South progresses in short-list for A-League expansion
We can advise our players, parents, members and supporters Football Federation Australia have advised South Melbourne FC has progressed to the next short-list of clubs being considered for a licence in the expanded A-League.
Speaking to smfc.com.au, Chairman Bill Papastergiadis said “we are excited to remain in the running to secure a licence in an expanded Hyundai A-League. We remain confident we a have a strong bid and have positioned ourselves as the only option with existing football operations and ready-to-play football stadium infrastructure.”
“The club has engaged proactively with the FFA and its consultants Deloitte over the last six months to demonstrate the strengths of South Melbourne FC and the potential we can bring to the league. We welcome the opportunity to understand the areas of the bid the FFA has identified as requiring further work. This will enable us to provide the confidence of our clubs readiness to commence from the 2019/20 season and our capability to be sustainable from day one” he said.
South Melbourne FC will provide further update in the future as the process progresses.
South Melbourne FC is aware of an article released at 5:30pm Friday 12 October 2018 by Clement Tito on FTBL.com.au, published by nextmedia Pty. Ltd. pertaining to matters between the club and current and former players/employees.
Whilst the club avoids making public comment regarding these matters, the club provides the following information in the interests of accuracy and transparency.
Player contracts
In circumstances where players have breached their contractual obligations, the club will continue to work with the players and the PFA to resolve any dispute.
Player contract – Liam McCormick
The club received a request from Liam McCormick to be released and the club agreed to the mutual termination of the contract to allow the player to play more regularly. The club has reviewed its records pertaining to the mutual contract termination with Liam McCormick and can confirm no amount was owing at the time it was signed.
The club is disappointed by the comments made by Liam McCormick given the assistance provided by the club and the agreement made to release him early from his contract.
Superannuation payments
The club complied with all its obligations to Despina Donato in November 2017 and the club has co operated fully with enquiries from the Australian Taxation Office in that respect. The club always maintains its commitment to ensuring all of its workers are paid their lawful entitlements.
On two occasions over the last week the article author Clement Tito spoke to club President Leo Athanasakis. On both occasions Leo offered to open up the club books to demonstrate appropriate payments being made and to show any associated documentation he wanted to see in relation to any of the claims and allegations he was making.
On both of these occasions, Clement Tito declined this opportunity.
In relation to the claims made in the article, the club is very comfortable with its position in relation to players who have breached their respective contracts and/or negotiated their departures from South Melbourne Football Club.
The club is considering its legal options in relation to the claims and allegations made in this article. The club will not make any further comment at this time.
South Melbourne FC is proud to announce the establishment of a powerchair football team and the creation of the South Melbourne Powerchair Football Club.
Powerchair football is an all-abilities sport for those who require an electric wheelchair as their primary means of mobility. This involves those affected by Muscular Dystropy and Cerebral Palsy, but may also involve those who have a disability as a result of a workplace or vehicle accident. The sport is played on a basketball size court using an oversize ball.
The team competes in the Victorian Electric Wheelchair Sports Association (VEWSA) League. The formation of the South Melbourne team in 2018 introduced the first opportunity for competitive powerchair football in Victoria. Melbourne City FC has been a supporter of the sport and this year was the first chance for players to go head-to-head.
Over the course of eleven rounds, South Melbourne defeated Melbourne City on six occasions, drawing one and losing four. A successful first year under Captain Jules North-Coombes and Coach Rebecca Gullé saw us finish six points clear winning the league with a goal difference of plus six. More importantly than the result was the ability for South Melbourne to assist the sport and the players participate in a competitive environment as well as introduce some new players into the sport.
We also recognise our striker and Australian Poweroos representative Shaun Mott who secured the league golden boot scoring fourteen goals for the season.
Talking to smfc.com.au, Football Director Nicholas Maikousis said “I am really proud of the work the club has put into assisting the growth of powerchair football and providing additional opportunities for electric wheelchair-bound community members to engage in sporting activities. We have committed to providing financial, equipment, logistical and media support for the team and players.”
“We firmly believe in empowering our players outside the game and involving them various aspects of the club. For this reason, we have registered South Melbourne Powerchair FC as a separate club and are proud to have Craig Kilby serve as its founding President. Craig has been involved in the sport for over fifteen years and has been instrumental in its growth, development and the introduction of new players. He also serves as the Vice-President of the Victorian Electric Wheelchair Sports Association. With Craig’s support, we have already been successful in the clubs first sporting grant application to assist with funding equipment and uniforms for the players” Nicholas said.
