The 2017 NPLV Grand Final Soccer Marathon

One of the great Melbourne institutions is the HSV7 (7 Network) Grand Final Footy Marathon. Late night on Grand Final Eve the station would run highlights or full games of previous VFL/AFL Grand Finals all through the night, leading in to the coverage of the Under 19's then Reserves Grand Finals leading up to the main event.

This year I start what will hopefully be a new tradition, the NPLV Grand Final Marathon as we build up the big clash between Heidelberg United and Bentleigh Greens at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday. There's all the links to the highlights or full games of  previous VPL/NPLV Grand Finals that I have found so far.

Maybe next year we can find a few more videos to add for the next marathon.

1992 North Geelong v Brunswick Juventus

1995 Altona Magic v Bulleen Lions

2003 Green Gully v Frankston Pines

2005 Green Gully v Heidelberg United

2006 South Melbourne v Altona Magic

2009 Altona Magic v Dandenong Thunder

2010 Green Gully v Richmond

2011 Green Gully v Oakleigh Cannons

2012 Dandenong Thunder v Oakleigh Cannons

2013 Northcote City v Bentleigh Greens

2015 Bentleigh Greens v South Melbourne

2016 South Melbourne v Oakleigh Cannons

Just The Facts Ma'am - Part 1

The catchphrase "Just the facts, ma'am" is often attributed to the character Sgt. Joe Friday of pioneering U.S. television series Dragnet. The fact is, he never uttered those words. He would sometimes state "All we want are the facts, ma'am" or "All we know are the facts, ma'am" but it was a parody record by satirist Stan Freberg that led to the character having the catchphrase assigned to him. The movie L.A. Confidential features a television show called Badge of Honour, based on Dragnet, who's leading character uses the actual "Just the facts, ma'am" phrase.

So sometimes what is assumed to be a fact, really isn't. Myths can be formed from slight errors, but also deliberate lies can also come to be accepted as fact. There are many instances of both occurring in Australian football.

For many years, the wikipedia entry for goalkeeper Michael Turnbull was one of the great pieces of Australian fiction. Claiming almost 50 senior Socceroos caps, and more than that many first team appearances in the Serie A for Roma, the entry was taken as fact by ignorant journalists who pushed a story that he had knocked back a move to the Budesliga in late 2014. The entry had been toned down by the time he gained notoriety for embellishing his playing career on the "reality" tv series The Bachelorette. It's an example how falsehoods come into existence and can be accepted as truths, and why lazy media should be held to account.

Emile Damey

Former Nunawading City player Emile Damey gained some media exposure last year when he linked up with the Liberian national team for a training camp. This included a game, in which he scored, that the author of his wikipedia entry touts as his international debut.

                                               (Click on all images to enlarge)

Now I'm not sure what the status of the game against Morocco was, but neither FIFA for the Liberian FA seemed to recognise it as a full international.

In the last few days that entry has been changed to note the game was against the Moroccan Under 23 team. His goals and appearances record for Nunawading City has also been amended. From 25 games and 10 goals across 2015-16 it now claims 13 games for 7 goals in 2015 and 19 games for 3 goals in 2016. The actual truth - who knows but I wouldn't trust that wikipedia page.

Sadly, some have.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/dream-continues-after-african-adventure-437160

"Liberia were beaten by Tunisia in their final qualifying game with Damey failing to feature, however he did play in a friendly against Morocco, scoring with his first touch."

Reading that one would assume the friendly was a full International. It wasn't. Morocco's actual national team played a friendly the following day, in Albania. It's an important clarification that needed to be made, the fact that it wasn't makes you question the motives of those that published it.

South Melbourne

South Melbourne certainly has a long and storied history. Founded in 1959 as South Melbourne Hellas the club has won numerous titles in National and State competitions and represented Australia on the world stage at the World Club Cup.

In 2009 the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) awarded South Melbourne the title of Oceania Club of the Century and presented them with this trophy:

The club, and others, have since referred to this award as if it was issued by FIFA.

