Post by Aliti on Feb 16, 2011 19:09:47 GMT 10
My fellow members Olympic Ultras fans we look back an article in 2005 Our Club first year 2004/2005 dropped unfortunately in the Nsw premier league after the NSL finished that year our club Sydney Olympic playing in the Summer competition while the Gay Leaguewasn't started which clubs will enter in then 8 teams.
I was looking back late last night reading an interesting article from the match day program in the season 2004/05. It was written By Peter Kambounias as in the forum Seccie/Phoenix Peter opinion were very passion Peter was 2MM presenting Soccer Express every Wednesday nights It was in English interviewing the tough questions at the Directors ,players and speaking the truth with out any fear writing Match day reports this article was one of the best I have read That year the Heading of the article:
A CLUB FACING SURVIVAL
Comment Peter Kamobounis
I remember a conversation I had with a Melita Eagles back in 1991 after when Sydney Olympic was beaten 1-0 at St George Stadium.
The fan asked me "SYDNEY OLYMPIC" should be the biggest club in Australia with all supporters you have. How come Olympic is not should be?"
Most of us have been asking the same question for many many years now.However today the club and it's fans are at the point where the big dreams are clearly overshadowed by the club's survival ambitions at today's Olympic face a tough task usurping the spot light from the club's existence.
But why is this the case? How has one of the biggest football icons of Australian sport got itself into the position it's In? How can a two time National champion club be on the life support? Where have all the Sydney Olympic fans gone?
Sydney Olympic has always had a traditional fan base of Hellenic background. Hellenic migrants of the 50's and 60's formed the club. Sydney Olympic was More then just Football club. It was effective vehicle fro the migrants to keep in touch with each other- to maintain their Hellenism here in Australia.
As the migrants settled into society so too came their offspring.
Many Sydney Olympic fans took their children along with them, and there have been memorable periods where Australian born children of Hellenic frequented Sydney Olympic matches in numbers. The Glory days of St George Stadium with the packed hill behind the goals. the piethora of youngsters at the popular Leichardt Oval and recently Thare night club like gathering of youth behind the goals at Belmore Sports Ground.
These days we are bombarded with so many things to do and see and more of us are diverting our attention from Sydney Olympic/
It's this lost generation that representing the downhill spiral of support for Sydney Olympic. The migrants of the 50's and the 60's are ageing to the point where they can't go to Sydney Olympic matches any more.
They have other means to feel connected to their homeland- like ERT WORLD and ANT1 pacific on pay television and they have other interests such their grand children.
Of course there is still a cone of the original supporters of the club.
A few years ago Sydney Olympic held open meeting at the Alexander the great club- the meeting allowed the club and the fans to express their views as to where the club was then where things were heading. the main auditorium area was pretty much full.
I was one of the speakers at the meeting. I asked the attendees to look around and see who else was at the meeting. The vast majority of the supporters at the meeting were elderly. There was minority of young fans.
I put it to the meeting that the club then had to seriously consider an image change in order to embrace fans from outside the traditional base of the club. I stated that most of the people in the room would not be alive to see Olympic in 50 years time. So we had to allow for the metamorphosis of the club to ensure long time survival.
It didn't take long for the elderly supporters to start booing and jeering- they obviously thought that what I was saying was wrong. They yelled at me to shut up and sit down that I had no idea what I was saying.
Well, recently the club had a meeting- again at the Alexander the Great Club. It was on a Sunday morning. This time the attendance was barely over 50 people. This time the young fans comprised a much higher proportion of the fans than at the meeting several years ago. This time the club was in a more precarious position than before.
Seems like the elderly fans abandoned the club for one reason or another.
Some Sydney Olympic fans today have advocated a return to the Hellenic roots of the club in order to try to win back all the lost fans.
I believe that this alone will not solve the problem of the club. Many club officials of the past including millionaire owners and even today's board of Directors, have beckoned for Sydney Olympic fans to stand by their club and show support by simply attending home games.
Seems like these appeals have fallen on deaf ears, because it is the same people tunning up to games week in week out. There are no new faces. We here today are the hard core of Sydney Olympic Supporters. And the truth be told- there are not many of us left.
