Federation University join Melbourne City to meet long-term aspirations

South Melbourne football director, Peter Kokotis, has just one complaint following the club’s historic Australia Cup triumph last Saturday: that the team he has played a primary role in building may not have had due time to take it all in.

As those players – just a week on from becoming the first semi-professionals to win the national Cup – headed to Sydney for their next assignment, Kokotis took a rare moment to himself. Remaining in Melbourne, he reflected on what the achievement meant to the club he started supporting as an eight-year old in 1979, his uncle earlier a signatory to their 1959 establishment.

‘As was common with a lot of young Greek boys, our fathers were of a different generation. My father was in the hospitality industry, always working nights. So that two, three hours with him every second Sunday was gold to me. It was my time with dad,’ Kokotis told Soccerscene Unfiltered.

‘Once we dropped to the State League in 2005 some of us stayed, but a lot left or didn’t come at all, or went off to Melbourne Victory. We went from an NSL powerhouse to a club struggling to compete.

‘The last seven days [as we spoke] haven’t been normal. It’s been an incredible outpouring of emotion, gratitude from all over the community with people reaching out. It’s been really refreshing and lovely to listen to people’s stories of how it’s impacted them.’

From the gloom, South Melbourne now finds itself in its strongest position of the post-NSL era. Once a FIFA-licensed player agent, Kokotis has served as South’s general manager, a board member, and the past two seasons as senior football director – an immense task, given the relentless schedule the club is undertaking.

Off-field, they’re banging at the gates for an A-League license, a status they’ve been denied numerous times over the past 20 years. This time does feel different; with the A-League stagnating and South packing the stands on Cup final night, their top-flight exclusion looks ever-more incongruous with the broader health of the game.

While their preparedness to step up can’t just hinge on a result here or there, Kokotis is aware their on-field showings do supplement their attractiveness as a proposition – significantly.

‘We are evolving as a club, and there are many things we do outside of the senior team that are about cultural connection, the wider community. We’re not just a team that cares about trophies and silverware,’ he says.

‘But South is not a club built on coming second… and [winning] is my area. I feel the responsibility, the legacy and the history of the club, and all the success and great people that have come before us.

‘I feel obligated to maintain the machine and keep it going. This time is unique with what’s going on in the football landscape, and success now is very important.’

Catch the full chat with Peter Kokotis on Soccerscene Unfiltered: from helping Brazilian flair reach Australia and backing the unfancied Sinisa Cohadzic, to the top-down versus bottom-up growth debate, and plenty more…