On the same day Melbourne Victory released this statement on hooliganism by their club associates at an NPL game (should be gameS, but let's sweep that under the carpet for the moment) it was interesting to hear club CEO Ian Robson laughing about West Ham United fans attacking the Manchester United bus on Radio 1116SEN.
At 5:20 you can hear Robson stifle a laugh as Kevin Bartlett brings up the subject of West Ham fans attacking the bus, before joking "that's called a London greeting".
Is it as funny as when South Melbourne fans attacked the Adelaide City bus? I'm not sure anyone laughed about that, not just because of the injury sustained by Ange Costanzo. It is one of the most cited incidents when condemning the NSL and it's clubs of ethnic origin as a blight on the game in this country.
If South Melbourne are condemned for such an incident, but it is laughed off when done by West Ham, is it outrageous to point out a possible racist double standard that is at the forefront of the Old Soccer/New Football divide?
Rather than calling for a league to be disbanded, and clubs expelled could someone not just have said "that's called a Greek greeting!" and we could have all had a chuckle and moved on?
What we also know from the Victory statement is that the hooliganism in Epping after the game against Melbourne Knights was far enough removed from the stadium/game to be able to be brushed aside by the authorities. Brand protection comes ahead of protecting opposition supporters and their vehicles, it would seem.
Maybe we are meant to believe nothing happened in Epping? Just like we are supposed to believe that when Robson was CEO of the Essendon Football Club he had no idea his football department were running a supplements program that would eventually see 34 players banned for breaching anti-doping rules.
Robson sometimes talks a hard-line on hooliganism, but his laughter gives him away. Talk is all it is.
Showing posts with label Melbourne Victory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melbourne Victory. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
A History of Terrace Tensions
The return of South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights to the VPL (former VSL) was a boon for the local competition. Great crowds for second tier football abounded between 2005-2008. Newly promoted Richmond, with it's proximity to Victory's first home ground Olympic Park and it's Friday night fixtures appealed to some Victory fans looking to sample VPL action in their off-season, and they formed a support group called the Heyington Bridge Crew (HBC), named after the railway bridge that runs behind the goal at the Western End of Kevin Bartlett Reserve.
The 2007 VPL season would be the origin of poor crowd behaviour by Victory fans which culminated in the events at Lakeside Stadium in the NPL game between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory on Sunday, as covered in detail by South of the Border.
On March 9, 2007, Richmond hosted South Melbourne at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. It was an eventful game on and off the park. The ranks of the HBC had swelled from the regular 20 or 30 to over 200 people behind the Bridge End goal for the high profile fixture. South's Clarendon Corner support took to the slight hill in the South Eastern corner of the ground.
Nathan Caldwell had given South an early lead, but an own goal saw the sides level at the break. When Caldwell put the Blues ahead again in the 66th minute, some fans jumped the fence and onto the pitch to celebrate.
Things had been worse at the other end for a lot of the second half. Dean Anastasiadis was bombarded with obscenities, including one person keen to shout out his intent of acts of paedophilia with his daughter. At one point the contents of a plastic drink cup was thrown over him as he went to get the ball from against the fence for a goal-kick. When Marco Kueck equalised for Richmond following a corner in the 71st minute, one fan jumped the fence and followed Anastasiadis as he moved from one goalpost to the other, getting in his face the whole way to abuse him.
Fernando de Moraes scored a winner for South just two minutes later. Anastasiadis would allege after the game that he had been struck by a coin thrown from the crowd. Both clubs received substantial fines as a result of the actions of their supporters.
Later in the month, on March 30, Richmond hosted Whittlesea Zebras in front of a vastly smaller crowd. The Zebras also had a group of Victory supporters following them, the FDZ (Fossa Dei Zebrati), and some of these fans were denied entry when caught with flares by security at the entrance gate. They gathered on the second pitch at the Eastern End to watch the game through the uncovered fence there, and upon kick-off delayed the game by throwing a flare over the fence which landed inside the six yard box.
That year saw widening of the Monash Freeway taking place, with the current car park at the Heyington Bridge End yet to be constructed. There was construction vehicle access to the Freeway via a path behind the goal at that end, with temporary fencing erected a little closer to the pitch than where the current fence sits. At half-time, the FDZ changed ends. During the game they would go on to throw flares into the middle of the HBC from the fence behind them.
When Richmond hosted Melbourne Knights in May another bumper crowd was in attendance. Once again the HBC was joined by additional Victory fans looking to face the fans of a former NSL club. This time things did not get as out of hand at the game as the South Melbourne fixture. There were, however, rumours of a confrontation at a nearby train station after the game, in which cutlery from the Richmond clubrooms was brandished.
All of this lead to a heated friendly between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory at Bob Jane Stadium in June 2007. South, Knights and Victory fans, and probably some from other clubs for good measure, were involved in several skirmishes. Most appallingly, South Melbourne player Andy Bourakis was struck in the head by a flare thrown by Victory supporters. No punishments followed, with the only course of action taken being the suspension of any further games between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory. Little surprise then, that when they should finally meet again there would be issues.
