Sydney Olympic vs. South Melbourne – The Rivalry

In terms of Australian Football, much is made of rivalries or derbies and of the conflict and angst which may exist between certain teams. Whether it may be actual and based in a reality of animosity and historical grievances, through healthy sporting competition, or whether they be artificial and invented by various media commentators and protagonists, all for purely superficial marketing purposes.

Sydney Olympic was founded as Pan-Hellenic in 1957, as a composite team of several Greek teams already playing in Sydney at the time such as: Taxiarchis, Atlas, Astro and Pansamiakos. The majority of Pan-Hellenic’s 1st group of players and officials came from these clubs.

The name Pan-Hellenic was chosen so as not to appear to represent one group of Greeks over another, whether politically or regionally. Whether you were a Leftist, Centrist, Rightist, or whether you were an Athenian, Macedonian, Cretan, Cypriot, Pontian, a Greek from Constantinople & Asia Minor, Egypt, Russia, Romania or Northern Epirus, all would be welcomed and be united under Pan-Hellenic.

South Melbourne meanwhile, was formed as South Melbourne Hellas 2 years later in 1959, after the merger of 3 clubs: South Melbourne United, a historic English-backed club which had been around in Melbourne since the 1930’s, but which was now struggling and had seen better days and 2 bigger backed Greek clubs in Melbourne: Hellenic and Yarra Park Ajax.

Ever since that time, both clubs would fight it out for the unofficial mantle of the biggest Greek founded football club of Australia.

In the late 1950’s & early 1960’s, both clubs would look to Greece for the recruitment of new players, enticing young Greeks with dreams of jobs and better lives for them and their families, as well as an opportunity of playing football at a relatively decent level.

Australia being banned from FIFA at this point in time was also advantageous for any such advances, as clubs from Australia could approach any players that they wanted, without needing to worry about breaking any rules or paying any transfer fees. In this endeavour, South Melbourne Hellas would soon earn the ire of Pan-Hellenic officials.

All inbound International flights into Australia would always stop off in Melbourne first, before continuing on to Sydney. There are a few instances of Pan-Hellenic organising everything for a player from Greece to come to Sydney, only for South Melbourne Hellas officials to meet the plane as it landed in Melbourne and persuade the player to get off and sign and stay in Melbourne and to forget about going to Sydney to play for Pan-Hellenic. Cheeky at the very least.

Both clubs would end up taking dramatically different paths during their journeys through their respective state federations of New South Wales and Victoria.

Although both clubs started their lives in their respective state 2nd tier competitions before earning promotion, once promoted, South Melbourne Hellas went on to win multiple League and Cup honours throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s in Victoria. Where as in contrast and not for the want of trying, Pan-Hellenic experienced many near misses during the same period with its trophy cabinet remaining bare, aside from the two NSW 2nd division titles of 1958 and 1960.

The clubs would first meet in a match in Melbourne in 1964, with South Melbourne Hellas handing out a 6-1 hiding to Pan-Hellenic, a match was scheduled to take place again in 1966 in Sydney, but was ultimately cancelled. In 1974, a combined South Melbourne Hellas-Fitzroy United Alexander XI hosted Pan-Hellenic in Melbourne, to raise funds for the victims of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus. The match itself and result will always be secondary to those tragic events, but for statistics sake, the Melbournians won 3-1.

The clubs would meet each other for the first time in an official competitive fixture in 1977, after the formation of the National Soccer League (NSL). It was a Round 1 contest at the Sydney Sports Ground, South Melbourne defeated Sydney Olympic 2-0.

Sydney Olympic’s controversial relegation from the NSL 2 years later in 1979, is another sore point between the clubs. South Melbourne, who had finished rock-bottom of the NSL in 1979, somehow managed to avoid the drop, with Sydney Olympic, who had finished 2nd last in 1979 being relegated.

Olympic’s 1-0 loss on the final day of the 1979 NSL season to St. George, saw St. George leapfrog Olympic on the ladder and for that extra bit of irony, it was a winner from a teenage Peter Katholos playing for St. George that day, which would seal Olympic’s fate. Meanwhile South lived to fight another day.

