Author: SMFC Media

Monday, 10 October 2011 10:12 PM

South Melbourne FC has appointed life long supporter Peter Kokotis as the club’s new General Manager.

Prior to his appointment at South, Peter had previously worked in the finance industry for the last ten years and in football for the past six years, working as a FIFA accredited player agent.

Speaking to smfc.com.au on his recruitment to South, Peter said “I am very excited to come on board at this very important time in the club’s history. There is a lot of work ahead for all of us to make South Melbourne better in all areas.

South Melbourne has been part of my life for over 30 years and now I have an opportunity to work with the board and to achieve our desired goals.

SMFC President, Leo Athanasakis told smfc.com.au “we are delighted to have appointed Peter to the General Manager role, as we believe Peter will excel in the role, and drive the operations and strategic direction for the Club moving forward. These are very exciting times at the Club with our return to the redeveloped Lakeside Stadium.”

Monday, 3 October 2011 11:34 PM

Over the weekend, South Melbourne’s Under U11s team clinched the Gold Coast Champions Cup.

The team was comprised of five Under 10s and nine Under 11s who played exceptionally well, and fulfilled their ambitions by defeating the Rochdale Rovers 3-1 in the Grand Final last Saturday morning. What makes this achievement even more memorable was the fact, the side had played its round of quarter final, semi final, and grand final matches within the space of a 24 hour period. With their success in clinching the Gold Coast Champions Cup, South Melbourne FC became only the fifth Victorian club to win this prestigious tournament, which has been held for the last 15 years, with a number of international clubs from across the world participating.

South Melbourne FC would like to congratulate the team on their fantastic achievement.

Players: Captain Tom Buffin, Ben Djiba, Aramis Facchinetti, Gera Bilyansky, Dante Conte, Max Flaherty, Michelange Maltauro, Wil Rudzevecuis, Kiaan Storti, Marco Lamberti, Yianni Papadimitirou, Peter Koufidis, Georgi Zarbos, Alexander Cesarios

Coach: Oliver Schulze
Assistant: Jim Papadimitirou
Team Manager: Roland Storti

Thursday, 15 September 2011 6:07 PM

South Melbourne FC has decided not to reappoint Eddie Krncevic as Head Coach for the next Victorian Premier League season.

Eddie led South to its first finals appearance since 2009, finishing fourth on the Victorian Premier League ladder. After defeating Heidelberg United in the first week of the finals series, South was eliminated by the Oakleigh Cannons at Jack Edwards Reserve a week later.

This was Eddie’s second spell with the club, having worked as Head Coach in the 2001-02 National Soccer League season, successfully steering South to a finals appearance after the club was in last position at one stage of the season. The team successfully overcame the Brisbane Strikers in the first week of the finals series but fell to the eventual NSL Champions Sydney Olympic.

The club is grateful for Eddie’s hard work and commitment throughout the year and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours.

Friday, 9 September 2011 6:05 PM

South Melbourne FC is saddened to learn that Hall of Fame member and multiple championship player Ernie Ackerley was recently hospitalised with a kidney failure. It is expected that Mr Ackerley will have to spend this month in hospital as he fights to get better. 
Mr Ackerley joined South in 1964 and was part of a star-studded team that won three Victorian State League championships in a row from 1964-66. As a forward, he scored 57 State League goals for the Club and is seventh on the Club’s all-time leading goal scorers in League competition. Apart from his three Championships, two more memorable moments for him when representing the Club was when he scored 16 State League goals in 1965 before scoring four goals in a State League match against Melbourne Hungaria on Sunday 15 May 1966 at Olympic Park. Mr Ackerley’s achievements rightly earned him a position in South’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
South Melbourne FC President Leo Athanasakis expressed his best wishes for Mr Ackerley, saying “we are saddened to hear that Mr Ackerley is not in the best of health. We are proud to have had such a wonderful player represent South Melbourne FC and make such a significant impact in the history of our great Club. On behalf of everybody at South Melbourne FC, I would like to wish Mr Ackerley all the best in his health fight.”

Thursday, 8 September 2011 8:48 PM

The 2011 South Melbourne FC Most Valuable Player (MVP) night was held on Tuesday night at Honey Bar in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne. As usual, the event was a success and culminated in Jesse Krncevic and Steven Topalovic being jointly awarded the Theo Marmaras Medal and accepting their medals from President Leo Athanasakis. They join Dean Anastasiadis (2005), Fernando De Moraes (2006 & 2010), Ricky Diaco (2007), Steven O’Dor (2008) and Sebastian Petrovic (2009) as winners of this prestigious award. The MVP was voted on by the coaching staff in 2011.

