Author: Craig MacKenzie

SOCCER FAMILY reasons have forced Stan Packer to step down as head coach of Somerville Eagles while Rosebud is expected to announce Tommy McShane as its new head coach this week. Packer will remain with the Eagles as director of coaching and will serve on the committee. The hunt is now on for his replacement. “We are interviewing for both the senior men’s and senior women’s roles and should have an announcement in coming weeks,” president Luke Mulder said. It’s believed that discussions have taken place with former coach Scott Morrison and former club leading scorer Mark Pagliarulo now with…

SOCCER MONTEREY Reserve will be the venue for the ninth staging of the Wallace Cup on Saturday 6 February. Somerville Eagles and Mount Eliza make their tournament debuts and will be placed in two groups of five. The other contestants are Langwarrin, Mornington, Peninsula Strikers, Frankston Pines, Skye United, Baxter, Seaford United and Rosebud. The annual charity event kicks off at 12 noon with the top two teams after the round-robin stage qualifying for the semi-finals. The four semi-finalists will be drawn from a hat to determine the matches for the tournament’s penultimate stage and the kick-off for the final…

SOCCER FIFTEEN years after his last game for Frankston Pines veteran midfielder Scott Webster has returned to Monterey Reserve. He last played in Pines’ 3-3 home draw with Fawkner-Whittlesea in the final round of the 2005 league season. Webster’s impressive CV also includes stints at Eastern Pride, Oakleigh Cannons, Dandenong Thunder, Morwell Pegasus, Casey Comets, Mornington, Doveton and Seaford United. His sole appearance for Seaford came in an FFA Cup tie against Brunswick Zebras last March which saw Seaford win 7-6 on penalties. The 38-year-old adds much needed experience to the Pines’ midfield and looks certain to sit in front…

SOCCER MORNINGTON will celebrate the life of long-serving team manager Tony McKay on Friday when it takes on Manningham United Blues at Dallas Brooks Park. McKay was 77 when he died at the Alfred Hospital on Sunday 15 March after collapsing a week earlier prior to a practice match against Caroline Springs George Cross. Friday’s commemorative event starts at 6.30pm and the Tony McKay memorial will be unveiled at 6.45pm. The match kicks off at 7.30pm and Mornington’s facebook page last week invited the family and friends of the much-loved figure and the local football community to attend. “Tony would…

SOCCER WHEN Jason Nowakowski isn’t enforcing public health directives he’s policing the right side of Skye United’s senior team. He’s in his 10th year with Victoria Police and 2021 will be his fifth year at Skye Recreation Reserve. Nowakowski, 32, is married with a three-year-old son and is one of the few senior players in the local area never to have played as a junior. His playing career kicked off as a 14-year-old at Hailebury College and he was 18 when he joined his first club Endeavour United in Provisional League ranks in 2006. He spent a season in the…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria faces a backlash from clubs over the calculation of player registration fees. The state government has been drawn into the controversy as Minister for Community Sport Ros Spence has been made aware of what is fast looming as a major confrontation between clubs and the sport’s governing body. FV’s player registration process involves the participation of both players and clubs. The first step is for a player to register to play with a club on the online Play Football site but the status of that registration is pending until the club logs on to that site and…

SOCCER MORNINGTON has clinched the signature of NPL scoring legend Milos Lujic. The 30-year-old has dominated Golden Boot honours at club and league levels throughout the decade and next year he’ll be wearing Seagulls’ colours as the Dallas Brooks outfit builds towards an assault on the State 1 South-East championship. Lujic has a massive profile in Victorian soccer. Starting with Northcote in 2013 he won his first NPL Golden Boot award then for the next three seasons after his switch to South Melbourne he made that award his own. He has won NPL championships, an NPL premiership, a Dockerty Cup…

SOCCER FEW players have confronted personal trauma and overcome such enormous hurdles as Langwarrin left-back Jaiden Madafferi. The 21-year-old was just seven on 5 November 2006 when his father Peter, 44, died suddenly. Peter Madafferi was president of Carrum United, the forerunner of Skye United. He left behind Jaiden, older brother Anthony and their mother Karyn. “It was hard because my brother and I were both young,” said Jaiden Madafferi. “Mum has brought us up to where we are now and done it all herself. “All credit to her – she has been phenomenal.” Jaiden had started playing as a…

SOCCER WHEN it comes to long-range forecasts Baxter captain Izaak Barr doesn’t hold back. The 22-year-old and his teammates have set their sights on winning the State 4 South championship next year. “I was absolutely devastated when we couldn’t play football this year because (with) the team that we had I reckon we could have won the league,” Barr said. “We put some absolute quality into the team with guys coming back from 2019 and a couple of Mornington senior players coming down in Charlie O’Connell and Charlie Parker as well as Robbie O’Toole in centre mid. “And Ben Meiklem…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria started a trend that looks likely to spread throughout the competitions structure of each state and territory federation. “We were the first state to link the tiers of competition – NPL and non-NPL – which allowed aspirational clubs to rise through the ranks and participate at the highest level,” FV director Sezar Jakupi said. The chair of FV’s football committee is well placed to comment given that he has overseen the review and implementation of a restructure of Victoria’s men’s, women’s, boys’ and girls’ competitions in the past few years. “NSW eventually followed suit and Queensland has…

