Category: News

Tuesday, 15 September 2009 3:20 PM

South Melbourne FC (South Melbourne Hellas Soccer Club) is proud to announce the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State Government for the redevelopment of Bob Jane Stadium into the new State Athletics Centre and subsequent commercial and infrastructure arrangements.

The signing of the MOU represents the culmination of more than 18 months of negotiations.

The proposed re-development provides numerous benefits for the Club which include:

• A new long term Lease at the new stadium;
• Strong financial benefits;
• Retention and improvement of Social Club and office areas within the stadium;
• New facilities including a pavilion and grounds within the Albert Park precinct;
• The opportunity for the Club’s juniors, both boys and girls, to play at Albert Park
• Realising the Club’s aim of unifying its senior and junior team
• The opportunity to establish an unprecedented junior development program of the highest quality.

The club is implementing its “One Club” policy which will result in all Seniors, Juniors and Womens teams being united under a single entity.

Realising this vision has been one of the club’s main objectives in  its discussions with government.

Further information will be provided to Members shortly.

Ground Redevelopment Images

Sunday, 13 September 2009 8:51 PM

The club advises that Michael Michalakopoulos has ended his tenure as Head Coach of South Melbourne FC due to personal reasons.

A number of candidates will be interviewed over the coming weeks and the club will be making a decision in due course.

The club thanks both him and his assistant Phil Peladarinos for their services over the past year and a half.

Tuesday, 1 September 2009 12:20 PM

By Paul Mavroudis

South Melbourne’s Women’s side has progressed to the WPL preliminary final after defeating Sandringham 3-2, with the dramatic winning goal coming in the 2nd half of extra time.

South were lucky not concede a goal in the opening minutes, clearing a goal bound shot off the line. Soon afterwards Christie Tangalos sent the home side ahead, putting away a corner at the back post.

Sandringham then lifted their game, and the home side struggled to get the ball through the midfield. Still, it took until the 41st minute before the visitor’s equalised, poor marking at the back post from a free kick seeing Sandringham draw level.

South went into the half time break with their lead restored however, after the visitors gave away a late penalty, with Aimee Benton tucking away the spot kick.

The 2nd half was more of an end to end affair, with numerous chances spurned at each end. In the death throes of regular time, Sandringham made the most of a goalmouth scramble to send the game to extra time.

Rather than be deflated by that late goal, South maintained their composure in extra time. Five minutes into the 2nd half of extra time, South launched a swift counterattack, with Jade Barnden managing to outpace the defender on her inside and slip the ball past the Sandringham goalkeeper just inside the far post.

With the rain pouring down and time running out, the visitors threw everything they had, and nearly snatched another equaliser, but South prevailed, and will meet the loser of the Box Hill – Heidelberg match for a shot at the grand final.

Monday, 24 August 2009 6:57 PM

By George Kouroumalis – Photos by Cindy Nitsos

Two strikes at the start of each half, has seen Hume City triumph 2-0 in the Elimination Final at Epping Stadium on Sunday.

Both teams came into the contest in a confident mood, with South coming off a hard fought victory against Sunshine last week. Despite losing last week, Hume would come into the game knowing that it defeated South only a month ago at Bob Jane Stadium.

In fine but blustery conditions, Hume began the game in an exceptional manner scoring the stunning opener in the opening minute.

The goal came after a poor clearance by young goalkeeper Stefaan Sardelic was intercepted on the left hand side by veteran Tony Sterjovski. With the defence retreating, Sterjovski played a lovely ball into the path of Zoran Petrevski, who with the aid of a deflection cut the ball back into the oncoming Alfonso Opazo. With the wind behind him, Opazo slammed the ball into the roof of the net to give his side the early lead.

Hume continued the early dominance and could of doubled their advantage in the 7th minute when the ball fell to Ross Thompson just outside the area. With the defence sitting back, Thompson opted to hit a speculative long-range attempt at the target. Unfortunately for the midfielder, the wind caught the ball from the outset and subsequently the shot flew just over the bar.