Depending on who you talk to, suggestions are that South Melbourne vigorously lobbied the Australian Soccer Federation (ASF) to have Olympic relegated instead of South and to use the excuse of there being “too many Sydney clubs in the NSL”, the ASF obliged and relegated Sydney Olympic back to the NSW 1st Division, despite finishing above South Melbourne on the ladder.

Talk to others, and they will tell you a different tale and that it was all agreed by the ASF and the NSL clubs before the start of the season, that the last placed Sydney club at the end of the 1979 NSL season, would be relegated. Nevertheless it was an incident that Sydney Olympic people would not forget.

Once again the clubs would go in different directions following this event, with South Melbourne’s status in the NSL seemingly safe, they swiftly sorted themselves out and went from strength to strength, becoming a perennial League and Cup challenger for the rest of the duration of the NSL.

For Sydney Olympic, they were back in the NSW State League in 1980, fortunately, its time back in the NSW 1st Division was short lived, as they thumped Parramatta Melita 4-0 in the NSW Grand Final, to earn promotion back to the NSL for 1981. Funny how things work out as once back in the NSL, Olympic also and relatively quickly, got their act together and became a mighty force for the rest of their NSL run.

To illustrate the point, within 3 years both clubs would be facing off against each other for the honour of becoming Champions of Australia.

South Melbourne defeated Sydney Olympic in the 1984 NSL Grand Final 4-2 (over 2 Legs) as well as defeating Sydney Olympic 4-1 in the 1990 NSL Cup Final. Sydney Olympic would gain some measure of revenge, knocking South Melbourne out of the Finals Series of 1990 and 2002 on their way to claiming the NSL Championship in both of those seasons.

In Round 17 of the 1999/2000 NSL season, Sydney Olympic fans would witness a historic 6-0 beat-down of South Melbourne at Belmore. The jokes, remarks and crowing from Olympic’s end would not even last a week, as only a few days later in the return Round 18 fixture in Melbourne, South turned the tables on Olympic with a 2-0 victory.

Both of those results were inexplicable in their own way, but that is the magic of football we are led to believe and another chapter in the history of the clubs.

The final official competitive fixture between the clubs came in Round 26, the final round of the last NSL season of 2003/2004, a 0-0 draw at Kogarah Oval.

Sydney Olympic’s poor overall head-to-head record against South Melbourne is also another perplexing one and for sure another sore point among the Olympic supporters and a source of humour no doubt, for those who follow South.

Sydney Olympic has a winning record against almost every other major rival, except for South Melbourne and Sydney Hakoah. Olympic’s record vs. South is particularly poor and baffling, given how good Olympic’s sides were throughout the entirety of the NSL. It is very difficult to nail down exactly why or what the issue may have been but as with most unexplainable things, it will remain a mystery.

Since the end of the NSL in 2004, the clubs have met each other only twice in exhibition matches. South Melbourne invited Sydney Olympic to open their newly refurbished Lakeside Stadium in 2011, with Sydney Olympic spoiling the party picking up a 3-2 win and in 2016, where Olympic played host to South at Kogarah Oval, with Olympic winning 4-3 via a penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw.

It is a rivalry unlike any other you’re likely to see, especially when it comes to the so called “ethnic” founded clubs in Australia. Because according to what I have seen and witnessed most of the time throughout Australia, clubs founded by the same ethnic or national group get along in an almost brotherly manner, especially when it concerns those clubs that operate in separate cities or different states, but speak to most South Melbourne and Sydney Olympic supporters, there was nothing better than seeing the other struggle, or getting one over the other on the football pitch.

The fact is this rivalry, crosses state lines and Olympic and Hellas fans can be found all over Australia, not only in New South Wales and Victoria and even abroad.

The fire that burned for this rivalry understandably would start to peter out after 2004, it is very hard to maintain a fierce rivalry, not only after nearly 18 years of not facing each other in a competitive fixture, but the fact that there has never been any genuine belief, that the 2 clubs would ever be allowed to face each other again in a competitive fixture.

