The first games of the inaugural Greek Community Cup have kicked off in a great start to the maiden comp at the home ground of Mill Park FC, Partridge Street Reserve in Lalor.
Conditions were perfect, just slightly overcast on Sunday after a searing Saturday, when the tournament began with a faceoff between Group Two competitors Heidelberg United FC and West Preston SC.
A good start to the comp, the ebb and flow of the first matchup ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw, Jonathan Tsangas secured the first goal of the Cup for West Preston, soon after equalised by Tadiwanashe Hove for Heidelberg United.
The Greek Cup, which brings together Men’s and Women’s teams with Greek roots on the football pitch is presented by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GOCMV) and the Australian Football Skool.
President of the GOCMV Bill Papastergiadis says that a focus of the competition will be to promote a blend of the community’s language initiatives with its love of the sport.
Mr. Papastergiadis told Neos Kosmos that by all accounts the games were fast paced and entertaining events.
“Mill Park was very happy with the attendance and we only expect it to grow as it goes on. There were some upsets and that’s what we wanted to see, some surprise results as all these teams come together to compete.”
Unsurprisingly, a number of players from teams competing in the tourney are students of the Greek language, with the Cup’s focus on Hellenic identity complementing the community’s efforts to promote language education.
The initiative to combine sports and language education is the brainchild of cooperation between the GOCMV and Malvern City FC.
Papastergiadis notes that time-constraints can be an impediment to young adults’ ambitions to immerse themselves in the Greek language, especially athletes who spend their free time training three or four times a week.
“As a community we’re always looking for ways to engage with the younger generations. So, we thought if we could tap into these clubs, it gives us an avenue to provide language education either on-site or remotely in an accessible way.”
“We’ve been the trialing on-site education with Malvern fitting around their schedule and so now what we’re going to do is continue to provide these opportunities and work closely with the clubs to deliver them over the course of the tournament,” he says.
As frontrunners in the push, players from Malvern City have incorporated Greek lessons into their training regimen, warming up their minds before taking to the field for their training and scheduled matches.
It’s hoped the concept will catch on among other football clubs in the broader Greek-Australian community, with the Community Cup as the field of exchange, combining the development of language learning and football.
A revival of the Hellenic Cup albeit with a slightly different name, organisation and concept; the Greek Community Cup comes ahead of the state championships, giving participating teams the chance to claim one of two trophies, the GCM Cup and GCM Shield.
Saturday’s second match kicked off at 3pm seeing home club Mill Park SC go up against their Group 3 rivals the Oakleigh Cannons.
In an entertaining game and despite stiff competition, Mill Park came out on top in a 2-1 victory, Matthew Oghanna opening the scoring for Mill Park in the game’s 12th minute before Oakleigh’s Roy Gregory brought the score even in the 26th.
But Mill Park thrived on their home ground getting back in front 6 minutes later when Dean Joncevski put one in the net and managed to hold off the opposition for the remainder of the match.
The Cup continues this week on Tuesday 17 January at 7pm when Altona East face East Key and Heidelberg look to claim their first win against tournament newcomers Malvern City.
