Memoir of The Geezer
“Mark Viduka is the most ‘second team captain. Bowls a bit of medium pace. Bats five or six with the same gear he had 20 years ago. Fields at slip, gully at a push. Can’t make training on a Tuesday because he’s got the kids. Divorced. So has ‘em two nights during the week and every other weekend. Takes ‘em to games and leaves ‘em to play on the boundary. Checks up on ‘em in between innings whilst having a vape. Eats three/four takeaways a week. Minimum. Drinks shitloads. Shops at Jacamo’ looking man I’ve ever seen.” – @trekuartista95
Photo via @cultkits
Poetic Brutality and Beauty Under Our Noses
I haven’t revisited The Footy Almanac with any coverage of the National Premier League – or any football for that matter – ever since South Melbourne were absolutely blown away by a five-star performance from Oakleigh Cannons at Olympic Village on Grand Final Day last year. I veered away from voluntarily doing match-day photography shoots for South Melbourne, and branched off to do freelancing for other clubs this year; and I have been a lot busier than usual with the amount of demand from other clubs who have me come in once a month or fill in, whilst balancing my weekend commitments to cover Banyule Bulls’ men’s and women’s teams every round of the 2023 season.
This year may have been my first real experience of the beauty and the cruelty of promotion and relegation drama with Banyule Bulls. A small taste and understanding of what it could mean to be part of a club in this system that only so few in Australia are exposed to but so many around the world are a part of. England is an easy example. 92 clubs in the top-four league pyramid and beyond but yet thousands come in droves to support their local teams at near capacity per stadium, all to experience the emotional highs and lows, the journey and the glory that lies and waits before them when the stars align to reach the promised land of the Premier League and Champions League. A pipe-dream, but the knowledge of the rewards and consequences behind this structure is a driving force that unites communities to support those eleven players on the field.
Australia however, is accustomed to the closed-off and exclusive business sports model such as hosting the A-League, the AFL and the NRL. It is much like their American cousins with Major League Soccer, the NBA, MLB and NFL. The way I see it, clubs fall into the comfort zone of showing up and trying their best, but most likely would write the season off halfway through when there is a realisation that the team is not championship material after a string of poor results, so why bother attending as a fan? There are no serious repercussions and people can just throw up their hands and say ‘ah well there’s always next year’.
These are the observations of the sporting culture around Melbourne I have grown to develop, (can’t speak for other states), where the majority seem to be theatre-goers attending for a weekend outing to avoid boredom at home, while the so very few rusted-on life members are the type that are absolutely mad for their club with unconditional love. I can point out to moments where people would only come to AAMI Park at near capacity whenever there is a derby or ‘blockbuster’ fixture being advertised yet any other regular fixture the attendance average would be around 6,000 in a 30,000-capacity stadium. People do look out for attractive fixtures only, soak in the hype from marketing campaigns and go whenever it is of convenience to them. In the A-League specifically. But for the readers who attend other codes, is this form of psychologically and human behaviour present in those sports too? I have my suspicions it may be so.
I am happy to challenge readers to share their answers when I ask how do they identify with their club? What forms a club identity? If 7+ clubs all share the same stadium for matchdays, how do they uniquely distinguish themselves from others besides colours, badge design, name and measurement of success? It’s not a competition to argue with me or be philippic about this potentially provocative discussion, but it can something that could help you reinforce your love and support for the club you have invested in.
The AFL/VFL has a centuries-worth of history, so a formula is working where fans can put up with going to either the MCG or Docklands repeatedly, or down to Geelong for an away game against the Cats. However, the A-League having to depend on AAMI Park (Melbourne Rectangular Stadium) to accommodate three clubs is a failure by the administration to grow the game, hell, even as City/Heart fan myself, it was a mistake to share the stadium with Melbourne Victory to begin with in 2009. The competition is still in its infancy and forming an identity is becoming ever so challenging. We are not like AC Milan or Internazionale who share San Siro. The A-League have plateaued at first and are declining currently in terms of attendance retention.
But let’s not beat around the bush, whenever I hear a TV anchor from Channel 7 or 9, or any radio station that talks about how Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world, it’s a load of shit. The cringe propaganda propped up in our own Australian bubble is becoming just as bad as the stereotype of Americans having an arrogant and narrow mindset. Instead, I could come to terms with Melbourne being the sports entertainment capital, because objectively, the culture/atmosphere is either Luke-warm or watered down in comparison to the rest of the world in a sporting context.