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/labor-government-secures-south-melbournes-future-at-lakeside-stadium/

FIFA only issued one award for Club of the Century, to Real Madrid in December 2000. Real were presented with this trophy:

Real Madrid also picked up a trophy from the IFFHS in 2009 for European Club of the Century. Penarol, Asante Kotoko, Al-Hilal and Saprissa also collected IFFHS awarded for their respective Confederational Clubs of the Century. 

Now undoubtedly a FIFA award is more prestigious than an IFFHS one, simply because most people would ask "Who?" if you brought up IFFHS while with FIFA they would know who you were talking about. Looking at the South Melbourne trophy it's clear to see it's an IFFHS one given the number of times/panels IFFHS appears on it.

For a club which rightly demands more respect for Australian football's past, it could do without the embellishment. When you play around with history you diminish it's credibility, and that does the game no favours.

Is It A Joke?

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.

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?

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.

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)

Random Videos III: More Random Than Last Time

Another mix of recently uploaded full-length games, a dig into the archives, and some off topic videos.

The 1995-96 NSL Grand Final, won by the mighty Melbourne Knights. It made it consecutive Championships for the Knights, Andrew Marth and Adrian Cervinski with the goals.

A friendly between Australia and Japan from Bob Jane Stadium in February 1996. It was a comfortable win for Eddie Thomson's side, against opposition which included future Sydney FC player Kazuyoshi Miura.

The 1995 Dockerty Cup Final between Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne, in two parts (YouTube used to have restrictions). The current Knights coaching staff were still playing, along with greats like Fausto de Amicis, Ante Kovacevic, Mark Silic, Danny Tiatto and Joe Spiteri. Frank Arok led his South team to the Cup, featuring stars like Mike Petersen, Paul Trimboli, Vaughan Coveney, Michael Curcija and youngsters Bill Damianos and Tansel Baser.

One of the greatest sporting achievements of all time, Makoto Nagano completes a Total Victory on Sasuke to become the Ninja Warrior.

Some of Noddy Holder's finest work in fronting Slade - Coz I Luv You. Only the greatest of bands know how to incorporate a violin.

Random Videos

I've picked up a vast collection of VHS with mainly Socceroos games, which I will gradually upload to share on YouTube. They are full length, and take a while upload which means the I will probably only do two or three a month.

First up, there is a game from the group stage of the 1995 World Youth Championships, Australia v Germany. Josip Skoko had a great game, and Mark Viduka showed his class. It was a fine Australian side.

Next up is a classic NSL Grand Final, South Melbourne v Carlton from 1997-98. Plenty of atmosphere and drama at the old Olympic Park.

And because it's the random video post, here's Deacon Blue on Top of the Pops with Real Gone Kid. Audience is well into it, Scottish pop at it's finest. Far better than the official music video.

And We're Underway

The inaugural NPLV1 season is underway with South Melbourne recording a 3-0 win against Heidelberg United at Olympic Village in the opening fixture. A big crowd was in attendance, but I chose to listen to the game on the NPL Vic Live radio commentary through Live Cast.

Host Teo Pellizzeri did the play-by-play commentary, and put in a solid, professional performance. At times it became a bit formulaic, as he'd first ask Adem Barolli, and then Ryan McGee for an opinion. Often there was no need for the second opinion, and by the time the Scot got to talk he was often left with little to do but back up what had just been said. With a bit of hash-tag pimping going on, things did seem repetitive at times.

Early crosses to Shaun Moran on the touchline seemed to have a few technical difficulties, with his volume quite low and hard to hear, but they were later resolved. There was a weird exchange after a goal where Pellizzeri asked Moran about the coaches reactions. Moran seemed a bit taken by surprise, and informed us that George Katsakis was still standing up and then walking around. I'm glad he was not paralyzed at the shock of seeing his side fall behind.

The lack of excitement in the game, and Survivor starting, saw me pay less attention to the second half. The Heidelberg fan who runs up and down in time with play got a belated mention. I know Griffin McMaster is going to be part of their team, but coupled with what I suppose was a bit of A-League Fanboyism, they seemed to over-rate him a tad.

