Jump to content
Phantis Forums

Konstantinos Economidis


Akritis_1944

Recommended Posts

I watched Greece's highest ranked male player get beaten last night by 7th ranked Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the Aust. Open.

He did okay for the first 2 sets. Had a good supporter group following him, but it was spoilt by a small group of Greek-Australian delinquents.

I heard that 3 were were ejected by police and pepper spray was used.

These idiots make us Greeks look bad. What a shame!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Australian Open maced by international media

Article from: Font size:DecreaseIncreaseEmail article:EmailPrint article:Print

Amelia Harris and Mandi Zonneveldt

January 17, 2008 12:00am

THE use of capsicum spray to subdue Greek fans at the Australian Open has made international headlines, once again injuring the reputation of the "Happy Slam".

Media organisations from the US, London and Asia have reported on the use of "pepper spray" at Melbourne Park.

It is the second year running the Australian Open has attracted world-wide attention for the wrong reasons.

Footage of racial fights at last year's tournament was also beamed around the globe.

"Police use pepper spray on crowd as chants get too spicy," was the headline in The Times of London, which noted it was the first time capsicum spray had ever been used at a Grand Slam tournament.

"Police use pepper spray to subdue rowdy fans," said the LA Times, while the BBC reported it was the second time crowd trouble had marred the tournament.

The news was also reported in Canada, Bangkok, New Zealand and France.

Neil Harman, tennis correspondent for The Times, described the incident as regrettable but said fans should be able to behave like fans.

"I think people let their hair down a little more here. It's not Wimbledon where decorum is part and parcel of how you behave," Mr Harman said.

"I don't think you'd ever see pepper spray at Wimbledon."

James Belias, sport editor for Melbourne's Greek newspaper Neos Kosmos, said he thought police overreacted.

"The fans were singing songs and chanting.

"They were the same chants and songs they sung when Marcos Baghdatis was playing a few hours earlier. The police didn't have any problem then," he said.

"There were no problems between Greek fans and Chilean fans. It was a carnival atmosphere."

Melbourne-based reporter for Chilean newspaper Las Ultimas Gerardo Villena agreed.

"There was nothing really offensive. Probably the police were remembering last year when they had that big fight between fans," Villena said.

"All the Chilean fans were really happy. It's just like Davis Cup at home.

"South American and European countries' Davis Cup is like a really hot soccer game.

Under the headline, "Crowd trouble mars Melbourne Park fiesta", Reuters reported: "Crowd trouble and police ejections cast a shadow across Melbourne Park on Tuesday, diverting attention from world-class sport at the Australian Open."

Commentator Pritha Sarkar said: "The Australian Open has been left struggling to live up to its image as the 'Happy Slam' after crowd trouble marred the season's opening grand slam for the second year running.

"Champion Roger Federer dubbed the season's opening major as the 'Happy Slam' 12 months ago as the event usually tops the list of favourite destinations for the players on tour because of its laid back set-up and top class organisation.

"But unfortunately for organisers of the Melbourne Park tournament, that image has been tarnished after on-court action was again marred by security issues on Tuesday."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

apparently there were kids at the game as young as 10 years of age who were effected by the pepper spray

ALL COPS ARE PIGS..

If it was australian fans the cops would of done nothing..

f...u...c...k the police

Link to comment
Share on other sites

apparently there were kids at the game as young as 10 years of age who were effected by the pepper spray

ALL COPS ARE PIGS..

If it was australian fans the cops would of done nothing..

f...u...c...k the police

I only saw the match on TV so I wasn't aware of the specifics. My initial reaction was the Greeks were somwehat to blame, but after hearing news reports from various sources it turns out that the batzoi overreacted!

Chilean supporters said that the Greek fans were not being unruly or offensive. Even Gonzalez said there was nothing to it. He heread a few comments directed at him in Spanish...but who doesn't get comments thrown their way as a pro sportsman?!?!

Looks like these Greeks should not just threaten legal action, but proceed!

I don't like hearing my fellow Hellenes causing unprovoked trouble, leave that crap up to the Serbs and Croats, but in this situation the gourounia acted like the trouble makers!