The way I see it, majority are there for entertainment to inject themselves with dopamine, but the spirituality is left at the front door by many. I directly compare this with South Americans and Europeans of how their culture in sport is met with such love, ferocity and borderline a religious pilgrimage to their weekly matchdays. It’s like comparing chalk and cheese and I feel as though I have been deprived of this level of fanaticism and only fed bread crumbs here. But who am I kidding, I’m probably sounding like an ultracrepidarian through roping in other football codes outside of soccer and being diversivolent by bringing up this argumentative topic no one had asked for.
Here are two cultural contrasts but both have the same passion for the game
So, I’ll stop there and recap from my own experiences now. The penultimate fixture of Football Victoria State League 1 North-West division, the 4th tier of Victoria’s pyramid and 5th tier overall if you include the A-League, captivated a stunning turn of events in a relegation battle between two teams on the day. Banyule Bulls travelled to Epping Stadium, home to Whittlesea Ranges, where both were amongst six other clubs fighting for survival, where the bottom two would drop to State League 2.
Banyule had the worst defensive record so even sitting on equal points amongst those threatened, they will be drawn short straw and face the drop, but they had an ace up their sleeve. Midway through the season they made a signing coup that no one could have foreseen the quality and pedigree coming into this league. Sergio Escudero, born in Spain to Argentine parents, followed in his father’s footsteps to play in Japan for Urawa Red Diamonds during his youth development which eventuated to his Japanese Citizenship.
He plied his trade in J1 League for the Red Diamonds, J2 League for Kyoto Sanga and notably represented Korean outfit FC Seoul where they went onto compete in the 2013 AFC Champions League final against Guangzhou Evergrande, earning himself a goal and an assist in the first leg. A decorated player under the Asian Football Confederation who just unexpectedly came out of nowhere, arriving into the quiet northern suburbs at Yallambie Park Reserve, not far from Eltham after wrapping up his time for Atletico Marte in El Salvador.
Quite the lifestyle contrast to be amongst part-time footballers and adapting to the change of atmosphere from stadiums to park football. It did not seem to bother Escudero and by all accounts have been told he enjoys the Australian lifestyle quite a lot. His professionalism and football mentality had dramatically changed the attitudes and morale of the squad but his technique and vision on the pitch is something to marvel about. In a hortative display in the opening ten minutes, Sergio dribbled through four Whittlesea defenders, some grabbing his arms and even trying to mount him, were brushed off as he rocketed the ball out of anger from the edge of the box, smashing the underside of the crossbar, the ball bounced over the line and trajected upwards with might, as those in the stands and on the bench saw the roof of the net bulge signalling that Banyule were now 1-0 up in the game.
Immediately, you would hear Sergio belting out “GOAL” repeatedly like a Spanish commentator short of breath but full of joy, adrenaline and anger all bottled in and exploding out all at once. He runs towards the corner flag where I am situated with my camera, pulling his shirt and pointing at the badge to show his strong affection for the club, before collapsing on the floor with arms raised and a team pile-on to celebrate ensued.
Later in the first half Sergio would score a second after bamboozling the defensive offside trap and slotted it in without anyone besides the goalkeeper making any attempts to stop him. Banyule ran out 4-1 winners blowing away their rivals. They sit 8th placed out of 12 on the ladder with two points clear of relegation heading into the final stage of the season.
As matchday had come, Banyule faced Yarraville Glory in a vicious roller coaster of emotions. Yarraville too were in the mix to avoid relegation and only needed a point whilst Banyule needed a win to ensure safety to avoid having their fate decided in the hands of other clubs as all games in the league were played simultaneously.
Banyule were ahead 2-0 in the first half thanks to Sergio earning a penalty and their centre back shooting a spectacular rocket from 30 yards out. Within these short minutes it placed Yarraville, sitting 7th, facing the drop where rock bottom Keilor Wolves had taken a shock lead in their fixture as well as Corio and Strathmore leading in their games too. The second half performance by Banyule was horrendously poor, with no build-up play and panic clearances while sitting deep in their defensive half had costed them deeply as Yarraville pushed through, not once, but twice to level the playing field. You can see the confusion and angst on the fans faces along the wing, some desperately making phone calls to other grounds and others refreshing the live scores to find out what the current situation is. Keilor were down 2-1, Strathmore and Corio were cruising through to safety and it was down to Whittlesea Ranges up against second placed Sydenham Park who were tied 0-0.
The full-time whistle blew and Yarraville’s players were celebrating, graciously hugging each other and one fell to his knees to regain his composure. Tensions arose because Banyule were dropped to 10th place after their result, Corio and Strathmore’s were confirmed. Huddled in a big group one was monitoring the match centre data base on the smartphone refreshing every five seconds to see if the game finished 0-0 or not. The sudden silence, the air thickens, mental exhaustion sets in from the anxiety as I sit there effete at the corner flag by myself, watching on at the group huddle at the centre of the pitch. I mentally prepared myself for the worst knowing my luck in life. One single goal by Whittlesea is all it took to leapfrog Banyule on superior goal difference.