Some fans have laid the blame at previous boards and the decisions they have made. Granted, there have been some discussion that have ear bed the ire of Olympic fans-the most notable being the move from Belmore to Shark Park, but we still went and followed our club.
Many of us didn't like a coach in the past. a particular board of directors or we unimpressed with this team, but we still supported the club by attending the games.
A true supporter of the club supports the club all the time-no matter who is the coach Is, no matter what the team's form is like who the board Is. Over the years many people have disliked an aspect of Sydney Olympic and they have used it as an excuse is not support the team.
Recently a fan exclaimed " Olympic, what are you doing to us" I heard it and thought. It's not what Olympic has done to us, It's what we have all dome to Olympic'
Faced with the vexed questions of whether to go back to the Hellenic roots or to try to attract fans from outside the traditional base combination of both the club also has a much bigger and More serious threat toiit's well being.
Whether we like it or not, the A -League represents the sport of football being thrust onto the Australian sporting smorgasbord by the federal Liberal Government and the billionaire boss FFA Frank Lowy. The new competition Will be television abeit pay TV the new competition has already attracted extra radio and TV coverage as the new franchises sign players from both and overseas.
The new competition will magnetize many fans that want to go to am a match where there are no ethnic connotations or where connotations are implicitly evident.
We younger Olympic fans know that people of a non- Hellenic background are more than welcome to our games- but the huge majority of these people have a different idea or perception of what Sydney Olympic I s all about. That is why I suggested that we had to change our image slightly to shut down these perceptions.
So with the pending A League starting later this year, the diminishing support from the elderly traditional fans of the club, and the shrinking youth support our club faces it's most turbulent times ever.
It is time for all the Sydney Olympic supporters to stop saying they support the club and to start showing it again. We have to stick together,We have to support whoever is in the unenviable role running the club.
Yes there were will be mistakes. but are we going to walk away from the club because of mistakes. Isn't Sydney Olympic more important that that? And trust me, the current board is under immerse pressure pressure that has never been on a board before-financial of a high work load, pressure of dealing with dwindling supporter numbers and the pressure of dealing with how to teer the club on the tightrope of survival.
The least we can do is to just be there to support the club we love. We have to consolidate first and then build , bot other other ways around,W have to stick together for the sake of Sydney Olympic
written by Peter Kambounias
Match day Program Oki Jubilee oval.
Season 2004/2005
I was looking back late last night reading an interesting article from the match day program in the season 2004/05. It was written By Peter Kambounias as in the forum Seccie/Phoenix Peter opinion were very passion Peter was 2MM presenting Soccer Express every Wednesday nights It was in English interviewing the tough questions at the Directors ,players and speaking the truth with out any fear writing Match day reports this article was one of the best I have read That year the Heading of the article:
A CLUB FACING SURVIVAL
Comment Peter Kamobounis
I remember a conversation I had with a Melita Eagles back in 1991 after when Sydney Olympic was beaten 1-0 at St George Stadium.
The fan asked me "SYDNEY OLYMPIC" should be the biggest club in Australia with all supporters you have. How come Olympic is not should be?"
Most of us have been asking the same question for many many years now.However today the club and it's fans are at the point where the big dreams are clearly overshadowed by the club's survival ambitions at today's Olympic face a tough task usurping the spot light from the club's existence.
But why is this the case? How has one of the biggest football icons of Australian sport got itself into the position it's In? How can a two time National champion club be on the life support? Where have all the Sydney Olympic fans gone?
Sydney Olympic has always had a traditional fan base of Hellenic background. Hellenic migrants of the 50's and 60's formed the club. Sydney Olympic was More then just Football club. It was effective vehicle fro the migrants to keep in touch with each other- to maintain their Hellenism here in Australia.
As the migrants settled into society so too came their offspring.
Many Sydney Olympic fans took their children along with them, and there have been memorable periods where Australian born children of Hellenic frequented Sydney Olympic matches in numbers. The Glory days of St George Stadium with the packed hill behind the goals. the piethora of youngsters at the popular Leichardt Oval and recently Thare night club like gathering of youth behind the goals at Belmore Sports Ground.
These days we are bombarded with so many things to do and see and more of us are diverting our attention from Sydney Olympic/
It's this lost generation that representing the downhill spiral of support for Sydney Olympic. The migrants of the 50's and the 60's are ageing to the point where they can't go to Sydney Olympic matches any more.
