The Greek Fire Service confirmed that three people have been arrested in connection with the incident, which officials suspect may have been deliberately started.
Images allegedly showing the suspects have surfaced, including security footage reportedly capturing a 25-year-old man near the scene of a fire moments before it began. He was arrested on Wednesday afternoon in the Girokomeio area and is expected to appear before a prosecutor on Friday.
Images allegedly showing the suspects have surfaced. Photo: Ekathimerini.
Two other suspects, aged 27 and 19, were detained in the Sychena district over a separate blaze. Police say the 19-year-old confessed to his involvement, claiming that while riding a motorcycle with the 27-year-old, his companion dismounted, lit the fire, and returned to the bike. They were confronted by concerned citizens before fleeing the scene.
The motorcycle is registered to the 19-year-old’s mother, who has also been taken into custody. The 27-year-old denies the allegations and will likewise face a prosecutor.
The Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas in Bala, Patras, has been engulfed in flames.
The wildfires have already caused severe damage in the Achaia region. The Holy Monastery of St Nicholas in Bala, Patras, has been partially destroyed, with photographs showing part of the roof burnt away. Firefighters, nuns, and volunteers battled to protect the premises after the nuns were safely evacuated. Rescue operations are continuing to move residents and domestic animals from threatened areas.
Civil Protection Minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis urged the public to remain alert, warning: “Under such conditions, even a single spark is enough to trigger an uncontrollable fire. This combination of weather and geographical factors leaves us no room for complacency.”
The European Union’s civil protection agency has dispatched firefighting aircraft from other member states to assist Greece, as part of a wider emergency response to this summer’s surge in catastrophic blazes.
On the occasion of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia has shared a message reflecting on the life, humility, and eternal example of the Virgin Mary.
In his message, the Archbishop calls the faithful to draw inspiration from her unwavering devotion to God and to embrace a life oriented toward eternity, rather than worldly attachments.
Full message in English:
With ineffable joy, “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, together with the Bodiless Powers and the Apostles, keeping festival with gladness,”[1] our devout people today celebrate the revered Dormition and Translation of the All-Immaculate Theotokos. We celebrate rather than mourn, for She “who bore Life,”[2] three days after Her Dormition, “was translated unto life.”[3] We celebrate—contrary to worldly conceptions concerning death—because, for our Panagia, death became “a passage to superior and everlasting life.”[4]
She who, at Her Annunciation, initiated “the crowning moment of our salvation,”[5] after Her Dormition and Translation, was deemed worthy to enter—first among the human race—into the heavenly Kingdom of God. Since then, in Her sacred person, we behold both the loving Mother who unceasingly intercedes on our behalf before the Triune God, and a radiant signpost reminding us of our eschatological destiny and directing us towards it. For the present life, however precious it may be, remains above all a preparation for the life to come—“the superior and everlasting” life.
The life of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is the clearest image of an earthly life that leads into eternity. From her youth she was an example of obedience to the will of God. She never concerned herself with worldly glories or honours. With modesty and humility she stood beside her Son. She remained just as humble after His Ascension, never seeking dignities or positions of leadership, until the day of her Dormition. Even then, when the angel of the Lord announced to her that the hour was drawing near for her to depart from the things of earth, she accepted it with humility and silence—without being troubled, without displeasure, without denial or resistance. In other words, the Most Holy Theotokos lived with a heart wholly fixed on God and with her expectation directed towards the unending eternity.
In our age—an age which presents as a model for life the attachment to material goods, to worldly cares, and to fleeting pleasures—the Most Holy Theotokos stands before us as the unerring sign that all these things are perishable, vain, and transient. She proclaims to us the resounding message that whatever is attached to the earth perishes with it, whereas whatever is attached to Christ has as its destination heaven, and abides unto the ages.
Let us keep this hope-filled message in our hearts, so that—through the intercessions of our Panagia—we may not stray from our true destiny but may be found worthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, where “there is no pain, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting.”
Many years and blessings to all!
[1] Idiomelon of the Litany during the Vespers of the Feast Day of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Tone 3.
[2] Lauds of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Tone 4.
[3] Dismissal Hymn of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Tone 1.
[4] From the 1st Canon, Ode 4, of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Tone 1.
[5] Dismissal Hymn of the Feast Day of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, Tone 4.