It took 15 minutes until the nervous South Melbourne side began to come out of their shell and was denied superbly in the 21st minute of play. On this occasion, a superb ball from the left hand flank saw Gianni De Nittis win possession inside the area. From the resulting headed ball, Fernando found himself one on one with Acevski. Coming off his line quickly, Acevski managed to throw everything into the path of Fernando’s shot to produce a world class save from point blank range.

South should of equalised in the 35th minute when a sublime flick and run by De Nittis bamboozled Serder Pir on the left flank. After surging into the area, he then squared the ball into the path of the hard running Goran Zoric. With the keeper beaten and with Zoric inside the six yard box, the ball amazingly was turned into the opposite direction to the goal by the diminutive attacking player.

Sterjovski for Hume had the final chance of the half, being thwarted acrobatically by the young goalkeeper Sardelic, after his free-kick was steered onto the target from just outside the area.

The 2nd half started in almost identical fashion to the first half, with Hume exposing a laconic South side just after kick-off to double their advantage.

On this occasion, a sensational ball by Pir from the right hand side found the unmarked Andy Vlahos inside the area. With the South defence nowhere to be seen, Vlahos expertly nodded the ball past Sardelic to silence the strong South Melbourne traveling contingent.

South fans and players alike were stunned and it didn’t take until the 70th minute for the Blues to muster a series of attacks onto the Hume goal. With Vaughan Coveny lifting himself and the team, he was denied twice in quick succession by Acevski, who was proving to be the difference between both sides.

Acevski continued to thwart South at every opportunity and produced the save of the game moments later when he acrobatically turned a Steven O’Dor opportunity over the bar from close range. With only the keeper to beat, O’Dor’s effort looked goal bound, until Acevski produced a piece of goalkeeping brilliance to deny him.

South continued to push forward at every chance but it was all in vein, with the referee blowing time on the Blues season.

Highlights of the game can be found at www.smfc.tv.

Hume City 2 (Opazo 1, Vlahos 46)
SMFC 0

Man of the match: Lou Acevski
Crowd: 2000 @ Epping Stadium

Thursday, 20 August 2009 3:45 PM

South Melbourne FC would like to announce the 2009 VPL tipping competition winners.

The winners were;

1st Prize – Signed SMFC Shirt
Arthur Tsonis – 71 Tips

2nd Prize – Signed SMFC Playing Ball
Georgina Leibelt – 69 Tips

3rd Prize – $100 SMFC Merchandise Voucher
Mark Creaney – 67 Tips

SMFC would like to thank everyone who participated in the online tipping competition for 2009.

Thursday, 20 August 2009 3:33 PM

By John Kyrou

Epping Stadium plays hosts to the VPL Elimination Final on Sunday afternoon, when Hume City plays off against South Melbourne FC in a do-or-die clash. The winner of the contest will face the losing team in the Altona-Green Gully Qualifying Final, whilst for the losing side their season will come to an end on Sunday.

Hume will be hurting from the fact that a 0-1 home loss against Oakleigh in the final round saw them slide from second on the table to finish the regular home & away season in fourth spot. A point would have been enough for Hume to finish second and win the double chance however Bonel Obradovic’s 88th minute strike saw the Cannons take all three points and Hume’s double chance opportunity go up in smoke.

South went into the final round last weekend needing a win over Sunshine George Cross to confirm a spot in the finals. The performance wasn’t the greatest but it was the result that counted as Fernando De Moraes’ cheeky ‘interception’ of the ball off Georgies keeper Martin John and subsequent goal was enough to earn the side a 1-0 win and with it a place in the finals for the first time since 2006. The side finished in fifth position in the league but were an agonising one point off second spot, with too many draws during the season costing the team dearly in the end.

South won the first meeting between the two sides this season, when goals from Vaughan Coveny and Sebastian Petrovic were enough for the Blues to hold off ten-man Hume to win the inaugural ANZAC Day Cup. The match was also memorable as Coveny notched up his 100th league goal for the club. The return match at Bob Jane Stadium was a scrappy contest and it was Hume who took the honours thanks to a Zoran Petrevski penalty fourteen minutes from time. Gianni De Nittis nearly rescued South a point deep into injury time but his fierce shot flew inches wide.