Some of the NPLV hype has started to grate, the way in which the wheel seems to have been re-invented. It's the same teams as the VPL would have had with two added country bumpkin teams. Not really akin to landing a man on the moon or anything like that. All the hype shows is that the FFV seem to be putting in a bit more of an effort, possibly after years of tanking.

Was also bemused by a tweet from the official NPL Victoria account which read "Congratulations to @smfc midfielder Mathew Theodore on scoring the first ever #NPLVIC goal!" Given they wouldn't know who scored the first ever League goal in 1909, the first ever District League goal in 1927, the first ever State League goal in 1958 or the first Premier League goal in 1991, are they celebrating actual history or the creation of their own Year Zero?

The cynic in me asks did any of the bigwigs brought in for the NPL Victoria launch attend the game? How about the former South President who is now the Bergers No.1 ticket holder?

It's good to have local football back, and I am looking forward to getting to Knights Stadium tomorrow night for the clash between Melbourne Knights and Northcote City. Two good teams, great people at both clubs to catch up with, that is what it's all about.

Still a Big Swindle

Last week the FFV announced an alteration to the 2014 Fee Schedule, reducing team entry fees across the State League board. What do these reductions mean to the figures discussed in The Great Football Swindle post of February 23rd? It means that instead of taking an extra $1,046,300 from clubs this year compared to last, it will only be $863,900 more.

One hopes the extra cash would see the game managed better, but there is little improvement on that front. Already the early Dockerty Cup games have descended into farce, with forfeits once again to the fore. The FFV blames the clubs, the clubs blame the FFV. The buck (no pun pardoned) has to rest with the FFV. Just weeks after the FFA triumphantly launched the FFA Cup as the chance for grassroots clubs to take on teams at the highest level and perhaps live the dream of fairy tale upsets, what is the entry point to that competition remains a debacle.

When Fee Schedules and Rules of Competition are still being adjusted this late in the piece, it is little wonder small, amateur clubs are struggling to meet requirements. Even if it is the clubs at fault, the onus should be on the FFV to find a solution as they are the ones who suffer in comparison to bodies in other states when the situation becomes shambolic.

The question still remains, will the services to clubs improve in line with the additional revenue to the FFV coffers? Over the weekend on Twitter I noticed @FootballChaos and @Socceraust were churning out results tweets and news at a high rate.The FFV account only seems to be activated when there's a link to a new article on their website to be promoted. I dare say  Football Chaos (now there's a domain name more apt for the FFV) will once again produce better video coverage (in terms of quality, frequency and variety) than what the FFV comes up with for the NPL Victoria.

One can only imagine the folks at South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights struggling to contain their sniggering when being instructed on utilising social media by the FFV recently. Either the FFV are following the strategy of spreading the release of information out over several days (and haven't started yet), or they have very little to announce. At this stage it seems there will be radio commentary of some games via the internet, with further details still to emerge. The FFV has advertised for match reporters, and will need to increase their pool from last year when they barely had enough to cover a 6 game VPL round to be able to cover two divisions of the NPLV.

It was interesting listening on radio station SEN the day after the launch of the FFA Cup. Talkback callers quickly changed the subject to that of junior fees at NPLV clubs and their tendency towards being exorbitant. When hearing a justification of the fees/national curriculum, journalist Patrick Smith asked "are these clubs, or are they academies?". Coupled with a rare piece from Craig Foster that I actually agree with, it is clear we are entering dangerous territory. The NPLV is proving very expensive to implement, exhausting all resources to do so and then getting it wrong would prove to be a disaster that would top all those that have come before it.

Long Time, No Blog

Been busy, and too many topics to choose from that I didn't know how to get back into the swing of things.

http://video.news.ninemsn.com.au/?uuid=2682493707001

When I say busy, things at work became more chaotic when the warehouse I delivered from went up in flames. Some may recognise former NSL Championship-winning South Melbourne goalkeeper Bruce Maclaren in the video link above.

