South Melbourne FC has reported one of their best financial reports in a decade, putting them in a great position as they prepare themselves for entry into the proposed National Second Division.
“Hellas” held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) last Wednesday night at their home ground, Lakeside Stadium. They revealed the club’s excellent financial successes which have been boosted by some very large sponsorship deals.
“We made a profit of around $165,000 in the last financial year which is a fantastic result. The club has effectively no external debt whatsoever and we are trading very profitably and healthily,” club president Nicholas Maikousis told Neos Kosmos.
“We are stronger than we have been probably in the last 20 years and certainly since our NPL state league days.”
“Hellas'” aspirations are now squarely on joining the National Second Division (NSD) which has provisionally been planned to commence from next March.
“We are gearing up business for the NSD now and we are already starting to see that reflected in our sponsorship revenues. We are positioning ourselves for NSD and hopefully putting the NPL behind us,” Maikousis said.
The club believes they are a very strong chance of making it into the second-tier and are striving to ensure that enough teams can also be involved to make it viable.
“If the NSD goes ahead, we’re very confident that we will be a part of it …we just have to make sure that we have competition, that we can get another eleven clubs in and kick this off next March,” South Melbourne’s president said.
According to the club’s forecast, the prospect of the second division would see them double their revenue from $2 million to $4 million, with their expenditure rising by $1.2 million.
The meeting saw the election of two new board members: Nick Duggal and Paul Chiodo.
South Melbourne chairman Bill Papastergiadis OAM chaired the AGM, making a brief introduction in relation to some of the club’s key successes.
These included the Senior Men’s team winning the premiership last season, their blind team winning the national championship, their powerchair team winning the Victorian championship, as well as their junior football programs, under the guidance of Peter Kokotis and Tass Roufos.
He extended thanks to numerous individuals such as Skip Fulton (Secretary) for his five-year journey with the all-abilities teams that he has been managing.
Mr Papastergiadis went on to address the success of their Senior Women’s players, with many obtaining A-League contracts, while referencing the club’s record engagement with their corporate sponsors and sponsorship deals which has given them arguably their best financial results for close to a decade.
The chairman then noted the excellent relationship they had with state and federal representatives, thanking Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles for his numerous attendances at their events, as well as recently retired Martin Foley (former member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly), and Nina Taylor, who took over from Foley as the state member for their area.
Mr Papastergiadis concluded by showing appreciation to Mr Maikousis and fellow board members Andrew Mesourouni (who works with the Senior Men’s team) and Theo Chronos (who is in charge of the women’s program).