After the last match SMPFC President Craig Kilby spoke to smfc.com.au saying “This is the first season we have had dedicated teams and we are improving and playing better as a group. We have some new players to the sport this year and there are players with new and upgraded wheelchairs to get used to. I would really like to thank everyone at South Melbourne who has helped us form the new club and the team. The club has worked with their equipment sponsor Sportsmart to create tailored kit just for us. It has numbers on the sleeves together with the South Melbourne and the VEWSA logo on the front.”
“It’s a privilege to be able to serve as the Club’s founding President. The introduction of South Melbourne this year means we can play competitively. The other main benefit is travelling to the Club Championship in January as a second team from Victoria. It opens up more opportunities for players to play the game” he said.
South Melbourne Powerchair FC will travel to Sydney in January to compete in the National Club Championship. Over the course of a week the squad will face off against teams from Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanders, Central Coast Mariners, Newcastle Jets, Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar. The 2019 VEWSA League will commence in May next year with rounds being played at the AquaHub in Croydon.
2018 South Melbourne Powerchair Team
#1 James North-Coombes
#3 Shaun Mott
#6 Craig Kilby
#9 Jules North-Coombes (Captain)
#11 Chris Kessaris
Rebecca Gullé (Coach)
South Melbourne FC would like to acknowledge the assistance on Luke David, President of VEWSA and Martin Dalrymple of the Australian Powerchair Football Association in the establishment of the club.
South Melbourne FC will be participating in the 2018 Gothia Cup China.
The Under 16 squad has travelled to Qingdao in China to compete in this international event. Featuring over 300 teams from around the globe, it is one of the largest youth football tournaments.
Coach Nick Marinos, Team Manager Erik Zimmerman and SMFC Director Kon Giannakarios are leading the squad together with medical support, Arslan Wynne from the United Physiotherapy Group.
There are ten teams in the Under 16 tournament representing teams from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines and South Korea.
Playing Squad:
#1 Angelo Rigogiannis
#2 Artim Baki
#4 Andrea Syngeniotis
#5 George Tsitsinaris
#6 William Longhurst
#8 Harry Durand
#10 Ioannis Panakos
#11 Gabriel Lekatsas
#12 Isaak Torossian
#13 Edmond Lupancu
#15 Ben Whickman
#16 Josh Zimmerman
#17 Denzel Mifsud
#18 Dimitri Kapolitsas
#20 Sam Maramis
#39 Samuel Ghobrial
#41 Alan Fogel
#43 Yianni Kourelis
Fixtures
All times shown are Melbourne local time
Round #1
Monday 13 August 6:00pm
South Melbourne FC vs Qingdao No. 1 MS (China)
WIN 5-0
Goals: Maramis x2, Ghobrial x2 , Panakos x1
Round #2
Tuesday 14 August
Bye
Round #3
Wednesday 15 August 6:00pm
South Melbourne FC vs Tim Palajar (Indonesia)
Round #4
Thursday 16 August 6:00pm
South Melbourne FC vs Junior Football Academy (Nepal)
South Melbourne’s Under 14 girls team have recorded two big wins over the last fortnight, defeating Box Hill United and Bayside United.
These results have come off the back of a very successful campaign at the Kanga Cup in Canberra in the July school holidays. The squad competed in the largest youth tournament in the southern hemisphere under the guise of coach Mark Knauer.
The team went through the group stage undefeated in all five matches recording an encouraging +14 goal difference and conceding just three goals. They defeated Gold Coast Pirates in the semi-Final before succumbing in the Grand Final with a 1:3 loss to Shellharbour.
The girls proudly represented their club and we recognise them for their efforts.
Speaking to smfc.com.au after the tournament, Blanche Flaster shared her thoughts on the experience saying “We had lots of fun as a team. It built our confidence as we did well in the first couple of matches. It built us as a team beceause we spent a week together, seeing each other non-stop. The weather was good but playing two games a day was very challenging so we got tired, it built our stamina. It was really fun as we played teams from other places in Australia.”