Hopefully one day the time will come, where we can officially lock horns once again, there is unfinished business.

For the Record:

Matches Played – 59
South Melbourne Wins – 31
Sydney Olympic Wins – 13
Draws – 15

For the purposes of this record, I have included all League and Cup meetings during the NSL, as well as the contests of 1964, 2011, 2016.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Sydney Olympic – “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”

It has been an eventful last 2 years on this planet and it has been no different for our beloved Sydney Olympic, it may have been even more dramatic for the Blue & Whites.

We have witnessed 2 disrupted and unfinished seasons in succession, robbing us of 2 complete seasons of football and chances to add to our trophy cabinet. Added on top of that, is this business with former President Bill Papas, which we will not go into here, has also dragged the clubs name through the mud, over issues which in reality do not concern Sydney Olympic all that much, or at least, the club had very little to do with.

That hasn’t stopped the usual newspaper and media types, from having a field day with their countless stories and no doubt, the clubs many enemies and haters have had a brilliant time and good laugh at our expense.

The assorted riff-raff, the alleged aggrieved, those who are irrelevant and those who are beneath us, of course were going to jump on the death-riding and bay for our demise (sorry to disappoint).

Many are seriously getting off on it and good luck to them, I hope they are enjoying themselves. No surprise also that supposed “Ελληνες” have jumped on to throw the boot into the club too, the story & lesson of Εφιαλτες for Greeks should be well known by now.

That is not to say there are not some issues that need resolving, there are and they need to be dealt with. We currently do not have a President and the current restrictions, lockdowns and living conditions throughout Sydney, has made it extremely difficult to convene a General Meeting of members to discuss and sort much of this stuff out, hopefully this is able to happen very soon.

On the field, despite the cancellation of the NSW NPL season, hope remains that our Round of 32 FFA Cup tie vs. Sydney FC will go ahead, sometime in mid-October according to those in the know. But even the most excitable supporter would agree, that the steam has well and truly gone out of any anticipation, even for that match.

Also in the last few weeks, we have had confirmation of several departures from the club, Jason Madonis, Nikola Kuleski, Hagi Gligor, Yu Hasegawa, bid farewell, joining the already departed Fabian Monge and Mohamed Adam.

As for the players who have committed to the club and have re-signed for next season, they are: William Angel, Michael Glassock, Ben van Meurs, Brendan Cholakian, Darcy Burgess, Nicholas Sorras, Christopher Parsons, Daniel Dias, Adam Parkhouse, Oliver Puflett, Thomas Whiteside, Fabio Ferreira, Marley Peterson, Chan Deng, Simun Milicevic.

New signings include: Mathieu Cordier, Niko Ujdur, Sam McIllhatton, Emmanuel Peters.

As Sydney Olympic commemorates 65 years of existence in 2022, it needs its sponsors, members, supporters, players close to it more than ever before and hopefully, by the start of next season, this business with this virus will be a thing of the past, we can go and watch Sydney Olympic again and even witness the completion of a full and proper season.

One can only hope.....

Sydney Olympic – Mid-Season Report

We are at the half-way point of Sydney Olympic’s 2021 season, so we’ll take a look at what we’ve seen so far.

We are sitting 5th on the ladder after 11 rounds, with 5 wins – 1 draw – 5 losses, a perfect illustration of how we have performed as well as the ups and downs we have experienced, in this 1st half of the season.





Clearly at this point in time (it could change), we’re a step behind the top 3 clubs on the ladder, but we are not a bottom feeder of the competition this year either. In fact in large parts, our play has been fairly decent so far this season.

Now, most Sydney Olympic supporters before the season started, were saying and would have told you, that they were worried about this teams ability to score goals and clearly, through the results of the first-half of the season, that is our major problem.

We have the equal worst attack in the League, our general and build-up play is pretty good, but we have forwards and strikers in the squad who just do not score goals, so why are they there, and as I have said on here numerous times, in this League, if you do not have out and out consistent goalscorers who can put chances away for the team, you are going nowhere.

