Sydney Olympic CEO John Boulous: “You don’t realise the passion that’s in these clubs until you actually get here”

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As CEO of historic Australian footballing side Sydney Olympic, John Boulous has experienced first-hand the passion and dedication that is engrained in these traditional clubs.

Having spent time at the then-named Football Federation Australia and Football Federation Tasmania, Boulous’ intimate exposure to football across the professional and semi-professional tiers has been vast.

Boulous sat down with Soccerscene to speak about leading Sydney Olympic through successive lockdowns, the importance of connecting the professional and semi-professional tiers in Australian football, and Olympic’s upcoming Round of 32 FFA Cup clash against A-League Men’s powerhouse Sydney FC.

With promises of souvlaki at the ground on gameday enough to attract any ardent football fan or person in general, Boulous is looking forward to experiencing the festival atmosphere that Olympic’s clash against Sydney FC will undoubtedly bring.

Just to start off, are you able to provide some insight into your own footballing background and what’s led you to where you are now as the CEO of such an iconic side in Sydney Olympic?

John Boulous: I’ve been in sport since I started my working life. I worked my way through cricket and from there I went to Football Australia, which is where I was for five years from 2005 to 2010. I then left for a position as CEO at Football Federation Tasmania with my family for over three years.

From there, after a stint in Rugby League, I met Damon Hanlin, who had just become a Director at Sydney Olympic and the opportunity came up to undertake the CEO role at Sydney Olympic. Obviously, as a club at NPL level, it was a really good opportunity to get back involved and work with someone like Damon who was committed to taking the club forward.

Obviously, Sydney Olympic are a historically successful and well-supported footballing side, what’s it been like leading the club over the last few seasons?

John Boulous: What you always hear about working in these types of traditional, iconic clubs that were NSL powerhouses and are now in the NPL environment is that they had to find their identity as clubs in that transition period.

Your identity potentially changes slightly in that you want to have a strong and thriving pathway for young players to come through. But you’ve got to realise that they’re going to come to your club and potentially move on.

When you’re at Football Australia you hear of these clubs, but you don’t actually realise the passion, and the involvement, and the excitement that’s in the fans of these clubs until you actually get here. And we’ve got a very strong following and lots of numbers in terms of supporters, and the crowds don’t really reflect that until you get a big game.

The best example of that was when we played APIA Leichardt in the NPL Grand Final in 2018. All of a sudden people saw that Olympic is strong, and there are people that support them. They may not turn up for the games week-in week-out, but they support and they follow, and I think that’s important.

NPL Crowd 2018

What has it been like for you steering Sydney Olympic through successive extensive lockdowns in NSW?

John Boulous: There was constant change, but we’re not the only industry that’s been affected. There’s lots of people that are struggling. Football is something that gives everyone a bit of hope; it gives everyone a sense of enjoyment and a weekend activity to spend with your family. And I think people miss that.

Now you’re seeing the excitement building with kids being back to training and an FFA Cup game to come – you can feel a bit of a buzz. Because people are just looking to get back into the football environment. And if our club can play some part in that then I think it’s a really good thing to get the community back.

What do you believe makes Australian football unique in comparison with football around the world? Do you believe its found its identity yet?

John Boulous: I think it’s finding its identity. The one thing that stands out when you see footage of the NSL days is the passion in the crowds. And that’s been built up in clubs over 50 to 60 years and that passion doesn’t just happen overnight.

You see A-League teams are now starting to get it. Their fans are starting to identify with the club, you’ve got generations that are born as supporters. At Olympic and other clubs like ours, you’ve got grandfathers and sons that grew up following Olympic. Here you’ve got kids that are starting to follow A-Leagues clubs and in turn their kids will do the same.

It takes a while to build that momentum up, but I think it’s there. I think Australia is very unique because you’ve got three or four dominant sporting codes that are vying for interest and support. Not a lot of countries where football is their leading sport have those sorts of issues to deal with.

As well as that, the best players are encouraged to go overseas as well. So, our leagues tend to be up-and-coming players and players that are coming back. And that’s okay too, that’s where our game’s at. In saying that, there are lots of young players that are looking for professional opportunities and if our game can facilitate more of those players getting an opportunity, then I think we’re doing the right thing.

Olympic Madonis

As someone with an intimate understanding of the day-to-day challenges of running an NPL club, what do you believe are the next steps to ensure the growth of the NPL across Australia?

