Alfred Hess is the third NPL Tasmania coach to call it a day

Photo:  Alfred Hess is airborne against Glenorchy Knights. [PlessPix]

Kingborough Lions United’s NPL coach, Alfred Hess, is leaving the club to pursue new opportunities in football.

Hess is the third NPL coach to call it quits.

As player-coach, he took the Lions to a fourth-placed finish in 2024.

South Hobart supremo Ken Morton pulled the pin on a 16-year tenure at the club, while NPL Tasmania championship-winning coach James Sherman has also resigned and is heading to Singapore to pursue new coaching opportunities.

Kingborough Lions United issued the following media release yesterday:

 

Kingborough Lions United Football Club today announced that NPL High-Performance Head Coach and Youth Technical Director Alfred Hess Is moving on to pursue new football opportunities.

“Alfred Hess joined the Club in 2021 and has served as the NPL Head Coach for two seasons, as well as the Club’s Youth Technical Director.” said Club President Brian Downes.

“Alfred has made a major contribution to our Club in numerous ways, particularly in the NPL High Performance space where he has put together a very professionally run program that has set new standards across the board”, added Downes.

“He departs the Lions having also made a significant impact on the development of our youth football pathways.”

Hess, who returned to Tasmania from Canberra in 2021, successfully guided the Lions to fourth place in the NPL Tasmania competition in 2023 and 2024, and as runner ups [sic] in the Summer Cup and the Lakoseljac (Statewide) Cup this year.

“Alfred is an exceptional young coach with a great future ahead of him, and the Club wishes him much success for the future. There is no doubt Alfred will make a mark in the world of football as he continues his professional development.”

“I am extremely grateful to Kingborough Lions United Football Club for the opportunities that have been afforded to me. To work in football, as an NPL Head Coach and Youth Technical Director at the Lions has been a meaningful and profound experience for me and one that has shaped my approach to coaching significantly” said Hess.

“I certainly will be keeping a keen eye on how Kingborough is progressing, and will assist the Club transition the program to a new coach.

“I wish the Club much success for the future” added Hess.

Brian Downes advised the recruitment of the next Kingborough Lions NPL Head Coach for 2025 is commencing immediately, with the Club prepared to look far afield if necessary to find the right coach. The Club is also seeking a new Youth Technical Director/High Performance Coach.

Merger proposal between two former giants of the Tassie game

I’m hearing reports that Southern Championship club Olympia Warriors are considering a merger with NPL club Clarence Zebras.

Olympia held a special extraordinary general meeting yesterday and a proposal for this merger was passed by 31 votes to 27.

It would have to be passed by the club’s Board before any definite action could be taken.

And the Board of Clarence Zebras would have to approve the proposal as well.

I’m not sure who attended yesterday’s meeting, but I am led to believe that many of the club’s traditional Greek supporters may not have been there.

A merger between a Greek-backed club and an Italian-backed club would be extraordinary and possibly unique in Australian football.

It would be anathema to many traditional supporters of both sides.

How many traditional supporters there are these days, however, is open to question.

Former Olympia president George Mamacas has come back from New Zealand to live in Australia again.

He is currently overseas but I’d love to ask him what he thinks of the proposal.

The trouble with this type of merger is that football is in danger of going in ever decreasing circles and eventually disappearing up its own orifice.

Imagine if we ended up with, say, just five clubs who played each other endlessly.

How boring would that be?

Local football has already disappeared from much of the local print media.

Such mergers have the potential to make the sport completely non-existent in the print media.

These are only my thoughts and many people may disagree.

I don’t have to run a club, so it’s easy for me to say as I have no skin in the game as such.

I just thought I’d put the news out there and see what the football community thinks.

 

2024 Football Tasmania Awards

Photo:  Nick Morton is the 2024 NPL Player-of-the-Year. [PlessPix]

South Hobart captain Nick Morton is the 2024 NPL Tasmanian Player-of-the-Year.

The announcement was made last Saturday night at the Football Tasmania Awards dinner at Wrest Point Hotel-Casino.

Photo:  James Sherman, the Coach-of-the-Year. has left Glenorchy Knights. [PlessPix] 

Glenorchy Knights coach James Sherman was named the NPL Tasmania coach-of-the-year.

Kingborough Lions United duo Kobe Kemp and Noah Mies won the Golden Boot Award as the NPL’s top scorers with 20 goals apiece.