I saw a few hottie Latinas in the crowd...I personally would have been putting the word on them, rather than argue with the porky pigs!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

look paithia - I love tennis and will have to say that some of the behaviour does not belong in the sport outside of the Davis Cup - BUT how hard is it to ask some guys to leave the stadium, tell them to get out and thats that.

Pepper spray? too much

Link to comment
Share on other sites

look paithia - I love tennis and will have to say that some of the behaviour does not belong in the sport outside of the Davis Cup - BUT how hard is it to ask some guys to leave the stadium, tell them to get out and thats that.

Pepper spray? too much

I agree with you.

The police were heavy handed in this situation because last year there were incidents between rival Croat and Serb supporters.

The fans should have been just escorted out of the arena if they were being offensive or unruly. They didn't deserve to be sprayed with pepper spray!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i don't know under which thread to post in, i suppose here...

i was reading an article that just broke about baghdatis being vidoetaped at a bbq in australia, with some group of aussie-greeks...chanting 'turks out of cyprus' and 'macedonia is greece'. hahahaha. i hope the shrimp on the barbie was delicious...anyways, the aussie press considers this a scandal while the aussie-greeks are upset that once again, the great anglo-usa-aussie-zionist power group wishes to crush any outbursts of hellenic nationalism.

for that video to surface, either a secret agent (double x) was at that bbq, or maybe an exhurberant aussie-greek wished to put the exclusive video on youtube and unknowingly, instead of showing the world of a feel good greek moment, ended up causing this mess.

nonsense to me...this may blow over or it may cause turks and fyromanians to go to tennis matches to cheer against baghdatis.

what is it with greeks born in another nation, feeling the need to express greek pride in such manners? most of their parents left greece penniless to go to a nation where they could thrive economically, much more than if they stayed in greece. now, they feel a need to reject their new nation and throw scorn on that host nation because they feel their birth nation has slighted greece in 1 way or another?

why don't these greek 'patriots' protest at the greek embassy against corruption in greece that effects actual greek citizens? for sure, for many of these 'patriots', i can't see them criticizing anything greek...they have no clue. everything is a global conspiracy against hellenism.

Do you have the web adress to this certain article?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

look paithia -  I love tennis and will have to say that some of the behaviour does not belong in the sport outside of the Davis Cup - BUT how hard is it to ask some guys to leave the stadium, tell them to get out and thats that.

Pepper spray? too much

I agree with you.

The police were heavy handed in this situation because last year there were incidents between rival Croat and Serb supporters.

The fans should have been just escorted out of the arena if they were being offensive or unruly. They didn't deserve to be sprayed with pepper spray!

the problem is that bad cops can't figure out the difference between fans that are having fun and others that want to stab each other in the throat

From the feeling I get Greeks showing their Greekness is not that highly appreciated in Australia - am I wrong?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i don't know under which thread to post in, i suppose here...

i was reading an article that just broke about baghdatis being vidoetaped at a bbq in australia, with some group of aussie-greeks...chanting 'turks out of cyprus' and 'macedonia is greece'. hahahaha. i hope the shrimp on the barbie was delicious...anyways, the aussie press considers this a scandal while the aussie-greeks are upset that once again, the great anglo-usa-aussie-zionist power group wishes to crush any outbursts of hellenic nationalism.

for that video to surface, either a secret agent (double x) was at that bbq, or maybe an exhurberant aussie-greek wished to put the exclusive video on youtube and unknowingly, instead of showing the world of a feel good greek moment, ended up causing this mess.

File mou, I like and you and respect you. Your posts are always of great value, but I strongly disagree with this post.

Baghdatis did nothing wrong at all. "Exw oi Tourkoi apo tin Kipro" is the recognised syn8ima which calls for the end of Turkish occupation. It is his right, and some may argue his duty as a Cypriot citizen, to call for an end to the end of the illegal occupation through the removal or Turkish troops. This chant does not refer to the Turkish Cypriots, but the Turkish troops. Now I don't buy into some global zionist conspiracy either, but I do believe that political realism is upheld in international relations. For those that don't know, Realism is a political theory which came to oppose Liberalism after WWII and basically consists of the premise that world politics is a game of chess. Everything is politically significant and strategic. There is a general consensus that Realism is dominant in world politics, see the works of people like Nye, Waltz, Meirscheimer, etc. The point is, that why have these issues been reported on in the way they have?