Spent some time at Officeworks on the self-serve photocopiers, copying and reducing pages from the Sydney Soccer World newspaper from A3 to A4 so that I could scan them at home. This produced the following documents:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5iqoyzuv75jzf9/SoccerWorld1969.pdf

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3w4wmagu9zbx4fs/SoccerWorld1970.pdf

They are the NSW First and Second Division match reports and results pages, as well as the interstate results pages from Soccer World in 1969 and 1970. The NSW First Division all-in-one results, line-ups and match summary pages are brilliant, and I don't think those years are fully covered on OzFootball yet. Some great names to be found. For local content, the Cook's Tour of Melbourne column is also among the scans taken.

Scanning the full papers is a task too big for me, and I mainly focus on results because I want to complete the gaps in this document I started a few years ago:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cx2j0mqd5mn1zmd/VictorianFootballStatisticalHistory.2.pub

There was more than a bit happening on the current football front. The Socceroos reached a bit of a low, and Holger Osieck got the chop. Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne drew nearly 5,000 people to their clash in the VPL Finals, a figure unlikely to be reached when Bentleigh Greens and Northcote City meet in the Grand Final at AAMI Park at the ridiculous kick-off time of 1.00 pm this Saturday.

On the NPLV front, the injunction sought by the 60-odd co-signatory clubs will go before the Supreme Court. It's hard to see the FFV's vision up and running next year if this drags on any longer.

The A-League is back up and running, with the Melbourne Derby drawing a big crowd that witnessed a game that didn't live up to the hype. This also means Goal! Weekly is back in print, so get to a newsagent and read something better than this blog.

Past, Present and Future

The present: Only attended two games last weekend, Richmond 1 Bentleigh Greens 1 on Friday night and then Eastern Lions 1 Western Suburbs 2. Richmond took the lead when Tom Cahill converted a penalty just before half-time on his return to the club, but conceded shortly after the restart. It was less auspicious return to his former club for Tom Matthews, who picked up a second yellow card to see Bentleigh reduced to ten men for the final half hour, but Richmond were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage.

Eastern Lions went down 1-2 at home to Western Suburbs, conceding two "coach killer" goals from horrendous errors. First the Number 4 made a hash of a back pass, playing in his opponent and exposing his keeper for Suburbs to take the lead. A good team goal saw Lions level before half-time, but a late keeper howler saw the Ralph Reserve boys take all three points. The Lions keeper came out to take a long ball, but it became apparent that it would arrive outside the penalty area. It appeared he looked to leap out and head the ball away, but miss-timed it horribly, overshooting the mark and having the ball bounce by him and to the Suburbs player who got ahead of the defender and finished well from an angle.

The future: No news is bad news on the NPLV front. What chances of an early resolution for how the leagues will be comprised next season? Slim to none you would reckon. Hopefully they will be able to get the fixtures out at least a couple of weeks before the season begins.

The past: Started to track down some missing line-ups from past Dockerty Cup Finals. It's a shame that the South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights websites don't have all their winning teams listed in their otherwise excellent History sections on their websites.

Worked out a final table for the Second Division in 1948, won by Bradford from South Yarra. In the Third Division, in which 12 teams played each other just the once, only a score from Heidelberg B v Macedonians that didn't come to hand on August 7 leaves the table incomplete. Melbourne University won the competition from Olympic, with Heidelberg A and George Cross just behind.

In the First Division of 1928 P.Lewis scored 9 as Naval Depot thrashed Richmond 14-0 on July 14. May be close to the record. Lincoln Mills were revived in that year, in the Melbourne and District League which ran alongside the Metro District League and Suburban League in the midst of a split in the administration of the game.

The 1927 Dockerty Cup Final will go down as having the earliest ever kick-off time, commencing at 10.15 am. It was on Melbourne Cup day, hence the early start.

Enjoying the past a little more than the present at the moment with worrying concerns for the future.

