Why South Melbourne keeps getting rejected by the A-League

South Melbourne FC, one of Australia's biggest soccer clubs, has been consistently rejected by the A-League over the past 20 years. We detail their attempts to join the league and why we think they can't get in.

[LucUltraRWB]

Glad I found an A-League channel. Not many of them but when you find them they’re really enjoyable to watch. Nice video mate

[gstef]

With the 2nd team in Melbourne, MV did not want South anywhere near the comp, they were petrified of losing Greek support and sponsorship (understandably)

That said it would have worked and been a far better rivalry than what we ended up with. Essentially our games version of Adelaide Crows v Port Adelaide (new v old).

As for the past, South had very healthy crowds in the nsl, it was a semi pro comp, and Melbourne had a much much smaller population at the time. They wouldnt be bigger than MV but they'd have City and Western covered easily.

Current npl crowds have little relevance. Nobody turns up to Wollongong games either but if they were in the A league they'd be a bigger regional club than the Mariners, nobody turns up Victorys npl games in winter either, the npl is not built for crowds, it competes against all the state leagues, junior comps and afl/nrl.

[AussieLeedsArentWe]

Amazing video. Just another reminder that these are the teams that will help grow proper Football in Australia not this restricted A-League. I want an opportunity to grow for all teams whether it be in South Melbourne, Sunshine Coast or Tasmania. Time to let the shackles off and open the game to all with equal opportunity and relying on communities to get behind their local team and help them grow and progress.

[peterkotsonis]

The fact that the available Melbourne license has been taken so many times by consortiums with deep pockets but no footballing history or heritage has diminished the competition as a worthwhile spectacle. I'm a South fan from way back and still have a membership and will never support an A-League club unless it's South. When you look at Heart/City and Western United, it's pitiful that most games these clubs play are played in empty stadia which shows the league is not appealing to the Australian public it was marketed to. Clubs like South would bring existing passionate fan bases and fans through turnstiles. I was there when South opened the Lakeside stadium with a game against West Adelaide, we were all on the terraces crotch to butt so more of us could fit in and watch Jimmy Tsekinis tear our team apart. No A-League club has this, they are just teams playing in expensive stadia too big for their markets in most cases. The A-League will not be sustainable until all fans are welcome, both "old soccer" and "new football"

[bigbangger]

Interesting that the best Australian socceroos team ever was made from players from the old national league before to, all players in the team played in top flight leagues and teams all over the world. In fact, losing to Italy in a controversial penalty decision. Remember, Italy then went on to win the world cup. A league is unsustainable, with no Westfield's or foxtel sponsors it is only a matter of time before it collapses.

[coolbananas]

“Corporate money” pretty much sums up the world, not just the world of football.

[joeyzoi]

Thank you for this well researched video. My dad and I used to attend all the South Melbourne matches from the late 60s until about the mid 80s. I was born here and always preferred to call them South Melbourne as opposed to Dad who used to always call them Hellas. Dad was a hard working labourer, and going to see South Melbourne was his one opportunity every week to catch up with friends and relatives, blame the ref for everything, and enjoy a game of football.
Dad is now 85 and watches the A-League religiously on Paramount plus. He likes Melbourne Victory and often slips into calling them Hellas, which makes me smile.
I always hoped that South would eventually end up in the A-League, honouring it's historical roots while at the same time remodelling itself for a broader Australian audience. That sadly seems unlikely in the current circumstances. In any case as lovers of football, my dad and I hope that the Australian game finds a way to keep growing and that we get to the world cup again in 2026🤞.

[charlesmurphy]

Everyone goes on and on about how well supported they are. I’ve been to a few of their NPL home games this year and it’d be a stretch to say there was 200 people at each game

[danielgervasi]

A little culture didn't hurt anyone. In fact, culture is exactly what this league needs. A league needs as much european influence as possible.

[DS-qliy]

Appreciate your content and very good work all-round.

