How’s this for advance notice? The Herald Sun today suggests that the Melbourne Victory’s maiden game at the new stadium (currently being built) will be a friendly against a Greek team, most likely AEK Athens.
There have also been talks with Olympiacos and Panathinaikos.
As the piece points out, the Socceroos friendly with Greece prior to the World Cup attracted over 95,000 spectators. A match between the Victory and a Greek club will undoubtedly sell out the 31,000-capacity stadium.
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Brenton // Mar 5, 2008 at 4:33 pm
So for the wider greek community and AEK Athens fans out there, who will you support int aht game….Victory or AEK?…..Thats if it happens….i have very little faith in the herald sun….
2 chris // Mar 5, 2008 at 11:05 pm
i like the sound of it… i know it does not need to be a greek team to pull the crowds in, melbournians will watch grass grow on a wall with wet paint…
any high level european league team will bring a massive crowd.. problem is at 30,000 seating will it be too small for such high demand supporters? which im sure will be the case
3 Lager Lout from South End Till I Die // Mar 6, 2008 at 8:48 am
I have major issues with this game, I think that it will be used as an opportunity by South Melbourne Hellas fans and the greek community in general to yet again tell us (Victory and our fans) that they should be in the A League and not us.
I believe that if this match goes ahead they are going to need plenty of Police and security becuase there will be trouble in the stands.
There is a lot of ill feeling between South Melbourne’s fans and Melbourne Victory Fans over their belief that they should be in the A League.
South Melbourne know why there are not there and why there will never be allowed in to the national competition again.
I think the government and the club need to very quickly rethink this. The day following this match if it does go ahead, they won’t be talking about the football on the park, they will be talking about the trouble in the crowd.
4 Eric // Mar 6, 2008 at 9:01 am
Well said Lager Lout. It seems a somewhat risky idea to launch the new stadium with a match that could be quite contentious off-the-field.
Mind you, I think that even if there is no violence at all, the media will direct an unhealthy amount of focus to the crowd situation. Just a chance to relive NSL tension.
Your comment made me wonder though… Do you think it really is the Greek community vs. MVFC? I’m no expert on the ethnic background of Victory fans, but it seems like fans of Greek ethnicity are still in there. Perhaps it’s more an issue of club loyalty (to South Melbourne) than ethnic loyalty.
5 Astri // Mar 6, 2008 at 12:37 pm
From what I know, the majority of Hellas supporters are now Victory supporters. I can definitely say that from my own experience, all of my Greek friends are Victory fans and none of them are pining for a return of Hellas. Of course there may be a small contingent that will only watch VPL games but not too many. I read an article about some Hellas officials who are demanding they be given a license. They wont get it and nor should they. Greek team in Melbourne might be ok but it will give the trouble-making youth minority in the Greek community a reason to start their bullshit again.
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