Topalovic featured in 23 of South’s 26 Premier League matches in 2011 and also played in all of South’s Mirabella Cup and Singapore Cup matches, finishing only behind Kyle Joryeff for most games played in all competitions. ‘Topa’ was constantly a feature in Eddie Krncevic’s side and enjoyed a solid season that unfortunately ended in a serious injury in the Elimination Final against Heidelberg. He was surprised to be awarded the Theo Marmaras Medal and commented that “although it was difficult being played out of position at times this season, I did what the coach wanted me to do and I’m glad the boys rallied to make the finals.” 
Krncevic played in 19 Premier League matches in 2011 and scored 11 goals in the process. As well as the Theo Marmaras Medal, he also won the 2011 Golden Boot award that was presented to him by 2010 winner Fernando De Moraes. It was no coincidence that the side struggled when Krncevic was suspended throughout the season. He scored four goals in the last three matches of the home & away season, including a brilliant double against Northcote City in the last round, as South gained the results necessary to qualify for the finals series. Krncevic then scored the decisive penalty in the Elimination Final against Heidelberg that ultimately won the match and sent the club through to the Semi Final against Oakleigh. He was quite humble in reflection, mentioning that “the boys are a tight group and we stuck together when the times were tough and we managed to make the finals as a result. Let’s hope for an even bigger season in 2012.” 
There were other awards on the evening, with Senior captain Steven O’Dor presenting each member of the Under 21 Championship team with a medal for their outstanding 2011 season as they made it back-to-back titles. Under 21s coach Gus Caminos and Team Manager Haido Smyrnios also received medals for their enormous efforts throughout the season, as Gus spoke about how proud he was of his team for having such a successful 2011. The Under-21s MVP award quite ironically also featured a tied result, as Matko Budimir and Christian Skok were awarded the medal. Both boys mentioned that the people they wanted to thank the most were their team mates for the outstanding season.
To conclude the evening, a new award was presented. This award was the SMFC Media award, voted on by George Kouroumalis (website), Michael Dimoudis (website), Paul Zarogiannis (SMFC TV Producer), David Henning (SMFC TV host), John Kyrou (SMFC TV Co-Host) and Cindy Nitsos (photographer). The award was voted on a 3-2-1 basis and Carl Recchia was the winner ahead of Jesse Krncevic and Zaim Zeneli. In his speech, Recchia said he was proud of the way the players fought to make it as far as the semi finals and despite being disappointed not to make the Grand Final, he was confident that the club would get there in 2012.
South Melbourne FC wishes to congratulate all winners in what was a fantastic evening.
Theo Marmaras Medal (top vote-getters) 17 – Jesse Krncevic, Steven Topalovic 14 – Daniel Vasilevski, Carl Recchia 10 – Kliment Taseski
Golden Boot Winner Jesse Krncevic – 11 goals
SMFC Media Award (top vote-getters) 14 – Carl Recchia 11 – Jesse Krncevic 10 – Zaim Zeneli
Under 21’s Most Valuable Players Matko Budimir, Christian Skok

Monday, 22 August 2011 9:26 PM

On the twenty sixth and last episode of southRadio in 2011, we review the Minor Semi Final clash against Oakleigh Cannons.

Should you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback for southRadio please email the club at multimedia@smfc.com.au

Click here to download episode 26 of southRadio (MP3) – Right Click and Save As

Click here to download the show directly from iTunes

Monday, 22 August 2011 2:14 PM

South Melbourne FC is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former player Frank Munro at age 63. News reports from the UK state that he was rushed to Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital on Monday after suffering breathing problems and died at approximately 20:40 last Tuesday night (UK time). It was also reported that he had suffered ill health since a heavy stroke in 1991 and had only recently recovered from a bout of pneumonia.

A centre-half and Scottish international, Mr Munro represented South Melbourne FC in 1978 and 1979 during the Club’s early years in the National Soccer League. He played 15 games for the Club. Prior to joining South, he had successful stints at Dundee United and Aberdeen in Scotland then Wolverhampton Wanderers in England before heading back to Scotland to join Glasgow giants Celtic. He made nine appearances for the Scottish national team between 1971 and 1975. At Wolves, he was part of the team that was runner-up in the UEFA Cup in 1972 before winning the Football League Cup with them in 1974. In 1976/77, he was part of the Wolves side that won the 1976/77 Football League Second Division (now the Championship) to win promotion to the First Division (now the English Premier League). He also won the Scottish League Cup with Celtic in 1978.
Upon being released by Celtic, Mr Munro headed to Australia and played for a South side that at the time was managed by former Wolves goalkeeper Dave MacLaren. He had several stints playing and coaching at lower division Victorian clubs before returning to the UK in 1991.
South Melbourne FC President Leo Athanasakis expressed his sympathy to the Munro family. “As a Club, we were blessed to have had such a gifted player like Frank Munro represent our Club considering that he played for some great European clubs. We are so proud that a player who was so highly regarded by those clubs decided to come out to Australia and play for South Melbourne FC. On behalf of everyone at the Club, we wish to express our sympathies to the Munro family for the passing of a wonderful man.”