They have other means to feel connected to their homeland- like ERT WORLD and ANT1 pacific on pay television and they have other interests such their grand children.
Of course there is still a cone of the original supporters of the club.
A few years ago Sydney Olympic held open meeting at the Alexander the great club- the meeting allowed the club and the fans to express their views as to where the club was then where things were heading. the main auditorium area was pretty much full.
I was one of the speakers at the meeting. I asked the attendees to look around and see who else was at the meeting. The vast majority of the supporters at the meeting were elderly. There was minority of young fans.
I put it to the meeting that the club then had to seriously consider an image change in order to embrace fans from outside the traditional base of the club. I stated that most of the people in the room would not be alive to see Olympic in 50 years time. So we had to allow for the metamorphosis of the club to ensure long time survival.
It didn't take long for the elderly supporters to start booing and jeering- they obviously thought that what I was saying was wrong. They yelled at me to shut up and sit down that I had no idea what I was saying.
Well, recently the club had a meeting- again at the Alexander the Great Club. It was on a Sunday morning. This time the attendance was barely over 50 people. This time the young fans comprised a much higher proportion of the fans than at the meeting several years ago. This time the club was in a more precarious position than before.
Seems like the elderly fans abandoned the club for one reason or another.
Some Sydney Olympic fans today have advocated a return to the Hellenic roots of the club in order to try to win back all the lost fans.
I believe that this alone will not solve the problem of the club. Many club officials of the past including millionaire owners and even today's board of Directors, have beckoned for Sydney Olympic fans to stand by their club and show support by simply attending home games.
Seems like these appeals have fallen on deaf ears, because it is the same people tunning up to games week in week out. There are no new faces. We here today are the hard core of Sydney Olympic Supporters. And the truth be told- there are not many of us left.
Some fans have laid the blame at previous boards and the decisions they have made. Granted, there have been some discussion that have ear bed the ire of Olympic fans-the most notable being the move from Belmore to Shark Park, but we still went and followed our club.
Many of us didn't like a coach in the past. a particular board of directors or we unimpressed with this team, but we still supported the club by attending the games.
A true supporter of the club supports the club all the time-no matter who is the coach Is, no matter what the team's form is like who the board Is. Over the years many people have disliked an aspect of Sydney Olympic and they have used it as an excuse is not support the team.
Recently a fan exclaimed " Olympic, what are you doing to us" I heard it and thought. It's not what Olympic has done to us, It's what we have all dome to Olympic'
Faced with the vexed questions of whether to go back to the Hellenic roots or to try to attract fans from outside the traditional base combination of both the club also has a much bigger and More serious threat toiit's well being.
Whether we like it or not, the A -League represents the sport of football being thrust onto the Australian sporting smorgasbord by the federal Liberal Government and the billionaire boss FFA Frank Lowy. The new competition Will be television abeit pay TV the new competition has already attracted extra radio and TV coverage as the new franchises sign players from both and overseas.
The new competition will magnetize many fans that want to go to am a match where there are no ethnic connotations or where connotations are implicitly evident.
We younger Olympic fans know that people of a non- Hellenic background are more than welcome to our games- but the huge majority of these people have a different idea or perception of what Sydney Olympic I s all about. That is why I suggested that we had to change our image slightly to shut down these perceptions.
So with the pending A League starting later this year, the diminishing support from the elderly traditional fans of the club, and the shrinking youth support our club faces it's most turbulent times ever.
It is time for all the Sydney Olympic supporters to stop saying they support the club and to start showing it again. We have to stick together,We have to support whoever is in the unenviable role running the club.
Yes there were will be mistakes. but are we going to walk away from the club because of mistakes. Isn't Sydney Olympic more important that that? And trust me, the current board is under immerse pressure pressure that has never been on a board before-financial of a high work load, pressure of dealing with dwindling supporter numbers and the pressure of dealing with how to teer the club on the tightrope of survival.
The least we can do is to just be there to support the club we love. We have to consolidate first and then build , bot other other ways around,W have to stick together for the sake of Sydney Olympic
written by Peter Kambounias
Match day Program Oki Jubilee oval.
Season 2004/2005
bravo