Sky News in Aus has reported that Marcos has been embroiled in a race row and have not reported in an objective manner. While the BBC went even further with their subjective reporting by ommitting the "Cyprus" from the chant. Instead they've reported that Marco sang: "Turks out" <_< No one has explained what this song means or anything. On top of that, during the Economidis-Gonzalez match the police sprayed the Greek fans and one reporter for BBC Radio reported that it was 80 fans vs 4 police officers <_< This despite the fact that tennis players (Gonzalez included) & fans (who were not Greek) said that the Greek fans did nothing wrong... their only crime = cheering too loud. <_< If that was for Hewitt would it have been deemed too loud?

what is it with greeks born in another nation, feeling the need to express greek pride in such manners? most of their parents left greece penniless to go to a nation where they could thrive economically, much more than if they stayed in greece. now, they feel a need to reject their new nation and throw scorn on that host nation because they feel their birth nation has slighted greece in 1 way or another?

File don't make out as if the nations that these Greeks are in have handed them out gifts. The benefits for these nations are huge too. A recent study in England found that the Greek (and Greek-Cypriot) minority was the 3rd most prosperous in the UK. However, the Dutch and Japanese (ranked above them) are smaller in number and are largely businessmen in economic fields such as banking, etc. So in real terms, the most successful minority in the UK are the Greeks. This obviously offers a great boost to the economy of the UK and so, yes, the penniless Greeks built a great life for themselves, but also boosted the UK (and other countries in which they settled). And since they contribute so much to their adopted nation(s), they have a right to protest when they feel as though they are being persecuted against.

why don't these greek 'patriots' protest at the greek embassy against corruption in greece that effects actual greek citizens? for sure, for many of these 'patriots', i can't see them criticizing anything greek...they have no clue. everything is a global conspiracy against hellenism.

Greeks living abroad are not intimately related with the corruption in Greece and so do not take action. However, they know if they have political issues internationally and so take action.

You shouldn't be questioning the fact that they protest against very real problems that our country faces. You, and all Greeks, particularly Australian-Greeks should be writing letters to Sky News Australia and the BBC to complain about the reports of the incidents at hand. The fans involved in the incident should also take legal action against the Victorian Police authorities that pepper-sprayed them. It was unwarrented and unprovoked and even affected 10 year old children.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

i know these people mean well, but tribalistic thinking & blind nationalism only serve to perpetuate the nonsense that goes on (by not standing up and demanding better).

Agreed.

why is it that so many in the disapora blamed last summer's fires on 'foreign agents' or 'immigrants' and most greeks in greece blamed greek developers with political connections? 2 worlds apart, anyways, that is just 1 example of dozens.

Very interesting point... There's a political analyst, I can't remember her name but I can get it for you if you want, who discussed this phenomena in a study of Turks living in London and abroad. Basically, she concludes that the isolation of emigration means that migrants hold on to their national identity. While the inhabitants of their country of origin are exposed to outside influences, i.e. transnational media, tourism, etc, so they long to branch out, or "broaden their horizens". It's not just Greeks therefore, it's a phenomena linked with all nationalities. To use the cliche, the grass is always greener on the otherside.

Another study, this time aimed at Greek-Cypriots abroad, suggested that the reason for the phenomena is because the migrants see first hand the political conflicts. So, a Greek-Cypriot in London is more likely to know about Joan Ryan, the London based Labour MP who constantly criticizes Cyprus and engages in illegal promotion of "Northern Cyprus", than a Cypriot in Cyprus. So, when they see that s%$#! constantly they develop a persecution-complex.

So while I agree with you, it isn't simply a case of "blind-nationalism" and "tribalism", but rather about the complex interaction between various political variables.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...