Somehow, against what has sometimes felt like all odds, Victorian National Premier League (NPL) clubs will make their bow in the 2021 FFA Cup Round of 32 this week: Port Melbourne travelling to face Hume City on Wednesday evening and South Melbourne getting set to host A-League Men side Melbourne City on Friday.
Traditionally, these opening phases of the FFA Cup’s national stages have served as showcase fixtures of Australia’s member federation clubs: in-season and in-form squads putting their best foot forward against the creme de la creme of member federations sides across the nation and otherwise siloed A-League Mens’ teams.
Born of the disparate sections on the respective calendars that the games occupied -- NPL clubs in mid- to late-season and A-League Men’s sides just beginning their pre-seasons -- these were the rounds where the Magic of the Cup was at its strongest; semi-professional players across suburban grounds taking it up to their professional counterparts and, on occasion, even producing the irresistible cupset.
Yet unfortunately for Victorian sides in this year’s iteration of the beloved competition, prevailing circumstances mean that their challenge may centre not so much on harnessing the magic -- but simply keeping it alive.
Already, the impact of the Delta wave of COVID and the associated border and travel-related restrictions has forced the Round of 32 to be staged in a staggered fashion: some clubs across Queensland and South Australia already qualified for the quarterfinals of the Cup before their New South Wales and Victorian counterparts could even kick a ball in anger.
Now, it is the A-League Men teams that are effectively in-season.
This has combined with the restrictions forcing the cancellation of NPL and Community footballing competitions that housed participatory clubs -- Victoria making the difficult decision to do so on September 3. For most in the state, this meant focus turning to next year; figuring out the who, what, when, where and why’s of competing in a 2022 competition that, thanks to Victoria’s significant vaccine uptake, should ostensibly be able to run without the prospect of extended lockdowns prematurely ending another campaign.
But for Hume, Port, South, and Avondale FC, 2022 will have to wait: Football Victoria’s four representatives on the national stage of the Cup given the difficult task of national competition under far from ideal circumstances.
Returning to training while Melbourne was still under lockdown, the premature ending to their season and the semi-professional nature of NPL squads, as well as the need to prepare for 2022, had led to a series of departures as well as difficulty in sourcing warm-up fixtures that could knock off some layer of rust.
Some players have returned to their home states in the wake of their season’s cancellations, been forced to focus on their work due to economic hardship resulting from the pandemic or, in some cases, simply signed for other teams -- be they in A-League Men or other NPL destinations -- in preparation for future seasons. This state of flux has also meant sourcing warm-up fixtures has been a challenging proposition.
“Everybody was excited to get out the house and have a kick for sure, we trained a couple of weeks now and everybody’s in as good a condition as can be, which is great,” Hume City coach Nick Hegarty told Star Weekly last week.
“At the same time, the current situation and the current rules lead us into not a fantastic preparation, to be honest.”
Nonetheless, hope springs eternal. And despite all the doom and gloom, the nature of one-off, knockout football means that impossible is merely improbable when it comes to Cup football.
Administrators recognising the need for clubs to “maintain both minimum player roster requirements and [be] able to field a competitive team”, clubs have also been able to bring in some level of reinforcement for the remainder of their Cup campaigns -- a few familiar faces from around Victorian football expected to be wearing unfamiliar colours in the coming weeks.
Further, all four of Victoria’s representatives in this year’s Round of 32, to varying degrees, have experience on the national stages of the FFA Cup -- none more so than Hume City.
Set to face off with Port Melbourne at ABD Stadium on Wednesday evening, the boys from Broady were quarter-finalists in the 2019 iteration of the Cup, Round of 32 and Round of 16 participants in 2017 and 2016, and, famously, semifinalists in 2015. And whether it was as a player, player-coach, or simply as a coach -- coach Hegarty has been there for all the side’s runs.
