Day: May 17, 2013

Friday, 17 May 2013 10:25 AM

By John Kyrou

South Melbourne FC is back on the road this weekend, as Peter Tsolakis’ side travel to Broadmeadows Valley Park to play Hume City. The match is South’s fifth away match in the opening six rounds of the Victorian Premier League season, with the side having already played at Green Gully, Southern Stars, Bentleigh and Dandenong. A win on Sunday would give South its fifth win from six Victorian Premier League matches.

South Melbourne goes into the match on the back of a thrilling 3-2 victory against Richmond at Lakeside Stadium last Sunday evening, with South winning despite going behind 0-2 early in the second half. A double from Tyson Holmes – including a wonder overhead kick – and a goal from Rhys Meredith secured all three points for South in its first home Victorian Premier League match in 2013. The goals were both Holmes and Meredith’s first for the Club, with the Queenslanders having moved to Melbourne over the summer.

Hume City goes into Sunday’s match having lost their last two Victorian Premier League matches and having been in inconsistent form throughout 2013. Lou Acevski’s side has a record of two wins and three losses from its opening five matches this season and desperately needs a win on Sunday, having lost their last two matches 1-4 at home against Bentleigh on 28 April and 4-0 away against Dandenong Thunder on 11 May. One thing that Hume can use as a positive going into Sunday’s game is that they defeated South 5-0 the last time the two sides played each other at Broadmeadows Valley Park. On that day (Sunday 17 April 2011), Jesse Krncevic and Ljubo Milicevic were both sent off in the first half and Carl Recchia badly rolled his ankle as South could do nothing to stop a rampant Hume scoring five goals. Former South played Steven Weir scored twice that day before joining South in the transfer window later on that season.

Alan Kearney trained during the week but is still 50-50 about selection this weekend. Trent Rixon and Tom Matthews may still be given game time in the Under-21s to get back to match fitness or could be included in the Senior squad. Hume City used Epping Stadium as their home ground in 2012 and in the corresponding fixture there last season (Friday 11 May 2012), a goal from former Captain Steven O’Dor after 87 minutes won the three points for South. Coach Tsolakis will gladly take the same result on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday’s match kicks off at 3PM at Broadmeadows Valley Park .

Last time we met

Friday, 17 May 2013 9:52 AM

Last Friday night saw South Melbourne FC hold its annual fundraising event, 2013 Player Auction Night at Beachcomber at the St Kilda Baths, which provided guests with picturesque views over Port Philip Bay with close to 200 guests in attendance. The event proved to be extremely successful with the frenzied bidding raising a significant sum of money. In fact, the player auction event was one of the most successful since the Club’s return to the Victorian Premier League.

There were a number of dignitaries and past players in attendance including Hall of Fame members such as Takis Mantarakis, Douggie Brown, Ulysses Kokkinos, and Michael Mandalis.

Club President Leo Athanasakis welcomed the guests and thanked the Principal Partners for their continued support, and invited everyone to get behind and support the Club. In addition, Mr Athanasakis also highlighted some of the Club’s great achievements over the past 12 months, and touched on the Club’s recent bid for the A League licence of the Melbourne Heart.

The MC for the evening was SBS journalist David Basheer. David spoke with both Head Coach Peter Tsolakis and Senior Technical Director Mehmet Durakovic and covered their playing careers with the Club and current challenges in their roles.

The main purpose of the event was a fundraising theme. The auctioneer for the evening, George Metax from Barry Plant Preston took over and sought to secure the highest bid for each player.

South Melbourne would particularly like to thank Steve and Jim Paraskevas, and Neil Stacey from Beachcomber for their tremendous support and warm hospitality in assisting the Club to hold this successful event. Furthermore, the Club would like to thank its corporate partners who contributed to the fundraising activities on the night, and all guests who were in attendance.

Click here to view a selection of photos of the event.

The following corporate partners which were successful in the auction are listed below:

Peter Gavalas – Holmesglen TAFE
Seb Mattei – Office Fix
Tom Matthews – Veale Partners
Rhodri Payne – Holmesglen TAFE
Matko Budimir – AIS Insurance
Phil Petreski – Blue Thunder Security
Dimitri Tsiaris – Holmesglen TAFE
Joe Keenan – GPZ Legal
Tyson Holmes – Star21
Dimitri Hatzimouratis – Moray Agnew
Trent Rixon – Mirabella Lighting
Rhys Meredith – Tom Kalas
Brad Norton – Office Fix
Luke Byles – K&A Accountants
Fernando De Moraes – Holmesglen TAFE
Marinos Gasparis – Star21
Andy Vlahos – Global Gypsum
Alan Kearney – Global Gypsum
Carl Recchia – Dandanis & Associates
Shaun Kelly – MW Group
Renco Van Eeken – George Leondis
Andrew Cartanos – Commercial & General
James Karvelis – Commercial & General
Baggio Yousif – Blue Thunder Security
Anthony Giannopoulos – Office Fix
Peter Tsolakis and Robert Graboski – Holmesglen TAFE
Mehmet Durakovic – Mirabella Lighting