Category: News

South Melbourne FC wishes to advise that the Club will have a stall at the 2015 Lonsdale Street festival this coming Saturday 14 February. We will be there from 4pm, following our family day commitments in the morning!

The Lonsdale Street Festival (formerly Antipodes) attracts thousands of people each year and is a free street party in Melbourne’s Greek Precinct.

South Melbourne FC will have a stall set up selling special passes to this week’s opening round match against Oakleigh Cannons FC, as well as memberships and merchandise.

Come past and say hello, we look forward to seeing you there!

South Melbourne FC is pleased to announce the signing of goalkeeper Nikola Roganovic ahead of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League season kicking off in a week’s time.

Roganovic returns to football in 2015 after having a two-year break from the game to establish his own business. Prior to his break, he represented Springvale White Eagles, Altona Magic and Green Gully in the Victorian Premier League. He was in between the sticks when Altona won the 2009 VPL Grand Final before switching to Green Gully and playing in their back-to-back Championships in 2010 and 2011. Roganovic then represented Melbourne Heart briefly before taking a break from the game.

He returns to South Melbourne FC eleven years after winning the National Youth League title with the Club in 2004. He will be competing with Peter Gavalas for a starting berth in between the sticks in 2015.

Speaking with smfc.com.au, South Melbourne FC Football Director Nicholas Maikousis was excited about Roganovic’s signing. “Nikola has been training with us for quite a while now. I am pleased that we have managed to sort out the goalkeeping situation, with Peter Gavalas and Nikola now both competing for a starting berth next Thursday night against Oakleigh.”

South Melbourne FC welcomes Nikola Roganovic to the Club and wishes him the best for the upcoming season.

South Melbourne FC wishes to confirm the departures of NPL Victoria Championship winning players Jason Saldaris, Andrew Mullett and Kobbie Boahene.

Saldaris represented South Melbourne over two stints (2012 and 2014) and played in 26 matches across all competitions. He was in between the sticks when South won their opening eleven League matches in 2014 and he kept eleven clean sheets throughout the course of the NPL Victoria season.

Andrew Mullett made 12 appearances for the Club across all competitions in 2014. He made several appearances earlier on in the season when South Melbourne embarked on a fourteen match winning streak across all competitions.

Kobbie Boahene made 13 appearances for the Club across all competitions in 2014. He played in all four Dockerty Cup ties and scored two goals during those matches. He will best be remembered for scoring the winning goal in the third minute of extra time in the Dockerty Cup tie against Dandenong Thunder at George Andrews Reserve on Wednesday 28 May.

South Melbourne FC wishes all three players the best for the future and thanks them for playing their role in winning the 2014 NPL Victoria Championship.

South Melbourne FC is pleased to announce the signing of Cody Martindale ahead of the start of the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria season next week.

Martindale played for Noble Park in State League 1 during the 2014 season. He developed a reputation for being a hard-working midfielder as Noble Park finished the season in fourth place on the League table.

Over the summer, Martindale has been trialling with South Melbourne FC and has impressed Chris Taylor over a series of friendly matches. He travelled with the squad to Adelaide last weekend and took part in both games against West Adelaide Hellas and Adelaide Blue Eagles.

Speaking to smfc.com.au, South Melbourne FC Football Director Nicholas Maikousis said that “Cody is another young and promising player that we have signed after he impressed during the pre-season. Along with Andy Kecojevic, Cody is a player for the future.”

South Melbourne FC welcomes Cody Martindale to the Club and wishes him the best for the upcoming season.

South Melbourne FC is delighted to welcome former goalkeeper Peter Gavalas back to the Club as the 2013 VPL Goalkeeper of the Year has signed ahead of the 2015 National Premier League Victoria season.

Gavalas initially arrived at Lakeside Stadium at the beginning of the 2012 Victorian Premier League season. He kept a clean sheet in his debut match against the Moreland Zebras in a 4-0 victory at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday 25 March 2012. In total, he has represented the Club in 47 matches across all competitions (including 44 League matches) and kept ten clean sheets.

Gavalas’ individual efforts in 2013 were recognised when he was announced as the VPL Goalkeeper of the Year, joining Dean Anastasiadis (2005, 2006) and Peter Zois (2010) as the only South Melbourne goalkeepers to have won that award.

