Australia - Greece

[Georgios10]

This thread is funny because the same thing happens in Canada. Nobody supports Canada in terms of sports, only hockey. I remember when the World Basketball championships were held in Toronto. Greece and Canada were in the same group. They played at MLG and there were 15000 Greek fans and 100 Canadians. It was all over the media, that most of the Greeks there were born in Canada, and cheered against Canada. For most it is hard to take the Greek blood out even though you may have been born in Australia, Us , Canada or wherever.

[loup]

So true

But there is more to it up here in Canada - myopic view on sports - hockey, hockey , women's hockey, hockey, Mike Wier, hockey, hockey, hockey ,

paparyia -

it was impossible to talk to someone about basketball until a few years ago - track and field? tennis? soccer?

Meatheads yapping about hockey only - only ethnic DPs like the other sports- when we went out to celebrate the EURO I can remember the disgust and hatred I saw on faces of some rednecks - why??????????

I'll tell you why because if you want to enjoy and celebrate a sport that is not played on ice you do so by cheering for teams and athletes not from Canada - because no Canadians exist - then you are anti-Canadian or less Canadian for doing this.

Listen if Canada had a soccer team that could knock out St.Kit's and Nevis and other worldpowers and move on to the final stage in qualifying of CONCACAF which we haven't done since we finished last in the group in 1998 - then I would cheer for them - but since this is not the case then let us enjoy the sport by cheering for the land of our forefathers. :gr:

[Petalideos]

I really do not know which Canada you are from but it sure differs from the Canada I live in. Sure we are known for hockey, however, Canadians have made great progress in other sports.

Canada's NT won the Gold Cup in 2002. That is a major achievement. If you notice we had bad luck in the last WCQ...however, we have a ton of players in Europe such as Hume, Rudskinsky(spelling), Grande...etc Our U-21 & 19 seem very promising as they have advanced to the CONCAF quarters and semi-finals.

Steve Nash won the NBA player of the year...not bad for a Canadian.

Mark Rypien....Superbowl MVP...Daryl Johnston...4 time Superbowl winner

Steve Weir....golf....I can not stand the sport.

Alexandre Despatie (half Greek)....World record holder in diving

Larry Walker, Bob Gibson, Claude Raymond....all Gold Glove and Cy Young winner in baseball

Track & Field....list is too long....excluding the disgraceful Ben Johnson

Winter sports - all of them

I could be here until tomorrow with the achievements of Canadians....off ice.

Do not get me wrong....the passion us Greeks have can not be matched by any other people. It is pretty hard when you use us Greeks as a barometer for passion of a team or anything else for that matter.

Compare now the passion of Germans to Canadians? Or Australians to Canadians?? and so forth....

[Korisos]

actually we got more kids playing soccer than we do playing hockey but because the domestic league is not that high caliber compared to other countries, the quality of players produced is comparable to that of a village team from kazahkstan...actually we don't even have a true domestic league cos the united soccer league also has american teams in it.

individually canada has produced some good players some mentioned like Radzinski (fullham), Grande playing for Viking in Norway i think, that black striker dude from a few years back whose name escapes me and Fernandez at PAOK :tup:

and don't forget jacques villeneuve, 1997 F1 champion who made a really bad career move afterwards but still :box:

and we must not forget pamela anderson

[Georgios10]

individually canada has produced some good players some mentioned like Radzinski (fullham),

I played with Tomasz Radzinski, he was born in Poland and came here as a teen. Someone before also mentioned we won the Gold Cup, big deal. I was part of Canada's NT until the U-23, they do not pick the best team that they can. It is getting better. Back in 92 or 93, I was the last cut for the team that went to the PAn Am Games. THe coach wanted to set up an exhibition game with my club team before they left for Cuba. We did and beat our U-23 team 5-1. We had a better club team than our u-23 NT.

Yes we have individuals in Canada, but ask anyone outside Canada and they will say "Oh Canada, hockey right"

You missed Owen Hargreaves!!

[Petalideos]

I was part of Canada's NT until the U-23, they do not pick the best team that they can. It is getting better. Back in 92 or 93, I was the last cut for the team that went to the PAn Am Games. THe coach wanted to set up an exhibition game with my club team before they left for Cuba. We did and beat our U-23 team 5-1. We had a better club team than our u-23 NT.

It is funny you bring this up because back then (my time as well) I had just stopped playing (U-17 Quebec Selects) and there were a few Greek kids older than me that were not followed properly by the NT (U-18 & U-20 at that time). Players that in my opinion were a higher caliber than the ones selected. It is moments like these ones that give a black eye to our athletics programs.

Moreover....I like to ask the Canadians in this forum....with the Canadian NT was playing against Turkey....who will they rooting for....Greece?

