekly. Special emphasis has been given to the sport programming as the subscription channels of Antenna Pacific TV have secured the exclusive rights for the Hellenic Superleague and Hellenic Soccer Cup.
Long-term supporter of South Melbourne FC, AIS Insurance Brokers, has joined as the shorts sponsor. AIS Insurance Brokers commenced operations in 1990 and have steadily grown to become the leading autonomous Victorian based Insurance Broker. AIS Insurance Brokers are members of the national Corplex Network of Insurance Brokers, Steadfast Group Limited, Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance and also the National Insurance Brokers Association of Australia.
Another new corporate partner joining the South Melbourne FC family is Clean Start. The Clean Start logo will feature proudly on the back of the playing shorts. Cleanstart was founded by father and son, George and Nick Kakridas. The company’s approach is to establish a culture in which team work, safety and individual excellence are encouraged. Cleanstart is committed to providing a cleaning program that meets with client’s individual needs, ensuring that all work adheres to statuary regulations, guidelines and specifications, investing the company’s time, money and expertise in the ongoing training and supervision of its support members, continually understanding our client’s changing need, and offering continuous resources to all staff to ensure and promote ability, morale, safety and security. Long-term financial supporter of the Club, K&A Accountants owned by Club President Leo Athanasakis, has increased their financial commitment to the Club by taking out the back of shirt sponsorship. K & A Accountants is a centrally located Accounting Practice in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Brunswick with an affiliate Financial Planning office in the surrounding suburb of Essendon, offering services to Small and Medium clients both locally and interstate. With an experienced team, consisting of one Principal accountant and two intermediate accountants, they provide high quality services with a one-on-one approach to help maximise client growth and prosperity.
Head of Corporate Sales, Marketing, and Events, George Triantos, speaking to smfc.com.au, said “we are delighted to have secured successful corporate partners for the 2011 Victorian Premier League season, and in particular, we welcome Star21 and Clean Start to the SMFC family. We hope that it will be a long-standing relationship between both organisations. I would also like to thank Club President Leo Athanasakis for increasing his financial commitment to the Club by elevating his sponsorship. We thank all our existing sponsors to continuing to support SMFC. I ask all South fans and members to get behind our sponsors, and assist the organisations that are committing their support for this great club”.
Friday, 18 February 2011 10:30 AM
South Melbourne FC is proud to announce its new captain for the 2011 Victorian Premier League season is Steven O’Dor.
Previously, O’Dor held the position of Vice Captain during the previous two Victorian Premier League seasons.
A long-serving member of the defensive unit at South, O’Dor has played in 105 Victorian Premier League games and scored an impressive 6 goals during his career.
Speaking to smfc.com.au Director of Football, Ange Dallas, said “we are extremely proud to be announcing that Steven O’Dor will be the new captain for the Club moving forward. He has shown great maturity beyond his young years, exhibiting strong leadership qualities both on and off the park. The coaching staff hold Steven in high regard and believe that he will become a great ambassador for the club in the future”