The future of the Cyprus Community of NSW’s historic Stanmore property will be in the hands of the Supreme Court of NSW tomorrow, in a case that could have implications for registered clubs across the state.
The hearing will determine whether the club’s voluntary administrators, Morgan Kelly and David Kennedy of EY Australia, can sell the Stanmore property without a vote of members, relying on provisions in the Corporations Act that can override the Registered Clubs Act when a club is under external administration.
According to the administrators, the sale – selected from seven offers – met strict criteria: a price above the property’s valuation, no development risk, rapid debt repayment, and a clean sale structure with an extended settlement period.
They argue that this approach will clear debts, safeguard funds in an independent trust, and provide the financial capacity to purchase new premises for community use.
EY’s Morgan Kelly (right) has attempted to reassure members that the $55 million sale was the best commercial outcome. Photo: The Greek Herald.
EY has stressed that urgent action is necessary due to a fire safety order from Inner West Council requiring the Stanmore premises to close by 30 August. They have outlined interim relocation plans for the Greek School, dancing classes, and community functions until a permanent venue is secured.
Members’ concerns
Some members remain strongly opposed to the sale, arguing that disposing of “core property” without member approval undermines democratic rights. They believe alternative proposals should be considered, including redevelopment models that would allow the Community to remain in Stanmore and retain ownership of the land while still paying off debts.
Others have expressed concern that the agreed $55 million sale price may undervalue the property, claiming it could fetch significantly more on the open market.
Opponents also raise issues about transparency, citing frustration over the refusal to release the identities of other bidders and the absence of elections during the administration period – a situation EY has noted arose from multiple court injunctions that prevented EGMs and AGMs from taking place.
They contend that other offers may provide better long-term outcomes and align with member resolutions to redevelop on the current site.
Some members have questioned why previous redevelopment proposals were not pursued. Photo: The Greek Herald.
Wider implications
Beyond the immediate dispute, the court’s decision is being closely watched by the broader registered clubs sector.
If administrators are permitted to sell “core property” without a member vote, the ruling could set a precedent that affects more than 1,300 registered clubs across NSW and their combined 5.7 million members.
Such a decision could redefine the relationship and decision-making authority between club administrators and members, particularly when a club is placed into voluntary administration.
Next steps
If the court rules in favour of EY, the administrators will proceed with finalising the sale, present a Deed of Company Arrangement to exit administration, and return control to a board mandated to hold elections and oversee the establishment of the proposed trust.
If the ruling goes against them, the future of the sale – and the Community’s financial recovery – will need to be reassessed.
Until then, the Cyprus Community of NSW remains divided between those who view the sale as a necessary lifeline and those who see it as the loss of a valuable community asset.
In the high-stakes world of financial technology, John Dimitropoulos has built a reputation not just as a business leader, but as a quiet force of transformation.
As the Founder and CEO of Liberty IT Consulting Group, John has been instrumental in delivering strategic solutions to some of the nation’s largest institutions.
With over 30 years of experience across corporate technology, consulting, and executive leadership, John has led multi-million-dollar transformation programs for major banks including CBA, Macquarie and Westpac.
“Commonwealth Bank is Australia’s largest company by market capitalisation,” he says. “As an executive manager at the bank at the time, we took accountability for modernising its aging technology and upgraded their systems, introduced digital solutions and simplified bank processes to make the bank first in customer experience and Australia’s leading firm in financial technology. That AU$1.5 billion project that kept 2,500 people busy for five years is by far my most proud career accomplishment.”
John Dimitropoulos has over 30 years of experience across corporate technology, consulting, and executive leadership.
Founded on the principle of filotimo, Liberty IT is known for its integrity, agility and depth — qualities that have made it a go-to for institutions navigating complex system overhauls.
“Our mantra has always been to place our customers’ best interests ahead of our own financial objectives,” John explains. “We have a true passion for using technology to improve human experience — at least in our domain, which is financial services.”
John is passionate about redefining the meaning of digital transformation. “Up until two decades ago, technology teams were often considered ‘order takers’ to business divisions within corporations. The business led and technology followed. In 2025, it is evident that technology is not only paramount to businesses, but it is influencing humankind evolution.”
Today, Liberty IT continues to grow with bold vision — one that John hopes will help put Australian consulting firms on the world stage.
