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Expansion Thread 🪜

CentreHalf said:
Thats great but what are the numbers??
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As per the interwebs:
According to the latest 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census, Greater Melbourne is home to the largest Greek-speaking population outside of Greece. The data highlights the following key statistics for Melbourne and the state of Victoria: [1, 2]
  • Greek Ancestry: There are 162,103 people of Greek ancestry in Greater Melbourne, and 181,184 across the state of Victoria.
  • People Born in Greece: There are 44,956 residents of Greater Melbourne who were born in Greece.
  • Language: A total of 103,658 people in Greater Melbourne speak Greek at home.
Remember this is IF they only appeal to that certain demographic, which already doesn't seem the case, nor is it the case with clubs like Newcastle Olympic in Newcastle, or Hamilton Azzurri the club I am an involved in and am absolutely not Italian, nor is the President or anyone on the committee for that matter (yes yes i know anecdotal evidence).

So not a bad base!
 
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jimshady said:
As per the interwebs:
According to the latest 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census, Greater Melbourne is home to the largest Greek-speaking population outside of Greece. The data highlights the following key statistics for Melbourne and the state of Victoria: [1, 2]
  • Greek Ancestry: There are 162,103 people of Greek ancestry in Greater Melbourne, and 181,184 across the state of Victoria.
  • People Born in Greece: There are 44,956 residents of Greater Melbourne who were born in Greece.
  • Language: A total of 103,658 people in Greater Melbourne speak Greek at home.
Remember this is IF they only appeal to that certain demographic, which already doesn't seem the case, nor is it the case with clubs like Newcastle Olympic in Newcastle, or Hamilton Azzurri the club I am an involved in and am absolutely not Italian, nor is the President or anyone on the committee for that matter (yes yes i know anecdotal evidence).

So not a bad base!
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I know I can rely on some non Greek friends of mine to come to some games.

Summer night games by the bay.

Who wouldn't want to come?!!
 
I'm surprised that the demands or requirements haven't been leaked yet. Kinda suggests to me that South are taking this seriously.
 
HappyGuus said:
I'm surprised that the demands or requirements haven't been leaked yet. Kinda suggests to me that South are taking this seriously.
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when have the "demands and requirements" EVER been leaked out? We've been through 3 application processes....

Don't you think its funny that pre WC, all of a sudden CCM owners are "close" and WU license is "being negotiated with SMFC"... cmon man.. its all bullshit.
 
The A-League has spent two decades creating new brands, some very successfully. However, South Melbourne offers something that cannot be manufactured – over 65 years of football history, generations of supporters, and a recognised identity within Australian football.....

Many clubs around the world derive their strength from heritage. South Melbourne already possesses that heritage.

Unlike some expansion bids that require entirely new facilities, South Melbourne has an established home at Lakeside Stadium.

The argument for South Melbourne is not simply "they were successful in the past."

The argument is that they offer something the A-League sometimes lacks: a club with deep roots, a passionate supporter base, established rivalries, and a story that stretches across generations of Australian football.

Unlike many expansion clubs, South Melbourne would not be building a brand from scratch. The club already has a story.

And im convinced this is probably the one former NSL "ethnic" club who could make this work!
 
jimshady said:
As per the interwebs:
According to the latest 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census, Greater Melbourne is home to the largest Greek-speaking population outside of Greece. The data highlights the following key statistics for Melbourne and the state of Victoria: [1, 2]
  • Greek Ancestry: There are 162,103 people of Greek ancestry in Greater Melbourne, and 181,184 across the state of Victoria.
  • People Born in Greece: There are 44,956 residents of Greater Melbourne who were born in Greece.
  • Language: A total of 103,658 people in Greater Melbourne speak Greek at home.
Remember this is IF they only appeal to that certain demographic, which already doesn't seem the case, nor is it the case with clubs like Newcastle Olympic in Newcastle, or Hamilton Azzurri the club I am an involved in and am absolutely not Italian, nor is the President or anyone on the committee for that matter (yes yes i know anecdotal evidence).