When Richmond visited Epping Stadium in late July to play Whittlesea Zebras they were greeted with the following banner displayed by the FDZ:
It read "GERMAN CLUB + HBC = CONFUSED JEWS", a reference to some Tottenham Hotspur supporting members of the HBC. The FFV Match Commissioner picked up on the banner and as a result the Zebras were fined by the FFV.
Both groups would eventually fizzle out. The HBC maintained a reasonable presence at Richmond games throughout 2008, the dramas caused by the outsiders who only turned up for a few key games looking for trouble spoiled what could have been a great thing for the club.
In the following years friendlies between Victory and VPL/NPL clubs would often see numerous flares lit. A National Youth League derby between Victory and Melbourne City saw groups of fans fight each other..
The Melbourne Victory Youth team was admitted to the NPLV1 in 2015. Their away game in Ballarat against the Red Devils was delayed for five minutes when their supporters invaded the pitch and made off with a corner flag. Whilst the perpetrators were punished, the club was spared the harsher penalties handed out to the FFV affiliated clubs in various leagues. Reports of further pitch invasions continue, including this one at Richmond earlier this year:
Once again the corner flag was taken, being raised and lowered up in the air as part of the celebration. And once again, the FFV reaction (likely none but unable to be determined due to the lack of transparency of their website) failed to do anything to stop the practice.
With Melbourne Victory Youth promoted to the NPLV in 2016, it was only a matter of who the fixture list would spit out first to see where the flashpoint would occur. It turned out that Victory would play South Melbourne a week before facing Melbourne Knights. This meant the Victory casuals/hooligans had their first chance to steal a former NSL powerhouse's supporter's banner at a competitive fixture to make heroes of themselves arrive at Lakeside Stadium.
Will it take a report on Channel Nine News to finally make the FFV act?
The 2007 VPL season would be the origin of poor crowd behaviour by Victory fans which culminated in the events at Lakeside Stadium in the NPL game between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory on Sunday, as covered in detail by South of the Border.
On March 9, 2007, Richmond hosted South Melbourne at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. It was an eventful game on and off the park. The ranks of the HBC had swelled from the regular 20 or 30 to over 200 people behind the Bridge End goal for the high profile fixture. South's Clarendon Corner support took to the slight hill in the South Eastern corner of the ground.
Nathan Caldwell had given South an early lead, but an own goal saw the sides level at the break. When Caldwell put the Blues ahead again in the 66th minute, some fans jumped the fence and onto the pitch to celebrate.
Things had been worse at the other end for a lot of the second half. Dean Anastasiadis was bombarded with obscenities, including one person keen to shout out his intent of acts of paedophilia with his daughter. At one point the contents of a plastic drink cup was thrown over him as he went to get the ball from against the fence for a goal-kick. When Marco Kueck equalised for Richmond following a corner in the 71st minute, one fan jumped the fence and followed Anastasiadis as he moved from one goalpost to the other, getting in his face the whole way to abuse him.
Fernando de Moraes scored a winner for South just two minutes later. Anastasiadis would allege after the game that he had been struck by a coin thrown from the crowd. Both clubs received substantial fines as a result of the actions of their supporters.
Later in the month, on March 30, Richmond hosted Whittlesea Zebras in front of a vastly smaller crowd. The Zebras also had a group of Victory supporters following them, the FDZ (Fossa Dei Zebrati), and some of these fans were denied entry when caught with flares by security at the entrance gate. They gathered on the second pitch at the Eastern End to watch the game through the uncovered fence there, and upon kick-off delayed the game by throwing a flare over the fence which landed inside the six yard box.
That year saw widening of the Monash Freeway taking place, with the current car park at the Heyington Bridge End yet to be constructed. There was construction vehicle access to the Freeway via a path behind the goal at that end, with temporary fencing erected a little closer to the pitch than where the current fence sits. At half-time, the FDZ changed ends. During the game they would go on to throw flares into the middle of the HBC from the fence behind them.
When Richmond hosted Melbourne Knights in May another bumper crowd was in attendance. Once again the HBC was joined by additional Victory fans looking to face the fans of a former NSL club. This time things did not get as out of hand at the game as the South Melbourne fixture. There were, however, rumours of a confrontation at a nearby train station after the game, in which cutlery from the Richmond clubrooms was brandished.
All of this lead to a heated friendly between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory at Bob Jane Stadium in June 2007. South, Knights and Victory fans, and probably some from other clubs for good measure, were involved in several skirmishes. Most appallingly, South Melbourne player Andy Bourakis was struck in the head by a flare thrown by Victory supporters. No punishments followed, with the only course of action taken being the suspension of any further games between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory. Little surprise then, that when they should finally meet again there would be issues.