What I am getting at is....it is good to be patriotic...however, there is a fine line between that and Ethnocentrism.....and that is what a lot of immigrants including Greeks faced against the stereotypical WASP....lets try and not mimic their behaviour

.....Pamela Anderson SCHWING!!!!(Mike Myers - Canadian)

[loup]

my point was not to belittle the accomplishments of our athletes - my heart broke when Ben Johnson's piss test went bad and Villenuve got me to watch motor sports - what I meant to point out was that as fans Canadians don't feel comfortable cheering for anything but hockey

The Jays of the early 90's were awesome and games well attended but the fans were relatively quiet - not polite - but subdued. Also someone else mentioned the Basketball worlds - I watched a Greece-Canada exhibition just prior to the turney and the crowd was definately pro-Ellinko - the Greeks were cheering 70-30 for Ellas but the Canadians were mute

I like passion - political, social, the arts and sports - and we are missing it in Canada - which I believe is otherwise an amazing place to live

Zito ta Patritha - both of them

PS - I don't think Daryl Johnston or Bob gibson were Canadian - Fergie Jenkins is - Vanderjat - and that squash guy

[Korisos]

how did i forget about owen hargreaves, he has an english grandma or something and a german passport from all those years he's in bayern munich and chose to play for england which i can understand cos he was 19 or 20 at the time and it would be easier on the traveling, i mean not having to fly across the atlantic.

and we also got stalteri who used to play for bremen and now plays for an english team, totenham i believe

a few years back canada had a german coach, Olger(or Holger) Osieck and he tried to instill his principles and actually did more harm than good cos he didn't understand the mentality over here but now they have a homegrown boy coaching them and things seem to be a bit better, funny you mention the selection issues, i think all it takes is a decent domestic league to do the trick but there no money for it :tdown:

[AEK-MTL]

how did i forget about owen hargreaves, he has an english grandma or something and a german passport from all those years he's in bayern munich and chose to play for england which i can understand cos he was 19 or 20 at the time and it would be easier on the traveling, i mean not having to fly across the atlantic.

and we also got stalteri who used to play for bremen and now plays for an english team, totenham i believe

a few years back canada had a german coach, Olger(or Holger) Osieck and he tried to instill his principles and actually did more harm than good cos he didn't understand the mentality over here but now they have a homegrown boy coaching them and things seem to be a bit better, funny you mention the selection issues, i think all it takes is a decent domestic league to do the trick but there no money for it :tdown:

Well, it seems that Toronto is going to get an MLS franchise, so that might help some of our Canadian NT players a bit. Players from the Montreal Impact could play in a higher-level professional league. If the Toronto franchise does well, Montreal and Vancouver wouldn't be too far behind in getting MLS franchises either. So that could be the start of a respectable Canadian NT.

[Euphoria]

Great news, I live in Melbourne so I'll definitely be there. Hopefully I can get some autographs.

Btw is this game actually confirmed??

[HBK]

listen every1

If you are born in Australia,Hold an Australian Passport and Citizenship and have lived the majority of your life in AUSTRALIA no matter where your ancesters came from

im obviously of greek heritage and i was cheering wildly when greece won the euro but when crunch comes to crunch its australia who comes first

i agree with zgreek here 100%, all the australian-greeks in australia who go over to greece for holiday or something, do the people in greece consider you a greek because of your heritage?

no ###### way

they call u a kolo afstralo and there right because we are australian

alla say u live in australia,but u hold dual citizenship or have lived in greece for like 10 years or more well then i can understand u going for greece

But the thing is, if u were born in australia,lived all ur life here and maybe gone for a holiday to greece for like 3 months, ur australian MATE

the australian greeks dont live a life remotely to what the greeks live in greece so how can you consider yourselg greek when you hardly live a lifestyle that is one a of a greek

If your Born and Bred in Australia, your australian

and protalithis, 50,000 greeks hahahahahaha :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

are u allright?

listen buddy, there will be like 5,000 greeks and the rest will all be australian

and 5-0 :LOL:

ever since the euro,greece have played poorly,they will send a second string side to australia(you actually think rehhagel is going to take his full complement of players to australia :rolleyes:) and they will rezili every1(if they havent already)by losing

now im no anti-greece hater, i love them,im proud of my heritage but the fact is you have to look at the bigger picture and that is australia for me

Truth Hurts people, Truth Hurts

[Guest Piraxtiri]

listen every1

If you are born in Australia, Hold an Australian Passport and Citizenship and have lived the majority of your life in AUSTRALIA, your australian no matter where your ancesters came from

im obviously of greek heritage and i was cheering wildly when greece won the euro but when crunch comes to crunch its australia who comes first

i agree with zgreek here 100%, all the australian-greeks in australia who go over to greece for holiday or something, do the people in greece consider you a greek because of your heritage?