“Australia still does not have a management consulting firm in the world’s top 100 largest firms,” he notes. “It’s about time Australian companies rose up to the challenge, embraced technological advancement like AI and boldly competed in the global scene — particularly in financial services.”
John Dimitropoulos is proud of his Greek heritage and thankful for the life Australia has given him.
But behind the commercial success is a man deeply connected to his roots.
In recent years, John has become increasingly active in Australia’s Greek community, channeling his personal pride in Hellenic culture into meaningful initiatives. Most recently, he hosted the highly anticipated ‘Night with Greek Football Legends’ at Sydney’s Olympus Taverna — an unforgettable evening marking the 20th anniversary of Greece’s Euro 2004 triumph.
“It was an evening full of emotions. We were hosting three modern-day Greek sporting legends… it’s the epitome of the underdog story. One that resonates with me and inspires me daily…” he says.
He credits his parents for instilling the values that now shape both his life and work. “The standout value that I was taught at a young age and watched my parents live by every day is the value of filotimo. It is the value that is at the heart of who I am as a person and the value that my business has adopted.”
John also credits his wife and two kids for standing by him and supporting his career. “None of this would have been possible without the unwavering support of my family,” he says.
John Dimitropoulos with Greek football legends at Olympus. Photo: The Greek Herald.
Proud of his Greek heritage and thankful for the life Australia has given him, John sees himself as a bridge between the two. “We are fortunate to have adopted the best elements from both countries. Australia is home and the birthplace of my children so my bond with Australia will never be broken.”
In addition to his work at Liberty IT, John supports several charities like the Neil Evans Melanoma Foundation and St. Canice’s Kitchen for those in need and continues to support the efforts of the Greek Consulate in Sydney in any way he can.
As a technology thought leader, he hopes to see greater collaboration between Australia and Greece in the tech space. “I dream of Greek and Australian governments doing more to leverage our excellent diplomatic relations and shared values to co-innovate on technology matters such as digital government, customer service, tax, health and education.”
When asked what advice he would give younger professionals, particularly those of Hellenic background, his answer is simple and powerful: “Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. I hardly spoke a word of English at the age of 16 but through hard work, focus and perseverance the results came.”
Whether in business or community, John leads with quiet determination, cultural pride and an steadfast belief in the power of vision. As Liberty IT continues to scale, so too does John’s commitment to building legacy — not just in systems, but in people.
*John’s uncle Art Agnos, former mayor of San Francisco, featured in the video about filotimo. He has been an inspiration for John throughout his entire life.
A poet, a photographer, a singer who might otherwise have written about existential issues, beauty, eros or music, “is irrevocably marked by the tragic memories of the Turkish invasion; she writes in order to cure the trauma of childhood,” notes Vassilis Vassilikos, author of the novel Z. “But she also wants to cry out to the world: ‘This is what happened to us — we left only with our summer T-shirts’…”
That August night when soldiers came and woke Andrea’s family up at 1.30am the morning, they were yelling: “You must leave at once, the Turks are coming.” Everybody was in a panic; everyone wanted to get onto her family’s big truck, as not many people had cars then. And while everyone else was concerned about saving their lives, Andrea was worried about her animals.
“I begged my father to make room for them,” Andrea remembers.
Galakti, her baby lamb, was later saved by a Turkish-Cypriot friend, who received bottles of whisky from her father every year in thanks. She took Kloklo, her chook, in her arms that night, but Eta, her pig, was too big to carry — and like so much else they left behind, disappeared into the folds of history.
Andrea was not yet a poet, but the seed had been planted. Her pen would grow from that wound.
“It hasn’t shaped my poetry; it is my poetry,” she corrects.
Born in Morfou, “where no one can be born anymore,” she stresses with sadness, her early childhood was paradise — until it wasn’t.
Raised not by her parents but by her maternal grandparents, she remembers village fiestas, shopping trips to Morfou, ice creams in Kyrenia, and playing barefoot by the lighthouse. Years later, after reading her poem Kyrenia, French poet-philosopher Jean-Pierre Faye wrote: “The lighthouse lights up a child’s feet in the water, but becomes a painful memory.”
She recalls her early life with vulnerability.
“My grandfather gave me unconditional love,” Andrea says. “And when he died, the light of my world was switched off.”
Her grandparents passed away within months of each other when she was six. Uprooted from everything she knew, Andrea was sent to live with her biological parents — nearly strangers to her.
