Semi-professional football club South Melbourne -- formerly of the now-defunct National Soccer League -- President Leo Athanasakis said that his club is "all in" in its bid to be elevated in to the A-League, according to Matt Windley of the HERALD SUN. And Athanasakis says a successful FFA Cup campaign, starting with Wednesday night's round of 32 clash against Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, "can provide quantifiable evidence to support its push for inclusion." South Melbourne is a "four-time national champion and was voted as Oceania's club of the 20th century, but Athanasakis insists his club is not basing its case for re-entry in to the top flight on history." Rather it wants to be seen as a "commercially viable entity -- with a large supporter base -- in its own right." Key to its financial security -- the club turns over more than A$1M ($730,000) annually and "expects to double that when its social club and futsal centre is completed in the next year or so" -- is the 40-year lease it signed at Lakeside Stadium last year. The arrangement would allow it to make returns on home matches that "other A-League clubs with crippling stadium deals could only dream of." Athanasakis said that, from his perspective, football in Australia "is now mature enough to have a conversation about welcoming back some of the former NSL clubs in to the top flight." But he said that each club "had to be considered on its merits today, not what the club once was." Athanasakis: "We don't want to get in to the A-League based on our history -- that's all done and dusted -- you've got to earn your right" (HERALD SUN, 7/26).
