SOCCER FRANKSTON Pines’ immediate future is on the line with the local club scrambling to avoid being booted out of State League by Football Victoria. That’s the bleak prospect facing the men from Monterey if they can’t pay a large percentage of a five-figure debt owed to FV by the end of this month. Last week the state federation announced that many clubs “failed to meet their financial obligations in 2023, resulting in a historic level of debt … nearing $2 million.” It then delivered the bombshell news that “clubs unable or unwilling to meet their financial obligations will be…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
SOCCER A UNIQUE end-of-season trip took place recently with participants from various Australian states ranging in age from men in their 20s to octogenarians. It was the annual Monkey, Rat and Missing Pals Tour held in Moama during Victoria Derby weekend and this year it attracted a record number of attendees, 98 in all. The event’s origins date back more than three decades and it originally was an end-of-season getaway for members and supporters of Langwarrin soccer club. Former Langwarrin assistant coach Neil Collyer took on the task of event organiser 13 years ago and gave the trip a makeover…
SOCCER BRETT Heskins may have played his last senior game for Skye United. And he could join a growing list of departures from the local State 2 South-East club. Boris Ovcin has retired, Jason Nowakowski is thinking about the lesser demands of the club’s Bayside team as is first-choice keeper Jonathan Crook while Alex Van Heerwarden is assistant coach to Ben Caffrey with Langwarrin’s under-23s. “That’s a lot of quality and experience right there,” Heskins said. “If ‘Jono’ goes it will be a huge loss because he is a phenomenal shot-stopper. “Unfortunately we’ve had to rely on him more than…
SOCCER RYAN Paczkowski has reunited with Mornington gaffer Adam Jamieson while Langwarrin has signed WA-based goal ace Joe O’Brien. And both Frankston Pines and Somerville Eagles have settled on the men to head up their coaching staff for the upcoming season. Paczkowski turned 34 this week and the ex-Bentleigh Greens, Oakleigh, Langwarrin and Preston player last played for the Seagulls in 2017. He played for Preston Lions last season and could have stayed there but agreed terms for a second stint at Bentleigh before a change in his work circumstances forced him to head back to Dallas Brooks Park. “I…
SOCCER LOCAL coaching legend Gus Macleod is the new gaffer of ambitious State 4 outfit Chelsea. Macleod ended a five-year senior coaching hiatus when he agreed terms with Chelsea a fortnight ago. He was last in charge of a senior team in 2018 when he completed his 20th straight season at Langwarrin. Since then he has worked as a technical director at Lawton Park but the lure of the Chelsea post was impossible to ignore. “I never lost that itch that urge to coach senior players,” he said. “I enjoyed coaching the coaches at Langy but the Chelsea job just…