I do think there's a lot of stuff that is disputed though when it comes to South. First of all, the biggest one is this whole topic of "Oceania Club of the Century". There was never any official FIFA award for that. It was something given out by a glorified historical society in the "International Football Federation of History and Statistics (IFFHS)". Massively embellished by South fans as you'd imagine, and it has been portrayed as some sort of officially sanctioned global award when it is nothing of the sort.

Also, while mistakes were definitely made in the early days of the A-League with their approach, you can't argue with the results in Melbourne. The creation of MV was the single greatest decision for pro football in the country, let alone Victoria. It was, and still is, an entity that united the tribes like no other. Since then the decisions around Heart and more recently Western United were extremely questionable given there was no public/grassroots demand for either. They were both top-down decisions with questionable results.

I also question this idea about NSL clubs and the idea of exclusion. For those that followed the code during that era, we remember well just how bankrupt the league and its clubs were. Not just financially, but a clear inability to cut through to the mainstream. This all happened at a time when sports locally and globally were becoming corporatised and professional. Like it or not, community based clubs were not best placed to make this sort of transition, particularly on a terrain like that of Australia where a) the lion's share of the corporate dollar was/is soaked up by other sports and b) the lack of interest in 2nd tier leagues of any code. Even the most well-capitalised sports in the country, there's very little interest in the 2nd tier. There's no easy explanation for all this. It's partly cultural, partly geographical, and of course as you have identified, financial.

Things are changing though, even if the pace is glacial. But I do push back on the idea that South have been excluded on some sort of racial line. That's just not a true reflection of what has happened these past 20 years since the inception of the A-League. The A-League has done more to bring all ethnicities to the sport at the highest level than any other competition in the country. One Greek origin club not being part of the top flight doesn't mean ethnic exclusion. The fact that they are the only club that has been moaning for all this time is more about their ego than anything else.

[Footy.CC]

South Australia only has one club in the a-leauge sadly. But I hope in the near future we can see some NPLSA teams join the a-leauge since they all have good youth development and mens teams full of success.

[billgats]

Another great video and summary of events for SMFC.... who deserve better and at least a real chance to have had a go at it I feel.

[Mr_jz_]

S.M should have been in the a-league from the very start. The a-league got lucky with how popular victory was. The expansion clubs in vic have been underwhelming.

[iqweaver]

"spent decades growing the game" but that's the problem right there. The game wasn't growing. The possible audience was basically capped at ever-decreasing numbers as the pensioners who founded the clubs dropped away and no one replaced them.

[MegaasAlexandros]

South doesnt deserve a spot, if anything Heidelberg would be more deserving and could be a representative of the Northern regions rather than have 3 clubs in the central Melbourne's region.

[AchillesJG]

Devastated, Soul Destroyed, Furious. That's me, to a "T". Was a devoted fan of Australian soccer from 1990 to the death of the NSL. Have never, and will never, follow the A-League or any of the National Teams, as it's clear that South will never be allowed to participate.

[john]

Seriously, they're not the only former NSL clubs who deserve an opportunity. Don't give me this rubbish that they're the most decorated NSL team. If they are so good why did they only just manage 4k people to AC semi-final only 2 months ago. Based on that they wouldn't survive a year.

[tigers]

I think the commentator has overlooked the ethnic issue. We can't go back to those days.

[leighreganarblaster]

I do understand why SMFC didn’t get A-League they just couldn’t afford it. When Western Union can SMFC have their bid be on time but the CEO give Western United and teams Springvale- Dandenong. But they had bid in only for A-League and no ground build but SMFC had but SMFC had bid in for A-League and W-League with VPL and VPLW in Victorian football league Federation. Whit Lakeside Stadium with a Futsa with FM on radio show chatting a SMFC games and up coming SMFC events but ceo David Gallop think Western knighted I’d was better even no game built

[NORTH-TERRACE-BOYZ]

I’m a victory fan but support south too. But the a league just don’t want them in the league everyone knows that they aren’t that good.