A football club that was set up 50 years ago by the Greek community of Mount Gambier in South Australia is still going strong even as the community that set it up has dwindled in numbers. Its traditions and history now upheld by a new generation of philhellenes.
The Apollo Football Club celebrates its 50th anniversary this year by Australian philhellenes who have ensured that the club continues to thrive even as it continues the traditions created by its founders half a century ago.
The blue and white colours are still proudly worn and the Greek flag still flies proudly in the South Australian win. The players celebrate by dancing the “Zorba!” and the still drink ouzo sfinakia said Apollo club life member George Stathopoulos.
There were numerous Greek families in Mount Gambier that were drawn from many parts of Greece when the club was founded in 1971.
“We started slowly, slowly, but in those days with having just a few people in the club, we did everything, Not only did we have to build the club rooms, but we had to, on Sunday, do the lines for the grounds, the ladies worked the canteen, we did the refereeing, we did all sorts,” club founding member Michael Rigopoulis told the Border Watch.
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The club began modestly but the Greek community, with help from the wider Australian community, established the current ground at Webb Street in the Hastings-Cunningham Reserve in the early 1980s. Over the years the facilities have been improved making them among the best in the south eastern corner of South Australia.
Today the club has imported new lights from Scandinavia which will give the club the best lighting in the region.
Reflecting its inclusivity from its beginnings, one of the first club presidents was John Healy who was of Irish descent and the coach, Vic Gentile, was of Italian descent. Players were also drawn from various ethnic backgrounds and this helped to ensure that it would continue to prosper as the Greek involvement diminished over the years.
“The (predominantly) Greek Committee at the time, we sort of decided at a meeting to invite others to come in from any other nationality,” Mr Rigopoulis recalled. “Because we thought the Greeks eventually, there won’t be enough to carry the club forward. After that, we got people in the committee and members and all that sort of stuff. And he’s the result to day. Because without all those individuals, the club wouldn’t exist”
In the 1980s the club’s junior teams won multiple premierships setting up the success that was to follow for the senior teams in the decade that followed when the B-Grade team won Apollo’s first senior championship in 1990. The club won A grade championships and a league cup in 1996 and 1997.The club’s focus today is on developing the junior teams and it is fielding teams in every junior category. The Roo ball squad boasts 50 under-10 players.
The club held its half century celebrations on 16 and 17 July with many former club players and officials attending a celebrations’ meet and greet on the Friday and a “legends” game on Saturday afternoon. In the evening, there was a celebratory dinner and on Sunday a breakfast was held as part of the celebrations.
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