When Richmond visited Epping Stadium in late July to play Whittlesea Zebras they were greeted with the following banner displayed by the FDZ:
It read "GERMAN CLUB + HBC = CONFUSED JEWS", a reference to some Tottenham Hotspur supporting members of the HBC. The FFV Match Commissioner picked up on the banner and as a result the Zebras were fined by the FFV.
Both groups would eventually fizzle out. The HBC maintained a reasonable presence at Richmond games throughout 2008, the dramas caused by the outsiders who only turned up for a few key games looking for trouble spoiled what could have been a great thing for the club.
In the following years friendlies between Victory and VPL/NPL clubs would often see numerous flares lit. A National Youth League derby between Victory and Melbourne City saw groups of fans fight each other..
The Melbourne Victory Youth team was admitted to the NPLV1 in 2015. Their away game in Ballarat against the Red Devils was delayed for five minutes when their supporters invaded the pitch and made off with a corner flag. Whilst the perpetrators were punished, the club was spared the harsher penalties handed out to the FFV affiliated clubs in various leagues. Reports of further pitch invasions continue, including this one at Richmond earlier this year:
Once again the corner flag was taken, being raised and lowered up in the air as part of the celebration. And once again, the FFV reaction (likely none but unable to be determined due to the lack of transparency of their website) failed to do anything to stop the practice.
With Melbourne Victory Youth promoted to the NPLV in 2016, it was only a matter of who the fixture list would spit out first to see where the flashpoint would occur. It turned out that Victory would play South Melbourne a week before facing Melbourne Knights. This meant the Victory casuals/hooligans had their first chance to steal a former NSL powerhouse's supporter's banner at a competitive fixture to make heroes of themselves arrive at Lakeside Stadium.
Will it take a report on Channel Nine News to finally make the FFV act?
Monday, 26 October 2015
Historical Artefact Monday - the Mdm Collection
Today I present some artefacts relating to a long gone day of internet banter getting a little too serious.
Before I start I need to provide a little background to what stemmed from the battles on the old SBS The World Game Forum and my position relating to the A-League, which was the cause of my gaining a stalker.
Now though I'm probably associated with people who hate the A-League, that is certainly not my position. I've been to games, I watch them on television regularly. For various reasons, I'm not a supporter of either of the Melbourne clubs. One being I was busy enough at Richmond SC when the A-League came about, and that was MY team. Someone once said to me they are members at Victory, but go there mainly for their kids. It's their kids who will grow up diehards, but they themselves are less "invested". I guess embracing a club too closely once you've reached a certain age and affiliations with other clubs doesn't suit everyone. So while I was happy to go to games and wanted Victory to do well, I was able to be dispassionate about the whole situation.
One thing that contributed to this was that I did not want to associate those that gladly denigrated the players, supporters and clubs from previous eras. Sadly, on The World Game Forum, there was no middle ground. You supported the "New Dawn" of New Football or were "Bitter" about the demise of Old Soccer.
That was not the main reason for my sympathies towards Victory beginning to dissipate around 2007-08 however. The major factor there were the actions of Victory fans in the VPL at that time, in particular the Richmond v South Melbourne game of March 9, 2007.
Now to get to the first artefact, let's move on to 2010. mdm was a username on The World Game Forum of a Victory fan with a strong grudge against "bitters" and the presence of a New Zealand team in the A-League. I generally tried to avoid too much of the Bitters/New Dawn nonsense, but took him to task when he tried to link a murder case to the NSL. The father of Santo Caruso, proprietor of Melbourne Sports Books, had murdered his wife and been jailed. When someone in a thread had recalled Santo attending NSL games, mdm mistakenly claimed that Santo had committed the murder and tried to draw a link between that and his support of the NSL. Yes, this how unhinged he was.
Many may recall on the eve of the World Cup that year Socceroo goalkeeper Brad Jones withdraw from the squad when his son was diagnosed with leukemia. On another forum I got some inside gossip that this had taken place just before I went to sleep one night, with the news breaking a few hours later at around 2-3 am. When I got on the forum the following night, I saw mdm posting in a thread about the topic at around 5 am that there were not many bitters offering sympathy. His inference disgusted me, and I showed this in no uncertain terms.
The result was that mdm felt he could agitate me by constantly using my real name or initials in his posts. My username was 11.Boo, based on my widely known nickname (widely known as in most people who know me through football use it, many not even knowing my real name). I was not that bothered about it, as I was not trying to keep it a secret. It had been done by others before anyway. The first artefact sprang from someone else supplying me with mdm's real name, and myself using his initials in replies in response.
The above sign was cable-tied to the fence at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Wednesday July 28, 2010. I'd taken the week off work for a busy football week. That night the seniors played a friendly against Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park, at the same time as the Under 18's played as the Under 21's against the N.T.C. before the Under 21's played as the seniors against the N.T.C. at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. I discovered the sign as I went to put up the nets, mark the pitch, set-up the dressing room and drop off the kits at KB before heading to AAMI to look after the first team.