Ivana Demaria was the leading goal scorer for the Club and the tournament. She spoke to smfc.com.au about her time in Canberra saying “I thought it was really good. It developed a lot of confidence in our team and I think it brought us all together. We had a few tussles, but we all worked it out as a team and I think it brought us closer together. We had to change the way we played a little bit, depending on the team, because every team plays different and we have to adapt to that. Personally I got out a lot more confidence in myself. I did a lot of things I didn’t think I could do and I got a lot more confidence in my teammates to support me.”
The Under 14 girls return to the pitch this weekend taking on Heidelberg United at Henry Scott Oval.
This Sunday, we’re proud to welcome our friends from the Victoria Police Soccer Club (VPSC) back to Lakeside
Stadium for the annual Tony Clarke Memorial Day.
Playing for the Tony Clarke Memorial Shield – in what is always an entertaining hit out – the VPSC ‘Copperoos’
will take on a team of former Socceroos as the curtain raiser to our fixture against Hume City. This match,
organised by VPSC and the Blue Ribbon Foundation, honours Senior ConstableTonyClarke, a playing member
of VPSC who was tragically murdered in the line of duty in April 2005.Kick off is at 1.15pm.
The South boys will then play Hume City for the perpetual Tony Clarke Memorial Cup, which will be presented
to the winning team at the conclusion of the match. A Best-On-Ground award will also be presented to the
Man of the Match, as judged by VPSC.
The Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation honours police offers that have made the ultimate sacrifice in the
line of duty. The Foundation donates money to purchase much needed equipment and builds facilities for
public hospitals – and in doing so remembers the lives of fallen officers by helping to save others.
Donations to the Blue Ribbon Foundation can be made on their www.remember.org.au.
We urge all SMFC supporters to come to Lakeside early to show their support for what is truly a worthy cause.
There is nothing better than celebrating a win at home in the original Melbourne Derby, especially at such a crucial time in the season and doing it in style putting five goals past the Melbourne Knights. It is an historic rivalry built over decades of passionate competitive and aspirational football played at the highest level in Australia. There are so many in the South Melbourne family who spent cold and wet afternoons at Middle Park, Olympic Park and Bob Jane Stadium enjoying the atmosphere, dedication and commitment we once again experienced this weekend.
Inspired by the achievements and experiences of football on the national stage over the years, South Melbourne FC now stands ready to present itself as the most suitable entity to secure the next Hyundai A-League Licence.
As an existing operating club with ready-to-use facilities we are confident in our position to showcase South Melbourne to the Australian and international football community.
To share this opportunity, I would like to invite all of our members and season pass holders to an A-League Bid Information Night to be held at 6:30pm on Thursday 26th July at the 1959 Bar & Grill at Lakeside Stadium.
I am proud to continue leading the A-League Bid Team through this period and as many of the team as possible will attend the Information Night to share their experience and engage directly with you to answer questions. We are excited the FFA has acknowledged the status and capability of the club together with its potential to once again compete on the national stage. It is this excitement we want to share with you in a little more detail.
We will have on display extracts from the initial bid documentation to demonstrate the level of detail we went to in preparing our business case.
Members of the bid team and I will make presentations and outline key elements of what we have already provided to the FFA and what is required of us in the next step.
We acknowledge there may be some elements of the bid which are legally sensitive and/or commercial-in-confidence which we are unable to share, however it is our aim to be as open and transparent as possible. The club is well positioned to put its best foot forward and secure one of the two Hyundai A-League Licences available seeing South Melbourne FC making a return to the national tier of Australian Football.
The 1959 Bar & Grill will be open throughout the evening with a $20 buffet dinner and half price drinks. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the evening.
Bill Papastergiadis
Chairman – South Melbourne FC & South Melbourne FC A-League Bid Team
The 23rd Caruana Cup Gala Day was held on Saturday 7 July with South Melbourne FC fielding an Under 11 girls team. Hosted by East Bentleigh Soccer Club, the Cup offers one of the first opportunities for junior girls to experience competitive football.
Coach John Sugunananthan spoke to smfc.com.au saying “I am really proud of the girls for showcasing their football talent, playing attacking entertaining football and taking risks. The key theme of the tournament for the girls was to have the courage to take on players in 1v1 duels with this approach starting from the goal keeper. At training we focused on their individual skills especially their 1v1s and this was reinforced during the games. The girls football heroes such as (SMFC’s own) Lisa De Vanna, Sam Kerr, Messi and Ronaldo are stars in the girls eyes as they can run at players and take them often leading to goals. We want our girls to play like their heroes. For this age (12 and under) at training we focus on their football foundations such as first touch and 1v1.
