[size=6]Fuck the Hellenic Cup [/size]

Seriously, it's fucken fucked.

We were supposed to play the runner up of one of the north-west groups. Turned out this was Altona East, but they've pulled out due to a lack of players.

Rather than award us the win on a forfeit, apparently the Hellenic Cup committee have tried to wrangle the third placed team from that group, Brunswick City. At the time of print, there was no definite word on whether they would agree to play.

So, if you make the trek out to Clayton South today, you do so under the full realisation that South may not play a match today. As founding member of the Public Transport Faction, I refuse to take the chance that there might actually be a game today, and make a 90 minute slog for probably no good reason. Was happy to deal with heat, rain, the blatant ripoff entry fee and even my team's substandard performances, but this crap is one step too far even for me.

Jim Massis, you're a good bloke, but fuck it, I'd rather we just enter the Eastern Lions or Casey Cup comps next year, even if the Hellenic Cup is the only thing we've won since our last VPL title..

fair enough, however you have to consider how others view it and how the game is viewed generally.

Attendance vs participation does play a role here, because people are happy to send their children for example to clubs whose senior clubs are of an ethnic background - at that stage, because of their desire for their children to have access to what they perceive as the best resources, ethnicity is not an issue. In Melbourne's inner north, Brunswick Zebras and Essendon Royals are from all reports able to charge large amounts on their juniors, and yet still pull excellent numbers. Down the road, Moreland City, an Anglo-British club, charges much lower fees, but they don't seem to have that same amount of players or junior pedigree, at least not to an outsider like myself.

Again it's irrelevant because at present the VPL is an attendance model/league, so policy should be aimed at including as many people as possible.

My point regarding it not being much of a difference regarding participation, was you theoretically want to appeal as many people as possible so more of those 5 year olds go on to become part of the club. Of course you are right that if we had solely participation model it would be less of an issue. If a club has all the same background makeup after 50 years, something is not quite right there regardless of anecdotal evidence that it is no barrier.....


In the cases of the SANFL and WAFL, there are two important factors to consider. Firstly, the long history as part of the established culture those comps and teams have in those states - and the effects that the AFL and their local clubs have. With Port Power and the Crows having had a downturn in form in recent years (as well as the waiting list for Crows membership) people are more inclined to go local. In the WAFL's case, the long waiting list for Eagles memberships also matters, as well as, excepting the Eagles surprise success of last season, the previous form of the local teams.
Not sure any of that is relevant, the point is a second tier is possible and is doing alright. The other sports without a second tier to my knowledge never had one, would also point out that the makeup at WAFL and SANFL games is young and old, but they are properly connected.

For less successful transitions to second tier, at least again from an outsider's point of view, you have Newtown Jets and North Sydney rugby league clubs. Or look at the reliance that almost every VFA club has on affiliates for both crowds and financial survival. Even the ABC considered ditching their coverage of the VFL for this year. Going further down into third tier sport, Melbourne's western suburbs used to have two footy leagues... they merged 20 years ago, and about half the teams have disappeared since.

What local sport offers as a point of difference now is participation, and when it comes to the football codes, soccer does it best.

Excellently expressed Blackmissionary. I've tried to say similar things in the past about second tier sport not being of interest to Aussies, but I've lacked your more detailed knowledge and examples.

What I am arguing is that we are heading towards a participation based model at all levels below a top tier. People of all backgrounds are - with a couple of notable exceptions such as perhaps the WAFL and SANFL - no longer interested in second tier sport as a spectator sport. People especially in metropolitan areas have innumerable options as to what to do with their limited leisure time, and they're not keen on wasting it watching on a lower level of competition.

This is why we have booming numbers in junior, women's, futsal, veterans, thirds etc soccer competitions. Soccer is an accessible game for several demographics unlike several rival sports (though the cost of participation is an issue). But as soon these people's participation is over (whether that is as players themselves or as parents of players) they leave the game at that level entirely. While this isn't a new phenomenon, there were at least sponsors and fanbases there in the past to disguise this fact. It has been apparently of a particular concern historically in the women's game, according to Vic women's soccer stalwart Betty Hoare, who I interviewed about two or three years ago. I hope that changes, or that it is changing.

I could even take you back to the 1940s to show you how increased leisure options create problems for sporting clubs. In the 1940s, Williamstown had a great team in the VFA, and decent crowds and membership numbers... as soon as petrol rationing ended however in 1949, despite the continued competitiveness of the team, membership and crowds fell. All of a sudden people weren't limited to what was right in front of them.

I can go to wog and mainstream clubs across the Melbourne metro area during the season, and for the most part I see the same thing - crowds made up of men 40 years and over, and me at 28 being basically the youngest person in attendance outside the reserves players and a few very young children... and you see the same thing in the VPL, where most reserves players and their parents leave as soon as they can. The model before the ethnic led boom in Victoria was also a participation based model, albeit with a far lower, perhaps even stagnant level of participation (and yet, strangely, often excellent crowds for matches by touring sides). Have a read of John Kallinikios' 'Soccer Boom', very accessible history of the transformation of the game during the 1950s especially.

Does Kingston's ground have good food? I'm thinking of heading to some games there, assuming I won't be shunned for not being Greek