Melbourne Knights and Sydney United played out a scoreless draw at Knights Stadium on Sunday evening concluding their 2003/2004 seasons in uninspiring style. It was a match where the wrapping proved to be more valuable than the contents.
Labinot Haliti could have won it for United at the death after a break led by substitute Anthony Doumanis who fed a ball wide to the left for fellow substitute Liam Austin to cross. Haliti met it low down at the far post, and his shot seemed certain to sneak in at the foot of the post except for a fine intervention from Knightsı goalkeeper Tommi Tomich.
It was a game that failed to catch alight, despite the hopes of the sizable Somers Street attendance hoping to farewell its team in style.
³Youıd have thought those boys coming off the ground had lost a Grand Final today,² said Knightsı coach Ian Dobson after the game. ³Tears were shed by more than half-a-dozen of them.²
In a serendipitous bit of fixturing, the NSL had scheduled two clubs, each founded by Croatian immigrants of their home cities, to meet in the final round of the season. The significance was heightened as certainly Melbourne Knights, and likely Sydney United, was playing not just its last game of this NSL season, but bowing out of the national competition altogether, having decided not to apply for admission to the restructured competition in 2004/2005.
³Iım a born and bred third or fourth generation Australian,² said United coach Grant Lee after the game. ³All through my career as a player and now as a coach, itıs always been the same. It doesnıt matter if youıre playing the Italians, Croatians, the Macedonians, or whoever they are passionate people.
³I understand what (Soccer Association Chairman) Frank Lowy is trying to achieve. Whether itıs right or wrong I donıt know because itıs where the passion comes from. You canıt take the passion out of the game.²
Indeed Knights will have a midweek membership meeting to determine whether it would cease entirely as a football club, or continue to hold out for a place in the elite VSF league. After fifty years existence the club having entered the Provisional League of the then Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association in 1954 alongside the British Wire Rope Company and South Yarra it is an unsatisfactory finish.
There was little at stake in this Round 26 game, save for boasting rights within the Croatian-Australian communities of Melbourne and Sydney, and the usual collection of football stattos, as neither side could make the Finals. Knightsı season was calamitous by its lofty standards of just a few short years before, and United had fallen just shy of making the six after a surprisingly long run as a contender.
Normally the display of flags of other nations is frowned upon by the authorities, but given the poignancy of the situation, it was little surprise that there were scores of Croatian flags on show. After all what sanction could the authorities now impose? And who would deny Knights and United their final connection with their founders?
Stadium security took a circumspect approach to the lighting of flares many of which were set off well before the players had entered the arena even for their pre-match warm-up.
³In European football, flares are used in many many stadiums, and we are dealing with a European culture here,² said Dobson. ³(But) the game can not stand still weıve got to go forward. If part of that is casualties (of clubs like the Knights) then thatıs how itıs got to be. Thatıs life.²
But there were more benign pre-game celebrations as well. A number of community dancing-troups were featured, an event now rarely seen at NSL grounds when once it was commonplace and a happy illustration of the shared human experience of music and movement which crosses all cultures.
A crowd substantially greater than had attended Knightsı last home game against Brisbane Strikers was already in place more than an hour before kick-off. Most were quietly seated, contemplating the days when their ground was graced by players who went on to wear the Socceroo shirt, and star in far-off leagues. The mood was a mixture of pride and defiance not for the first time would this stoic immigrant community have experienced being rebuffed, and had to bounce back from it.
On the park, despite all the incentive the players had in taking things easy, it was clear that there was a level of intensity in the early exchanges. A clash of heads as early as the tenth minute between Knightsı Steve Pantelidis and Unitedıs Martin Filipovic saw both leave the field for treatment, and Pantelidisı subsequent replacement midway through the half. It was a sensible move as Pantelidis had suffered a concussion just a few weeks beforehand, and there was no need to expose him to further risk.
Knights perhaps had the better of the first-half, United the second. A strong wind blowing up the park was perhaps the reason for the balance changing at the break, but there was little in it either way.
³I thought we were very competitive,² said Dobson. ³We were quite aggressive to start off with and I felt we dominated the first half. (Then) we slipped away and became a bit disoriented.²
Mark Rudan had spurned an excellent opportunity from a well-flighted Antony Zmirc corner when in the clear, but his attempted header failed to connect from close-range. And Nicholas Marinos ran onto a diagonal ball past a square United backline only to miss wildly with a shot on his left-foot which clearly isnıt his preferred side.
Anthony Pelikan had a solo run up the inside left channel skipping by two ineffective challenges along the way only to run out of room and cramp his shooting space. Daniel Vasilevski found the ball rebounding his way but he too took overly-long and the chance disappeared.
With both sides playing five-man midfields, there was little time and space for creative play, and what chances arose, were come by fitfully and in a disjointed manner.
Just before the break, two sharp chances fell Knightsı way. First, Henry Faıarodo found himself with time to shoot, and passed by United goalkeeper Liam Reddy who assessed it was passing by the post as well. Pelikan had continued his chase only just failing to steer it in as the angle defeated him. Then only a minute later Andrew Vargas bent a 25 metre free-kick around the wall only for the ball to crash off the bar with Reddy well-beaten. The ball rebounded onto the now prone Reddyıs back but over the bye-line for the corner.
The goal opportunities were even rarer in the second period. Midway through the half Joe Vrkic sent a through-ball for Franco Parisi to run onto. Parisiıs left foot shot was on-target, but Tomich stretched out a hand to block and allow his defence to mop up.
Tomich kept out United at the death on two occasions the first to mystify Haliti, then moments later touching over the bar a Zmirc free-kick.
When the final whistle blew, it was the signal for the joyous invasion of the ground by supporters of both teams who chaired their heroes off the arena in the best of spirits.
³It was a great day for the Croatian community today,² said Dobson. ³(Even) anyone who was not Croatian here today couldnıt fail to be emotionally charged and (to have) felt something for the club.²