This tournament provided an opportunity for the girls to play competitive football. It was a joy to see their smiles especially when they beat a player in a 1v1 and then go onto score a goal. One of the most memorable moment for me was a player (Lulu) telling me “I love doing 1v1s”, we as coaches of juniors must encourage this skill, the players love doing it. I never ask these girls to pass the balls. Just look at the world cup, the best have fantastic individual skills especially their 1v1 ability.
“The tournament was very well run. The parents were all great supporting and cheering on the efforts of all the girls from all the teams. I want to recognise the efforts of our Team Manager for the tournament Georgia Denisenko who was fantastic organising us for the tournament and Michelle Anthony who helped the girls manage their own rotations – we empower the girls to decide who starts, where they play/who they sub with, they need to play in different lines (back, mids, forward) during the game and even playing time to maximise their development, we also rotate our goal keeper.”
Tournament Results
Round 1: South Melbourne FC def Hampton Junior Soccer Club 6:0
Round 2: South Melbourne FC BYE
Round 3: South Melbourne FC def Berwick City 9:2
Semi-Final : South Melbourne FC def East Bentleigh SC 4:0
Grand Final : South Melbourne FC def Westside Strikers FC 3:1
South Melbourne FC can confirm this weekends matches for the Under 19 Women’s and U20 Men’s teams have been relocated.
In order to protect the integrity of the Lakeside pitch surface, Lakeside Stadium has requested reduced match coverage over the last two weeks. These matches have therefore been relocated elsewhere in Albert Park.
These changes have been confirmed by Football Federation Victoria and the club has requested them to update on the online fixtures.
South Melbourne FC invited to be the host for the Melbourne launch of Andrew Howe’s Encyclopedia of Socceroos.
The Encyclopedia of Socceroos is the definitive history of the Socceroos and has been published, just weeks ahead of Australia taking part in its fourth successive World Cup tournament.
The book by Andrew Howe sheds light on the facts, figures and history of almost 600 men who have pulled on the green-and-gold for Australia as a ‘Socceroo’ will be launched at the South Melbourne Football Club on Tuesday 29 May.
Almost 400 pages, running to 200,000 words, with 300 photos and diagrams, and weighing a little under 2kg, the first ever Encyclopedia of Socceroos is a labour of love from Howe, who is a Australian statistician and passionate football fan.
A population expert by day with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Howe has been both the unofficial and official statistician for Australian football for the past 25 years.
The Encyclopedia lists each of the 592 men who had played for Australia in official matches up to the end of 2017, giving facts and figures on their games, goals, their opponents, and biographical information.
There are also detailed tables showing who Australia has played, where games have taken place, the clubs that have had the most players, the captains, the coaches and the record holders.
Over 200 players from Victoria have played for the Socceroos, including 2006 World Cup captain Mark Viduka.
Almost 60 South Melbourne players have played for the Socceroos. When all clubs are ranked in terms of most Socceroos with that club at the time of their national team appearances, South Melbourne is ranked second, only behind Marconi from Sydney.
South Melbourne FC was invited by the publisher, Fair Play Publishing, to be the host for the launch venue in Melbourne because of the club’s strong historical connections to the Socceroos.
As well as the details on each player, the Encyclopedia of Socceroos features stories from longstanding journalist with The Australian, Ray Gatt, on each of Australia’s four World Cup captains to date – Peter Wilson (1974), Mark Viduka (2006), Lucas Neill (2010) and Mile Jedinak (2014). The Foreword is written by FOX Sports’ Andy Harper.
The Encyclopedia of Socceroos is published by Fair Play Publishing, a niche publisher of football books that tell Australian stories, and is available from good bookstores, Amazon and direct from the publisher.
For those wanting something more specific to the forthcoming World Cup, Howe and Fair Play Publishing have also combined to produce a World Cup Edition in digital format only, which profiles the Socceroos taking part in this year’s 2018 FIFA World Cup.
LAUNCH EVENT (Free entry)
5:30pm to 7:00pm Tuesday 29 May
1959 Bar & Grill, South Melbourne Football Club, Lakeside Stadium
South Melbourne FC Squad
South Melbourne FC was invited by the publisher, Fair Play Publishing, to be the host for the launch venue in Melbourne because of the club’s strong historical connections to the Socceroos.