To the team’s credit, they are working really hard during matches and competing for the entire 90 minutes, every week, but that can and will only get you so far. We just need that bit of polish up front, which we are not getting at the moment and it will hurt us somewhere down the line this season, if it isn’t rectified.

Unless somebody in the squad all of the sudden catches fire and we start pouring on the goals, we will finish between 4th and 9th and even if we made the Finals, we would need a bit of luck to achieve anything.

On the defensive side of things we have the 2nd best defense in the competition, so there are also some positives and we have done it, without the services of some good players due to injury and without the best goalkeeper in the competition, Nicholas Sorras, hopefully he is back soon.

On the Cup front, we are still (barely) in it, we have been so very poor in the Cup competitions over the last few years. There is some sort of curse or phobia there, I cannot explain it, we always seem to stumble and make things hard for ourselves.

We survived by the skin of our teeth during this last round, against Sutherland Association club Menai Hawks, copping an injury time equaliser to send it to extra time and then needing to go the full 120 minutes to get passed them.

For the next round we have drawn another away tie against an association club, a very good and interesting opponent in Liverpool Olympic, we cannot afford to take anyone lightly, this match could end up being anything.

The second-half of the season will be at the very least interesting and it all gets underway with Round 12 on Sunday Afternoon, May 16th, away at Edensor Park against Sydney United. Kick-Off is at 3pm.

Sydney Olympic – 6 Rounds In

Well here we go, after another disappointing loss to start 2021, this time to Mt Druitt, we have another poor start to a season. 3 losses, 2 wins and a match which was washed out, with no sign of when it will be played. Not award-winning stuff.

When it was announced that Ante Juric would be appointed 1^st Grade coach, I’m sure none of the supporters realised at the time, that he was also doubling up as the coach for the Eastern Sydney A-League franchise women’s team. I’m sorry but that is an out and out disgrace, Sydney Olympic is not some xwrio that you just turn up here and there or whenever you want and it should never play 2^nd fiddle to anyone or anything.

For the people at the helm of Sydney Olympic, to have allowed that is seriously concerning and shows a lack of respect for the club, a club that they are supposed to be working for the betterment of and representing.

Onto the pathetic recruitment, in particular and specifically, the club’s fascination since the end of the NSL, with not signing a proven and out and out goal scorer, with the exception of 2 seasons (2011 and 2018). How do you expect to score goals and win games? It truly boggles the mind.

Every year bar those 2 seasons mentioned above, we have had to endure shocking performances up front, we currently have the worst attack in the League.

What is the point in going after and signing a great player like Brendan Cholakian and not signing someone else to benefit off the back of his good play to put the ball in the back of the net? Is there a Centre-Forward at all at the club?

Why is William Angel, who has consistently been our best player for all of the last 10 seasons not playing? Why is Nikola Kuleski, who has been good for us in midfield the last few years, all of the sudden playing at Right Back? Where co-incidentally, William has played for us for the last few seasons?

What is actually going on? Is the coach just not there enough to not know who these guys are and what their strengths are? Is there nobody to get in his ear and say listen, what are you doing?

Then you have another problem and the questions need to be asked. Why does it feel like that the club seems to be more focused on and interested in the well-being of a women’s team from a whole different League, a team that is not Sydney Olympic and a team in the 2^nd division of Greece over the interests of Sydney Olympic?

I said last year, that the people in charge at the club at the moment, could put their money where ever they wanted. If that meant investing into a club in Greece, so be it, just as long as it doesn’t affect things with Sydney Olympic. It looks as though it is starting to effect Sydney Olympic, in a bad way.

Just like last season where COVID saved our backsides from the embarrassment of relegation. People might think that is far-fetched, but I firmly believe that we were in big big trouble last season, before the COVD thing struck. So too will we be saved from relegation this year, if you want to believe the news that there will be some sort of restructure of the NPL at the end of this year and there will be no relegation from NPL1 this season.

Everyone at the club needs to wake up, before this season becomes another one going down the drain.

Sydney Olympic – 2021 Kick-Off

The start of the 2021 NSW NPL season is now less than a week away and we hope to see another successful season for our boys in blue and white, Sydney Olympic.