But All You're Doin' Is Leavin' Me In Pain - Bits And Pieces III

It's been very quiet on the NPLV front since the countdown clock to get the EOI's hit 0.00, eerily quiet. It was a busy time with clubs taking to MFootball or twitter to announce their intentions, and the FFV website making wild claims about the number of clubs interested in getting involved. Apparently 44 EOI's were received (NPLV gaining momentum with 44 clubs on board), but that momentum may have been lost as little news has come out since. Has the FFV succeeded in it's attempts to blackmail the Geelong and Gippsland clubs? Which regional clubs would remain viable if being uncompetitive early on leads to players opting out of grueling travel requirements? Will we get a countdown clock until the 5.00pm July 31st deadline for NPLV Applications? Any chance of letting the vast majority of football stakeholders, the so-called "community clubs" aka average shmucks, where they stand next season? Or will it like the case of Melbourne Heart being put into State Two North West earlier this year where clubs will only find out when the fixtures are released nest year a few weeks before the start of the season?

Reading a lot of old newspapers at the moment, it's apparent that even in the days when many were openly hostile to our code, the coverage of local football was better then than it is today. It was certainly a different world then. A few things younger readers may not know:

High scores - not all down to bad defending or more adventurous attacking. Sometimes eleven players did not always turn up, which brings us to...

Reserves - there were no reserves teams at all in the early days. Before there was a Reserves League, larger clubs entered a reserve team in the lower leagues which went under the name of the club with the suffix "A".

No substitutes - the reason eleven players didn't always start a game was because squads were smaller as substitutes did not enter fray until the late 1960's. Without a bench, any setback to a player on game day would leave a team short.

Smoke Nights - clubs would occasionally advertise social functions known as "Smoke Nights". Not sure what went on, doubt it was smoking of the Cheech and Chong variety though.

Replays and no penalty shoot-outs - Drawn cup ties meant a replay, another draw meant another replay and so on and so forth. The 1923 Grand Final between St Kilda and Footscray Thistle went to a second replay, and the VABFA Council declared another draw would have seen the Championship shared as no ground could be obtained and players couldn't be retained with the cricket season having commenced to allow for another replay.  The famous win of Wonthaggi Magpies in the 1931 Dockerty Cup Final came after a Second Replay. The 1914 Dockerty Cup was shared between Thistle and Northumberland and Durham United (imagine their Twitter account) after a Second Replay could not be scheduled.

The headline on a recent article on the FFV website had me wondering if justice had finally been served. Port Phillip Prison visit had me thinking the FFV staff may have gone to visit some of their colleagues who were doing time for the crimes against football they have committed.

Breaking news of high drama at South Melbourne, be sure to keep an eye on South of the Border for more details as they come to light.

Consistently Inconsistent

Let's start with a look at various abandoned games (mainly VPL, but one Provisional Three North West) in recent years and how the FFV handled the situations:

2006

Friday March 17 Richmond 0 Heidelberg United 2
Abandoned after 33 minutes, floodlight failure.
Replay from 33rd minute
Wednesday April 5 Richmond 0 Heidelberg United 3

2008

Saturday July 26 Altona Magic 1 Coburg United 0
Abandoned at half-time, floodlight failure
Full replay
Wednesday August 20 Altona Magic 4 Coburg United 1

Wednesday August 20 Melbourne Knights 0 Oakleigh Cannons 0
Abandoned after 18 minutes, floodlight failure.
Full replay
Tuesday August 26 Melbourne Knights 1 Oakleigh Cannons 0

2009

Saturday June 13 Dandenong Thunder 0 Green Gully 0
Abandoned at half-time
Full replay
Sunday July 5 Dandenong Thunder 5 Green Gully 1

2010

Sunday April 11 South Melbourne 1 Heidelberg United 1
Abandoned after 91 minutes, pitch invasion.
Match awarded 3-0 to Heidelberg United
Upon appeal, 1-1 score reinstated and South Melbourne deducted 6 points

Saturday June 15 Watsonia Heights 3 Upfield 0
Abandoned 70th minute, serious injury to Upfield player.
Full replay
Tuesday August 24 Watsonia Heights 1 Upfield 1

Saturday July 25 Dandenong Thunder 1 Northcote City 4
Abandoned after 58 minutes, floodlight failure.
Full replay
Wednesday August 18 Dandenong Thunder 1 Northcote City 4

