THE LAST HOORAH - 18th July 1998

There was no way the success and hard work that made the Greek Football Club what it was for 37 years would disappear forever without a big celebration hence “THE LAST HOORAH”.

Two past Greek Football Club players discussed the idea and approached other past players who enthusiastically supported their vision. 

From that initial discussion and the contacting of many past players a meeting was held at Lockleys and was attended by approximately 20 past players, many of whom were Life Members. The Greek Football Club Constitution and the Past Players bank account were both still active which enabled a committee to be elected that night.  Tom Frossinakis and George Evreniadis were elected President and Vice President respectively. Sharon Mourcella was Secretary with Maria Frossinakis Assistant Secretary. Co-Treasurers were Manuel Frangoulis and Mario Farinola and Social Co-Ordinator was Nick Mourcella. Peter Elia, Terry Evreniadis, George Fessas, Nick Kyriazopoulos, Emanuel Politis, Keith Davis and Nicky Nicholas sat on as Committee members.

It was decided that on the night of “The Last Hoorah” it would be fitting to raise monies for children’s charities as a way of “giving back” for all the memorable years of history making, comradery and mate ship, game day and post-game celebrations, lifetime friendships, laughter, and most importantly the love and pride that the past players, supporters and all who were involved with The Greek Football Club had enjoyed over its 37 year history.

Make-A-Wish, Canteen and Down Syndrome were contacted and all three charities were absolutely thrilled that the Greek Football Club was wanting to support them.

A venue had to be found and after visiting several function centres it was deemed a coup to have been able to secure Football Park Convention Centre for the celebrations.

With 450 people in attendance the evening did not fail to deliver. The evening had everything from the displaying of Club memorabilia in the form of team photos from 1961 to 1997, player photos, trophies, flags, newspaper articles and videos playing of club games on the overhead TV big screens. There was a Silent Auction, Major Auction, drawing of Major raffle winners and prizes for all the raffles were donated.  The flower centre pieces on the tables were donated by Woolworths and were auctioned off at the end of the evening. All the printing of the raffle tickets and programmes were donated by 4hour Printing (a list of all donors is listed in the evening’s programme which you will find under the” articles” section). A TV cupboard (1st prize in major raffle) and all mountings and frames for football guernseys, framed history of Greek Football Club, signed footballs, boots, Sir Donald Bradman signed cricket bat were all donated. Kosmos Electrical donated a TV which went hand in hand with the TV cabinet. 

There was also nonstop entertainment during the evening with performers donating their time to perform free of charge. The likes of Con Anthony who was an Elvis Presley impersonator/performer to a young student from Birdwood High, Deanna Gallipo who sang so amazingly.  The band “Get Back” also performed and donated half of their payment to the monies being raised on the night. The tables were beautifully presented with balloons, flower centre pieces, disposable cameras, souvenir programmes and Last Hoorah embossed drink coasters, the latter two of which each guest took home as a reminder of a memorable evening.  

Representatives from Make-A-Wish, Canteen and Down Syndrome were in attendance as guests and as a result of people’s generosity in buying raffle tickets and the many main and silent auction items the Greek Football Club raised a clear profit of $19,000. A minimum amount was presented to the three Charities on the night and once all the accounting for the evening had been finalized the balance of funds to make a total amount of $18,000 was further distributed to the three charities. $1,000 was retained by The Greek Football Club Past Players in their bank account. The amount of money raised from the evening was a remarkable sum back in 1998.

THE EVENING WAS A GREAT SHOW PIECE OF A GREAT CLUB.  People still talk about “The Last Hoorah” today.  One standout comment from a well-known Adelaide TV and sporting entity went something like this “I’ve been to Magarey dinners, been to Premiership celebrations and Presentation nights but nothing has come close to this”.  He could not understand why this great Club closed up shop and that question was asked by many people on the night.

The evening was a gateway to celebrating 37 remarkable years of the Greek Football Club and was also an opportunity to thank all the players, sponsors, committee personnel who worked tirelessly over the years, the members and supporters and their families who showed unwavering support of the Greek Football Club through the good times and the hard times.

Footnote: On the Thursday and Friday prior to the event people were still phoning wanting to secure a seat to the event and sadly were not able to attend as the Football Park Convention Centre had reached its seating capacity for guests.

“GFC FIRST 10 YEARS RE-ENACTMENT CLASSIC”

On a funny note, while all the preparations were in full swing for the Last Hoorah some of the Committee and past players ventured to Tom and Maria Frossinakis’s farm at Birdwood on a Sunday morning to be a part of a video of a comical re-enactment of the first 10 years of the Club. On the Saturday night before, Tom, Maria, Nick and Sharon had a “brain wave”.  On the Sunday morning they decorated and turned Tom and Maria’s tin shed into a mockup of Greek Orthodox Church where the “last rites of the GFC” were performed.

The video of the re-enactment and “last rites” service can to be viewed in the video section of The Last Hoorah on the website.