In terms of our pre-season form, it has been a bit of a mixed bag.

A 1-0 win over the Macarthur Rams, was followed by a 2-0 loss to Blacktown City and a 0-0 draw with Manly. We then beat Rydalmere 5-2, before losing our final 2 trial matches, 1-0 to Hakoah and 3-0 to St George City FA.

Hardly setting the world on fire, but at the same time, not taking these results too seriously, as there have been years where we have looked unbeatable in pre-season, only to flounder during the season and vice versa.

In saying all that, there is a degree of uncertainty as to what awaits us this year as Sydney Olympic supporters.

Like most seasons, there is obviously some optimism that we will do well, but the nature of this competition with the unpredictability of the other teams and what they are looking like, means you never really know for sure until after the first month of the season.

In saying all that, let’s get this show on the road and get down and support Sydney Olympic as often as you can throughout the season.

Onto some other news, the club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), takes place this Thursday Night, February 25^th, at the Terrace Bar inside Canterbury Leagues Club, commencing at 6.30pm.

All Life and Voting members are urged to attend.

There will also be an opportunity to renew your membership at the AGM, to all those who wish to become members of Sydney Olympic, it is very easy to do and affordable.

Just check out the link here - https://form.jotform.com/sydneyolympic/sofc-2021-season-pass-membership-ap fbclid=IwAR1P67gSorzKmNPGraH5GB2nKHffCQ8Zc8eoVL_n7kmGRtY1l8ALIJxrfiQ

So, it all gets under way this Saturday Evening, February 27^th. Round 1 vs. Sydney United at Belmore Sports Ground – Kick-Off at 5.30pm.

COME ON OLYMPIC! 

Sydney Olympic – Pre-season.

2021 will be an interesting season for Sydney Olympic. For 2020, there was a lot of talk doing the rounds about our signings, how we would romp through the competition and that we would be unstoppable.

The reality was very different, there were problems with the coach as well as in and around the squad from day 1. This showed itself in our performances during the season, where we lost our first 3 matches.

The season being cancelled after 3 rounds due to covid, was a blessing in disguise for Sydney Olympic in my opinion. Sure it was only the first 3 rounds and in theory, there would have been plenty of time to turn the situation around, but it did not look likely and we were odds-on to be involved in a relegation scrap.

We looked a bit better after the 4 month hiatus, with Ante Juric as coach. The players responded positively to his appointment, but the 11-match mini-season became irrelevant and other than being glorified training runs, the matches or the results didn’t matter all that much. But at least there was some improvement.

Coming into 2021, there is optimism that we can once again have a good season.

New signings include: Brendan Cholakian, Yu Hasegawa, Marley Peterson, Michael Glassock, Daniel Dias, Luke Kairies, Fabian Monge, Mohamed Adam.

Re-signings include: William Angel, Jason Madonis, Thomas Whiteside, Nikola Kuleski, Adam Parkhouse, Peter Kekeris, Hagi Gligor, Darcy Burgess, Nicholas Sorras, Ben van Meurs, Oliver Puflett, Billy Patramanis, Fabio Ferreira, James Cakovski.

A ball has not been kicked yet, but with a few new faces and some others leaving from last year, already that looks better than the much hyped squad from last season.

Expectations are always a tricky thing, especially in such a close competition. Very little separates the sides who finish 1st and say 7th, a bit of bad or good luck either way could make all the difference to where a club ends up.

But being Sydney Olympic, the high expectations are there every season and all supporters will be hoping 2021, a big year for Greeks in general, will be a big year for the club also.

2021 also marks 6 years since we have made the FFA Cup main draw – yes it has been that long! – after making the Round of 16 stage in the first 2 editions of the Cup in 2014 and 2015, we have not made it back to the main draw since, a huge disappointment for all supporters actually. Getting back there has also been a stated goal of Sydney Olympic club representatives.

As for the League season, it will be starting a couple weeks earlier than usual. Our Round 1 match is against Sydney United at Belmore Sports Ground, on Saturday February 27th – Kick-Off at 5.30pm.

COME ON OLYMPIC!