Amazingly we are just days away from kicking off the NPL season with South scheduled to travel away (kind of) to Port Melbourne on Friday night. It feels as through the year proper is just beginning so the competitive season has somewhat caught me off-guard, I mean the cricket’s still on at the moment!
Despite the early start through I feel oddly connected to the club this pre-season. This might be an odd thing to say considering some conversation (or lack thereof) online. Many people were complaining about season fatigue after our extended Australia Cup run last year, a lot of my mates have no idea the season is around the corner, let alone kept track of the club’s comings and goings this offseason. Things are quite, people are tired, but this is increasingly becoming what life is – as a side bar – our attention is being pulled a thousand different directions, and we are collectively responding to this with a societal indifference. If you think South is irrelevant, wait until you hear how many people have stopped watching broadcast television! If you think no one cares about the NPL, just consider that the APL finds it financially viable to pay for A-League internet shows with viewership totalling four figures.
That’s not really a slight at the A-League by the way, if anything it supports our cause. People have more to choose from and the numbers are dropping across the board, but in the case of football clubs (and all content) it’s not really about how many people watch, but what it means to the people who do. Encouragingly a lot of South’s activity this preseason seems to be leaning into this idea. We’ve participated in our second Greek Herald Cup against Sydney Olympic, our third Greek Community Cup and actually made an effort to host family days and social events (admittedly a VIP one). I’m feeling more connected to South this pre-season because they’ve done more this pre-season for their community then they have in many years – and keep in mind – I didn’t even attend any of these events! Honestly just the fact they happened, the social media presence shows an effort, a care, that I (and I know many others) with reciprocate towards the club.
The other reason I feel more connected and is actually one of the reasons others complained. Last season South played nearly 50 games and there was a sense that the fan base was fatigued, however the experience of that season – the mid-week games, careful squad rotation, multiple competition – brought so much joy and interest to me for the club. Last year was probably the closest I followed a football team, not South – Tottenham (for obvious reasons) – and in doing so I got to experience a ‘traditional’ football ecosystem for the first time whereas in the past I either hadn’t paid attention (never followed my overseas teams that closely) or never had the same chance (too few games in the A-League, too many years sans cup competition at State Level). South’s season last year was nuts, but it was so layered. Dockery Cup, Australia Cup, Premiership, Championship competitions… it was awesome. This year promised more of the same, an intense, multi-competition season offering different teams, dynamics, and chances for success. On top of the lot of that, we’re about to experience the first iteration of the National Second Tier, albeit in a subpar format. Whether it brings the punters almost doesn’t matter, it means we’re gonna get another six games minimum and we’ll face interstate opposition. It’s gonna be fun, as well as tiring – importantly for club volunteers though – hopefully this construct is just temporary.
It amazes me that at the top tier we still can’t get enough game time for Australians however in 2025 South may be playing competitive, meaningful football from February to December – and potentially compete in two national competitions. That’s insane. All of this doesn’t even touch on the stacked club list for the 2025 NPL Vic season. Preston and Melbourne Victory’s Youth team have entered the top comp and almost half our fixtures this year will be meaningful rivalries. I know people have said the novelty will fade, yes it probably will, but let’s enjoy the chaos this year!
Anyway, what’s actually happened this pre-season? Well, in the friendly Greek Herald Cup, a small crowd attended the family day to watch South beat a subpar Sydney Olympic 2-1. The U23s sealed their second Greek Community Cup against Port Melbourne. The Seniors drew to Essendon Royals 2-2 in a pre-season tune-up game, and of course they defeated Oakleigh to win the Community Shield at the home of the Matildas in front of about 500 people. Three pieces of silverware – damn good!
In terms of player news though, South’s been blessed with a reasonably stable squad. The use of U23 players to manage last year’s end of season glut of matches was already a positive point to look forward to in 2025 however a couple of big signings will have a certain impact on the starting 11. George Mells signed for us, unanimously praised by the fan base, and the much sought after replacement for Harrison Sawyer arrived, in the form of a lower league Danish giant Gustav Moller. Is he any good, I don’t know. Where did he come from, I don’t know. I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know. Let’s wait and see. Considering how pivotal Sawyer was last season Moller will be under immense pressure to have an instant impact.
Anyway, let’s go 2025. Go South!
Two cool local football things
I may have already mentioned this, but the 442 forum is officially dead. In its place some pro-active forum-ites have started https://greenandgoldfc.com/ I highly recommend checking it out. A LOT of south chat, if you can tolerate that sort of thing. It is interesting seeing that there still is a place for forums out there, as seemingly casual internet discourse slowly dies across the board, drowned in a sea of Herald Sun Facebook commenters, Twitter bots, and the looming threat of future cancellation.
Secondly, Suited and Booted – the best football podcast in Australia bar none! More to be said on this at another time when I have more energy!
ehhere 
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