Marking the pitch I put a lot of thought into who was behind the sign, but it wasn't until I got to AAMI Park that I thought it could be mdm. When I got home I sent him a direct message via the forum asking if he'd been been to Burnley recently and he responded he hadn't (using the term "mate", which was odd) and then never posted there under that name again.
The next artefact came shortly after I shared the photo on a few forums.
It is a print out of a thread I'd started on the forum, mocking the removal of match threads being stickied at the top of the page which had angered many. This print out was folded in half and placed in my mother's letterbox (my new stalker didn't realise I was in Unit 2, she lived in Unit 1) which I was checking while she was in Croatia. This was a new level of derangement I'd yet to encounter on forums.
Shortly after there was a thread on the forum about some Victory fans greeting Harry Kewell at the airport after he signed with the club. When someone posted that my mate was in the pic, it outed mdm to the rest of the forum, and the response from the photoshop experts brought about artefact number three, the letter to the President of Richmond Alemannia.
By now, mdm was posting as Diego's Son on Australian FourFourTwo Forums. I wish I could have seen his face when he first saw GaryBoulder appear as the newest user. Funnily enough, he never posted much after that.
(Click on images to enlarge)
Before I start I need to provide a little background to what stemmed from the battles on the old SBS The World Game Forum and my position relating to the A-League, which was the cause of my gaining a stalker.
Now though I'm probably associated with people who hate the A-League, that is certainly not my position. I've been to games, I watch them on television regularly. For various reasons, I'm not a supporter of either of the Melbourne clubs. One being I was busy enough at Richmond SC when the A-League came about, and that was MY team. Someone once said to me they are members at Victory, but go there mainly for their kids. It's their kids who will grow up diehards, but they themselves are less "invested". I guess embracing a club too closely once you've reached a certain age and affiliations with other clubs doesn't suit everyone. So while I was happy to go to games and wanted Victory to do well, I was able to be dispassionate about the whole situation.
One thing that contributed to this was that I did not want to associate those that gladly denigrated the players, supporters and clubs from previous eras. Sadly, on The World Game Forum, there was no middle ground. You supported the "New Dawn" of New Football or were "Bitter" about the demise of Old Soccer.
That was not the main reason for my sympathies towards Victory beginning to dissipate around 2007-08 however. The major factor there were the actions of Victory fans in the VPL at that time, in particular the Richmond v South Melbourne game of March 9, 2007.
Now to get to the first artefact, let's move on to 2010. mdm was a username on The World Game Forum of a Victory fan with a strong grudge against "bitters" and the presence of a New Zealand team in the A-League. I generally tried to avoid too much of the Bitters/New Dawn nonsense, but took him to task when he tried to link a murder case to the NSL. The father of Santo Caruso, proprietor of Melbourne Sports Books, had murdered his wife and been jailed. When someone in a thread had recalled Santo attending NSL games, mdm mistakenly claimed that Santo had committed the murder and tried to draw a link between that and his support of the NSL. Yes, this how unhinged he was.
Many may recall on the eve of the World Cup that year Socceroo goalkeeper Brad Jones withdraw from the squad when his son was diagnosed with leukemia. On another forum I got some inside gossip that this had taken place just before I went to sleep one night, with the news breaking a few hours later at around 2-3 am. When I got on the forum the following night, I saw mdm posting in a thread about the topic at around 5 am that there were not many bitters offering sympathy. His inference disgusted me, and I showed this in no uncertain terms.
The result was that mdm felt he could agitate me by constantly using my real name or initials in his posts. My username was 11.Boo, based on my widely known nickname (widely known as in most people who know me through football use it, many not even knowing my real name). I was not that bothered about it, as I was not trying to keep it a secret. It had been done by others before anyway. The first artefact sprang from someone else supplying me with mdm's real name, and myself using his initials in replies in response.
The above sign was cable-tied to the fence at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Wednesday July 28, 2010. I'd taken the week off work for a busy football week. That night the seniors played a friendly against Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park, at the same time as the Under 18's played as the Under 21's against the N.T.C. before the Under 21's played as the seniors against the N.T.C. at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. I discovered the sign as I went to put up the nets, mark the pitch, set-up the dressing room and drop off the kits at KB before heading to AAMI to look after the first team.
Marking the pitch I put a lot of thought into who was behind the sign, but it wasn't until I got to AAMI Park that I thought it could be mdm. When I got home I sent him a direct message via the forum asking if he'd been been to Burnley recently and he responded he hadn't (using the term "mate", which was odd) and then never posted there under that name again.
The next artefact came shortly after I shared the photo on a few forums.
It is a print out of a thread I'd started on the forum, mocking the removal of match threads being stickied at the top of the page which had angered many. This print out was folded in half and placed in my mother's letterbox (my new stalker didn't realise I was in Unit 2, she lived in Unit 1) which I was checking while she was in Croatia. This was a new level of derangement I'd yet to encounter on forums.
