By Chairman of South Melbourne FC, Bill Papastergiadis
The mood was festive at the Limerick Arms Hotel in South Melbourne, Victoria before Brisbane Olympic’s match with South Melbourne Hellas on Sunday, August 25.
Historian Jim Claven OAM had kindly organised an introduction with Jim Bazianas (Board member of Brisbane Olympic FC ) and I was greeted by over 30 Olympic supporters at the hotel. All the supporters were in good spirits and dressed in Olympics’ colours. This highlighted the importance of connecting all tiers of football in Australia particularly with clubs that had strong historical links to the Code. This type of fervour and excitement comes from Clubs that had invested in the game for decades.
Olympic President, Manos Saridakis embraced me warmly when I arrived and said, “this is a great outcome for our club to be playing South Melbourne Hellas in the round of 16. The match means a lot to our Club and over 100 supporters have made this journey. We want to broaden our relationship with South and it would be a privilege to have you at our Hellenic Cup in January 2025.”
Our conversation then moved to the status of the National Second Tier (NST) and where Football Australia was at with it. I advised Manos that “it was progressing albeit slowly, but that this national competition was important not only for the eight foundation clubs but for all tiers of football. This is because it was envisaged that there would be promotion and relegation hopefully from NPL teams so that we create a true pyramid of interconnected football. This could be the only way football could truly progress.”
Manos said that Olympic was investing heavily in its football program and was keen to look at the NST in the future for the Club.
Discussion then moved to the match that afternoon. We both agreed that it would be a terrific match and hoped the best team won.
As we know, South Melbourne won in extra time. It was a nail-biting match with countless scoring opportunities and over 2,500 supporters braving the rain. As Manos said to me post match, “our team left everything on the pitch. We could not ask for more from players.”
I said to Manos: “we could not have asked for more from Olympic. Their supporters were gracious and loud and created a terrific atmosphere. Their players were only moments from progressing to the next round, save for the equaliser on the 90th minute by Archibald.”
The match demonstrated the need for football across the country to continue to connect particularly with heritage clubs that offer so much to the Code. The night was testament to the need for a NST competition.