Photo:  Kobe Kemp (Joint Golden Boot winner). [PlessPix]

Photo:  Noah Mies (Joint Golden Boot winner). [PlessPix]

Angus Burdon of Glenorchy Knights won the Golden Glove Award as the best goalkeeper.

Brenton Kopra was the NPL Referee-of-the-Year.

Photo:  Brenton Kopra is the NPL Referee-of-the-Year. [PlessPix]

Devonport captain Kieran Mulraney took out the Walter Pless Media Award in the NPL competition.

Photo:  Kieran Mulraney, the Devonport City skipper, won the Walter Pless Media Award. [PlessPix]

Whitney Knight of Devonport City won the Women’s Super League Best-and-Fairest Award.

Tom Ballantyne of Devonport was the WSL coach-of-the-year,

Whitney Knight and South Hobart’s Josephine Mamic jointly took out the Golden Boot Award in the WSL.

The Golden Glove Award for the best goalkeeper went to South Hobart’s Kacee Ponting.

The WSL referee-of-the-year went to Elliana Beeston.

In the NPL Under-21 competition, Jordan Payne of Devonport City won the Best & Fairest Award as well as the Golden Boot for being the leading scorer.

Alex Gaetani of Launceston City was names as the NPL Under-21 coach-of-the-year.

Josh Berry was named as the Young Referee-of-the-Year.

In the Men’s Southern Championship, Ivan Jozeljic was announced as Referee-of-the-Year and Riley Pitchford of Taroona as the Coach-of=the-Year.

Samuel James of Taroona won the Golden Boot and also shared the Best-and-Fairest Award with South East United’s Luke Huigsloot.

In the Women’s Southern Championship, Katherine Ollerhead of New Town White Eagles won the Best-and-Fairest Award, Olivia Young of University the Golden Boot Award and Tayla Thomas of Taroona the Coach-of-the Year Award.

In the Men’s Northern Championship, Charlie Vella was Referee-of-the-Year, Jack Bowman the Coach-of-the-Year, and Beau Blizzard of the Somerset Sharks won both the Best-and-Fairest and the Golden Boot awards,

In the Women’s Northern Championship, Fergus Luttmer of Burnie United was names as the Coach-of-the-Year, while Tully Parke of Burnie United won the Golden Boot Award and Malanie Quirk, also of Burnie United, was named at the Best-and-Fairest player. 

Vale John Margaritis (27 August 1937 - 11 September 2024)

Photo:  Ken Morton with John Margaritis (right) during South Melbourne Hellas' visit to Hobart to play Olympia in the mid-1980s. [PlessPix] 

Former Olympia coach John Margaritis has passed away in Melbourne at the age of 87.

Margaritis played in the Greek first division with PAOK of Thessalonika before coming to Australia.

He was an icon of South Melbourne Hellas.

A midfielder, he played 100 games for the club and scored 23 goals.

He won the Victorian Soccer League championship with the club as a player in 1962, 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Margaritis was with South Melbourne for seven seasons and is a member of the South Melbourne Hellas Hall of Fame and was named in the club’s Team of the Century.

After his playing days were over, Margaritis turned to coaching and had a distinguished career, even assisting with the Socceroos when Frank Arok was in charge.

He coached South Melbourne Hellas three times:  1974-75, 1979-82 and 1986.

He also had a spell as coach of NSL club Footscray JUST.

Before his first stint as South Melbourne’s coach, he was player-coach of Olympia in Tasmania in 1972-73.

In the 1980s he brought South Melbourne to Hobart for a game against Olympia.

Ange Postecoglou was a member of that South Melbourne team.

Margaritis remained a follower of South Melbourne’s men’s and women’s teams in recent years and his granddaughter was a star of the club’s women’s team.

His time in Tasmania was brief but he had a major positive impact on Olympia’s players.

Photo:  Olympia in 1972 with player-coach John Margaritis at extreme left in front row.  Back Row (L-R):  Johnny Lynas, Gordon Vail, Chris Hawes (Broughton), Mike Richards, Hugh Robertson, Nicky Karagopoulos, Chris Hargrave. Front Row (L-R):  John Margaritis, Dick Girling, Brian McKay, John Howlin, Tommy Wright, Norman Stanton, Barry Shacklady. [Photo courtesy of Tommy Wright]
 

Glenorchy Knights take out the 2024 NPL Tasmania title

Glenorchy Knights are the 2024 NPL Tasmania champions.

