South Melbourne FC
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| Full name | South Melbourne Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | South, Hellas |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Ground | Lakeside Stadium |
| Capacity | 12,000 (6,000 seated) |
| Captain | Michael Eagar |
| President | Leo Athanasakis |
| Coach | Chris Taylor |
| League | NPL Victoria |
| 2016 | Champions (Finals), 3rd (League) |
| Website | Club home page |
South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, with matches played at Lakeside Stadium.
Founded in 1959, South Melbourne are considered the most successful soccer club in Australia. The club has won four national championships, a string of Victorian State League titles, and represented Oceania in the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship. Along with the Marconi Stallions, they were one of two clubs to compete in every season of the National Soccer League.
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 (Ajax), 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 Flag of Greece. 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.
South Melbourne won the Victorian First Division (North) 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 – Tommy Anderson (George Cross), Ernie Ackerley (Manchester United), Leo Damianakos (Kalamata), and Jim Pyrgolios (Panathinaikos), 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 FC star Kostas Nestoridis as player-coach. The result was a significant increase in crowd attendances (more than double) 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.
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