Shortly after there was a thread on the forum about some Victory fans greeting Harry Kewell at the airport after he signed with the club. When someone posted that my mate was in the pic, it outed mdm to the rest of the forum, and the response from the photoshop experts brought about artefact number three, the letter to the President of Richmond Alemannia.
There is so much gold in here I don't know where to begin. Have to begin somewhere, so let's start with the name. If you choose a fake name, use a surname which has at least one listing in the White Pages. If you are
a potential sponsor, wouldn't you have some letterhead you should be using for your correspondence? Mr Helmut Kalitzki is reasonably well known in local football circles. Even if you don't know him, as President of the club his name was featured on the club website as well as the FFV's website. Not addressing to letter to him but able to identify me as the bloke who was rude to him? Come on, you're not expecting anyone tobelieve this? The President is still awaiting for him to contact him personally. The envelope with the hand-written return address in the tiniest handwriting possible is also class.By now, mdm was posting as Diego's Son on Australian FourFourTwo Forums. I wish I could have seen his face when he first saw GaryBoulder appear as the newest user. Funnily enough, he never posted much after that.
(Click on images to enlarge)
Thursday, 23 July 2015
Eastern Lions
Eastern Lions, formerly Waverley City and Old Scotch Waverley, are a stable club from Melbourne's Eastern suburbs that currently punches above it's weight in NPL One East.
More of their history can be found in this 40th Anniversary Dinner Dance Programme from 2003.
1974 World Cup Socceroo Jimmy Rooney can be found around the place on any match day carrying out coaching duties with both the junior and senior set-ups.
The clubrooms at Gardiner's Creek Reserve on Sixth Avenue in Burwood contain one of the best collections of photographs in Victorian football.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Waverley City 1984
Back: Vic Binbing (Physio), Alex Milevski, Bernard Redmond, Kyle Patterson, Sean Coulter, Terry Grimwade, Carl Egan, David Cooper (Coach).
Front: Gary Pierce, Ted Quy, Gary Darch, Paul Storey, Alex Wilson, Tom Gameras.
This Saturday the club is hosting Melbourne Victory Youth as well as a Sponsor's Day, a good time to get down to the club if you haven't been before.
More of their history can be found in this 40th Anniversary Dinner Dance Programme from 2003.
1974 World Cup Socceroo Jimmy Rooney can be found around the place on any match day carrying out coaching duties with both the junior and senior set-ups.
The clubrooms at Gardiner's Creek Reserve on Sixth Avenue in Burwood contain one of the best collections of photographs in Victorian football.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Waverley City 1984
Back: Vic Binbing (Physio), Alex Milevski, Bernard Redmond, Kyle Patterson, Sean Coulter, Terry Grimwade, Carl Egan, David Cooper (Coach).
Front: Gary Pierce, Ted Quy, Gary Darch, Paul Storey, Alex Wilson, Tom Gameras.
This Saturday the club is hosting Melbourne Victory Youth as well as a Sponsor's Day, a good time to get down to the club if you haven't been before.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
It's All Happening Here...
at the MCG, to quote the great Bill Lawry. An apt title on the day that ground was announced as the venue for cricket's 2015 World Cup Final and a week on from the memorable game between Liverpool and Melbourne Victory there.
Also apt because it really is all happening. Nearly all the VPL clubs have announced their lack of support for the FFV's proposed structure for the NPLV. It is, as they say in the classics, about to get real.
It may not look like it;s all been happening on the Melbourne Soccer blog front, but looks can be deceptive. I'm currently in the midst of my most intensive spell of research in the history of the local game ever. It began just over a month ago, when for three consecutive Sundays I hit the newspaper microfilm archives at the State Library of Victoria (SLV). That run came to a halt when Richmond played Melbourne Knights away on a Sunday, but in speaking matters historical with Pave Jusup he offered to let me go through his vast collection of old documents and newspapers.
For a while the SLV visits saw me more immersed in the soccer split of the late 1920's than the current dramas. After attending more than my usual quota of matches recently though, that soon passed as talk of the looming confrontation between the FFV and clubs intensified.
After sorting out through a huge bundle of copies of Soccer Action from the 1970's and 1980's, there is a lot to process, which has kept me from posting on the blog. I'm not a greedy man, so I wouldn't want any more than 10 cents for every time Tasmanian journalist Walter Pless has written the name Ken Morton since then. The 1970's was big on Cups, there was the Dockerty Cup, the Harry Armstrong Cup, the Ampol Cup, the Federation Cup, the Cumberland Cup, the Provisional League Cup, the District League Cup and the State League Cup. All we really get from the FFV today though is one fuck-up after another. That last gag will only really work if read out aloud.
