Ticket = AUS$19-30 (£10 approx.)
Water = AUS$3-50 (£1-75 approx.)
Total = £11-75 approx.
So I've finally made an honest woman of Mrs Groundhopper, and we've spent 3 weeks on honeymoon in Australia. I manage to sniff out a game almost anywhere, and managed to find this final game of the season in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. The added intrigue was twofold - South Melbourne actually played in the inaugural Club World Championship in the same group as Manchester United in 2000, and today they could win the league ahead of Bentleigh Greens.
The NPL Victoria league sits below the A-league, and is one of several regional leagues in Australia. The winners do not automatically gain promotion to the A-league, and in this respect the set-up resembles the previous set-up in Scotland (where there was previously no progression route for non-league teams). The league has 14 teams, including such wonderfully named teams as Dandenong Thunder, Werribee City and North Geelong.
The game was in an ideal location, being played at the Lakeside Stadium, which is about a half an hour walk from the city centre. The stadium is a multi-purpose stadium - clearly used for athletics amongst other things - located in Albert Park, which has several rugby pitches, a golf course and a lake. As I approached the stadium, the sky was clear, the sun was bright, and the paths were full of runners and dog-walkers. And this was winter in Melbourne!
After having my TicketMaster 'e-ticket' scanned at the entry gates, I surveyed the ground and sat down at the top left of the main stand. As expected there was only one stand open, and the pitch was bounded by a blue athletics track. There was a smaller stand opposite, with a white ziz-zagging roof - it reminded me of the design of the academy stadium at Manchester City. The scene was completed with Melbourne's impressive Central Business District towering in the background. There were maybe a few hundred, maybe a thousand, spectators in the stand, and a loud group of supporters near me started to build the noise as kick-off approached.
South Melbourne were clearly favourites today. Milos Lujic fired an early shot wide, before making it 1-0 on 27 minutes with a close-range effort (following a smart backheel from Minopoulos). Northcote's Calvin Mbarga was a real handful for the home side, and offered some hope that the away side might spring a shock today. They did have the odd chance, but couldn't quite convert - Obradovic's volley flew wide, and Kalifatidis' header was well-saved. South Melbourne settled a few nerves when they made it 2-0 with Lujic's 38th minute header. That was a very handy time to score again. They then very nearly made it 3 when a free-kick flew just over on the cusp of half-time.
At half-time, I found the gents, and have to say they were the most sweet-smelling toilets I've ever been to at a game! The weather was still hot and I enjoyed basking a little in the sun before the second-half got underway. Lujic was again at the centre of the action, firing over from close range. Then on 62 minutes Brad Norton hit a looping cross-cum-shot in from the left, and somehow it curved into the net. I'm not sure if it was deliberate but the home fans were not complaining. As the chant went, 'the championship we're gonna win...'
Northcote's first chance of the second period came when Mbarga couldn't quite direct his flicked header on target. There was a bizarre incident when the home keeper - Nikola Roganovic - handled ball outside the area, but for some reason escaped punishment. He made up for this later when he pulled off a terrific double save 10 minutes later. After this the game was all South Melbourne, with Lujic missing an excellent chance for a hat-trick, and Minopoulos having a goal disallowed for offside.The result meant that South Melbourne won the league on 58 points, pipping Bentleigh Greens on goal difference. The celebrations were a little muted, and several fans left on the final whistle. The group of chanting fans I'd sat near were delighted, and showed how much this meant when the trophy was lifted.
The standard of the game was tricky to assess in comparison to English football. The formation and shape of both sides was far better than your average Evostik side in the UK, but there were times when the game lacked a little pace and quality. Technically, I've seen comparable players in non-league games in England. I'd say that at best it was at League Two standard, and at worst it was probably Evostik Division 1.
The game represented the end of our Australian adventure, and the end of a fantastic holiday. This was also a beginning, the start of something new and exciting. 2015-16 has started!
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