Greek football

[ukchris]

Hello

I'm an Englishman who's a big fan of Greek football (I've been to quite a few games in the past couple of years when visiting my Greek girlfriend's family in Athens).

I just have a couple of questions I wanted to ask about Greek football - I'd be really grateful if anyone could reply. I've been looking for a website like this for ages, so I've got a few questions!!

1. How bad is hooliganism in Greek football? Obviously I've read the reports of violence and I noticed that even a small club like Panionios had to move to a neutral ground last season, but I'd be interested to hear from normal fans what they think. In my experience the fans at Greek league games always seem very passionate - and you can see there are some quite tough fans - but it's always seemed to me that you can quite easily avoid the trouble.

2. Do people really believe there is corruption in the Greek game? When I saw Olympiakos lose at Panionios a couple of years ago, my girlfriend's Dad said a lot of the crowd were blaming the ref - but to me it looked like Panionios had just played better. I'd be interested to know what people think.

3. Why is that the Greek national team never seems to get very big crowds compared the big league teams? I would guess that's changing a bit at the moment (with the team doing so well in Euro 2004 qualification) but it always seems that club football comes first - which seems unusual to us in England.

4. How much does it cost for one of those polystirene things they sell outside to put on your seat? And how long have they been sold outside football grounds?

5. Are there any other traditions of watching Greek football that I should know about?

All answers much appreciated. And thanks for your help.

[ukchris]

Loads of people are reading my post but no one is replying! Please could someone just answer even a couple of my questions? Oh go on...

[Vaggar]

First of all wellcome to the forums UKChris. You putted some good questions, but probably you will get as many different opinions as answers.

1. How bad is hooliganism in Greek football? Obviously I've read the reports of violence and I noticed that even a small club like Panionios had to move to a neutral ground last season, but I'd be interested to hear from normal fans what they think. In my experience the fans at Greek league games always seem very passionate

[Ziaka]

One more thing to ad is that the Greek sports press is really making the hooliganism situation worse. Most sports papers are affiliated with specific teams (ie. Protahlitis=Olympiakos, Ath. Ixo=Panathinaikos, ora gia Spor=AEK, etc.). Thoise news papers with their reporting tend to inflame things between the fans of the teams.

There really is no independent sports newspaper in Greece, which would reports and investigate all the problems (hooliganism, corruptions, etc.) in an even handed manner. That is one reason why those problems are never resolved.

[Vaggar]

You are tottaly right Ziaka. These newspapers are responsible for a big part of the violence. When I was living in Greece I use to read Fos and Athlitiki Icho everyday. Anyone that was seeing me buying both newspapers tough that I was crazy. The situation with the newspapers became worse in the middle of the 90's. After "Protathlitis" and "Kosmos ton Sport" were first publish. Fos had to follow them in the Olympiakofrosini, because it was loosing readers. Last time that I went back in Greece I sampled all newspapers (Goalnews) was not available then. No one, but no one was even appealing to me. Maybe Sportime.

The reporters have forgot that they are journalist and should try to inform the public, not to control their mind and actions.