For a long time, SBS Radio has been proudly bringing World Cup matches to Australian multicultural homes. This year however will be unprecedented.
Featuring commentary in 13 languages and live online streaming of all 64 matches for the first time, SBS Radio will be broadcasting in more languages than ever before.
The SBS Greek radio program is not an exception – every match played by the Greek national team in Brazil will be live broadcasted on the Greek program – commentated on and analysed by prominent Greek Australian football players and former Socceroos.
Amongst them will be one women – the same one that in 1980s Greece became the world’s first woman to commentate on a televised football game – Vasso Morali.
For Vasso, it was football games in the neighbourhood and the love for Olympiakos that initiated what will later on become her passion and profession.
“I loved football since I was a kid. I used to play around the neighbourhood with the boys, I was fan of Olympiakos, and since my childhood, I followed football through radio and TV. Once I had a chance – already being a journalist in political reporting, but still fan of football – I tried my capabilities in broadcasting football. I was given a chance on the Greek national radio, in June 1983. The radio director trusted me, and offered me to do my first broadcasting of the Super League,” Vasso tells Neos Kosmos.
Despite a 35 year diverse journalistic career, Vasso’s passion for football hasn’t lost any of its strength.
“It is a lifetime passion that doesn’t go away,” she tells.
To bring the special broadcasting during the 2014 World Cup competition to life, SBS Greek radio program team has started planning and preparations process in March. Plan implementation started in May, with the broadcasting of short segments from World Cup history throughout the past 84 years.
The team – Stergos Kastelloriou, Vaios Anasthasopoulos, Themis Kallos , Vasso Morali, Markos Megalokonomos, Kyriakos Gold and Spyros Papastefanou – has been working on it tirelessly.
As the World Cup kicks off today, the first part of the two-part production – that of the pre-World Cup period – has just ended.
On the first match of the Greek national team, the World Cup live broadcasting will officially start on the SBS Greek radio program.
The time difference doesn’t work in favour of Australian commentators, but Vasso Morali says for true football fans – including herself – time is the least of their worries.
The only real problem, she says, is to boost their team, with positive thoughts from as far as Australia, to make it to the second round.
“The World Cup period will contain live broadcasts of the Greek national team matches, during the group stage of the Mundial. Myself will be the commentator from the studio, and Stergos Kastelloriou will be the host of our special live broadcaster for every Greek team’s game.
“Our first live broadcast will be on 15 June, at 1.30 am, for the match Greece – Columbia. As our analyst, we’ll have with us Peter Katholos, former youth Socceroos’ player and prominent Greek Australian player both in Australia and in Greece. The second match is on 20 June at 7.30 am, Japan-Greece. For this match, we’ll have Kyriakos Tohouroglou, who is a former Greece national goalkeeper and goalkeeper of Olympiakos. He is currently running Olympiakos Academy in Sydney.
“The last match of the stage will be Greece-Ivory Coast on 27 June, at 5.30 am. We’ll have Peter Raskopoulos, former Socceroos’ captain and one of the most prominent football players in Australia, commenting on the match from our studio.
“We’ll also have live crosses to Brazil with a stringer of ours. Also we’ll have live crosses to Melbourne and Sydney from venues that will gather a lot of Greek fans watching Brazil live on big screens, so we’ll have our reporters there to give us the atmosphere and fans’ reactions,” Vasso explains.
“We are all excited in the team, and we hope that will help our audience to really live the moment.”
After the end of every match, there will be an open line for listeners to call in and share their views of the match on air, along with the final analysis, opinion and comment from hosts and studio guests.
For the SBS Greek radio program, and the SBS as a whole, 2014 World Cup undoubtedly marks the biggest coverage of the World Cup ever.
And for Vasso Morali, the first female in the world to ever report on football matches, it comes as a crown on her rich football reporting experience.
Known in journalistic circles for her political reporting, Vasso is still adamant that nothing compares to football.
“I tried to put pleasure and passion in everything I’ve done so far – and I’ve done many things during 35 years of my journalistic career. But I love sports in general and mostly football and I really enjoy getting involved with it.”
Vasso says to Neos Kosmos that she would like to see Greece against Australia in the final.
In the real world, however, the World Cup final can’t be that perfect.
“If we are realistic, I think that Greece has great possibilities to go to second round. For Australia I have some hesitations. The end of the season is well behind us, so I really worry about players’ physical condition. I wish fast recovery for them to anticipate with the challenges in the official matches.
“The group the Australia plays is really challenging, and it would be a big scoop if they can make it to the second round. In my opinion, Greece has equal opportunities with any other team in their group to get through. If they are strong enough, have passion and a bit of luck – I think we can see Greece in the second round.
“For the final game, I think the hosts have the biggest chance, but I can not rule out Argentina, nor the champion Spain.”
For a detailed broadcasting schedule of the SBS Greek radio program during the World Cup, visit www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/greek