SOCCER A TV show, a new home ground for 2021, community projects and hospital beds for Fiji … Frankston Pines has been a hive of activity recently. Last week the spotlight fell on the club’s four young Fijian internationals, Pines vice-president Victor Kumar and senior coach Kevin “Squizzy” Taylor who were interviewed by former Socceroos inhouse videographer Ben Coonan. Coonan’s company Side Netting had been contracted by Beyond Productions to work on a show commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation focussing on the lives of Pacific Islanders in Australia. There’s no working title yet for the program which is likely…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria held online meetings two weeks ago with senior and junior licence holders to discuss restructuring the state’s NPL setup. The game’s governing body held a zoom meeting with NPL1 clubs on Monday 28 September, with NPL2 and NPL3 clubs the following evening then met online with junior NPL clubs on Wednesday 30 September. The opening address at the meeting with NPL2 and NPL3 clubs was made by FV director Sezar Jakupi with the federation’s Football Strategy Manager Emilio Amanatidis and NPL Competitions Manager Hakan Dogan participating. At all three meetings clubs were told not to discuss the…

SOCCER ASPENDALE Stingrays are on track to christen their multi-million dollar Aspendale Gardens Sports Ground facility in 2021. The $12.5 million multipurpose complex will allow the State 5 club to reboot its expansion plans and immediately grow its junior program. The Kerr Crescent project is jointly funded by Kingston council ($8.5m) and state government ($4m). For some time now Football Victoria’s 2018 Club of the Year has been forced to curtail training to one session a week for most of its junior teams but the AGSG facility should address that problem. “Our biggest restriction over the past five years has…

SOCCER LANGWARRIN has re-signed Scott Miller as head coach for the 2021 season. It will be the former Fulham and Socceroo assistant’s third year at the helm. “I signed on again because I’ve enjoyed my time there,” Miller said. “I think the club needed a little push in a different direction and that’s what I like to think we’ve provided there. “Obviously this year was out of our control but we’d put together a good squad and were performing well in pre-season and starting to play a game style we wanted to play. “My intention and the coaching staff’s intention…

SOCCER ANDY Lancaster has made a sudden departure from the Seaford United coaching setup. The club icon emailed president Willie Lyn recently to tell him of his decision to end his coaching partnership with senior player-coach Matt Morris-Thomas. Lancaster had a long and distinguished playing career at North Seaford Reserve. He is a three times senior best and fairest winner and is the club’s second highest scorer behind legendary goal ace David Greening. He also has served on the committee and only stepped down earlier this year from his role as sponsorship coordinator to concentrate on his coaching duties. There…

SOCCER THE long-awaited announcement of Football Victoria’s refunds policy was made late last week. The policy was prefaced by a reference to a recent Australian Sports Foundation survey on the severe economic impact of the pandemic. It estimated the total financial loss to Australia’s 70,000 community sports clubs to be around $1.6 billion which jeopardises the survival of many. FV hasn’t been immune to the impact of having its competitions disrupted by suspension and eventual cancellation. The federation stood down most of its staff from March and all of its staff from August. It has been formulating a refund policy…

SOCCER SOMERVILLE Eagles senior coach Stan Packer and assistant Paul Robinson have committed to the State League 4 outfit for 2021. Packer filled the void last June created by David Greening’s unexpected departure. Director of football Zach Peddersen was delighted with the news and has given both coaches his backing. “I’m really pleased to have Stan and Paul leading the club forward in 2021,” Peddersen said. “Both are keen to get stuck into pre-season as soon as restrictions allow us. “Stan’s been busy speaking with our squad from last year and Paul is looking into bringing youth into our reserves.”…

SOCCER DOES Rob Giabardo ever stop teaching? When he’s not teaching phys ed or taking grade six classes at Hampton Primary School he’s teaching at Chelsea soccer club. He’d be the first to admit that a major part of his life revolves around classrooms and football pitches. The Melbourne-born father of three has been involved at State 4 South outfit Chelsea since 2013 but his journey there was via Pennsylvania where he landed as a 20-year-old around 40 years ago. His US experience did much to shape his views of coaching. “I worked with kids with disabilities at a camp…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria is expected to announce its fees refund policy this week. Late last month the state federation posted a joint statement from president Kimon Taliadoros and CEO Peter Filopoulos. The statement said that a refund policy would be based on a consultative process that engaged clubs in decision making. “We are very close to finalising the FV refund policy for our portion of participants’ fees. Emergency committees of football stakeholders have been created to work through the incredibly complex matrix of issues. We are working with clubs to ensure their input in developing a reasonable, transparent and fair…

