Hellenic Cup History.

After the migrating and the settling of the Greeks in the 60’s , Melbourne hosted for the first time ever a soccer tournament with Greek soccer clubs from all over Victoria. Apart from its competitive nature this tournament also aided in the strengthening of ties amongst these teams as well as providing recreation for its competitors and spectators.

These tournaments were usually organized by community newspapers such as; “Athletic Echo” and “Nea Patrida” and usually held over the summer months.

The first official soccer tournament with Greek teams according to the article in the newspaper “Athletic Echo” took place on November 1962 in which five Greek-Australian teams participated. The teams which competed were, Athena Brunswick, Megas Alexandros, Princes Park Iraklis (today’s Northcote City Hercules), Olympiakos Dandenong and Doxa Richmond.

From 1970 and onwards the number of Greek- Australian soccer clubs increased. Various clubs such as: Hermes Mordialloc, Iraklis Northcote, and Nea Ellas would organize their own Greek Cup.
This situation caused conflicts and rivalries as each year too many clubs wanted to host their own tournament for their own financial gain.
Thus, Ted Papazoglou and a group of soccer enthusiasts took the initiative to form a body or committee which would be solely responsible for organizing the Hellenic Cup Tournament.

In 1982 the first Hellenic Cup Committee was formed. Its members were as follows:

Chairman: Nick Koutoulis
Secretary: Steve Ridis
Treasurer: Ted Papazoglou
Members: George Zafiropoulos, Nick Athanasopoulos, Gerasimos Katiforis, Dimitris Amanatidis, Emmanuel Vathis.

After several meetings the committee ratified the constitution of the Hellenic Cup and appointed Port Melbourne to organize a tournament, of which 16 participants took place. The tournament took place from 16th January until 6th March 1983.The teams involved were (Western Suburbs, Clarinda, Northcote City, Port Melbourne,
Brunswick City, Caulfield City, South Oakleigh, Malvern City, Clifton Hill, Central City, Mordialloc, Yaraville, Hawthorn, Darebin United, AE Pontion, Panserraikos).

As anticipated the tournament was a great success. The soccer enthusiasts of the Greek community followed the tournament with great interest.

The first weighing up of the Hellenic Cup took place between Panellinios (Western Suburbs) and Darebin (Apollon) with Western Suburbs winning the first game of the tournament 2-1. (Makoski, Bouzas, Kazantzidis).The winner of the tournament was Caulfield City (Ethnikos) who beat South Oakleigh (todays Oakleigh Cannons) 2-1.(Theodorithis, Tirikos, Tzitsis)in front of a crowd of 3000 Greek soccer fans.

In the same year the Hellenic Cup Committee appoints Hermis Mordialloc to host the 2nd tournament (6th November- 18th December 1983) of which until today is considered to have been the best tournament of all.
The number of participants in this second tournament increased to 20. The Greek community newspaper and other businessmen as well as the community support this tournament in greater numbers also.
Competitively, the 2nd Hellenic Cup Tournament was labeled the ‘tournament of surprises’ as the small team Clarinda (today’s Kingston City) defeated the great Iraklis (Northcote City) in the final 2-0.

The following year the committee member Mr.Steve Ridis wrote to the Greek Government with a list of demands to aid in the hosting of the Hellenic Cup. His efforts did not go unnoticed and the Secretary of Sport of the Greek Government offered a 500,000 drachma cheque to the tournament and a valuable trophy which was given to the secretary of the Hellenic Cup Committee Mr.Kimon Koulouris.

The 3rd Hellenic Cup Tournament was hosted by Iraklis Northcote City at the John Cain Reserve from 4th November -16th December 1984 with 29 Greek teams from Victoria participating.
South Melbourne Hellas which competed with various new young players becomes the first team to hold the valuable trophy of which was a gift from the Greek Government.

Due to various technical difficulties the Hellenic Cup Tournament was not played in 1988.1989, 1998, 2005.

The Hellenic Cup has been hosted 21 times in total of which the following teams have been the winners;

5 Bentleigh Greens (1991, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003)
4 Oakleigh Cannons (1987, 1990, 2001, 2006)
3 Northcote City (1985, 1986, 1999)
2 Altona East (1992-93, 2004)
2 Port Melbourne (1994-95, 1995-96)
2 South Melbourne (1984, 2007)
2 Kingston City (1983, 1993-94)
1 Yarraville Glory (2000)
1 Caulfield City (1983)

The valuable trophy is kept by the victorious team for a short period of time and upon its return the team is given a replia to house in its clubrooms.

The Hellenic Cup Tournament trophy is housed in the Museum of National Centre for Hellenic Studies & Research at the University of La Trobe Bundoora