South Melbourne FC
South Melbourne FC, nicknamed Hellas, is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Albert Park in Melbourne, Victoria. Its senior men's and women's teams play in the National Premier Leagues Victoria and Victoria Women, in the second tier of the Australian league system. The club also competes in the Australian Championship as a foundation club, and the OFC Professional League. Its home ground is Lakeside Stadium.
Founded as South Melbourne Hellas by the merger of three clubs in 1959, it inherited the Greek Australian culture of its predecessors. Playing at Middle Park Stadium, Hellas enjoyed immediate success, earning promotion to Football Victoria's first division and winning seven titles in the 1960s and 70s. It was a charter member of the National Soccer League and competed in all 28 seasons from 1977 to 2004, winning four championships and two NSL Cups. In the NSL's final seasons, the club moved to a reconfigured Lakeside Stadium, and competed as the South Melbourne Lakers and later South Melbourne SC. Upon its return to Victoria's first division in 2005, it adopted its current name.
South Melbourne have won ten Victorian men's titles, five women's titles, ten Dockerty Cups, and one State Cup. The club also won the 1999 OFC Club Championship, which earned them a place in the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship. Its best finishes in the Australia Cup are semi-final appearances in 2017 and 2024. The IFFHS recognised South Melbourne as their Oceania Club of the Century in 2010. Its rivalries include Heidelberg United, the Melbourne Knights, Preston Lions, and Sydney Olympic. The club has also been a perennial candidate for expansion of the A-Leagues.
History
Formation
South Melbourne was formed in 1959 with the amalgamation of three struggling Melbourne soccer clubs—South Melbourne United, the oldest of the three clubs with a history dating back to the early 1900s—the Greek-backed Yarra Park Aias , and Hellenic. Theo Marmaras, initiator of the merger proposal and president of Hellenic, became the first president of the new club. In recognition of the large Greek Australian support base of Hellenic and Yarra Park, which were also the best-supported of the three clubs, the new club was named South Melbourne Hellas, the name by which it was to be known for the majority of its 50 years. The first emblem reflected the colour scheme of the Greek national flag. The first uniform consisted of jersey of white with a red 'V' around the collar, the was also that of South Melbourne United, as well as blue shorts and blue and white hooped socks. Later on they would adopt predominantly blue and white strips, with various designs throughout the seasons, with the most common being a predominantly royal blue strip.1960–1969
South Melbourne won the Victorian First Division championship of 1960, the club's inaugural year of competition. The club was promoted to the Victorian State League First Division the following year, where it finished fifth in its first year. With a number of astute signings—Scottish journeyman Tommy Anderson, Ernie Ackerley, Leo Damianakos, Jim Pyrgolios and Andreas Roussis, formerly of Panathinaikos and Apollon Athens—the club won the division championship in 1962, 1964, and 1965. In 1965, South Melbourne secured the services of 35-year-old former AEK Athens star, Kostas Nestoridis as player-coach. The result was a significant increase in crowd attendances and a fourth league title in 1966. Eager to repeat its success, the club recruited a number of Greek and local footballers, but they failed to make any impact. By 1969, the import experiment was considered a failure and most of the Greek players returned to their homeland.1970–77
In 1970, the club focused its attention on recruiting local soccer players. It soon signed two players that would become South Melbourne Men's greatest players, Steve Walker and striker Jim Armstrong. South Melbourne missed out on the title by a point in the 1971 season, edged out by Footscray JUST, but with Armstrong scoring goals aplenty, South Melbourne went on to win the championship in 1972. The season also saw coach Bill Curran consolidate the first team's strength by signing midfielder Peter Bourne and promoting highly skilled youngsters Giovanni Barticciotto, Fethon Ileris and Bill Hasapis. The club continued its successful run with the 1974 title, second place in 1975, and with star recruits Jimmy Mackay, Peter Ollerton and Duncan Cummings, capped off its final year in the Victorian State League by winning the 1976 championship.National Soccer League
South Melbourne joined Mooroolbark, Heidelberg United and Footscray JUST, as Melbourne's participants in the newly formed National Soccer League in 1977, which was Australia's first sporting national competition. A mass exodus of its best players, saw the team slump to eleventh place in its inaugural year, but a recruiting drive by coach Dave Maclaren gave the club a respectable third in 1978. It was not to last as South Melbourne finished at the bottom of the league table in 1979.1978–89
The recruitment of Alan Davidson, George Campbell, Steve Blair, Branko Buljevic, Alun Evans, and Charlie Egan, helped South Melbourne climb the NSL ladder in the early part of the decade, with South becoming runners up in the NSL in 1981, which was their best ever NSL placing at the time. They also won the Ampol Cup in 1982. Some solid player signings such as gave the club some respectability, but a combination of committee problems and a string of coaches, never allowed the team to settle and gain consistency. SouthMelbourne finished first on the league ladder in 1984, but in a newly restructured NSL competition, it also had to win the finals series to win the title. The club powered past local rivals Heidelberg United in the Southern Division play-offs, and edged out Sydney Olympic in the Grand Final to win the 1984 national championship.
