TΗΕ INAUGURAL GREEK COMMUNITY CUP HAS COMPLETED ITS FIRST WEEK WITH THRILLING RESULTS!
The Inaugural Greek Community Cup, which is been played at Mill Park FC, has completed its first week of matches, with some thrilling results and more to look forward to over the coming weekend.
The Cup is an initiative of the Greek Community of Melbourne and there are 12 Greek teams involved, which are split into 4 groups of 3 and the top 2 teams of each group will qualify for the knockout final stages.
President of the Greek Community, Bill Papastergiadis, OAM is excited by the tournament. “Football is a truly global sport and in Melbourne in particular, football as a sporting code has deep Hellenic roots. With the Greek Community Cup, our aim is to bring together players, coaches, officials, and all Greek clubs in general so as they can all form new relationships amongst one another.
“At the same time, we also aim to introduce these clubs to the rich language and Cultural programs of the GCM. Today, I had the privilege of meeting the host of this tournament, Jim the President of Mill Park FC. At the same time, the club afforded me the opportunity to mingle with old friends such as the President of Malvern City FC, James Ballis, the coach of Heidelberg FC, George Katsakis and Harry Tsalikidis, a Stalwart of both Heidelberg FC and our community “.
George Katsakis, who not only is well known in our community and the soccer fraternity as the Heidelberg FC coach over many years, but also as the coach of our successful All Nations Greek Team, who together with Con Tangalakis managed to win the tournament for the very first time, had this to say regarding the Cup. “I commend the Greek Community in organising the Greek Cup, especially at this time of the year, as it firstly allows us all to engage as Greeks in a pre-season tournament as a precursor to our season and at the same time it enables all players to mix with friends from various teams that they wouldn’t normally encounter throughout the domestic football season. The facilities at Mill Park are excellent for this time of the year and I encourage our community to come down and support the tournament”.
Tony Rousos, who is involved with Bentleigh Cobras FC, stated. “The Greek Community has given our club the opportunity to participate in the tournament and gain some valuable experience against some quality football teams that we would not normally play against as well as meet and engage with friends from past and present. I thank the Community for this initiative and look forward to what will eventuate over the duration of the tournament”.
Nick Maikousis and Andrew Mesorouni added that it was important that South Melbourne participated in this cup and were excited about how it was organised. Andrew said, “I congratulate the Greek Community of Melbourne for this initiative, and we will definitely participate in any future cups”.
Nick said “this tournament is a great entry for all our cups to start their season proper. It gives a chance to play you get players.”
Michael Karamitos, Vice President of the Greek Community, had this to say regarding the Cup. “Following the success of the All Nations Cup, whereby the Greek Team won the tournament, we at the Community are excited by the Greek Cup and what’s to come in the tournament. We have 12 quality Greek Teams participating and I encourage as many people as possible to come and support what we believe will be a wonderful tournament”’.
The following Matches have been scheduled for Saturday, 21/1/23 at Mill Park FC, Partridge St Lalor.
South Melbourne Hellas v East Kew 1:00 PM
Malvern City FC v West Preston 1:00 PM
Doncaster Rovers v Oakleigh Cannons FC 3:00 PM
Kingston City FC v Box Hill FC 3:00 PM