“By then, I was already formed,” she says.
She coped by writing letters to her grandfather and tucking them under her pillow — therapy in the absence of language; poetry before she had a word for it. “I wrote the things I couldn’t say to people, the things I couldn’t share with anyone. I wrote letters to God…”
Andrea’s ‘I don’t forget’ Tshirt, exhibited in a show in Hydra commemorating the 40th year of the invasion.The door of Andrea’s house as exhibited in her exhibition at Melina Merkouri in Hydra in 2014.
Then came the war. Like 250,000 others, the Demetriou’s fled. Her father, a tavern and café owner, rescued as many people as he could that night with his truck. Andrea wanted to save her pets, and Christella didn’t want to leave. She later drew herself falling off the truck that starless night. Three days later, Andrea’s parents returned to their home to salvage heirlooms.
“It was my birthday when they went back,” Andrea says. “They just made it out. Some of the older people who stayed behind and refused to leave were tortured to death, and one was beheaded. Others were declared missing and are still missing to this day.”
“The 20th of July is the day sensibility eclipsed from earth. When something so horrific, so inconceivable happens and the world stands still, does not react, and gets used to it, there is something terribly wrong with this world and their idea of sensibility. It’s a day I cannot endure and would like to erase from the calendar. However, this day keeps repeating itself in other places, and the world still does nothing to stop it,” Andrea says, remembering the day of the invasion.
In the schools of Nicosia, they were lice-ridden — and this was pointed out. Outsiders. Children of nowhere. Later, in the refugee-founded Peloponnesian village of Gastouni, she finally felt understood. “They knew. They had lost, too.”
By 1976, Andrea was in Australia — another uprooting. “Of course I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay and fight. I said to my father, ‘If we keep retreating, if we all leave, they’ll take over the whole island.’ But I was just a child on their passport.”
She left home again at 14. “I only ever lived with my parents for seven years. I didn’t quite belong.” Instead, she found kinship among artists, writers, and the intelligentsia. Among them were Jeannie Lewis, the award-winning soprano whose voice sliced through silence, and the late Tim Colebatch, politics and economics editor at The Age.
Through Jeannie — her closest friend in Australia — she was introduced to the art world, meeting Gough Whitlam and his wife, as well as Patrick McCaughey, then Director of the National Gallery of Victoria.
She dedicated her first book to refugee children: “Because their wounds should somehow be healed. I thought there would not be any more children like us, but I can see the displaced, starving and dying children today who can’t make sense of the violence against them. Children nonetheless never forget; they demand justice because they are idealistic — they feel the unachievable is achievable.”
Her last book, The Inconsolable Clock, was dedicated to the founder of the Socialist Party of Cyprus, the legendary late Vassos Lyssarides — nearly assassinated shortly after the invasion — with a poem she wrote for him: “I no longer need the compassion of the world as I have your compassion; I no longer need to be deciphered by the world as I’m deciphered by you.”
In Melbourne, Andrea was a major part of the indelible phenomenon called Tsakpina, initiated by poet Komninos. The cultural hub was much loved by Manos Hatzidakis and Sotiria Bellou, as well as Midnight Oil and Redgum. It challenged conformity to the maximum and fused activism with art. Tsakpina — a Greek term loosely translated as “minx” — hardly captures the defiant energy it brought to the Australian and Greek Australian scene. Andrea’s radio commentaries were also known for their caustic humour and unrelenting honesty.
Andrea’s poetry doesn’t whisper — it sings, it weeps, it rages. Her first collection, The Mountains Couldn’t Walk Away, is beautifully illustrated with her own photographs — a school desk where she once wrote, and her grandparents’ faces dissolving into a blue Mediterranean sky in a deserted cemetery with broken crosses.
Andrea, Christos and Tim her my book launch in Melbourne.
Acclaimed French-Greek director Costa-Gavras, upon reading the collection, wrote: “I read your book, The Mountains Couldn’t Walk Away, with a feeling of deep emotion and sorrow. In the end, what remains and completes us is the poem, ‘If only he (I) could be given a bouzouki with which he (I) could travel to the sky and to Cyprus, to the Cyprus he loved so…’” The poem Epiphany refers to her father’s death and his final wish to be buried at home.
