ERT’s sports hunt comes to Australia

Greece’s national broadcaster ERT visited Melbourne last week in the process of filming an international documentary focusing on Greek sports around the world.

ERT has been profiling Greek-Australian sporting legends such as tennis star Mark Phillipousis, former AFL player Anthony Koutafides, goal-keeper Michael Theoklitos, boxer Michael Katsidis, and kick-boxing legend Stan ‘The Man’ Longinidis.

The ERT crew chose to dedicate an entire episode to South Melbourne Hellas, spending several days at South interviewing past greats, the clubs administrators and current players.

South Melbourne was the featured organisation of Victoria and the only Melbourne club with an entire episode.

ERT will also visit other clubs such as Sydney Olympic, Oakleigh and Heidelberg United briefly before heading to the USA.

Project co-ordinator Elena Bouzala told Neos Kosmos English Edition, “This series is taking ERT around the world. The series will eventually be screened on ERT World and is a huge project. We hope it will be ready by September or October.”

Along with Australia, the documentary will be filmed worldwide, including in the USA, Canada and parts of Europe and will be made up of 26 episodes.

The series will cover a range of sporting organisations and individuals that have some form of Hellenic background and or influence.

SMFC Director Dr George Triantos said, “We are delighted to have hosted the ERT crew at Bob Jane Stadium, and it has been our pleasure to assist them with the production of the documentary.

What is more impressive, is an entire episode will be dedicated to South Melbourne FC, showcasing our facilities, corporate partners and fans, past legends, and what is so great about our club.”

ERT journalists interviewed Hellas legends including the great Jimmy Armstrong, Takis Mantarakis, Ulysses Kokkinos, Andreas Roussis, Jim Pyrgolios and Manny Poulakakis, each of whom delighted ERT with stories about the history of the club.

The production crew also focussed on South’s present day action, filming the side’s 2-0 win over Altona Magic in the VPL which was followed by interviews with coach Michael Michalakopoulos and members of the squad.