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…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
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.…