Featuring the likes of Josh Bingham, Mitch Cooper and Mark Ochieng, Hume had a 3-0 walkover against Warragul United to begin their journey through the 2021 Cup before comfortably dispatching State League side Frankston Pines 3-0 in the next round at ABD Stadium. So lethal when able to get out and operate in space, a 3-0 win triumph over fellow NPL Victoria side Bentleigh Greens followed, before State League side Monbulk Rangers’ fairytale Cup run was ruthlessly ended via another 3-0 margin at the Monbulk Regional Soccer Facility.
Wednesday evening opponents Port Melbourne have less experience at this stage than their foes in red -- a 1-0 defeat at the hands of APIA Leichhardt in the Round of 32 in 2018 -- but there is nonetheless some level of continuity from that squad in the likes of coach Adam Piddick and defender Michael Eagar.
The Sharks started their 2021 Cup campaign with a 9-1 win over Berwick City back in April, which was then followed up with a 1-0 win over NPL2 side Manningham United Blues and a 4-1 triumph over Sydenham Park.
In a re-match of their dramatic 2018 meeting, Piddick’s side was then forced to do it the hard way against Moreland Zebras to advance to this stage; coming from behind to secure a 2-1, extra-time win at JL Murphy Reserve. It must be noted, though, that the Sharks were missing key-man Chris Duggan through suspension in that contest.
Standout defender Josh Wilkins and midfielder Troy Ruthven have been announced as Shark signings in recent weeks.
Set to welcome reigning A-League Men Premiers and Champions Melbourne City on Friday evening, 2021 represents South Melbourne’s fourth appearance in the national stages of the Cup; Hellas most notably advancing to the semifinals in 2017 and hosting Sydney FC in monsoonal conditions at Lakeside.
Defeating NPL2 side Werribee City 6-3 to open their run this year, a nervy penalty shootout win over Knights followed in the next round before goals from Marco Jankovic and Lirim Elmazi propelled them past Eastern Lions. In dramatic scenes at Jack Edwards Reserve in the final stage of preliminary qualifying, coach Estaban Quintes’ side then won their way through to the national stages and a meeting with City via another penalty shootout win, this time over the Oakleigh Cannons.
Even at the best of times, the task ahead of the four-time National Soccer League (NSL) champions against their cashed-up rivals would be a gargantuan one, let alone now that the deck has been seemingly stacked against them by prevailing circumstances.
But with City’s Socceroo front three of Mat Leckie, Andrew Nabbout, and Jamie Maclaren all set to be absent, South’s defence, which conceded just 18 goals in 18 games during the 2021 NPL campaign, will hold out hopes of staging a miracle -- especially if their attack, which only managed 19 goals up the other end, can find their shooting boots.
It’s a game that as a young kid, especially at a team like South Melbourne, that you want to play in,” skipper Brad Norton told SMFC TV.
“You want to play in big games and we’ve finally got that opportunity here. Unfortunately for myself, I missed [South’s semifinal against Sydney FC] a couple of years ago, so this is almost my redemption game.
“It’s something that the team is so looking forward to. It’s been a long build-up, probably a lot longer than we all expected, but something that we can’t wait to get out on the field now and go and play in.
“It’s such a big game for the club and for us players to get out there. I’ve been at the club for ten years now, I’ve played in front of massive crowds here and they always come out to support us. There’s no bigger game in the near future than this one so please come out and support us.
“These are the big games that this club wants to be involved in.”
The runaway leaders of the 2021 NPL Victoria campaign, Avondale will have to wait a bit longer to make their return to the pitch: NPL Tasmania side Devonport Strikers withdrawing from the Cup on Tuesday and giving the Avengers a walkover into the Round of 16.
Match Details
HUME CITY FC V PORT MELBOURNE SHARKS SC
Wednesday, 10 November
Kickoff at 7:30PM
ABD Stadium
Live & free on 10Play
SOUTH MELBOURNE FC V MELBOURNE CITY FC
Friday, 12 November
Kickoff at 7:30PM
Lakeside Stadium
Live & free on 10Play