South Melbourne ultimately went through 2-1, with a late goal from Arran Cocks sealing victory and setting up a semi-final clash against Queensland outfit Lions FC<\/a>.<\/p>\nIt was Hellas\u2019 49th match of the season across all competitions \u2013 and if they play every game remaining across NPL Victoria, the Australia Cup and the Australian Championship that number could end up as high as 64 by the time 2026 is over.<\/p>\n
The NSL giants have already professionalised by virtue of their participation in the OFC Pro League \u2013 reaching the final in the inaugural edition this year \u2013 but they continue to flag their intention to push for a spot in the A-League.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of talk over the years from South Melbourne and some would say a lot of bluster,\u201d Windley explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think really, over the course of the last 15 or 18 months, they\u2019re walking the walk, not just talking the talk.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 When it comes to potentially forecasting ahead, with no disrespect to Lions FC, who have got a massive chance, if South were to make it into the final, I think they will absolutely, on current form, give Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory a massive run for their money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are clearly, I\u2019d say, the most advanced of the NPL clubs when it comes to potential aspirations to professionalise.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could argue as well that they already have professionalised to a point when it comes to their OFC involvement and the fact that they\u2019re more or less 12 months a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re still, in amongst all that, doing incredibly well in the NPL and will make the finals this year while essentially a lot of the time rolling out a B team or a youth team. That\u2019s a massive credit to the club.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 We\u2019re not sitting here and saying that everything about South Melbourne is perfect and that they\u2019re ready to go into the A-League tomorrow. That is absolutely not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they\u2019re backing up the talk now with walking the walk, and it will be really interesting to see what unfolds for them over the course of the next 12 to 24 months with where their anchor competition is at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Talk over South Melbourne potentially pushing for an A-League license has intensified in recent months amid Western United dropping out of the competition.<\/p>\n
The club publicly signified \u2018its intention to open formal dialogue\u2019 over the prospect of securing a spot in Australia\u2019s top-flight on August 11, but is the prospect of Hellas actually making it there realistic?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they bid for the licence alongside Team 11 and Western United in 2018, there was no chance they were getting in. Zero chance. It was never going to happen,\u201d Windley \u2013 who previously worked for the APL \u2013 said, caveating that this was his understanding of the situation, with some opinion laced in.<\/p>\n
\u201c(President) Bill (Papastergiadis) more or less confessed to that, or said that, in the Building Blocks podcast a few months ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you had asked me a couple of years ago, \u201cAre South Melbourne any chance to come into the competition?\u201d \u2013 and obviously that was part of the work that we were doing at APL at the time \u2013 it was a no.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the answer today is: it\u2019s not a yes, but it\u2019s not an unequivocal no.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that it\u2019s not an unequivocal no demonstrates to me the progress that is starting to be made and maybe the change of minds that are starting to take shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, there\u2019s been a lot of talk that South has already met with APL and there are discussions being had and all that sort of stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat hasn\u2019t happened, as far as I\u2019m concerned. It hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut will it happen in the future? And is there a willingness on the part of some within APL to meet with people from South to discuss the possibility of entering the competition one day?<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding is that it is a yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, that\u2019s a long way from them coming into the competition, but I do believe that there is an openness to at least having the conversation, and that absolutely has not been the case in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs South\u2019s ambition to make the A-League or play in the A-League real? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cAgain, Bill said as much in the interview with me a few months ago. They\u2019ve said it privately and they\u2019ve obviously come out publicly with that statement a few weeks ago and said so.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it a simple case of there\u2019s a third Victorian licence up for grabs now because Western United have gone out of the competition? No, that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, APL can go anywhere with those extra licences. They can also choose to go nowhere with those licences.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got 12 at the moment. They might not necessarily see a need.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know that Canberra is being seriously considered and has been seriously considered for a long time. I think if they find the right owner, Canberra will come into the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Gold Coast will still get a team at some point in time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe absolutely need a second team, if not a third team, in South-East Queensland. Between Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and a second Brisbane team, something needs to happen in that space.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if there was to be a third A-League team, with no promotion-relegation, in Melbourne, the only option right now is South Melbourne.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not greenfield. It\u2019s South Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I would love to see it happen. I think they would be fantastic.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it becomes a really interesting one.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, don\u2019t expect to see South Melbourne enter the top-flight without paying their way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think anyone out there who thinks that South Melbourne can rock into the A-League without paying a licence fee has rocks in their head. It\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d Windley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re in a world at the moment where it\u2019s a closed shop, whether we like it or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no promotion-relegation. It\u2019s not on sporting merit at the moment, so they will have to buy a licence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat that licence is worth is obviously going to be the real nub of the conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose licence values have fluctuated over time. Where that value sits right now, ultimately, if South Melbourne want to buy a licence into the competition, it\u2019s APL\u2019s to give away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that they\u2019re even entering into the conversation means that they obviously see some sort of value on that licence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it comes down to the negotiations as to what that is worth and whether what South Melbourne has the ability to, or wants to, put on the table is palatable to those at the APL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that will end up being one of the key sticking points.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they can find a middle ground on that that works for all parties, I genuinely see a world where South Melbourne could come into the A-League. I really do.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, to reiterate, that absolutely wouldn\u2019t have been the case a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Hellas actually make their way into the A-League, it could open the door for more historic NPL clubs to stake their case for a spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a South Melbourne coming in and being successful and having incredible derbies with Melbourne Victory, pretty good derbies with Melbourne City, and re-engaging old rivalries potentially against the likes of Perth Glory and, even to a lesser extent, Adelaide United will demonstrate: okay, well, if South have done this, why can\u2019t Marconi do it? That\u2019d be cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy couldn\u2019t Adelaide City do it? That\u2019d be cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy couldn\u2019t Brisbane Strikers do it? That\u2019d be cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden you\u2019ve got this groundswell of clubs starting to move into the ecosystem that are unequivocally providing value, not just to the competition but also to the existing clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve increased memberships, you\u2019ve increased ticket sales, therefore sponsorships are more valuable, all that sort of stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ecosystem starts to flourish on the back of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, of course, ipso facto, TV rights go up, investment increases, yada yada yada.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Melbourne coming in is a really important first step, I think, to moving towards a unified pyramid.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t in and of itself say that we\u2019re one day going to have promotion-relegation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might also move to a world where South Melbourne actually has to take a bullet for the rest of the clubs around that want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
They might have to pay a licence fee that in 10 years\u2019 time is demonstrated to be overs because others come in on a differentiated licence or a participation fee that is less because the trapdoor is slightly open.<\/p>\n
But someone\u2019s going to have to take the first step.<\/p>\n
South right now is the one that\u2019s best positioned to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The spectacle put on by Preston Lions and South Melbourne in the Australia Cup on Thursday night has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[24689,260,68252,381],"class_list":["post-81465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-building-blocks","tag-melbourne","tag-preston","tag-south-melbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}