Christos Tsiolkas described her poetry as “refugee laments that carry echoes of the Psalms… and of Mahmoud Darwish.” Arnold Zable saw in her grandfather’s presence a symbol of “unconditional love and the longing for return.” Prominent journalist Tim Colebatch highlighted her persistent political fire, writing: “Andrea’s outrage is the kind that doesn’t fade. Her poems are the voice of those who will not forget.”
And she hasn’t.
In 2003, Andrea returned to her village. Her childhood home seemed unrecognisable at first. Her grandfather’s grave had been desecrated; fragments of his cross were scattered around. “I clutched what remained of it, and wept,” she says. “That was my pilgrimage — I took a piece of his cross with me.”
She continues to “return” to the village through her cousin Avgoulla, who speaks to her about it every second day. “This is another song your father used to play; it talks about eternal love,” she told her the other day.
“She talks about people’s habits, remembers everything vividly because she is older than me. I said to her one day, ‘Who will remember the village when we die? Who will remember it in fifty years?’”
Today, she is finishing her new book Agamemnon — a reconciliation with the father she had and didn’t have. Her late sister Christella’s art is permanently housed at the Greek Consulate in Melbourne, according to an announcement by former Greek Consul Emmanuel Kakavelakis — a tribute to memory, Greece, Cyprus, the diaspora, and resilience.
Even though Andrea does not believe in competition and has never participated in one, her work has been used as teaching material in schools and high schools in Greece and Cyprus.
Sunset in Andrea’s village on her birthday.
Andrea herself is a living archive. Her verses walk alongside Monet’s water lilies, Kusama’s red flowers and ancient Greek statues — or so she once told Sally Heath in an interview with The Age.
A final conversation with her father still haunts her. “I wish I could have told him that I loved him.”
Her favourite game? “Challenging people to the max and stretching their limits.”
Her secret? “Humanity is a disappointment. And there is so much trouble in paradise.”
What is beauty? “It’s to be fully understood, to be fully embraced; it’s the elimination of loneliness; it’s when someone sheds light into your soul, when they are in your mind and know what you are going to say before you say it.”
The best thing anyone has said to her? “Leonard Cohen once told me, ‘If this will make you happy, if this will make you feel good, I will come and fight with you to take your land back.’ This is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me. He understood my deeper pain — this is so much more powerful than ‘I love you.’ He was that kind of man — ideal.”
Andrea sings, and in her own words, she would like to be remembered: “As someone who sung and danced against the cruelty of time and against the cruelty of humankind.”
Fifty-one years after the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 14 August 1974, two young students – Georgia Vardavakis and Savina Koumidis – shared deeply personal reflections on its ongoing impact.
For Georgia Vardavakis, the Cyprus issue is not an abstract historical event – it is part of her family’s DNA.
“The fateful day of July 20, 1974 brought a weight that every Cypriot family carries within it. A moment that froze time. A wound that still has not healed,” she said.
Her grandmother, the eldest of seven daughters, was just 17 years old – the same age Georgia is now – when she heard the radio announcement: ‘Today the Turks have invaded Cyprus.’ Fear took hold, and although her great-grandmother hoped they would return home within days, “51 years have passed and she has not gone back to her village.”
Georgia spoke of the relentless bombings, the second phase of the invasion on 14 August, and the forced displacement of even the elderly who wished to stay. Her grandmother called it “uprooting… like 200,000 trees being dug from their land.”
While her grandmother’s family managed to migrate to Australia, they faced the struggles of adapting to a foreign land, learning a new language, and starting from nothing.
“It takes years for a tree to grow roots again. Years to feel like you belong somewhere again,” Georgia reflected.
Some scars remain raw. “Even now, at 68, [my grandmother] shivers when she hears planes. Some wounds never close.”
Her grandfather’s family spent over a year in refugee camps before being placed in the vacated homes of Turkish Cypriots. “Some of them still remain there and feel like strangers in their own homes,” she said.
For Georgia, the generational impact is clear. On her only visit to Cyprus, standing at the divided border, she finally understood why her great-grandmother never returned: “She didn’t want to feel like a stranger in her homeland — unwanted.”
“Cyprus is not just a divided island,” she concluded. “It is a symbol of endurance. Memory. And the courage it takes to survive when everything is taken from you.”
Savina Koumidis: ‘When we say “we do not forget”, it is a promise’
Savina Koumidis grew up surrounded by voices telling stories of the 1974 invasion – but these were not tales from books or documentaries.