2011

Saturday May 14 Dandenong Thunder 0 Melbourne Knights 0
Abandoned after 20 minutes, floodlight failure.
Full replay
Saturday July 23 Dandenong Thunder 3 Melbourne Knights 1

2013

Friday May 31 Richmond 1 Green Gully 2
Abandoned after 71 minutes, waterlogged pitch/lightening
Replay from 71st minute
Wednesday June 19

No wonder the FFV have people calling them corrupt on their Facebook pages. Combined with the anomalies/inconsistencies with the outside of transfer window goalkeeper signing rule, the discretionary decisions of the FFV are usually highly questionable. Given the decision regarding the Richmond v Green Gully game yesterday, Watsonia Heights in 2010 can feel highly aggrieved. 3-0 up, twenty minutes to go, an opposition player suffers a back injury and can't be moved leading to the game being abandoned. Yet they has to come back and start from scratch.

The greatest injustice was inflicted upon Northcote City that same year. 4-1 up at Dandenong when the lights went out, they didn't get a resumption of play from the 58th minute either. Instead indecision from the FFV and a drawn out appeal saw them finally have to squeeze in a full replay in midweek (which ended up 4-1 again) before the final round of the season. Not ideal playing three games in a week when they were chasing a finals spot.

Hang your head in shame FFV. Full replays for all games abandoned prior to 70 minutes like it used to be, or all abandoned games to be restarted from the minute they came to a halt. One or the other, it's not hard.

An Incomplete Wrap

So the weekly VPL wrap is a little incomplete, as there is still no resolution on the likely outcome of the abandoned game between Richmond and Green Gully on Friday night. In the era of emails and smart phones, waiting for the FFV to take possession of the referee's report seems somewhat inadequate. Maybe they need the time to work out how to handle the situation, given the current rules are written in shades of grey rather than black and white.

The other Friday night games saw two outcomes of 4-2 scorelines. Oakleigh Cannons went down at home, 2-4 to Hume City. If Miron Bleiberg had a towel, he'd be contemplating throwing it in already, with Oakleigh only sitting above Richmond and Southern Stars on the table. Not good enough considering you could combine and then double those club's wage budgets and still not be close to what Oakleigh pay. Turhan Sumbul was a hat trick hero for Hume, with the ever dangerous Nick Hegarty on the also score sheet once again.

Port Melbourne triumphed 4-2 at home to Southern Stars. Stars let an early lead slip before Port gained the upper hand, and there was no coming back after Andrew Viola was sent-off for two yellow cards in quick succession.

Pascoe Vale and South Melbourne engaged in a 0-0 draw, Paco holding on to claim a point after having Luca Santilli sent-off inside the first ten minutes. After a rocky start to the season, Pascoe Vale have become the new number one plucky little club mixing it with the big boys in the VPL.

The top of the table clash at John Cain Reserve saw Northcote City drop their first points of the season in a 1-1 draw with Bentleigh Greens. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade has been negligent in their duty, as Dean Piemonte is still on fire, notching his seventh goal for the season.

The celebrations for Melbourne Knights continued from the Australian Croatian Association (A.H.D.) Croatian House in Footscray on Saturday night to Knights Stadium in Sunshine on Sunday afternoon. The day after celebrating 60 years of Melbourne Croatia/Knights, the Knights twice came from behind to claim a dramatic 4-3 win over defending champions Dandenong Thunder with a goal from skipper Adam Zilic in stoppage time. Zilic features in the following video on the club's history, a fantastic tribute to a great club.

 

It's Wednesday night, it's Box Hill Indoor Soccer Night

Not amateur Hammond organ recital night. After more than a decade, I have made a return to playing indoor soccer, with Blue Steel in the Wednesday Night Division Three competition at the Box Hill Indoor Sports Centre. Last night saw the second-placed Steel notch up a comfortable 11-4 win over last-placed Unatletico Madrid to pretty much seal a place in the top four Finals series (with only six teams in the competition, it's a bit like the A-League in that regard). Scored twice and did not further injure myself, so good result all round.

