Heidelberg United FC

I'm just going to pull a card from their supporters playbook.

I don't think they're our... main rival anymore I would say personally I think Heidelberg United are our biggest rival Oakley Cannons yeah Oakley Cannons yeah so I think Casey Comets Casey Comets are our biggest rival

yeah so it goes what Melbourne City Heidelberg Casey Comets Maroondah Maroondah United 215th

is Melbourne Victory 15th.

But if you say, okay, we're developing these procedures, this is what we need, you watch those clubs mobilize to get themselves to that point, right? Look at

what Heidelberg with... basically zero chance of making the champions league two last year right with the cup not that they knew that at the time but look at how hard they work to put things in place to make sure that should that opportunity arise they were going to take it with both hands that's what i'm saying like that momentum is going to come the more and more stories we have like this where it's clubs getting that opportunity you know state member clubs winning the cup south melbourne making the push for the a league you know it's that kind of stuff that's going to give momentum because those other clubs don't want to miss out right they'll be looking at it and go well why can't it be us so yeah i think that that's exactly it there needs to be some kind of incentive to be ambitious because up until now i don't think for any of these clubs there has been that incentive right for the a league they're starting to get it now with the fact you can actually make money by getting into asia again fantastic right that's a good that's a good thing and uh you know i know all the clubs involved with it this year have spoken about how that's kind of a huge part of why they're so excited for it is that yeah we can actually make a lot of money by by performing well in asia you know and now hopefully we can see it with some of these npl and state member clubs of like if we are ambitious, we can be the next South Melbourne.

You know, they need that incentive there.

And I just don't think they've had it up until now.

And there was a warm-up athletic centre that ends up becoming a soccer field.

So today that Heidelberg United play there, an NPL team play there, and the Olympic Village Primary School still exists as a campus of another school.

So there is that...

Um, there is still the remnants of the Olympic, uh, movement there.

So they've already got a bigger sort of...

How many Greek clubs are in Melbourne? Oakley, South, Heidelberg?

yeah there's lots they all get no bad support but South Melbourne's obviously more because even the weekend they brought I'm sure there wasn't a lot of South Melbourne fans in Shire but they just came down yeah there was a lot I think it was 3,200 at a game or something and it was I don't know how many were still in South Melbourne but they packed out a lot you can see that they obviously had the banners and they had the they did well man that's exactly what you want as a player a coach you want to see away fans you want to see fans

again it's mad though you can get you sign up to play at South Melbourne or at an NPL club And next thing you know you're playing in front of 30,000 people.

They almost qualified last year.

Definitely a decent side.

I didn't know Jay McGowan was there when I seen the highlights because he was very good last year at Heidelberg.

Yeah, he's a good player.

And that's what the premise of Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne were back in the day.

that they were the community hub and then, you know, your Heidelbergs, Oakleys, Northcote, Kingston, all those smaller great clubs and the other smaller crow clubs would be the feeder clubs for the big dog.

And, you know, people are very ignorant to that fact that, you know, that they are sleeping giants.

And I'm so glad that, the South Melbourne supporters came out in numbers, created that atmosphere.

... uh, as well.

Uh, Christian Theoharis has gone to Heidelberg United, uh, and Nico Duarte, uh, was on loan at Heidelberg as well.

I think he might have gone to Wollongong, um, for the championship as well.

So we'll see how that shakes out.