“Everyone had something to say; voices spoke over one another because each person held a memory, a small personal trauma from that day,” she recalled.
Her parents were refugees. Her mother, one of seven sisters, “learnt what loss meant before she learnt what life meant.”
Savina’s speech was a tapestry of her mother’s and aunts’ memories – each fragment revealing a different facet of displacement.
Photo copyright The Greek Herald / Mary Sinanidis.
Androula, the eldest, “had to hide her own fear to support her parents.” Kika remembered the defiant radio announcement, followed by weeks of bombs and the day the family was loaded into a truck to leave everything behind.
Zoe, just 14, took her embroidery and her mother’s silver before looking around her home one last time. “For days she cried – for the animals, the orchards, the new shoes she left behind.”
Soula was 11, crammed with 80 others into one house, waiting for a return that never came. Eleni recalled her mother hurriedly wrapping warm bread while her father tended to the animals one last time. Antonia, barely 7, hid under a metal bed with pillows pressed to her ears to block the sound of bombs – a fear that followed her to Australia, where she would hide at the sound of aeroplanes.
Photo copyright The Greek Herald / Mary Sinanidis.
And then the youngest sister – Savina’s own mother – who “grew up in the void the war left behind,” often considered too small to understand, her own trauma unacknowledged.
For Savina, these stories are not just family history, but a call to remembrance: “When we say ‘we do not forget’, it is not just a slogan. It is a promise. To not forget the faces behind the history. To hear the voices of the victims.”
A shared legacy of loss and resilience
Both speeches, while deeply personal, speak to the universal experience of intergenerational trauma among Cypriot families in the diaspora.
The memories of war are not locked in the past – they are relived in family stories, in cultural rituals, and even in physical reactions to certain sounds.
For Georgia and Savina, telling these stories is not just about remembering 1974 – it is about ensuring that the next generation inherits not only the pain, but also the resilience, dignity, and determination of those who came before them.
The OPL is a FIFA initiative aiming to increase the standard of Oceania football. The new competition will feature eight teams and will run from January to May each year.
Despite Australia no longer being member of the Oceania Football Confederation, and South Melbourne currently playing state level football in Victoria, ‘Hellas’ has emerged as a surprise potential entrant into the new competition.
South Melbourne’s bid is not entirely out of the blue though. For South Melbourne, the OPL provides an opportunity to elevate the club’s operation and somewhat marks a return to the past, as the club officially holds the title of the Oceania Football Club of the 20th Century. For FIFA, the inclusion of an Australian club will support the OPL by offering higher operational standards and commercial opportunities.
Overall though, many fans still have unanswered questions about the potential move, although a holistic assessment of the Australian football environment may provide some answers.
In combination with the OPL running from January to May, the new competitions will likely shift South Melbourne’s focus to a summer season of football, just as A-League clubs operate. In this case, South will likely field a Senior Squad between October and May (to compete in the AC and the OPL), and a Reserves Squad between February and September (to compete in the NPL Victoria).
Enhanced player professionalism
The OPL will require extensive travel throughout the Pacific region which will make it difficult for players to play football and hold down steady jobs, as is the case for many NPL players, including those in South Melbourne’s current squad.
To manage this, South will likely need to recruit players on the fringes of a football career, likely young players not working outside of football, or older players between A-League contracts. As such South will need to provide a fully professional training environment. This would likely include more training sessions during the week, increased logistical support, and increased football department staffing.
Enhanced youth pathways
Changes to the Senior Squad will have flow on effects. The Reserves Squad will likely step up into the winter NPL competition and consequently the club’s U23 player pool will grow. In combination with the enhanced top-down investment in the football department, the club’s Youth pathways would be expected to improve. Similar to A-League clubs operating this model, the club would likely see a trade-off between youth development and the level of its results in the NPL competition.
Growth in off-field staffing
Travel and regulatory requirements of the OPL will also require increased administrative staffing. These increased costs will also contribute to investment in the club’s revenue centres. Additional staff will be required to grow the off-field business including the management of government grants, development of sponsorship networks, and improvement of member services.