John Boulous: I think the next steps are certainly some kind of National Second Division with a greater national presence or footprint than what we currently have. There are clubs that play and participate within NPL competitions and that’s where they want to be, and that’s a very good place to be. There’s also clubs that still have a burning desire and supporters that want to see them play higher.

Certainly, in the short-term, there is definitely an opportunity for a second tier in whatever format that turns out to be. There are clubs that are interested and there’s lots of clubs with good pathways, structures and infrastructure in place to be able to take that step. It won’t be for everyone but it will be for the ones that aspire to do it. And I think that’s logically the next step.

The growth of the FFA Cup is important. Anything that links A-League with semi-professional football is essential. I think the link between the semi-professional level and the community is good and strong because people know where the pathways exist. But I believe that anything that continues to unite the game from the professional to the semi-professional level is a good step.

Australian football is experiencing a significant shift at the moment towards ensuring alignment across the whole game. Where do you see Sydney Olympic fitting into these prospective plans for a National Second Division?

John Boulous: We’re definitely interested. But you need to see what model exists and if its viable first. We have the interest and desire firstly which is important, but there’s many things that come with it.

I think what’s important for us – with having such a strong tradition and background with football in Australia – is we should be aspiring to be in whatever that era of football is.

Olympic Stadium

Each season we’ve seen National Premier League sides from across Australia competing against and pushing A-League teams outside of their comfort zones. Why do you feel the FFA Cup competition is so important for Australian football?

John Boulous: We are a big club, with a strong following and tradition in Australian football, and are still recognised nationally. In matches like this, Australians like to see underdogs – they like to see both the experienced and younger kids in our squad get that opportunity.

I think what’s important as a club is we need to give them that opportunity. You need to play against the best players in Australia. If you do that well, all of a sudden you’re on the radar.

You can’t take that desire away from players. They need to have that burn to be able to know if they can get to that next level. And these opportunities give you the perfect platform to do that.

The FFA Cup game against Sydney FC presents a brilliant opportunity for both clubs to come together for a truly special night of football. What’s the build-up been like leading up to the match?

John Boulous: We hope to be able to get a strong crowd here at Belmore. And it will be Olympic supporters and Sydney FC supporters, but we hope that it will be football supporters. Because people have been starved of opportunities to go and watch football matches, and now, they have the opportunity.

We’ve got a ground that can hold a really strong and big crowd in today’s climate. And I think that’s important to get people here and back into football. People here want to see it.

The A-League will be back in full swing and our boys will be training for four to five weeks and that’s okay too. Because they’ve got desire and they’re keen to have this match.

We’re always asked by Football Australia if we want to play this match and our answer from the very start was yes. Regardless of where teams are at in their preparation and their season, our players are very keen to play not just against the best players, but for their club and our supporters.

Tickets for Sydney Olympic’s clash with Sydney FC can be accessed HERE.

SFC

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One Football: Why This Australia Cup Final Means More Than a Trophy

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South Melbourne versus Melbourne Victory is more than a long-awaited rivalry. It is an opportunity to unite Australian football around its history – and its future.

On 10 October, South Melbourne FC and Melbourne Victory will walk onto AAMI Park for an Australia Cup Final that represents far more than a trophy.

It brings together two proud clubs from different chapters of Australian football’s history.

One is among the most successful clubs of the former National Soccer League era. The other has become one of the defining clubs of the A-League era.

The atmosphere will be extraordinary. The rivalry will be genuine. The football will be fiercely contested.

Such is the anticipation surrounding the match that it also has genuine potential to break the modern Australia Cup Final attendance record of 18,751, set at the same venue in 2016.

That would represent much more than a number on a crowd sheet. A record attendance would send a powerful message about the public appetite for meaningful fixtures, authentic rivalries and competitions that connect every level of Australian football.

But this final can – and should – mean even more.

It presents Australian football with an opportunity to bring its past, present and future together.

It is an opportunity to dismantle the tired and damaging distinction between “old soccer” and “new football”.

Most importantly, it can demonstrate what becomes possible when the entire game is connected.

We Cannot Build the Future by Discarding the Past

Australian football needed reform at the beginning of this century.

The game required stronger governance, greater professionalism, better commercial structures and a national competition capable of reaching new audiences.

The establishment of the A-League in 2005 opened an important new chapter. It created clubs, rivalries and major occasions that have contributed enormously to the development of the professional game.

But somewhere during that transformation, the idea took hold that Australian football could only move forward by separating itself from much of what had come before it.

The labels “old soccer” and “new football” became a fault line.