After the departure of George Campbell to rivals Preston Makedonia in 1983/84, Branko Buljevic to Footscray Just in 1985 and others, South Melbourne could not repeat the success of the previous year. Despite finishing in first place, it was knocked out of the finals series by local rivals Brunswick Juventus and Preston. A major overhaul by coach Brian Garvey saw a number of new signings being made, including youngsters Paul Trimboli, David Healy, Kimon Taliadoros and Harry Micheil. The young team put in some memorable performances as the decade came to a close, finishing in the top half of the league table, but failed to win another championship. The club appointed Footballing icon Ferenc Puskás as coach for the 1989/90 season, helping South win the NSL Cup tournament for that season, as well backing up their 1988 Dockerty Cup win with victory in the 1989 tournament.
On 28 November 1981, South Melbourne Hellas and Melbourne Hakoah announced that they had merged to form a second team for South Melbourne which would compete in the Victorian State League and act as a feeder club to the South Melbourne senior team.
The price paid for 54 years of Hakoah history was $35,000. The merger had been an ongoing discussion between the two co-tenants of Middle Park from the middle of the 1981 season.
The two clubs had shared Middle Park from 1961 until 1981. Melbourne Hakoah cited financial strains and lack of crowd support as the two prime reasons why the club was forced to accept the offer from South Melbourne.
1990–95
The club's change of fortune continued next season, with the club winning its second national championship, beating rivals Melbourne Croatia on penalties after a tense 1–1 score line in normal time with many describing it as one of Australian footballs best matches. With Croatia dominating most of the proceedings, striker Joe Palatsides was put through on goal by Paul Trimboli who equalised with the last kick of the game.The team boasted some of the finest Australian football talent in Paul Fernandes, Michael Petersen, Paul Wade, Mehmet Durakovic, Paul Trimboli and Con Boutsianis. The feat could not be repeated the next year as the club was eliminated by eventual premiers Adelaide City in a Preliminary Final.
Former player Jim Pyrgolios replaced Puskás for the 1992/93 season which saw the club finish first on the points table during the regular season. South Melbourne was again eliminated during the finals series by Adelaide City and Marconi-Fairfield, the latter inflicting a 7–0 thrashing. In 1993/94, the club finished second, but failed yet again to progress to the Grand Final, courtesy of Melbourne Croatia and their nemesis, Adelaide City. For the 1994/95 season, the club hired former Socceroos coach Frank Arok to replace Pyrgolios. The round one game from that season was the club's last at its Middle Park home before moving temporarily to Olympic Park while they awaited the completion of their new home, the 14,000-capacity Lakeside Stadium, on the site of the former Lake Oval. The club finished sixth on the ladder, but was eliminated again in the Preliminary Final by the Melbourne Knights in a 3-2 thriller in the rain with a hattrick to Mark Viduka. Arok left the club after a disappointing 1995/96 season, which saw South miss the finals for the first time since 1989.
Name and emblem change
In 1996, the club was required by Soccer Australia, along with clubs all over the country, to change its emblem and name in an attempt to move soccer into the Australian mainstream and away from direct club-level association with its migrant roots. As a consequence, South Melbourne Hellas reappeared as South Melbourne Lakers. Its new name and emblem was not well received by many of its Greek supporters. The name change also drew attention from American NBA team, the L.A. Lakers, who threatened legal action.Under new coach and former captain Ange Postecoglou, the club bounced back in season 1996/97, finishing third on the table and eventually being eliminated by Sydney United in the Preliminary Final. The club capped off the end of the decade with impressive performances, becoming Australian champions in 1998 and 1999, thanks to performances by Paul Trimboli, Vaughan Coveny, Con Blatsis and former PAOK star John Anastasiadis.
In the 1998 Grand Final, South Melbourne defeated league newcomer Carlton 2–1 with a controversial late chip by Boutsianis, sending the crowd into pandemonium.
That win was followed up in 1999 with a come-from-behind 3–2 win against Sydney United in the Grand Final, which was the first time the club had gone back-to-back since the glory days of the 1960s. This win would be Hellas' fourth and final national championship. By now, South Melbourne had dropped the Lakers moniker and become South Melbourne Soccer Club, and sported a new emblem—the current blue and white shield with stars. They followed up their fourth domestic title with the 1999 Oceania Club Championship, a win that qualified them for the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil.