Fifty years of love and its lessons
By Les Murray | 10 November 2009

The late 1950s have a lot to answer for. Like giving rise to a poppy field of new football clubs that have recently been celebrating their 50th anniversary, despite now lingering somewhat in the shadow of ‘new football’.

I’ve been to a few of these in recent times, the latest being the celebration of South Melbourne FC’s half a century as a club.

Held at the Crown Palladium, it was a glittering night in which emotion and nostalgia overbore the shimmer, the champagne and the long dresses.

There were over 600 guests, most of them paying $220 for a seat. Former players, coaches, officials and undying fans came from everywhere, many from Greece and others from other corners of the world. One fan diverted his holiday voyage to Florida to be there.

John Margaritis, an iconic former player and coach, flew in from Athens (and then was forced to speak on stage in Greek because he had forgotten most of his English, or so he claimed).

Con Nestorides, whom you would now call a ‘marquee player’ if he came here as a 37-year old superstar, as he did in 1966, was hunted down in Athens and thrust in front of the video camera to send a goodwill message. Now 80, he looked sprightly, smiling and fit.

Others not so youthful. One old timer, a source of vibrant spectacle when he played for the club in the early 1960s, was unable to negotiate the stairs to the stage to receive his award. He could have stayed at home but he chose to come, despite the cane and the debilitations, and many in the room were thrilled to see him again.

Leo Anezakis, president of the club when it won its first national league title in 1984, a lovely and decent man, spoke to me about those times, how his sense of dedication to the club taxed him to the point where it nearly destroyed his business.

More easily recognised men of a more modern era mingled in the room, embracing and exchanging regrets about not seeing each other more often: Peter Tsolakis, Ange Postecoglou, Mickey Petersen, Kimon Taliadoros, Paul Trimboli, Mehmet Durakovic, Con Boutsianis.

Emotion filled the air and the night was thick with the powerful sense of bonding that football, and only the sense of belonging to a football club, can provide.

The passion and loyalty for football, and for a football club, was everywhere in the room, so much so that one felt a wish to be able to bottle it and somehow transfuse it into ‘new football’.

But of course that’s easier said than done. The A-League clubs don’t have this because for a start they don’t have 50 years of history but more importantly because, as one colleague put it to me, they are franchises not clubs.

Still, there are lessons to be drawn for the franchises which, so far, have appeared to exist more for the directors and the investors than the fans, the complete reverse to what has been the case at South Melbourne FC for half a century.

George Vassilopoulos, club president through the 1990s, made a stirring speech about loyalty, sacrifice, love and untiring dedication to a club and about giving something back to the fans.

A modern chairman, one suspects, would only orate about money, the bottom line and the need to win trophies.

Football clubs are primarily about people, something South Melbourne has not forgotten over 50 years but which the A-League, five years into its life, is yet to learn.

http://www.theworldgame.com.au/blogs/lesmurray/fifty-years-of-love-and-its-lessons-255307

A great blog from Les.

"Leo Anezakis, president of the club when it won its first national league title in 1984, a lovely and decent man, spoke to me about those times, how his sense of dedication to the club taxed him to the point where it nearly destroyed his business."


I said this the other day on another thread, in today's age it's the other way around, it's the business taxing the clubs. I have a shit load of faith in the FFA and i do trust that they are looking at these clubs and their future involvement with the game. I have a good feeling that Lowy's masterplan will include them somewhere once the game has properly established itself. Where else are we going to find clubs for the A2 League that Lowy talk's about?

I suspect that the A2 league is smoke and mirrors. All talk to placate FIFA, etc, whilst the world cup bid is on. Be interesting to see if Lowy keeps talking about it if we don't win hosting rights for either tournament.

If the 'old' clubs want to play in a national comp again, the only way I can see them doing it is if they get their own sponsors, form their own competition, and operate separately from the FFA. A tall order and very unwise to try it without a lot of long term contracts in place before they start.

There will come a time when there is HAL 2 but it is way down the track. 5 year franchises just can't afford to think that far ahead. That's why they should be 20 year franchises instead. In time one hopes that the HAL clubs will develop the loyalty and bond in the club like the old NSL clubs.

To be fair Forestman, most of the old NSL clubs had a hardcore of support that stuck with them through thick and thin, but for the most part it made Gold Coast United look like a well supported club. There were only a few clubs that regularly managed reasonable crowds at the time. My problem has always been the way the clubs were disenfranchised rather than the fact that they were disenfranchised.

Dear man from forest,

This is the problem with the A-league and to some extent, it's fans. They constantly talk of 'franchises', as if it were some fast food chain.

Football clubs should not be franchises nor should they be referred to using this term.

You see, Football clubs are pillars of the community and to survive, they must have history, heritage, culture, community integration and so forth.

The A-league 'franchises' as you refer to them, seem to have a problem connecting with the community and their fan base seems fragile. I would even compare their fan base to those who eat fast food, always changing their preferences, one day it's McDonalds, the next day KFC and so forth.

I think the NSL clubs provide a stellar example for A-league clubs on how to successfully integrate within their local communities.

South Melbourne during the NSL did indeed receive crowds akin to most A-league clubs; remember they achieved this with no marketing a budget of their own, let alone did the NSL have as much exposure as the A-league to the main stream media or a television rights package like the one that exists with Foxtel.

If the A-league wants to succeed, I think they should look to lessons from the past.

Regards,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President, Islamic Republic of Iran

I hope I'm wrong too.

I also sincerely hope that the FFA take advantage of existing clubs if they do add a second division. I don't see they have any other option simply because there aren't enough parties interested in an A1 license, so I can't see where else they will get bids for an A2. Seriously, if 3 bids couldn't raise enough for West Sydney, Canberra couldn't raise enough, then why do people believe that a franchise bidding system will be able to find strong enough bids to support teams in 8-10 'new' territories?

A 'revamped' FFA (in other words, 'professionally') administered NSL-like competition, playing below and separate from the A-League, with a lower salary cap, loan arrangements with A-League sides, all providing more options for players, better scouting ops for A-League franchises, and - dare I say it, an environment in which clubs could prove their financial status and crowd control abilities prior to potential re-entry to the big time.

It's a dream - but dreams are fun.

As you know I wasn't here when it happened. I probably would have had a problem with both if I was a supporter of the club;) !! I always believe that the club is a separate entity from its fans.

1.You will always get d1ckhead fans who riot, cause mayhem, in spite of repeated efforts by the club to control these misfits. They use the club as a vehicle to cause problems. I feel that these clubs were a victim of bad press exploiting the idiots who in the name of a club have committed these offences.

2.Boards and presidents like players and managers come and go. Sometimes a board harms the future prospect of a club and those that suffer are the future fans.

Clubs should always be given a chance as they are a separate entity to those who act in its name. They won't be here tomorrow but the club will be.

In essence if a club is helped by the FA to overcome its problems then that club will increase its support in the good times.

Also there is nothing wrong with a foreign flag in a clubs emblem......look at AC Milan...they have a ST.George cross there as a remembrance and as a sign of respect for its founders who were English.
I do have a problem when clubs are excluded for these purposes but I also want the HAL to succeed and then build a bridge with the past clubs and help them get on board the gravy train via a HAL2 provided they agree to behave themselves.;) ;)

Dear man from forest,

This is the problem with the A-league and to some extent, it's fans. They constantly talk of 'franchises', as if it were some fast food chain.

Football clubs should not be franchises nor should they be referred to using this term.

You see, Football clubs are pillars of the community and to survive, they must have history, heritage, culture, community integration and so forth.

The A-league 'franchises' as you refer to them, seem to have a problem connecting with the community and their fan base seems fragile. I would even compare their fan base to those who eat fast food, always changing their preferences, one day it's McDonalds, the next day KFC and so forth.

I think the NSL clubs provide a stellar example for A-league clubs on how to successfully integrate within their local communities.

South Melbourne during the NSL did indeed receive crowds akin to most A-league clubs; remember they achieved this with no marketing a budget of their own, let alone did the NSL have as much exposure as the A-league to the main stream media or a television rights package like the one that exists with Foxtel.

If the A-league wants to succeed, I think they should look to lessons from the past.

Regards,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President, Islamic Republic of Iran