Too many clubs, supporters, volunteers and communities that had carried the game for decades were made to feel that their history was no longer welcome at the top table.

In creating something new, the game sometimes appeared determined to dispense with everything associated with its past.

That included the clubs and development pathways that identified, nurtured and produced many members of Australia’s Golden Generation.

Australian football should never be embarrassed by that history.

It is one of our game’s greatest competitive advantages.

Traditional clubs were built by migrant communities that brought their passion, culture and football knowledge to Australia.

They established clubs, built grounds, developed players, created lifelong supporters and sustained the game when it received little mainstream attention or investment.

These communities did not merely support Australian football.

They built it.

Recognising that contribution does not require us to reject the progress made during the A-League era. Both can be true.

The game needed to evolve, but it did not need to marginalise its foundations to do so.

This Is Not “Old” Against “New”

It would be easy to promote South Melbourne against Melbourne Victory as “old soccer” meeting “new football”.

It might create a convenient headline, but it would miss the greater significance of the occasion – and perpetuate a division the game must leave behind.

South Melbourne is not a relic from Australian football’s past.

It is a living and ambitious club with generations of supporters, a distinguished record of national success and an enduring role in developing players and representing its community.

Melbourne Victory is not separate from Australian football’s history.

It is another important chapter in it – a club that has built an enormous following, delivered some of the country’s most memorable sporting occasions and demonstrated the scale that professional football can achieve in Australia.

These clubs were created in different eras, but they belong to the same game.

The future of Australian football is neither “old” nor “new”.

It is one football.

Supporters Want a Connected Game

This final arrives at a time when the appetite for a properly connected football pyramid is becoming impossible to ignore.

Supporters want clubs to have something meaningful to aspire to.

They want success on the field to create opportunity.

They want to see a genuine connection between grassroots football, state competitions, traditional clubs, national competitions and the professional game.

A connected pyramid is about more than promotion and relegation.

It is about unlocking aspiration, investment, relevance and growth throughout the sport.

When clubs can see a pathway forward, they invest in facilities, coaching, academies, commercial capability and community engagement.

When supporters believe their club’s journey can lead somewhere, they become more deeply invested.

When local rivalries carry national consequences, new audiences, media attention and commercial partners follow.

That energy already exists throughout Australian football.

Our opportunity is to harness it.

The Platforms Are Demonstrating What Is Possible

The Australia Cup has repeatedly shown what can happen when clubs from every level are given the opportunity to compete on a national stage.

It connects the grassroots and professional game. It creates genuine jeopardy. It brings national attention to clubs, grounds and communities that rarely receive that level of exposure.

It also produces compelling stories that cannot be manufactured through marketing alone.

The Australian Championship represents another important step. It gives some of the country’s most historic and ambitious clubs a new national platform and creates a stronger bridge between state-based football and the professional game.

Neither competition should be viewed in isolation.

Together, the Australia Cup and Australian Championship can help reconnect the game, restore national relevance to important clubs and build momentum towards a more integrated competition structure.

They also demonstrate something commercially significant.

These communities are not simply part of football’s history. They are active audiences with passion, identity, purchasing power and an enduring commitment to their clubs.

When those communities are respected and properly engaged, they respond.

That creates value for broadcasters, commercial partners, governments and the wider professional game.

A Perspective Spanning Different Eras

My perspective has been shaped by experiencing Australian football across different clubs, competitions and eras.

I served as CEO of South Melbourne Soccer Club during one of the most successful periods in its history.

After leaving in 1997, I returned 12 months later for the 1998/99 season, when South secured its second consecutive national championship under Ange Postecoglou.

Nearly two decades later, in 2015, I returned to the professional game as CEO of Perth Glory in the A-League.

I subsequently joined Football Australia as a senior executive, where I played a key role in strengthening the Australia Cup as a national platform and developing the Australian Championship.

That journey has reinforced my belief that Australian football’s future will not be secured by choosing one part of its history over another. It will be secured by bringing the best of every era together.

The game will fulfil its potential when it connects its professional clubs, traditional clubs, grassroots participants, diverse communities and national teams within a coherent and ambitious system.

This is not about returning to the past.

It is about carrying the best of our history into a stronger future.A newsletter titled 'Blues News' from August 1997, featuring a farewell message from the CEO of the South Melbourne Soccer Club and details about membership campaigns, upcoming soccer season preparations, and calls for community support.