I've found a few of my own items I'd forgotten about, and many of my notes from the SLV sessions are starting to come together. With Pave telling me there are more boxes to come, the blog posts may still remain infrequent for a while to come. If you are desperate for my random musings, check out my twitter account
https://twitter.com/MarkBoric
Apart from my struggle to bring back the return of monkeys riding greyhounds in races(#monkeyjockeys) as a mainstream sport, most of the content is football related.
Also apt because it really is all happening. Nearly all the VPL clubs have announced their lack of support for the FFV's proposed structure for the NPLV. It is, as they say in the classics, about to get real.
It may not look like it;s all been happening on the Melbourne Soccer blog front, but looks can be deceptive. I'm currently in the midst of my most intensive spell of research in the history of the local game ever. It began just over a month ago, when for three consecutive Sundays I hit the newspaper microfilm archives at the State Library of Victoria (SLV). That run came to a halt when Richmond played Melbourne Knights away on a Sunday, but in speaking matters historical with Pave Jusup he offered to let me go through his vast collection of old documents and newspapers.
For a while the SLV visits saw me more immersed in the soccer split of the late 1920's than the current dramas. After attending more than my usual quota of matches recently though, that soon passed as talk of the looming confrontation between the FFV and clubs intensified.
After sorting out through a huge bundle of copies of Soccer Action from the 1970's and 1980's, there is a lot to process, which has kept me from posting on the blog. I'm not a greedy man, so I wouldn't want any more than 10 cents for every time Tasmanian journalist Walter Pless has written the name Ken Morton since then. The 1970's was big on Cups, there was the Dockerty Cup, the Harry Armstrong Cup, the Ampol Cup, the Federation Cup, the Cumberland Cup, the Provisional League Cup, the District League Cup and the State League Cup. All we really get from the FFV today though is one fuck-up after another. That last gag will only really work if read out aloud.
I've found a few of my own items I'd forgotten about, and many of my notes from the SLV sessions are starting to come together. With Pave telling me there are more boxes to come, the blog posts may still remain infrequent for a while to come. If you are desperate for my random musings, check out my twitter account
https://twitter.com/MarkBoric
Apart from my struggle to bring back the return of monkeys riding greyhounds in races(#monkeyjockeys) as a mainstream sport, most of the content is football related.
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Five Days, Five Games
I've been watching a bit of football lately (though Sunday also saw a solid session at the State Library Victoria which will be covered in the upcoming In Search Of...1912).
Friday June 28
Richmond 1 Pascoe Vale 1
Richmond recovered from a poor first half to probably be a little unlucky not to take all three points after an improved second-half showing. Poor marking from a throw-in and casual defending let Hernan Espindola stroll through the box before beating an exposed Aaron Romein from eight yards to give Paco the lead. There was an element of fortune with the Eagles equaliser, as Hamlet Armenian's shot appeared to many to be a cross initially. Sam Gallagher drove a shot into the underside of the crossbar which then bounced on the line, before he was dismissed for a second yellow card in the final minutes.
Saturday June 29
West Preston 4 Oak Park 3
It's fair to say this State League Division Five North clash had it all and then some. West Preston came back from 0-2 down to claim a late winner, with plenty of drama along the way. There was some questionable refereeing in the aftermath of a West Preston goal as a player looking to get the ball back for a quick restart was kicked across the shin by an Oak Park defender. The assistant referee flagged over the main official, which had some overly optimistic Oak Park fans and players hoping for the goal to be ruled out, a hope which would have evaporated when the assistant acted out a kicking across the shin motion for the referee. Suprisingly the end result proved to be a yellow card to the Oak Park keeper, who did not put in the kick whilst the perpetrator wearing No.2 escaped without sanction.
Further ill-discipline saw an Oak Park player sent-off late in the game, but as he crossed the line to exit the pitch he did a sharp turn to run ten yards back onto the field and throw a haymaker punch at the West Preston No.52 which saw chaos briefly ensue. Somehow the full scale riot which threatened to materialize was averted, and in the final minutes West Preston's No.8 completed a famous comeback.
Sunday June 30
Oakleigh Cannons 0 Melbourne Knights 1
Melbourne Knights were well worth their early lead, Adam Zilic heading in after a corner was headed across goal by Ljubo Milicevic. Wasting a couple of chances to extend the lead, it would be a nervy second-half for the Knights after Ryan Filipovic was sent-off following a second yellow card with half an hour remaining but they were able to hang on. In between abusing team-mates, Milicevic provides an amusing running commentary at times.
Monday July 1
Bulleen Lions 1 Heidelberg United 3
Heidelberg United went to the top of State League Division One with an emphatic win at the Veneto Club on Monday night. Star of the show was the Heidelberg Rooney, Daniel Heffernan with an impressive brace. Talk on the terraces mainly revolved around the unfolding drama at South Melbourne, with time of Peter Tsolakis as coach was coming to an end.