http://boxhillindoorsports.com.au/results-fixtures.html

It meant not keeping up to date with the rapidly changing NPLV landscape. We've now had Hume City, Preston Lions, Cairnlea and Altona Magic declare they will not submit EOI's. Dandenong Thunder will submit an EOI, but seem lukewarm on making a final submission, perhaps sensing they are about as welcome as Eddie Maguire at a corroboree.

http://humecityfc.com/

https://twitter.com/AltonaMagic

https://twitter.com/BreatheF00tball

https://twitter.com/CairnleaFC

http://www.mfootball.com.au/thunder-submit-npl-interest-amid-indecision/

Not much has been mentioned about the involvement of Melbourne Heart Youth and Melbourne Victory Youth in the NPLV. It has widely been assumed they will play in the senior competition, but will they have to meet all the other criteria other licensees must meet? Maybe more will be revealed when the list of clubs to have put in the EOI's is announced.

I notice the FFV VPL website still has a link to the long departed VPL Live TV to the right of the links to the club websites. Sure it is nice to have a link to the videos of games from previous years, but perhaps a bit disingenuous to keep the link there when there is no longer any more actual VPL Live TV broadcasts. It was interesting to note on the VPL Facebook page earlier in the season whenever anyone posed the question which was to be the VPL Live TV game that round, or if the current match being updated was on VPL Live TV, there would be no response from the FFV. Whilst it may be embarrassing for the FFV to admit they could no longer afford to service, and therefore admit they were reducing their service to the clubs and league in promoting the competition, it was downright rude not to make a statement and answer poster's questions.

Whilst on the VPL Facebook page, you can almost set your watch to the weekly "South Melbourne for relegation" post from Chris Margaritis and Michael Italiano coming on to pump up the tyres of his son Lewis in the Oakleigh goal. I've heard of club's having to "please explain" comments posted by their players, a bit rich coming from the organisation which failed to answer enquiries from the public. At least we get an idea on how the staff of over 60 at FFV HQ are spending their time.

Another matter to arise on the discussion on the NPLV on the various forums and Facebook pages is the number of times someone argues that the NPL has already been implemented across the country. The FFV's criteria means the NPLV is a vastly different beast to the versions currently underway in other states. Once again, to claim otherwise is ignorant at best and disingenuous at worst.

If you think things are getting absurd, then check out this beauty:

http://www.goalweekly.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=6894%3Apre-adult-teenagers-continue-to-pay-the-price-for-ffv

I would love to hear more about this. I'll assume two yearly increments in those age brackets up until the Veteran's League begins at Under 35's. So that could be Under 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34's. Someone start making some more pitches, I'll try and round up enough referees.

Bits & Pieces (Not a Dave Clark Five Tribute)

The Dave Clark Five were the "Tottenham Sound", perhaps a little overshadowed by the "Merseybeat" of the same era. This post is not about them though, even though the title is the same as one of their greatest hits.

So Harry Kewell is close to signing for Melbourne Heart in the A-League. For close to minimum wage apparently. Will add a bit more spice to the Derby, and I'm not talking about his appearance in a marquee at Flemington. Just don't let me have to hear anyone claiming he is the greatest Australian player of all-time, not in this town. This side of the Murray, we all hail King Dukes!

Conflicting reports on whether the two VPL Melbourne's, Port and South, will be submitting EOI's for the NPLV. The deadline to hop of the fence is 5 pm Friday, with a countdown clock on the FFV NPLV keeping everyone informed.

http://www.footballfedvic.com.au/index.php?id=nplv

Thanks to South of the Border for their promotion of Melbourne Soccer on their blog:

http://southmelbournefc.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/new-blog-melbourne-soccer.html

I answer Yes, Hell Yes and No to the three opening questions. I don't think the blog could be summarised in just six words any better than they have in their links section - Australian soccer history, Victorian soccer politics. That's what I'm here for.

The Guardian have launched an Australian website, and in the following blog Joe Gorman explains why they will be referring to the game as soccer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2013/may/28/football-soccer-debate-in-australia

As you may gather, calling football "soccer" does not have the same effect on me as showing a cross to a vampire. I grew up with the name, and like many can easily switch between the two terms depending on what company I am in without suffering any scarring of psyche as a result. I called the blog Melbourne Soccer, as in Melbourne the dominant code of football is Aussie Rules, and I'm not looking to cause any confusion.

