Greek football, to no one's surprise, has had another embarrassing weekend of fan violence and humiliation. This past Saturday, AEK Athens and Atromitos battled both on and off the field for the Greek Cup.
AEK Athens won their first trophy in almost a decade with a 3-0 victory over Atromitos at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. However, the match was yet another black eye to Greek football due to fan violence and various pitch invasions that occurred throughout the match. Although the match itself had plenty of talking points and at times entertaining football, the attention will again focus on the despicable behavior of the typical Greek supporter. And excuse me for a second, but the Greek football supporter has become a disgrace to not only himself and his club, but more importantly to his family and to his country.
Before the kick-off there was an already fiery atmosphere to the final with both AEK and Atromitos supporters throwing flares to each other during the national anthem. The opening stanzas of the match were a tight and nervy affair with AEK Athens, the favorites, carrying most the play. The breakthrough happened in the 29th minute when Nikos Liberopolous headed home a Nacho Socco cross to open the scoring. Ignore the fact that Liberopolous was offside for the goal, but that is Greek officiating, adequate best. Of course at this point, a small pocket of AEK supporters stormed the field to celebrate the goal. That's what any rational football supporter would do.
AEK grabbed a second goal with about twenty minutes left in the match as Nabil Baha slotted home a deflected cross from Panayiotis Lagos, and the kitrino-mauvri were on their way to a historic trophy. The scoring was completed in the 86th minute as Pantelis Kafes chipped the keeper from inside the box to seal the victory. And then . . . . the madness began.
Referee Tassos Kakos had indicated that their would be a mimimum of nine minutes of injury time in the second half. However, he was forced to blow his whistle a minute into the extra time as AEK supporters rushed onto the field to begin celebrating with their heroes. But then others headed towards the VIP stands, the same stands where I have watched more than my share of AEK matches, and started throwing projectiles towards the Atromitos supporters and families of Atromitos players.
Atromitos head coach, Giorgos Donis, who, to add a little spice to the final, happened to be an ex-coach at AEK Athens, claimed that many of the supporters were actually aiming pistols at the Atromitos VIPs. "I've never seen this in a game, ever, players having to fight to save their families . . . they were pointing pistols at them," Donis said. Atromitos players actually rushed away from the pitch and began clashing with AEK supporters trying to protect their families at times exchanging blows with the supporters before riot police finally used tear gas and clubs to break-up the humiliating scenes at the Olympic stadium.
And even though the referee never officially blew the whistle, the match ended early after members of the Greek Football Association with the input AEK and Atromitos officials declared that there is no point to playing the final seven minutes of injury time. Keep in mind that at this point, AEK supporters had destroyed the goalposts and ripped not only the advertising signs but also the chairs from the stadium and littered the field with this various debris.
AEK’s win, the club’s first trophy since 2002, was tarnished by the events at the end of the game and the celebrations will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the ongoing theme that Greek football is slipping into a state of anarchy. I am embarrassed today to be considered an AEK Athens supporter. In what should have been a joyful and proud moment for the club, we are left with a dark reminder at how badly Greek football needs to be reformed.
The solution cannot be a slew of uncollectible fines and thinly veiled threats to the clubs, but rather a complete suspension of the Greek Super League for next season. I would cancel the entire 2011-12 Greek Super League season. The Greek Football Association should also be suspended by FIFA and Greece should be banned from competing at the upcoming Euro 2012. Yes, these are drastic steps, but steps that are necessary to fixing the enormous wrongs of this past weekend. Greek football is at an all-time low, a complete mockery on the world stage and the biggest problem is I doubt if they even realize it themselves.
(Below are a selection of videos and photos from the match)
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