Tuesday July 2
Richmond 1 Melbourne Victory 2
Victory began their pre-season friendlies with a 70 minute game at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. They were led out by Leigh Broxham, even though Adrian Leijer was also starting, possibly an indication the Mark Milligan will be captain come the start of the season. In the second minute Leijer put in a double footed tackle on Timmy Purcell which would have seen him sent-off more often than not, but the referee was happy to give him just a warning.
The 2012 fixture was won 4-3 by Richmond, and in the eighth minute they took the lead with the sweetest of volleys at the far post by Hamlet Armenian. Victory equalised with a deflected shot from Jimmy Jeggo and then took the lead just before half-time when Andrew Nabbout got free on the right and finished well.
Victory only made one sub for the game, as Richmond changed their entire team over the course of a scoreless second-half. No flares this year, Blue Thunder Security cracking down hard.
Friday June 28
Richmond 1 Pascoe Vale 1
Richmond recovered from a poor first half to probably be a little unlucky not to take all three points after an improved second-half showing. Poor marking from a throw-in and casual defending let Hernan Espindola stroll through the box before beating an exposed Aaron Romein from eight yards to give Paco the lead. There was an element of fortune with the Eagles equaliser, as Hamlet Armenian's shot appeared to many to be a cross initially. Sam Gallagher drove a shot into the underside of the crossbar which then bounced on the line, before he was dismissed for a second yellow card in the final minutes.
Saturday June 29
West Preston 4 Oak Park 3
It's fair to say this State League Division Five North clash had it all and then some. West Preston came back from 0-2 down to claim a late winner, with plenty of drama along the way. There was some questionable refereeing in the aftermath of a West Preston goal as a player looking to get the ball back for a quick restart was kicked across the shin by an Oak Park defender. The assistant referee flagged over the main official, which had some overly optimistic Oak Park fans and players hoping for the goal to be ruled out, a hope which would have evaporated when the assistant acted out a kicking across the shin motion for the referee. Suprisingly the end result proved to be a yellow card to the Oak Park keeper, who did not put in the kick whilst the perpetrator wearing No.2 escaped without sanction.
Further ill-discipline saw an Oak Park player sent-off late in the game, but as he crossed the line to exit the pitch he did a sharp turn to run ten yards back onto the field and throw a haymaker punch at the West Preston No.52 which saw chaos briefly ensue. Somehow the full scale riot which threatened to materialize was averted, and in the final minutes West Preston's No.8 completed a famous comeback.
Sunday June 30
Oakleigh Cannons 0 Melbourne Knights 1
Melbourne Knights were well worth their early lead, Adam Zilic heading in after a corner was headed across goal by Ljubo Milicevic. Wasting a couple of chances to extend the lead, it would be a nervy second-half for the Knights after Ryan Filipovic was sent-off following a second yellow card with half an hour remaining but they were able to hang on. In between abusing team-mates, Milicevic provides an amusing running commentary at times.
Monday July 1
Bulleen Lions 1 Heidelberg United 3
Heidelberg United went to the top of State League Division One with an emphatic win at the Veneto Club on Monday night. Star of the show was the Heidelberg Rooney, Daniel Heffernan with an impressive brace. Talk on the terraces mainly revolved around the unfolding drama at South Melbourne, with time of Peter Tsolakis as coach was coming to an end.
Tuesday July 2
Richmond 1 Melbourne Victory 2
Victory began their pre-season friendlies with a 70 minute game at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. They were led out by Leigh Broxham, even though Adrian Leijer was also starting, possibly an indication the Mark Milligan will be captain come the start of the season. In the second minute Leijer put in a double footed tackle on Timmy Purcell which would have seen him sent-off more often than not, but the referee was happy to give him just a warning.
The 2012 fixture was won 4-3 by Richmond, and in the eighth minute they took the lead with the sweetest of volleys at the far post by Hamlet Armenian. Victory equalised with a deflected shot from Jimmy Jeggo and then took the lead just before half-time when Andrew Nabbout got free on the right and finished well.
Victory only made one sub for the game, as Richmond changed their entire team over the course of a scoreless second-half. No flares this year, Blue Thunder Security cracking down hard.
Monday, 20 May 2013
Being a Member Doesn't Have it's Privileges
The governing body of football in Victoria is, of course, the FFV. The FFV is the re-branded Victorian Soccer Federation (VSF), a body which was established as a Federation by member clubs to control the running of the game. It's finances came from the affiliation fees paid by the member clubs.
Nowadays, the FFV runs the game independently of it's member clubs, indeed often acting against their better interests, but still relying on their affiliation fees. The affiliation fees vary depending on which league a club is in, with the largest being those of the VPL clubs.
In the days of the old National Soccer League (NSL), the clubs from the various State Leagues that participated were still members of their State Federations and remained so by still paying their annual affiliation fee to the respective state bodies. There had even been promotion and relegation between the NSL and State Leagues in the early years. When the NSL ended, Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne, as FFV member clubs, rightfully returned to the VPL as was their entitlement to play in the highest-level FFV competition.