Increased reliance on non-commercial revenue
The OPL is set to receive significant investment from FIFA as necessitated by the high costs of travel and challenging commercial realities of the region. South Melbourne will also likely rely on non-commercial funding sources potentially from FIFA and Australian Government bodies. Non-commercial funding increases stakeholder management intensity but also opens up unique opportunities for the club and its partners.
Changing relationships with government
The Australian Government values engagement with the Pacific, having notably entertained a $600m commitment for Rugby League led engagement with Papua New Guinea. The OPL offers a relatively cheap and impactful form of sports diplomacy which South Melbourne finds itself in the middle of.
The competition may enhance South Melbourne’s relationships with Government bodies, not just directly through funding sources, but indirectly via existing relationships including the local council (City of Port Philip), community ground manager (Parks Victoria) and manager of its stadium (State Sports Centre Trust).
Fan engagement
A change in the Senior Squad’s season to summer will also see a shift in fan focus to summer. Although the history of Australian football suggests this should increase crowds, the AC and OPL offer less guaranteed home games than the existing NPL competition. The AC only guarantees three home games and the OPL only seems to guarantee home games if Melbourne is selected as a ‘fixture hub’.
OPL may provide a long-term opportunity
In the case where South Melbourne enters and prioritises an A-League or National Second Division competition in the future though, the OPL may still find a place in the club’s long-term operations. In the case where the OPL is financially lucrative, South Melbourne may elect to prioritise that competition anyway. In the case where Australian Competition comes to take precedence and the OPL remains financially sustainable, South Melbourne may elect to field a Reserves Squad or a Development Squad in the OPL. This second option appears to be how A-League clubs Wellington and Auckland plan to use the competition.
Conclusion
The potential of South Melbourne to compete in the OPL comes with many questions. It’s clear that entry into the competition will require a change in the club’s operations. If nothing else, the episode confirms that Australian football is full of surprises and when the OPL eventually kicks off in January (or not) I’m sure it will reveal many more.
Adelaide massage therapist Kosta James Gourdeas, 26, has appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with allegedly raping a female client.
He is accused of engaging in sexual intercourse without consent on June 4 this year while working as a massage therapist in the city’s inner southern suburbs.
Police granted Gourdeas bail following his arrest earlier this year.
During Wednesday’s brief court hearing, prosecutors requested 14 weeks before the case returns to court for a charge determination hearing.
Gourdeas, described in a healthcare profile as an “Australian-based health professional” trained in massage therapy, remained silent during the hearing, with family members present in the gallery.
He is due back in court in November, when a date will be set for him to answer the charge.
Nectarios Triantis, a 22-year-old central defender for Sunderland, is now available for selection by Greece’s national team after receiving his Greek citizenship this week, according to local media.
Born and raised in Sydney, Australia to Greek parents, Triantis follows in the footsteps of Belgian-born Konstantinos Karetsas, who also recently chose to represent Greece.
Triantis is one of Australia’s brightest defensive prospects, having made the jump from the A-League to English club Sunderland, followed by an 18-month loan spell at Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership.
He has previously played for Australia’s Under-20 and Under-23 teams, but has yet to be capped at senior level, leaving him eligible for Greece.
Hours before her alleged murder, Athena Georgopoulos was on the phone with family and friends, overjoyed to share she was expecting a baby girl.
The 39-year-old, five months pregnant with what relatives called her “miracle” child, had believed motherhood was out of reach until meeting her partner, Andrew Gunn, 50, three years ago.
By Monday night, the couple’s Mount Waverley home became the scene of what police have described as an “unimaginably horrific” crime, with Gunn allegedly decapitated and Georgopoulos, along with her unborn daughter killed.
Graffiti reading “karma” and “enough is enough” was scrawled on the unit’s walls.
The accused, Ross Judd, 34, was seen an hour later at Clayton McDonald’s, barefoot and wearing a jacket believed to be bloodstained, arriving with two German shepherds.
Accused killer Ross Judd.
Witnesses say he used napkins to clean himself before ordering a meal. He was arrested early Tuesday at Westall train station.
Loved ones have been left shattered, with Georgopoulos’ mother writing in Greek: “You left life so unfairly … suddenly everything went out in one night, cutting the thread of your life and my granddaughter who would’ve been born in four months.”
Friends say a dispute over dog ownership may have been a catalyst for the alleged killings.
Judd, a homeless man known to camp in Oakleigh, faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, charged with two counts of murder. He was remanded in custody to return to court in January.