So not a bad base!
Click to expand...
Looking at ABS stats it’s interesting to see that while a clear majority of Italians don’t speak Italian at home (over 1.1 million Italians but less than 250,000 native speakers), just under half of Greeks still speak Greek at home (500,000 Greeks and 230,000 Greek speakers, though some would also be Cypriots). Maltese is similar to Italian, Croatian is in the middle whereas the majority of Macedonians still speak Macedonian at home.

Is there potentially a link with the Greek Orthodox Church in preserving the Greek language (compared to Italian whose speakers would attend a generic Roman Catholic Church with multiple other ethnic groups), or is there just more cultural preservation? In saying that the majority of Greek and Italian Americans only speak English.
 
Football us life said:
The A-League has spent two decades creating new brands, some very successfully. However, South Melbourne offers something that cannot be manufactured – over 65 years of football history, generations of supporters, and a recognised identity within Australian football.....

Many clubs around the world derive their strength from heritage. South Melbourne already possesses that heritage.

Unlike some expansion bids that require entirely new facilities, South Melbourne has an established home at Lakeside Stadium.

The argument for South Melbourne is not simply "they were successful in the past."

The argument is that they offer something the A-League sometimes lacks: a club with deep roots, a passionate supporter base, established rivalries, and a story that stretches across generations of Australian football.

Unlike many expansion clubs, South Melbourne would not be building a brand from scratch. The club already has a story.

And im convinced this is probably the one former NSL "ethnic" club who could make this work!
Click to expand...
Thats very flattering but sorry its a load of crap... we are not THAT unique... We are but one of dozens of Australian clubs that can make a go of it, sure we may be the loudest still but judging Marconi, Melbourne Knights, Adelaide Juve, Sydney United etc on who they are today (after 20 years in exile) does them a disservice. Im done with my club being used as first a scapegoat for what was wrong with ethnic football to now a paragon of old soccer virtue.. FUCK the APL, FUCK the Aleague, we ALL move onwards together or not at all....
 
K55 said:
The single most limiting factor in South Melbourne growing it fan base is the use of the “Hellas” branding. It needs to move beyond that if it has any hope of engaging a broader fan base and to contribute to the growth of football in Australia. If it does not intend to do that, then it should not be considered for promotion to our elite league.broad based clubs are essential. A club that represents all of southern Melbourne would be great, but it will not resonate with the broader community if it continues to brand itself as “Hellas”. By the way, I have the utmost respect for South Melbourne FC and would love to see it in the A-League. But not branded such that its appeal is restricted, whether by perception or reality, to a narrow portion of the community.
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Also on this, not to single you out because it does seem like you’re making an argument in good faith here, your post just sparked the thought in my mind. But also I find it weird how these new entities are popping up and claim to “represent” xy nebulous geographic region when they never asked to be represented by you. Or even suggestions of likes of Melb city moving to the southeast to “represent” them. Is that just code for “derive your customer base from”. I thought the point of the likes of Melbourne victory was that they were for all of Melbourne, why now are we talking about retroactively carving up that “market”. The main difference with Sydney was that Sydney fc was designed to be a non ethnically aligned club for all of Sydney as a point of difference from the traditional ethnically affiliated clubs which previously dominated the marketplace and then later people in Western Sydney organically pushed for/asked for their own team. It wasn’t foisted upon them, they fought for it. It doesn’t work when you just declare you represent a place, look at western United or even gws giants in afl as examples
 
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Football us life said:
The A-League has spent two decades creating new brands, some very successfully. However, South Melbourne offers something that cannot be manufactured – over 65 years of football history, generations of supporters, and a recognised identity within Australian football.....

Many clubs around the world derive their strength from heritage. South Melbourne already possesses that heritage.

Unlike some expansion bids that require entirely new facilities, South Melbourne has an established home at Lakeside Stadium.

The argument for South Melbourne is not simply "they were successful in the past."

The argument is that they offer something the A-League sometimes lacks: a club with deep roots, a passionate supporter base, established rivalries, and a story that stretches across generations of Australian football.

Unlike many expansion clubs, South Melbourne would not be building a brand from scratch. The club already has a story.