This game was a dead rubber for Sydenham as first place was unreachable by the large gap in points accumulated by the champions Altona City, and second place was cemented long before the conclusion of the season. They had every reason to reward their reserves to have a run around and let Whittlesea throw the kitchen sink at them, but as fate would have it, a singular roar followed by delayed cheers, it finished 0-0. The club president burst into tears in the heat of the moment when the sudden realisation that Banyule were safe. The great escape, after being in the drop zone for the majority of the season. Whittlesea Ranges on the other hand were unbelievably relegated to Sate League 2. A disastrous story unfolded as they have now been relegated back-to-back after competing in NPL 3 last year.
The story does not stop the for Victorian football. Shockwaves reverberated throughout the football community as the once-mighty Bentleigh Greens faced the cruel reality of relegation to NPL 2 next year. On the decisive matchday, the Greens faced a formidable opponent, Avondale FC, the league premiers of 2023, in a do or die scenario on the final day away from home. Bentleigh equalised early in the second half and all they needed to do was to hold on for dear life against the record breaking forward line of Avondale as one precious point is all it would have taken to swap placed with Moreland City on goal difference. It was not to be as Diaz put Avondale ahead until full time. The romance of football showed its beauty and the beast at full scale to the Victorian community. Avondale being the last team to seal Bentleigh’s fate on the final day, is of such brute force and a collection item for slaying a giant, which is akin to the Apache collecting scalps of their enemy for war honours on battlegrounds in such unforgiving fashion.
However, there is a greater story behind Bentleigh Greens relegation for readers. By the conclusion of season 2022, Bentleigh had won the Dockerty Cup against eventual league champions Oakleigh Cannons, and had a fantastic Australian Cup run until narrowly losing to A-League outfit Sydney FC 2-1 in front of a full house on national television, all spearheaded by their coach Nick Tolios for such a strong finish to the season. Including winning the 2019 Championship with Bentleigh, Tolios was well regarded as one of the finest coaches in the state of Victoria but having being sacked or let go, whatever ever you want to put it as, it certainly shocked the foundations of the National Premier League community.
Many were left bemused to see Bentleigh release a club statement to justify this by announcing that they wish to seek a “Full-Time Senior Coach” with an A-Licence held for four years and a minimum of five years of coaching and with a fair bit more internal responsibilities I assume, if Tolios has done so or not. The club did not have a replacement immediately and publicly advertised the position, only to have Alfredo Costantino take the hot seat in October, but was short lived before the team even kicked a ball as his tenure ended in December according to the transfermarkt.com database. The Greens then signed Riccardo Marchioli as the replacement having worked as an assistant at Newcastle Jets, has success with their youth squad and held roles at Melbourne Victory and NPL 2 outfit Brunswick City. Although this announcement was published on March 28th, this was 7 rounds into the 2023 season out of 26. Remarkably a position to be filled that was long overdue and left the head coach scrambling to organise and familiarise with the squad.
With that said, many thought Nick Tolios was absolutely hard by and unjust, especially in a league that is only occupying part-time squad players. They questioned if it was necessary to prioritise a full-time coach in these current times at NPL level. Whatever the case may be, Tolios was quickly snapped up by Dandenong City who have just been relegated to NPL2 and look to immediately come back to the first division.
In summary, the 2023 season proved to have Bentleigh Green’s plans to blow up in their faces as they never retained the momentum and strong form while Tolios was at the helm and were relegated on the final day. It is like the heavens had scripted such an ironic, or poetic moment to others, that Tolios had managed to secure promotion for Dandenong City, albeit in dramatic fashion. Literally the last kick of the game as Dandenong were away to Bulleen in a come-from-behind win to send the 100’s of away fans into pandemonium in the 97th minute in the penultimate round of the season.
So that’s a couple of fascinating stories to witness first hand in our own backyard. Promotion and relegation can produce some brutal, and in other cases beautiful moments of what happens between clubs that’s are involved in promotion or relegation. Something that our professional leagues are dearly missing out on and a significant portion of fans that miss out on opportunities for thrills and camaraderie amongst themselves and a reaffirmation of their love and emotional investment that they had subscribed to the club they chose or chosen for them.
As of writing at this time two days after covering South Melbourne Men’s Grand final, my two cents on the matter after a second-year thrashing defeat:
Fuck. Sake.
The height of Bentleigh before it all came crashing down. 2022 Dockerty Cup winners – Snapped by yours truly
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Thanks for this thoughtful and heartfelt piece, Luke.
I really enjoyed it.
Glad you liked it Smokie