The key man in this contest will undoubtedly be Hume’s Tansel Baser. The two-time South championship player was best afield when Hume defeated South at Bob Jane Stadium, with his passing and positioning clearly a class above everyone else. Baser’s influence needs to be stifled by South or else the side will be in big danger of being eliminated on Sunday. The other obstacle in the way of a South victory will be goalkeeper Lupce Acevski, with the big custodian always excelling against South and having only conceded 16 goals this season.

Despite finishing the regular season as the second-highest scoring side in the league, South has had a lean scoring record in its last month of football. Goran Zoric (10 goals), Gianni De Nittis (6) and Coveny (5) need to quickly re-discover their early season form when they would score freely and frequently. Despite having an inconsistent season, Fernando has scored 7 goals thus far and will again be relied upon to create something out of nothing like he did against George Cross.

Kick-off for Sunday’s crucial match is at 15.00 at Epping Stadium. If the match is drawn, extra time will be played and then penalties if the scores are still level.

Hume City v South Melbourne FC – Overview

2009 Season:

Round 8 – Saturday 25/04/09 @ Broadmeadows Valley Park
Hume City 1 (Thompson 68’) def by South Melbourne 2 (Coveny 43’, Petrovic 65’)

Round 19 – Sunday 26/07/09 @ Bob Jane Stadium
South Melbourne 0 def by Hume City 1 (Petrevski pen 76’)

Overall:
Played: 4
South wins: 2
Hume wins: 2
Draws: 0

Thursday, 20 August 2009 2:52 PM

Tough midfielder Sebastian Petrovic has completed a brilliant season for South Melbourne FC by being awarded the 2009 Theo Marmaras Medal on Saturday night at Bob Jane Stadium.

This is Petrovic’s third stint with the club, with the former Heidelberg and Whittlesea player making his debut at lakeside in the 2001/02 NSL season.  He returned in 2005 but was released mid-way through the season. It hasn’t been until  he rejoined the club late in 2008 from Whittlesea that Petrovic made his mark at the club.

By building his game on hard running and strong tackling, Petrovic has been South’s most important player by linking with midfield partner Joseph Youssef to dominate in the middle of the park.

Speaking candidly to smfc.com.au, Petrovic was elated with the honour, adding that “to win an award like this, at such a great club is the biggest honour that I can receive. I would like to thank all my team-mates, coaching staff and club officials who continue to make SMFC such a great club to be at. Hopefully now I can build on this and have a real impact in the 2009 finals with the boys.”

Finishing just behind Petrovic in the Marmaras medal was vice-captain Steve O’Dor, who along with Petrovic has had an exceptional season and led the club to the finals for the first time in three seasons.

In other awards handed out, Goran Zoric was awarded the 2009 Golden Boot award  while Francesco Stella was given the medal for the best U/21 player in the senior team.

Click here to view video highlights of the night

Senior Awards
 
Marmaras Medal – SMFC MVP
Sebastian Petrovic

SMFC U/21 MVP
Francesco Stella

Top Goal Scorer
Goran Zoric (10 goals)

U/21 (Youth Team) Awards

U/21(Youth Team) Most Valuable Player
Jake Vandermey

U/21 (Youth Team) Coach’s Appreciation Award
Simon Ierardi

U/21(Youth Team)  Coach’s Appreciation Award
Bradley Treloar

Supporters Awards

CC MVP
Sebastian Petrovic

CC U/21 MVP
Francesco Stella

 

Monday, 17 August 2009 3:03 PM

South Melbourne FC would like to announce the 2009 50th Year Anniversary raffle winners.

In the draw conducted at the MVP night at Bob Jane Stadium on Saturday, the following winners were drawn out of a barrel.

The winners were;

1st Prize – $2,500 Travel Voucher
Peter Politis

2nd Prize – 40 inch Samsung LCD TV
Jimmy Armstrong

3rd Prize – Samsung PLC 60 Camera 10.2mp
David Gudgeon

4th Prize – Signed 2009 SMFC Jersey
George Kouroumalis

SMFC would like to thank everyone who purchased a raffle ticket and supported the Club’s 50th Anniversary Raffle