And im convinced this is probably the one former NSL "ethnic" club who could make this work!
Click to expand...
I think one problem that might arise is clubs like APIA Leichhardt or Sydney United feeling left out given one old NSL club gets in but not others. A functioning pro/rel system would be quite good and beneficial but that looks like a distant idea. I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but would admitting South Melbourne require other NPL clubs to be admitted too?
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
Thats very flattering but sorry its a load of crap... we are not THAT unique... We are but one of dozens of Australian clubs that can make a go of it, sure we may be the loudest still but judging Marconi, Melbourne Knights, Adelaide Juve, Sydney United etc on who they are today (after 20 years in exile) does them a disservice. Im done with my club being used as first a scapegoat for what was wrong with ethnic football to now a paragon of old soccer virtue.. FUCK the APL, FUCK the Aleague, we ALL move onwards together or not at all....
Click to expand...
Monoethnic Social Club said:
Thats very flattering but sorry its a load of crap... we are not THAT unique... We are but one of dozens of Australian clubs that can make a go of it, sure we may be the loudest still but judging Marconi, Melbourne Knights, Adelaide Juve, Sydney United etc on who they are today (after 20 years in exile) does them a disservice. Im done with my club being used as first a scapegoat for what was wrong with ethnic football to now a paragon of old soccer virtue.. FUCK the APL, FUCK the Aleague, we ALL move onwards together or not at all....
Click to expand...

Unique in comparison to existing A League clubs perhaps?
 
HonestSpursFan said:
I think one problem that might arise is clubs like APIA Leichhardt or Sydney United feeling left out given one old NSL club gets in but not others. A functioning pro/rel system would be quite good and beneficial but that looks like a distant idea. I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but would admitting South Melbourne require other NPL clubs to be admitted too?
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Sydney United are a great club too but there's one or two minor issues that could well go against them getting an A League licence...
 
If Sth Melb do get WU licence I’m all for it. I’m just not sure if they can bring in new fans to there games?
They are well supported, just that can an ethnic roots/Australian club bring in new locals to their games? I’m not being “anti wog” so asking would the club reach a higher demographic of newer fans to come and support for years ahead.
The again if u look at City 3-6k average at home games and WU and Bulls 2-4K a game and CCM 1k to 4K my comments may seem redundant.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Looking at ABS stats it’s interesting to see that while a clear majority of Italians don’t speak Italian at home (over 1.1 million Italians but less than 250,000 native speakers), just under half of Greeks still speak Greek at home (500,000 Greeks and 230,000 Greek speakers, though some would also be Cypriots). Maltese is similar to Italian, Croatian is in the middle whereas the majority of Macedonians still speak Macedonian at home.

Is there potentially a link with the Greek Orthodox Church in preserving the Greek language (compared to Italian whose speakers would attend a generic Roman Catholic Church with multiple other ethnic groups), or is there just more cultural preservation? In saying that the majority of Greek and Italian Americans only speak English.
Click to expand...
Most Greeks send their kids to Greek school on weekends to make sure they do. Most Italians didn’t. Also many Italian migrants come from places where a regional dialect was the main form of communication at home, not the Italian national language. Those are harder to maintain because they’re largely useless outside the home/village, one Italian kid with parents who spoke a Naples dialect at home may not have even have been able to understand a kid speaking a sicilian dialect at school for example. I see it changing, I’ve noticed many of the newer arrivals from the more recent wave in the past 10-15 years have learnt from the “mistake” previous generations made and are making a point of passing on the language. Dialects are less prevent than they were 50 years ago, the national Italian language is much more national now. Many of the generation who came from the south of Italy, particularly small towns in the post ww2 era may not have even spoken “Italian” properly
 
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Monoethnic Social Club said:
Sorry bud, reading my response again I didnt want to sound so aggressive... Just really tired of the argument and of having to defend my clubs Australianess constantly...
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I get that. Maybe because im a non-Australian who is right into the vast cultural dimensions of football I tend fund interest in thingslike a club's cultural background.
 
We Hellas fans have been down this path too many times over the last 20 years.

It's just hot air and empty words. The APL are trying to generate competitive tension for franchise licence fees.

If Hellas had $15 million, it would be better off investing it in assets that generate revenue. Not to prop up the ponzi scheme of franchise football.
 
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