No Australian football club has banged the drum for a national second division as long or as loudly as South Melbourne Hellas, and Football Australia’s announcement that the Australian Championship will finally kick off this October has come as welcome news at Lakeside.

As one of eight ‘foundation’ sides that will participate in the end of season tournament regardless of their NPL results, Hellas have finally been acknowledged by head office as a worthy participant on the national stage – to an extent – after three unsuccessful bids to enter the A-League, most recently in 2018.

But chairman Bill Papastergiadis has declared the Oceania Club of the Century will continue to ‘prod’ head office towards the expansion of the nascent competition into not just becoming a more national affair, but a fully integrated part of the football pyramid.

‘We’re certainly a major proponent of the pyramid structure for football in this country, and the Australian Championship, as it’s currently described by Football Australia, is a necessary component of that’, Papastergiadis told Box2Box.

‘It’s a welcome start. At the end of the day we need to put aside our differences and concerns about structure, format and sustainability and focus on what we do have before us. Hopefully it will reignite some passion, and I know from our perspective we’ll be approaching this with zest and competitiveness.’

By the time the competition gets underway in October, it will have been almost two years since the eight foundation clubs were announced in November, 2023. It remains confounding to many that Football Australia have been unable to find candidates from outside those two states that satisfy their financial modelling, to compete in the tournament full time.

‘Things do move slowly in the football departments in this country, don’t they? It’s been two years since that announcement and we still haven’t kicked a ball yet. I support the foundation clubs’ endeavour to move this along [further].

‘I would encourage Football Australia to advance its discussions with other clubs in increasing this league to 10-12 [clubs] that have the capacity to compete in a standalone season, and I believe the interest is there from clubs outside of Victoria and New South Wales.

‘We’ve spoken to a number of clubs, ourselves and myself. Football Australia, apparently, will be opening up the process again, if it hasn’t already, and I’m hopeful they’ll be flexible in the requirements that are needed for participation in a standalone comp.

‘We’ll be beside them in that journey but at the same time, will be prodding them to ensure we get the right outcome for football in this country.’

The October-December window means South Melbourne and their foundational rivals could now potentially stretch their seasons through eleven months, taking in their regular NPL seasons, the Dockerty Cup [Victoria], Australia Cup and now the Championship.

It’s a fixture list akin to full time European competition, longer than that faced by professional A-League clubs, and one that must be handled on a semi-professional budget. But after so long campaigning for a return to the national stage, it is one Hellas couldn’t be happier to manage.

‘We’re embracing it! The board, the supporters; the sponsors are excited, it’s another way to leverage interest into sponsorship packages for partners that want to work with us.

‘It will create additional opportunities for players because of the length of season, leading to additional professionalism. We do need to bring additional people into the club that can [work in] different parts of the football department, and we’re seeing some positive developments there.’