If any club would like to announce their intentions regarding the NPLV via this blog, please get in touch. According to the countdown clock, you have 2 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes and 51 seconds remaining.

A Weekend Wrap of the VPL

Time for a wrap of the weekend's action in the VPL. Only got to the one game, Richmond v Hume City on Friday night. Can't to any worse than The Football Sack's weekly VPL review that gets linked on the FFV website and it's simple rehashing of the round's results.

So on Friday night, Richmond threw away an early lead (again) to succumb to a seventh successive defeat. The drama for the Eagles had begun early in the week with senior keeper Rani Dowisha departing for South Springvale. An attempt to bring back Stuart Webster to the club was thwarted by the FFV on the grounds that only Griffin McMaster is allowed out of window transfer exemptions. So young Oscar Vonk was thrown into the deep end for his VPL debut.

When he spilled a free-kick from Naum Sekulovski it was Turhan Sumbul who was on hand to equalise, heavily collecting Vonk in the process. Hume took the lead in the fifty-third minute with a great counter attack seeing the ball played out to Ersin Kaya who broke down the right before crossing to an unmarked Jarryd Barnes to simply head the ball into the net.

With eighteen minutes left Richmond conceded another poor goal, a free-kick from Nick Hegarty wide out on the right eluded all those line up at the top of the box and then bouncing and curling in at the far post to make it 3-1 for Hume. A late Richmond rally saw them pull a goal back at the end of regular time, a neat chip over the defence by Sam Gallagher being well met and finished by Kliment Taseski. Richmond then had a couple of chances to snatch an equaliser, substitute Gideon Sweet blazing a shot onto Bastow Oval No.2 with some well placed passing options available, and then Nick Krousoratis volleying a free-kick that fell to him at the far post a little too hard back across goal for Timmy Purcell to be able to meet.

At the same time Bentleigh defeated Melbourne Knights 2-1with David Stirton and Like Sherborn scoring for the home side before Jacob Colosimo pulled a goal back for the Knights. It was not the best performance of the season from title contenders Bentleigh, and the Knights were certainly ruing the chance to grab all the points.

In the final closed doors game of their FFV Tribunal punishment, defending Champions Dandenong Thunder fell to a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Pascoe Vale. The experience and class of Michael Ferrante has lifted the youthful Paco squad, his return from injury leading to the club finally finding it's feet in their first ever season in the top flight. If the traffic on the Dandenong Bypass wasn't already doing it, the Dandenong crowd behind the fence on the way to Eastlink would have been silenced in the tenth minute when Marco Santilli opened the scoring. It was Ferrante who converted a second half penalty, as Pascoe Vale recorded their third win of the season.

A change of coach didn't fully bring about a change in fortunes at Green Gully, who drew 1-1 at home to Port Melbourne. Luke Bowen pounced on the rebound from a Daniel Visevic strike to give the Sharks the lead after twenty-four minutes. In the second-half it was Bowen who was the villain, his handball in the box to block a shot from Matthew Sanders leading to a penalty which was duly converted by Jason Hayne. Not sure if the draw gives the Gully powerbrokers enough to make a conclusion one way or the other on whether the interim appointment of Jeff Fleming as coach will be extended.

Northcote City have gotten off to a flying start in 2013, and made it seven in a row with what would have to be considered a reasonably comprehensive victory over Southern Stars. It was 4-0 in the end, with the in-form Dean Piemonte grabbing two goals. Stars sit only ahead of Richmond on the table, and it remains possible that by the time of their clash on June 22nd neither team may yet have won a game for the season.

I won't go into the final game of the round, South Melbourne defeating Oakleigh Cannons 2-1, as I'm sure South of the Border will give more detail in due course, complete with the Under 21's Match Report by Steve from Broady. The bigger news on Sunday evening will have come from Knights Stadium, where an Extraordinary General Meeting saw Knights members vote not to submit an Expression of Interest in joining the proposed NPLV in 2014.