A page from a newsletter discussing upcoming events for the 1997/98 Ericsson Cup season, including a farewell message from Peter Filipoulos, the Chief Executive Officer, and details about support for the team at Bob Jane Stadium.
South Melbourne Soccer Club newsletter, 1997. After stepping down as CEO, Peter Filopoulos returned 12 months later for the club’s 1998/99 national championship season.

More Than a Final

On 10 October, AAMI Park – the spiritual home of football in Melbourne—should become the stage for more than an Australia Cup Final.

It should be a celebration of the people and communities that built the game, the progress achieved during the professional era and the possibilities presented by a connected future.

South Melbourne supporters should be proud of what their club has contributed to Australian football and excited about what may lie ahead.

Melbourne Victory supporters should celebrate what their club has built and the role it continues to play in growing the professional game.

Every Australian football supporter should be able to look at this occasion and see something bigger than a contest between two clubs or two eras.

This final is not “old soccer” against “new football”.

It is Australian football – proud of its entire history, united around its future and ready to unlock its true potential.

One game. One history. One future.

One football.

Does The Australian Championship Have a Long-Term Future? Optimism Remains Despite Silence

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Image Credit: South Melbourne FC

THE ASSOCIATION of Australian Football Clubs has reconvened to re-engage Football Australia on the long-term future of the Australian Championship, which returns next month for its second season.

The AAFC is preparing a formal approach to head office in the aim of establishing the next steps for the tournament’s development. Little has been said from FA about its long-term prospects since South Melbourne won the inaugural title last summer.

Operated last season as an end-of-year tournament for clubs pulled from NPL competitions around the country, under the (former) model of the UEFA Champions League, it was generally lauded by those who partook as a success. This year, the same format returns.

But there remains a lack of certainty across constituent clubs as to where the Championship is headed. Those spoken to by Soccerscene, both within and outside the ‘foundation’ ranks, retain a firm desire to see it become a full-blown national second division – as was the competition’s working title for much of its development process.

“We’re now in the process of pushing that timeframe [for future discussion] because the clubs’ concern is if you just wait another twelve months, and do nothing towards establishing the home and away competition, then another year will pass,’ said AAFC chairman Nick Galatas.

‘We’re keen on re-establishing the impetus for what we say the clubs and the fans actually want, and that is a proper competition that will be the bridge for what we all want.

“We need to link our game from bottom to top and give more opportunities to our promising young players.”

It is the general view of a number of foundation clubs that discussions with FA have always been due to re-open following this upcoming second season; however, actual specifics have proved harder to find.

“As an aspiring club, we were under the understanding that after two years there’d be a review for the potential of promotion and relegation [to the A-League],’ said one club president from within the eight foundation clubs.

“Or, to discuss expansion into the A-League. We’re not asking to get rid of A-League teams; we’re asking for a connection via expansion. For example: ‘keep playing this competition, keep performing strongly, and then if you meet the criteria, you can apply for A-League expansion.’”

It is nearing three years since Football Australia selected its eight foundation clubs, from a pool of 32 that were invited to enter its Request For Proposal phase. At the time, it was stated that a refined process – to commence early-2024 – would seek to find an additional two-to-four clubs to join them.

That this has not happened means the eight sides still fail to represent any state outside New South Wales and Victoria, a criticism levelled at the competition from its first day. From the outside, this continued inactivity could be construed as a lack of progress – although that’s not to say inactivity is the case.

“We’ve explored it a few times, and FA have been really open about where they’re up to, and really what the trajectory is,” said the president of another club, who were part of the Request For Proposal phase, but were not selected as a foundation club.

“I would describe their current position as ‘we’re doing it, we’ll review what we’re doing, and then we’ll plan to either keep doing it, or expand it.’ Does that mean expansion will happen? Not necessarily.

‘Maybe they’ll do that review and there’s a sense the timing’s not right, there are too many challenges… but I’m not getting any indication that that’s the case.’

Football Australia signed its Championship broadcast deal with SBS in September 2025 for two seasons with an option for a third. Last week, the partnership announced an increase in linear broadcasting for 2026 with an additional match per round to be broadcast on Thursday nights. The entire competition is available via SBS On Demand.

Football Australia has also added a Penalty Shootout Bonus Point Model, where drawn matches in the group stage will see sides awarded a standard one point each, before heading to the penalty spot to contest an additional point.

The competition also remains without a naming rights partner, while participant clubs have this season been charged an entry fee, which was not the case last season. Football Australia continues to foot the travel bill for parties up to a certain number for away fixtures.

Football Australia was contacted for comment.

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