Following the conclusion of the 2013 VPL season, he decided to retire to concentrate on his new career as a physiotherapist. At the time of his retirement, he said that “there’s a strong culture and unit forming within the inner sanctum at South and no doubt the boys will achieve a high level of success in 2014.” He was ultimately proven right as South won the inaugural NPL Victoria Championship last year.

After taking a break in 2014, Gavalas has decided to balance his professional career with his football career. He returns to South Melbourne FC in 2015 as the Club seeks its first back-to-back Championships since 1998 and 1999. Speaking to smfc.com.au, Gavalas said “to be honest, having played the game for a large portion of my life, I really did just miss playing football and playing for the Club. The second half of the 2013 season under Chris Taylor was enjoyable… he did bring out the best out of me as a keeper and person during that short time. I hope that being under his wing again in 2015 will enable me to play well for myself and for the Club.”

Also speaking with smfc.com.au, South Melbourne FC Football Director Nicholas Maikousis was happy to see the former goalkeeper return to Lakeside Stadium. ” I am very pleased that Peter is returning to help us try and retain our NPL Victoria crown. After working with him and CT extensively during the second part of 2013, we saw Peter become the best goalkeeper in the competition. Let’s hope we can see him re-capture that form in 2015.”

South Melbourne FC welcomes Peter Gavalas back to the Club and wishes him the best for the 2015 season.

South Melbourne FC is excited to launch its SMFC Corporate Membership for the new 2015 National Premier League Victoria season.

The benefits offered as part of the Membership include the following:

• 2015 SMFC Membership card
• Exclusive access to the President’s Room in the Corporate Suite
• Business to business networking opportunities
• Finger food and refreshments (beer, wine and soft drink only)
• One Voting right (for both SMH Club Ltd and SMFC Ltd)
• Business Listing on the official Club website
• Invitation to SMFC in Business networking events

Total Investment – $330 including GST

To purchase your 2015 Corporate Membership, please contact the club office on 9645 9797 or multimedia@smfc.com.au.

South Melbourne FC is excited to announce the signing of defender Kristian Konstantinidis ahead of the 2015 National Premier League Victoria season.

Konstantinidis arrives at Lakeside Stadium from Northcote City, having played played at John Cain Reserve since 2010. In 2011, he was part of the Northcote side that defeated the Melbourne Knights 2-0 at in the Dockerty Cup final. In 2013, he played alongside current South captain Michael Eagar and centre-forward Milos Lujic as Northcote won the Victorian Premier League Minor Premiership before defeating the Bentleigh Greens 3-2 in the VPL Grand Final.

Konstantinidis has the ability to play in a number of defensive roles, including centre-half, right-back and holding midfield. Importantly, he is a player that has many years of playing experience at the top level of Victorian football and who had a leadership position at his previous club Northcote.

Speaking to smfc.com.au, Konstantinidis was very excited about signing for South Melbourne FC. “As a Greek boy who looked up to the club growing up, it’s a bit surreal. However in reality it feels right to be signing for what is the biggest club outside of the A-League. I am looking forward to embracing every challenge that I am fronted with, and hope that I can contribute to delivering success to this great club and its fans every time I put on the jersey. I look forward to linking up with my team mates and working hard to have a solid season representing South Melbourne.”

Also speaking with smfc.com.au, South Melbourne FC Football Director Nicholas Maikousis added that “Kristian is a player that will fit in very well with the existing squad both on and off the park. He is an excellent defender and I have no doubt that he will have a great season with us.”

South Melbourne FC welcomes Kristian Konstantinidis to the Club and wishes him all the best for the 2015 season.

Photo by 80kms.smugmug.com

South Melbourne FC’s 2015 squad travelled to Adelaide last Friday for two pre-season friendlies against West Adelaide Hellas and the Adelaide Blue Eagles.

The first friendly against West Adelaide was played in very warm conditions on Friday evening at West Adelaide’s home ground at the Adelaide Shores Football Centre. This match was a curtain-raiser for Football Federation South Australia’s beyondblue Charity Cup between the Croydon Kings and Adelaide City.

West Adelaide opened the scoring after an hour through Ricardo Da Silva before Leigh Minopoulos equalised for South with a neat finish ten minutes from time. Alex Rideout secured a 2-1 win for West Adelaide in the final play of the game with a tidy finish from outside the area.