They fell over the line in the end to pip South Hobart on goal difference and collect their second NPL title after winning their first in 2021.

It was a triumph for coach James Sherman, who was in charge for the final time.

He is off to Singapore to pursue a coaching career there.

It was also the swansong for South Hobart coach Ken Morton, who has announced his retirement after 16 years with the club.

Knights fans must be thankful this is not Italy.  If two teams are tied at the top of Serie A at the end of the league season, goal-difference does not count.  Instead, there is a play-off between the two teams at a neutral venue (one 90-minute game and penalties but no extra-time) and the winner is the Serie A champion.

I recall back in 1963 Olympia, Rangers and Hobart Juventus all finished level on 28 points but Olympia won the title on goal average (it was goal average and not goal difference in those days). The Juventus captain, Luciano Longo , complained bitterly on television how it was unjust and had it been in Italy, there would have been a play-off.

Devonport City finished third.  They only needed a win against Knights to retain the NPL title but, after dominating the match, couldn’t find a single goal to clinch the championship.

It would never have come to this if they had not lost the services of striker Roberto Garrido and goalkeeper Keegan Smith in the off-season.  But, that’s football and players move on.

They had 37 shots on goal compared with the Knights’ 6, but could not find the net.

Devonport hit the woodwork twice and had one effort ruled out because of off-side.

This game will be the recurring source of nightmares for the North-West Coast outfit.

Knights’ 17-year-old goalkeeper, Angus Burdon, made at least half a dozen superb saves to deny the visitors to KGV Park, and was named man-of-the-match.

But, in the end, it was the failings of Devonport that resulted in the 0-0 draw and Knights must be the first to acknowledge that it was their lucky day.

They only needed a draw, and they got it.

Devonport left Nick Lanau-Atkinson and Miles Barnard on the bench.  There’s no guaranteeing that their introduction would have resulted in a goal, but with the major prize at stake, why wouldn’t you try them?

The Knights didn’t set out to park the bus.  They were forced to because of Devonport’s dominance.  Credit to them for weathering the storm and holding out against the relentless Devonport attacks.  Many efforts were blocked, others saved by the goalkeeper and the woodwork, so it showed again that the only statistic that counts is the one on the scoreboard, and in this case it showed 0-0.

South Hobart did what they had to do and beat Launceston City 2-1.  That took them level on points with Knights, but their vastly inferior goal-difference cost them.

The Knights began their campaign with 9-0, 4-0 and 8-1 wins in their first three games.  That highlighted the importance of a good start and proved crucial in the end.

They then drew 1-1 with South Hobart, a result that proved crucial in the end and which ultimately benefited the Knights and cost South Hobart.

Both sides drew 5 times and lost twice in the league this season.  That’s how close it all was.  If just one of those draws had been a win, it would have been decisive.

Clarence Zebras’ dismal 2024 campaign finished at rock bottom with a 1-0 home defeat to Riverside Olympic.

Kingborough Lions United secured fourth place.  They beat bottom-side Launceston United 6-1 at home.

Kobe Kemp scored once and Noah Mies twice and they finished equal leading NPL scorers with 20 goals apiece,

It was an inconsistent league campaign by the Lions and that’s what fourth place confirms.

NPL Tasmania

South Hobart 2 (Nick Morton 55’, Rex Maddock 73’) beat Launceston City 1 (Thierry Swaby 16’)

Clarence Zebras 0 lost to Riverside Olympic 1 (Emanuel Farias 46’)

Kingborough Lions United 6 (Jesse Hammond 4’, Alexander Brown 27’, Kobe Kemp 35’, Alfred Hess 42’, Noah Mies 61’ 82’) beat Launceston United 1 (Joel Digney 33’)

Glenorchy Knights 0-0 Devonport City

NPL Tasmania Final Standings (As at 7 September 2024)

TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Glenorchy Knights	21	14	5	2	81	24	47
South Hobart	21	14	5	2	58	29	47
Devonport City	21	13	6	2	60	19	45
Kingborough Lions	21	11	3	7	66	43	36
Launceston City	21	9	4	8	38	34	31
Riverside Olympic	21	6	1	14	27	62	19
Clarence Zebras	21	3	2	16	28	60	11
Launceston United	21	1	0	20	17	104	3