When our national soccer players denied opportunities or merely offered bench prone chances to play professional soccer starting with state leagues despite the fact soccer was yet an emerging sport in Australia and the environment they found themselves in was unsympathetic and intimidating to take part when given chances sporadically to line-up for games.
ETHIOPIAN NATIONAL PLAYERS STORY
Read, The Age, January 1986: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19860106&id=ADRVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FJUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5255,2218968&hl=en Therefore, to no avail, they rather favoured to continue practicing on weekends with their fellow countrymen. As the weekend training strengthened and the number of players grew exponentially, on January 22, 1989, we organized to play a friendly match with Mauritius team at Seaford United Soccer Club’s ground, Seaford North Reserve, Railway Parade in Seaford and we won the game 2to1.
Extremely encouraged by the
team’s exuberance, determination, performance and winning a friendly game, I
put a question to a fired up champions to put their aspirations in one basket
and consider about forming a soccer club and registering in the soccer league
for yearly competitions and electing committee members to run it immediately
after the game while we were enjoying a bright sunny African sky in a lush
beautiful park.
Following my wealth of
experience & acumen, I facilitated the meeting to elect committee members
containing a President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer, Team Manager
and Coach of the Club on the day. Our good friend, Bedawi Mohammed, was elected
as President and me as Team Manager of the Club with heavy emphasis on my
experiences and the workloads ahead more than just managing the team. 
Harambee’s seniors’ team
Harambee’s reserves team. Front row from left Bedawi Club President
Needless to say my friend
Ermias Wondimu who has been coaching us during our training on weekends has
been elected to continue as the team’s coach as he did throughout the soccer
games assisted by his brother Solomon while the other fellow national players
partaking in mentoring. We also decided to choose a suitable name that will
reflect our purpose by calling the club Harambee African Soccer Club and our
first home ground being inside Fawkner Park, just off Punt Road, opposite
Alfred Hospital, in South Yarra and from here we relocated to a more open &
reachable ground, Como Park North, on Alexandria Avenue, in South Yarra, which
was the last home for Harambee. 
Harambee’s seniors and reserves team
In 1992, realizing the majority of members and
players of Harambee were Ethiopians, some members and I agreed to change the
club’s name to Ethiopian but with the same significance calling it Andenet (unity;
together) Ethiopian Soccer Club and remained at Como Park as our home
ground until we have, finally, relocated our ground in the western suburb, to
Dobson Reserve, Maidstone, in order to attract more Ethiopians and create
atmosphere of unity with Ethiopian community. While we were at Como, I created weekly Andenet Newspaper for members
and players to read club news and express their views.
Players photos on the cover of Andenet News Papers
In doing so, I encouraged few of our own ethnic nationals and
other African members and players to stay with us if they wish to irrespective
of political differences. However, the
ideas of changing the name & combining Harambee with Ethiopian community
lead to the beginning of the withdrawal of other African friends & some of our
members to contend with us by forming their own clubs & community.
Andenet’s reserves team with Coach
Ermias Wondimu
Despite the misfortunes of missing all our friends and supporters
associated with them who stood with us forming the club, I continued to serve
the new club as President until
1994. Having served the soccer club and the community for a long time, giving
way to the new generation and making clear about my intents to support if need
be to members who have indicated to me that I should serve again; I finally
parted on good intentions.
Andenet’s few seniors & reserves team
Again, in 1998, I recalled and regrouped former Harambee and
Andenet players and talented new comers forming a team of mature age and young
players based on the principle of non-political and all inclusive groups,
outside the community, to establish a new soccer team called Como Park Soccer Club by returning to our old
home where a lot of people still have strong emotional connection for various
reasons during the formation of the clubs and I was elected to serve as
President.
Como Park Team June 17, 2001
I registered
the Soccer Club with the Amateur Soccer
Federation of Victoria and submitted objectives, rules and regulations of the
Club to the office of Incorporation. Performed all other club duties as required
until finally members gradually disappeared, because of various personal
reasons that I can’t speak for everyone, without any notice and the club
finally lost plenty of matches and missed few match games eventually becoming
insolvent.
Como Park Teams & Families
Again, in 2006, I was asked by one of the former
member & player friend to move back to my old home (community) to regroup the club again by working with Ethiopian
community as an affiliated sport body. I accepted the call; Once again, because
I wanted to readdress and bring back the course of an enchanting harmony and
unity as one Ethiopian club through sports. The committee to run the club was
formed & I was elected to serve the sport club as President within the
Ethiopian Community. I, once more, suggested its new name, the Melbourne Lions Soccer
Club, and enabled to reform together with the former club members and players.
Again, we have chosen a closer, better and bigger stadium like pavilion most
suited for children & families, the Maribyrnong Reserve, in Maribyrnong.
We have changed the former name Andenet to a local name because of the prohibitions of personalised names, by Football Federation of Victoria, creating nationalistic behaviours among other local players which led to violence numerous times. Soon after, we called back all former Andenet and Como Park players, who have disappeared from the limelight as a result of different personal reasons such as commitments: married, family, jobs, school, growing old, moving away, mortgages and so forth, to attend to training nights with the new transformed Soccer Club.
I facilitated to register the club with the office of incorporation and with Football Federation of Victoria (FFV) three teams comprising of youth team, under 13th children’s team and the senior’s team consisting of former soccer club players and new players, particularly, to engage & encourage those who have become fathers to stay fit, to participate in an annual soccer competition with other teams within the FFV. I continued to perform all other required soccer club management duties & responsibilities as I have always done so.
I should also mention here that a lot of people have been instrumental in the development & growth of the clubs & community since the beginning and without the interests and support of these people; I wouldn’t have succeeded to bring the conceptions & executions of both institutions on my own to where it is today regardless of their shabby progresses.
Please forgive me, I purposely avoided listing the names of those people, who have made my job easier and contributed so much while I was serving the community and the clubs, extremely dreading that I might leave out those who have done their significant share as well.
Frankly, at this time, I’m only concerned in revealing how the “history in the making” dramas have been established; who was originally involved, where and when were all these accomplishments unfolded.
With all my strength and tenacity, I believe I am a self-effacing person, never craving for unjustified publicity for myself, my club or my community. I never liked to take the centre stage, as some might think, to tell everyone what I was due to my humility and utmost shyness which we all have inherited from our upbringing in our culture.
In today’s Ethiopian terms, things have changed fundamentally and will continue to change even more dramatically in the near future.
Also see http://www.timeforchangesociety.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-launching-of-ethiopian-community.html
Peace & Good health
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