Monday, 22 August 2011 12:28 PM

South Melbourne FC would like to congratulate Bill Asimakidis and his team at Star21 for being awarded Victorian Telstra Business Dealer of the Year – 2011.

Managing Director, Bill Asimakidis: “Star21 would like to thank our loyal customers for their continued support after being awarded Victorian Telstra Business Dealer of the Year – 2011  at the annual Telstra partner conference held in Port Douglas. Without our customers this recognition would not have been possible. This is Star21’s second major award in 2 years, having won the same award in 2010. Congratulations to all the staff at Star21 for making our business Number One again.”

Star21 joined South Melbourne FC as Major Sponsor in early 2011, with the company logo proudly displayed on the front of the South Melbourne FC shirt.

We once again congratulate Mr Asimakidis and those associated with Star21 on this wonderful achievement.

Thursday, 18 August 2011 9:32 AM

South Melbourne FC travel to Jack Edwards Reserve to face Oakleigh Cannons in the Minor Semi Final on Sunday evening in what is shaping up to being a fantastic encounter.

Oakleigh will go into the match with their pride wounded after giving up a 3-2 lead to lose 3-4 against Hume City in the dying minutes last Sunday night. That loss cost Oakleigh the opportunity to play Green Gully in the Major Semi Final and potentially move straight into the Grand Final, with Hume now given that opportunity. Instead Oakleigh will play a cut-throat knockout game against South, who come into the game with three wins and a draw from their last four matches, This includes a 1-0 Elimination Final victory against old rivals Heidelberg United last Sunday afternoon, where Jesse Krncevic converted his penalty and Zaim Zeneli turned from zero to hero instantly when he gave away a penalty before making a double-save to help win the game.

South nearly has a full-strength squad to choose from, with the exceptions being defender Steven Topalovic who was badly injured against the Bergers and Sebastian Petrovic who was sent off and will miss at least one match. Coach Eddie Krncevic has in recent weeks finally had the luxurious headache of having most of his players available for selection and it comes as no surprise that the team has produced excellent results over the last month. Krncevic had so many options available that fan favourite Fernando De Moraes did not even feature off the bench against the Bergers and Marinos Gasparis did not even make the squad.

In effect, South has already played four Elimination Finals to get to Sunday’s match, so another elimination game against Oakleigh should not faze the team. South should be even further boosted about the fact that it has already done the double over the Cannons in 2011, with a 2-1 victory at Jack Edwards Reserve on Friday 18 March before Carl Recchia’s overhead goal won the return game at John Cain Memorial Park on Sunday 19 June. More importantly, South has played quite well at Jack Edwards Reserve since entering the VPL in 2005, registering three wins and two draws from 7 matches.

Despite South’s good record against Oakleigh, the home team should not be taken lightly. The Cannons are currently still alive in the Mirabella Cup and also enjoyed a solid 2011 Premier League season under Arthur Pappas where it finished in second spot with a double-chance, which came in handy following the loss against Hume last week. Oakleigh boasts a wealth of experienced players both at State and National level, with Ricky Diaco, James Robinson, Ari Drakos, Rama Tavsancioglu and Peter Zois to name a few. Diaco has been rumoured to have picked up an injury against Hume and may miss Sunday’s match against his former club, but there is no doubt that former players Tavsancioglu and Zois will feature.

The match kicks off at 18:00 on Sunday evening at Jack Edwards Reserve. The loser will be eliminated from the 2011 finals series whilst the winner will go on to face the loser of the Major Semi Final between Green Gully and Hume City next weekend.

Tuesday, 16 August 2011 10:10 PM

On the twenty fifth episode of southRadio in 2011, we review the Elimination Final clash against Heidelberg United, and preview the upcoming minor semi final between South Melbourne FC and Oakleigh Cannons.

Should you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback for southRadio please email the club at multimedia@smfc.com.au

Click here to download episode 25 of southRadio (MP3) – Right Click and Save As

Click here to download the show directly from iTunes