2013 Victorian Premier League

The 2013 Victorian Premier League was the one-hundred first season of the top tier of club football in Victoria. The home and away season commenced on 6 April 2013. Dandenong Thunder were the defending champions.

Victorian Premier League

Season	2013
Champions	Northcote City
Premiers	Northcote City
Relegated	Richmond Southern Stars
← 2012

Match-fixing scandal

On 15 September 2013, Victoria Police arrested ten people at the Southern Stars, including players David Obaze, Nick McKoy and Joe Woolley, and head coach Zaya Younan.

Later in September, criminal charges were laid by the Victoria Police: the FFA handed Noel, Woolley, Obaze, McKoy and coach Younan initial suspensions which prevented them from being involved in any football-related activity in Australia while the investigation was ongoing. Those bans were also extended worldwide by FIFA. Two British footballers, Reiss Noel and Joe Woolley, received lifetime bans from FIFA for their role in the incident.

Gerry Subramaniam, a Malaysian national and the Australian ring-leader of the betting syndicate behind the match fixing, was sentenced to three years jail in Australia, to be followed by deportation to Malaysia.

The Southern Stars were later suspended from the competition, and all 22 of their matches were declared a No Result, being recorded as 0–0 draws with zero points awarded: this ruling effectively deleted the club from the calculations of the final ladder.

However, the Bentleigh Greens had originally forfeited their Round 22 match against Southern Stars due to a lack of players: as a result of the above ruling, Bentleigh were awarded one point for the match and had a previously imposed fine of $900 for the forfeit refunded.

VPL Teams

Team	Home city	Home ground
Bentleigh Greens	Cheltenham, Melbourne	Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Dandenong Thunder	Dandenong, Melbourne	George Andrews Reserve
Green Gully	Keilor, Melbourne	Green Gully Reserve
Southern Stars FC	Dingley, Melbourne	Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Hume City	City of Hume, Melbourne	John Ilhan Memorial Reserve
Melbourne Knights	Sunshine North, Melbourne	Knights Stadium
Northcote City	Thornbury, Melbourne	John Cain Memorial Park
Oakleigh Cannons	Oakleigh, Melbourne	Jack Edwards Reserve
Richmond SC	Richmond, Melbourne	Kevin Bartlett Reserve
South Melbourne FC	Albert Park, Melbourne	Lakeside Stadium
Pascoe Vale	Coburg North, Melbourne	CB Smith Reserve
Port Melbourne	Port Melbourne, Melbourne	SS Anderson Reserve

Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted from Victorian State League Division 1:
(After the end of the 2012 season.)

• Pascoe Vale (champions)
• Port Melbourne (runners-up)

Teams relegated to Victorian State League Division 1:
(After the end of the 2012 season.)

• Moreland Zebras (11th)
• Heidelberg United (12th)

Regular season

The Victorian Premier League 2013 season was played over 22 rounds, beginning on 23 March and concluding on 16 September 2013, followed by the final series.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Northcote City (C)	22	13	7	2	50	18	+32	46	VPL 2013 Victorian Premier League Finals
2	Melbourne Knights	22	11	6	5	31	26	+5	39
3	Bentleigh Greens	22	9	9	4	39	24	+15	36
4	South Melbourne	22	9	6	7	40	33	+7	33
5	Green Gully Cavaliers	22	9	6	7	32	28	+4	33
6	Port Melbourne Sharks	22	9	5	8	24	28	−4	32
7	Dandenong Thunder	22	8	4	10	28	30	−2	28
8	Oakleigh Cannons	22	7	4	11	33	37	−4	25
9	Hume City	22	7	4	11	26	46	−20	25
10	Pascoe Vale	22	4	8	10	21	30	−9	20
11	Richmond	22	2	7	13	24	48	−24	13	Relegation to Victorian State League Division 1
12	Southern Stars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Finals

	Qualifying/Elimination Finals					Semi Final					Preliminary Final					Grand Final
						1	Northcote City	1								Bentleigh Greens		1 (2)
							Bentleigh Greens	2								Northcote City		1 (3)
	2	Melbourne Knights	2								Northcote City		5
	3	Bentleigh Greens	4								South Melbourne		0
						Melbourne Knights		0
						South Melbourne		1
	4	South Melbourne	1
	5	Green Gully Cavaliers	0

Finals Week 1

South Melbourne v Green Gully Cavaliers

29 September 2013 Elimination Final	South Melbourne	1–0	Green Gully Cavaliers	Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park
5:00PM	Holmes 90'			Referee: Perry Mur

Melbourne Knights v Bentleigh Greens

29 September 2013 Qualifying Final	Melbourne Knights	2–4	Bentleigh Greens	Knights Stadium, Sunshine North
3:00PM	Barisic 45' (pen.) Talajic 61'		Sherbon 31', 39', 70' Stirton 51'

Finals Week 2

Northcote City v Bentleigh Greens

4 October 2013 Major Semi Final	Northcote City	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Bentleigh Greens	SS Anderson Reserve, City of Port Phillip
6:00PM	Kalifatidis 83'		De Vries 79', 102'

Melbourne Knights v South Melbourne

4 October 2013 Minor Semi Final	Melbourne Knights	0–1	South Melbourne	Knights Stadium, Sunshine North
7:30PM			Rixon 67'	Referee: Lewis Guiseffi

Finals Week 3

Northcote City v South Melbourne

13 October 2013 Preliminary Final	Northcote City	5–0	South Melbourne	SS Anderson Reserve, City of Port Phillip
3:00PM	Kalifatidis 5' Gavalas 31' (o.g.) Lujic (55), 78' Kounavelis 60'			Referee: Shaun Evans

Grand Final

19 October 2013

1:00 PM

Bentleigh Greens	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Northcote City
De Vries 88' Sherbon 93'	Report	Kounavelis 63' Lujic 104' Gasparis 108 '

AAMI Park, Melbourne

Referee: Lucien Laverdure

Top goalscorers

Pos	Player	Club	Goals
1	Milos Lujic	Northcote City	19
2	Luke Flynn	Bentleigh Greens	15
3	Dusan Bosnjak	Oakleigh Cannons	13
4	Luke Hopper	South Melbourne	10
5	Thomas Cahill	Richmond SC	9

See also

• Victorian Premier League
• Football Federation Victoria