Earlier this year, at very short notice, the FFV entered a team from Melbourne Heart Youth in the State League Division Two North West competition for the 2013 season. After a backlash from the clubs, this decision was revoked. It was an incident which showed how little regard the FFV had for it's member clubs, and how it was no longer concerned with their best interests.
Melbourne Heart entered the A-League in 2010-11. A private franchise, it is not a part of the FFV and has never paid a cent in affiliation fees to the local governing body. The FFV had no right to place a team of theirs in the competition ahead of any member clubs. That it did left clubs wondering what their membership of the the FFV was worth and if their rights were being upheld. The affiliation fees vary in scale through the leagues, with VPL clubs currently paying almost $15,000 for the privilege of fielding their Senior and Under 21's teams.
Should some of these clubs end up in "Community" leagues from 2014 and beyond, can they expect to be paying a fee more in line with the $5,200 that State League Division Four clubs currently pay, or even the $2,900 paid by clubs in State League Division Five? Surely "Community" clubs won't be expected to pay any more than that? Will such a difference leave much of a hole in the FFV coffers, given the heavy financial loss it sustained in the last financial year? Or will there be no relief in exorbitant fees for these clubs?
When you consider there are clubs in the system that having been paying these fees for upwards of sixty years, there are those that have invested heavily in the game about to be treated very poorly with the proposed restructures.
Upon the inception of the A-League, it was the FFV which ran and funded the Youth and Women's teams of Melbourne Victory. That's right, a private franchise which was not a member of the Federation was benefiting from programs drawing on funds raised through the affiliation fees paid by grassroots clubs. Unless I was to go into partnership with Mick Gatto, I doubt I could start a business which could be funded in similar circumstances.
In recent years the FFV has made significant changes to it's constitution and the rules of it's competitions. Whilst clubs have invested heavily in paying for the right to compete and rise to the highest level, the FFV now have the discretion to add new entities as they please or as is their plan, to create a new top tier of their own design. Will we see refunds to clubs denied their rightful place at the top?
In the establishment of the NPLV, the FFV is entering very murky waters indeed. It will be cheating the clubs that have paid for it's existence, for an unproven model which may end up doing more harm than good.
Nowadays, the FFV runs the game independently of it's member clubs, indeed often acting against their better interests, but still relying on their affiliation fees. The affiliation fees vary depending on which league a club is in, with the largest being those of the VPL clubs.
In the days of the old National Soccer League (NSL), the clubs from the various State Leagues that participated were still members of their State Federations and remained so by still paying their annual affiliation fee to the respective state bodies. There had even been promotion and relegation between the NSL and State Leagues in the early years. When the NSL ended, Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne, as FFV member clubs, rightfully returned to the VPL as was their entitlement to play in the highest-level FFV competition.
Earlier this year, at very short notice, the FFV entered a team from Melbourne Heart Youth in the State League Division Two North West competition for the 2013 season. After a backlash from the clubs, this decision was revoked. It was an incident which showed how little regard the FFV had for it's member clubs, and how it was no longer concerned with their best interests.
Melbourne Heart entered the A-League in 2010-11. A private franchise, it is not a part of the FFV and has never paid a cent in affiliation fees to the local governing body. The FFV had no right to place a team of theirs in the competition ahead of any member clubs. That it did left clubs wondering what their membership of the the FFV was worth and if their rights were being upheld. The affiliation fees vary in scale through the leagues, with VPL clubs currently paying almost $15,000 for the privilege of fielding their Senior and Under 21's teams.
Should some of these clubs end up in "Community" leagues from 2014 and beyond, can they expect to be paying a fee more in line with the $5,200 that State League Division Four clubs currently pay, or even the $2,900 paid by clubs in State League Division Five? Surely "Community" clubs won't be expected to pay any more than that? Will such a difference leave much of a hole in the FFV coffers, given the heavy financial loss it sustained in the last financial year? Or will there be no relief in exorbitant fees for these clubs?
When you consider there are clubs in the system that having been paying these fees for upwards of sixty years, there are those that have invested heavily in the game about to be treated very poorly with the proposed restructures.
Upon the inception of the A-League, it was the FFV which ran and funded the Youth and Women's teams of Melbourne Victory. That's right, a private franchise which was not a member of the Federation was benefiting from programs drawing on funds raised through the affiliation fees paid by grassroots clubs. Unless I was to go into partnership with Mick Gatto, I doubt I could start a business which could be funded in similar circumstances.
In recent years the FFV has made significant changes to it's constitution and the rules of it's competitions. Whilst clubs have invested heavily in paying for the right to compete and rise to the highest level, the FFV now have the discretion to add new entities as they please or as is their plan, to create a new top tier of their own design. Will we see refunds to clubs denied their rightful place at the top?
In the establishment of the NPLV, the FFV is entering very murky waters indeed. It will be cheating the clubs that have paid for it's existence, for an unproven model which may end up doing more harm than good.
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