On Sunday afternoon, South Melbourne played against the Adelaide Blue Eagles at the Marden Sports Complex. Both teams struggled in the early afternoon sun, with South coach Chris Taylor rotating his players several times throughout the match. Adelaide Blue Eagles ended up winning the match 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Anthony Dimas. The team flew back to Melbourne following the conclusion of the match.

Although South Melbourne lost both matches, the trip to Adelaide was an enjoyable experience. It gave the players the opportunity to bond together ahead of the Charity Shield match against the Melbourne Knights this coming Friday night before the season begins proper against Oakleigh on Thursday 19 February.

This weekend a number of South Melbourne Youth teams will make the trek to ABD Stadium at Broadmeadows Valley Park to take on Hume City, Moreland Zebras and Olympia FC from Hobart.

We have six age groups involved giving our NPL teams yet another opportunity for pre-season competitive matches. On Saturday each team will play against Moreland Zebras and then on Sunday we will play against either Hume City or Olympia FC depending on the results.

South Melbourne Youth have a healthy and friendly rivalry with Moreland Zebras which includes multiple match-ups at the Heritage Youth Cup which Moreland hosts each year. The club has met Olympia FC once in a friendly back in 2009 when we travelled to Hobart and our Seniors were victorious with a 9-0 score line.

Speaking to smfc.com.au, South Melbourne Technical Director Sean Gale said “this is another exciting opportunity for match practice and to continue the players development we have been working on during the pre-season”.

Saturday fixtures:
9:30am Under 12 vs Moreland Zebras
10:30am Under 13s vs Moreland Zebras
12:00pm Under 14s vs Moreland Zeabras
3:00pm Under 15s vs Moreland Zeabras
3:00pm Under 16s vs Moreland Zebras

Last weekend, the South Melbourne youth teams welcomed Avondale FC to Albert Park for a football-filled Saturday. The synthetic pitch proved slippery and fast in the miserable wet weather conditions but it did mean that all matches could be played. Six matches would kick-off the pre-season for our youth teams.

South Melbourne Technical Director Sean Gale spoke to smfc.com.au about the day, saying “This is a great opportunity today with Avondale for some pre-season practice games. We have organised a number of Gala days like this in the coming weeks to prepare the teams for the March start to the season.”

Under 12s
The Under 12s were up first and recorded a 4-0 win with goals scored by Alex Hird, Curtis Wong, Alexander Terzakis and Yianni Panakos. After the game, smfc.com.au spoke with Dimitri Kapolitsas to gain his thoughts on the match. “I thought we played really well. We could have kept the ball a little bit more but we defended well and we attacked well” he said. Asked about the positives and what the team wanted to achieve this year, Kapolitsas said “We all know each other so we can play better. Our goal is to win the League. Our coach is fantastic, best coach in the world”.

Under 13s
The Under 13s met a strong Avondale line-up and were able to grind out a 1-0 win thanks to a first half goal by Daniel Triantopoulos.

Under 14s
The Under 14s match was a goal fest, with open free play and many opportunities for both teams. The final result was a 6-3 win to South with goals to Luke Barforosch, Chris Gregory, Noah Chinnama, Alan Fogel (x2) plus an own goal.

Double goal scorer Alan Fogel spoke to smfc.com.au after the match, saying “I thought we played well, we dominated and kept the ball. It was a bit scrappy conditions with the rain starting again every few minutes. We had a lot of breaks through their defence and finished a lot of opportunities.” We asked Fogel about his side’s strength of play and how they broke down their opposition. “Avondale were good but their defence they didn’t play it out fast so they let myself and our other wingers pounce on them. They didn’t release the ball fast enough and we had opportunities to take it off them in their defence” he said.

Under 15s
The Under 15s put on a good display of quality passing and finishing as they recorded a 5-1 win. Tristan Meaker scored one and Charly Layton, who only recently pulled on the South Melbourne shirt, chipped in with four goals.

With Charly putting four in the net, smfc.com.au spoke with him after the match. “I really enjoyed the game. I thought as a team we played well. In training we’ve been working on defensive structure and how to attack. Personally I thought I played alright but couldn’t have done it (scored four goals) without the other ten though, a good team victory” he said. Charly also shared some thoughts on the Avondale FC opposition, saying “they were a very well structured side, particularly good in the midfield, they played to their strengths. We saw the way they were playing out from the back, we capitalised on that and it’s how we scored our goals.”

Under 16s
The Under 16s had a tough fight on their hands with a solid Avondale defensive line-up. The team went down 0-1.