SOCCER IT could be a scene from Kindergarten Cop. Adam Steele is at his first training session with the newest kid on the State League block, Mount Martha. A group of teenagers fresh out of junior ranks. A squad made up of the previous year’s under-18s … and a 30-year-old defender. Steele was immediately made aware of what lay ahead in his first conversation with Mount Martha gaffer Chris Sanderson in early January. “Yeah Chris told me he had a young squad up from under-18s and playing senior football for the first time,” Steele said. And a few weeks later…

SOCCER PROMOTION within two years and a personal honour thrown in. Adrian Pace dares to dream. The 27-year-old “veteran” of Aspendale Stingrays senior squad thinks both targets are realistic and he’s confident that at least one of them is within striking distance. “I think promotion is definitely on the cards,” Pace said. “The squad is pretty strong. A lot of the boys came up from the under-18s who won their league and they will only get better after the experience they got last year playing their first senior games. “I think I’m the oldest one there. Our average age is…

SOCCER WHEN it became clear that there would be no senior season this year Blake Hicks took it harder than most. He had high hopes for 2020. It was to the year that Rosebud made their mark in State League 5 by clinching promotion. “We really thought we were in with a good chance of going up,” said Hicks. “We’d had such a good pre-season and we’d gone undefeated. “I was on a goal a game and ‘Pags’ had scored in just about every appearance.” Mark Pagliarulo had been the club’s marquee off-season capture after joining from Somerville Eagles and…

SOCCER WHEN Luke Mulder gazes into a crystal ball he sees his beloved Somerville Eagles thriving at a purpose-built facility five years from now. The 49-year-old father of four only joined the Eagles in 2017 but for the past three years he has been in charge of the fledgling club’s rollercoaster ride. No other club president in local soccer circles has had to navigate a safe passage through such turbulent waters. That’s because stunning onfield success and cyclonic off-field upheaval have shared top billing in the Somerville saga. Not to mention a pandemic and its effect on the 2020 season.…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria early last week placed a full stop next to the 2020 season for senior teams in the metropolitan region. However the state body clings to the hope that junior competition at both NPL and community club levels can resume in September pending state government approval. The anticipated end to the 2020 season was first announced in an email to clubs and followed up the next day with an official media release whose main points were: Senior metropolitan competitions (NPL and community) will not proceed or resume as fixtured Junior NPL and community club competitions are planned to…

SOCCER WHILE Adam Jamieson thinks the 2020 season is all but a write-off he has an idea how Football Victoria could salvage something from the wreckage. The Mornington gaffer has called for the state body to make the most of the opportunity to align elite junior and senior competitions for 2021. “I think the season is pretty much done now,” Jamieson said. “But this is a chance for FV to address what I think is a real disconnect between what they’ve done with the NPL junior season and what the seniors are doing. “I don’t understand how juniors play 33…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria’s hopes for the 2020 season rest on avoiding a statewide return to lockdown. While clubs in the South and East of the currently regionalised junior NPL are set to complete the grading round of the season with another double header of matches this weekend the North and West competitions remain under suspension. The official line from the state’s controlling body confirms its dilemma. “Football Victoria is currently working with all clubs – Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Community and NPL Senior (Women and Men) – that are located in the North and West regions of Victoria to understand…

SOCCER WHILE other sports announce a season shutdown soccer looks set for a season reboot this weekend. Three local clubs– Langwarrin, Mornington and Peninsula Strikers – will host junior NPL matches during a bumper double header involving under-13, under-14, under-15 and under-16 teams playing on Saturday and Sunday. In an interview on Football Out West Show last week FV’s Football Operations Manager Will Hastie gave every indication that the state governing body remained committed to a return to competition. He confirmed FV’s preference for a 16-game senior season and the expectation that “largely the competition structures will stay intact” meaning…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria announced a July start to the 2020 season late last week for all senior and junior competitions. The announcement came a day before the state government withdrew from lifting some pandemic restrictions but as we went to press there was no indication of any change to FV’s restart dates. NPL junior boys are scheduled to return to competition on the weekend of 4/5 July, NPL junior girls, community club juniors and MiniRoos on the weekend of 11/12 July with senior competitions back in action on the weekend of 25/26 July. However doubts over the NPL1 season continue…

SOCCER LANGWARRIN and Seaford United will participate in the 2020 league season. The last two local clubs to decide their response to the disrupted season have informed Football Victoria of their decision. Langwarrin president Tanya Wallace addressed the senior squad last week before making the decision to play this year. “All of our players returned and have agreed to play so I’m really grateful for the commitment they’ve shown and for wanting to stick by the club in challenging and difficult times,” she said. “I’m really proud of the way everyone throughout the club has reacted to what needed to…

SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria has put a million dollar proposal on the table to slash fees and entice clubs to participate in the 2020 season. FV’s fee relief package was announced in stages last week starting with NPL1 then NPL2 and NPL3 followed by an offer to State League clubs. The official announcement stated, in part: “The packages are aimed at supporting the safe return of football at all levels and ensuring the viability of our 355 clubs and the game in Victoria more broadly.” As an NPL2 club Langwarrin received confirmation that promotion was still in play but relegation had…