Day: September 5, 2014

South Melbourne FC wishes to advise of the itinerary of events to be held on Sunday’s Championship Fiesta celebrations against the Oakleigh Cannons.

The festivities for the day will be kicked off with an exhibition match between a Select Socceroos XI against the Victoria Police’s ‘Copperoos’, which kicks off at 2.45pm. Both sides will be playing for the Tony Clarke Shield. The Tony Clarke Shield is held in memory of Senior Constable Tony Clarke, who was murdered while on duty in April 2005. Tony was a member of the Victoria Police Soccer Club and a fanatical Liverpool Football Club supporter. The presentation of the Player of the Match and Shield to the winning captain will be made by Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Andrew Crisp and both Tina and Connor Hogarth-Clarke.

At the completion of the Select Socceroos XI against the Copperoos, South Melbourne FC will be honouring its 1964 and 1974 Victorian State League and 1984 National Soccer League Championship sides who this season are celebrating their 50th, 40th, and 30th anniversaries respectively. Each player will be presented, and the large electronic scoreboard will be showing a video montage of images and highlights showcasing the teams’ tremendous achievements.

Prior to the commencement of the Round 25 NPL Victoria fixture against the Oakleigh Cannons, SMFC President Leo Athanasakis and SMFC Chairman Nick Galatas will accompany to the field the President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, and Youth Affairs, the Honourable Ryan Smith, Senior Adviser to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship, Peter Lemonis, and Liberal candidate for Albert Park, Shannon Eeles, where the official party will address the South Melbourne faithful celebrating the recent announcement of the signing of the 40 year lease of Lakeside Stadium.

Once the formalities have concluded, both sides will take to the field flanked by the South Melbourne FC youth players forming a guard of honour, paying their respects to the NPL Victoria Champion.

At the conclusion of the match, the NPL Victoria trophy will be presented to both SMFC Captain Michael Eagar and Head Coach Chris Taylor, where fans will have the opportunity to celebrate the club’s first Victorian title since 2006.

Fans and Corporate Partners are encouraged at the conclusion of the trophy presentation to make their way to Principal Partner Beachcomber Cafe, located at the St Kilda Baths, where the celebrations will continue with players and coaching staff in attendance.

South Melbourne FC encourages all to be in attendance at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday to celebrate this momentous occasion, and wish the team all the best as it sets off on the national playoffs seeking to be crowned National Premier Leagues Champion.

By John Kyrou

South Melbourne FC hosts the Oakleigh Cannons at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday afternoon in a match celebrating winning the inaugural National Premier League Victoria Championship. South Melbourne was confirmed as the League Champions on Wednesday night when the Melbourne Knights defeated Oakleigh 1-0, leaving the Cannons seven points behind Chris Taylor’s side with only two matches remaining for both sides.

As League Champions, South Melbourne has qualified for the National Premier League play-offs where all the State Champions compete for the title of National Premier Leagues Champions. South’s first test will be against Tasmanian Champions South Hobart in Hobart over the weekend of 20-21 September, though details are yet to be confirmed by Football Federation Australia.

South goes into Sunday’s match with a full-strength squad to choose from, though it will be interesting to see if Taylor rotates his squad during the final two League matches of the season to allow fringe and younger players the chance to play first-team football and rest more senior players ahead of the NPL play-offs. This may present an opportunity for squad players such as Andrew Mullett, Kobbie Boahene, Dion Kirk and Andy Kecojevic to play and opportunities may also be given to some of the players from South’s NPL 20s side such as Stefan Zinni and Josh Markovski.

Although Sunday’s match is meaningless due to South’s uncatchable lead over the Cannons, the home side will want to give a good account of themselves. South won its opening fourteen matches across all competitions this season before losing 3-0 against Oakleigh at Jack Edwards Reserve on Friday 6 June. South has also been unbeaten at home in the League all season (with eleven wins and a draw from its 12 matches) and will want to continue that with another positive result against Oakleigh on Sunday. In the corresponding fixture played between the two sides at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday 26 May 2013, a double from Dimi Hatzimouratis secured a 2-1 win for the home side.

Sunday’s match kicks off at 5PM at Lakeside Stadium. South fans are strongly encouraged to attend not only to congratulate their 2014 Championship winning side but to also honour South Melbourne FC’s 1964 Victorian State League and 1984 National Soccer League Championship winning sides. Those unable to make the game can follow it with live updates on the South Melbourne FC Facebook page and on the Club’s official Twitter @smfc with the hashtags #NPLVIC and #SMvOC.