no ###### way

they call u a kolo afstralo and their right because we are australian

alla say u live in australia, but u hold dual citizenship or have lived in greece for like 10 years or more well then i can understand u going for greece

But the thing is, if u were born in australia, lived all ur life here and maybe gone for a holiday to greece for like 3 months, ur australian MATE

the australian greeks dont live a life remotely to what the greeks live in greece so how can you consider yourself greek when you hardly live a lifestyle that is one a of a greek

If your Born and Bred in Australia, your australian

and protalithis, 50,000 greeks hahahahahaha :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

are u allright?

listen buddy, there will be like 5,000 greeks and the rest will all be australian

and 5-0 :LOL:

ever since the euro,greece have played poorly, they will send a second string side to australia(you actually think rehhagel is going to take his full complement of players to australia :rolleyes:) and they will rezili every1(if they havent already)by losing

now im no anti-greece hater, i love them, im proud of my heritage but the fact is you have to look at the bigger picture and that is australia for me

Truth Hurts people, Truth Hurts

[aekrossoponti]

listen every1

im obviously of greek heritage and i was cheering wildly when greece won the euro but when crunch comes to crunch its australia who comes first

i agree with zgreek here 100%, all the australian-greeks in australia who go over to greece for holiday or something, do the people in greece consider you a greek because of your heritage?

no ###### way

they call u a kolo afstralo and their right because we are australian

alla say u live in australia, but u hold dual citizenship or have lived in greece for like 10 years or more well then i can understand u going for greece

But the thing is, if u were born in australia, lived all ur life here and maybe gone for a holiday to greece for like 3 months, ur australian MATE

the australian greeks dont live a life remotely to what the greeks live in greece so how can you consider yourself greek when you hardly live a lifestyle that is one a of a greek

i think everyone should decide for himself what side hes on. I for my part am always on the greek side...

what you say is very true. the diaspora greeks have a different life, i would also say we have a different mentality from the greeks in greece. probably more so in australia and the states than in europe. the greeks in germany for example were i live seem to me to be "better" in a sense than most poniri greeks in greece. we seem to have more unity and values here than they do in greece were today it has gotten extremely materialistic. i dont think though that this makes us less greek, on the contrary i really treasure the diaspora outlook on hellenicism and see it as superior to greek everyday life. in a way probably we diaspora greeks are more greek than the greeks in greece because we have to prove our greekness day in and day out. on the other hand i have learned that its important not to overexaggerate the whole greek thing because when you go to greece chances are you`ll be disappointed. as you said probably you wont be accepted in the way you want. but who cares we are on a different level and some stupid greeks that dont see that cant knock our hustle...

in sports though i am first with greek and second with germany. if greece plays germany i will always be for greece although i love germany as well. although something i would not be against is germany beating greece withmasmanidis scoring the decisive goal. i could easily live with that. because he represents us as does amanatidis.

[Ziaka]

Australia will say farewell to home fans with a match against Greece at home on May 26, and will then assemble in Europe for a training camp in the Netherlands which will include three friendlies.

from http://twg1.sbs.com.au/national/index.php3?id=66218

So this confirms the friendly.

[mixos]

You obviously have NO idea

Heidelberg vs South Melbourne got 12k and that was only for a game in the VPL and these days people dont go to our games because we arent Greek enough anymore

there will be 40-50k Greeks there dont worry. I know my football and I know my football crowds wtc.

yeah to bad about the world cup then again I think Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine and Greece are all better than australia who only managed to beat the 5th best team in South America on penalties

this is what I dont like, aussies getting cocky just because they have made the world cup after years of humilliation.

As for our 'Greekness' as opposed to our 'Aussieness' you have no clue. Drakos went half way to explaining why your post made barely any sense

for F***s sake how many Greek internationals werent even born in Greece? Papadopoulos, mavrogenidis, Amanatidis. coming to australia doesent change my ethnicity or mean that my or my childrens loyalty to Greece have to change

as if being born in a country is the be all and end all. :whistle: what an argument

ELLAS THRYSKEIA KAI STHN AYSTRALIA

i agree :tup:

[mixos]

I was born in australia and i consider myself Greek i am thankful that Australia is a land of opportunity, but the day i will call myself an australian is when rednecks out there stop calling me a wog, i remember when i was young being picked on for having a greek background i still have not forgotten those days and i was born here in australia, you know what drakos not every aussie out there consider us Aussies there are a few people out there who descriminate but they dont make it obvious like they used  to in the old days,

What you need to understand is we dont live in a perfect world, there are still wanna be Pauline Hansons out there who treat and view ethnics differently, thats what i am talking about, My heart and my soul will always belong to GREECE no matter where i was born  :gr:

As far as the soccer goes Greece will beat Australia if they bring there full squad and hopefully by then dellas is match fit,

Who didn't cop s%$#! when they were in school about being an ethnic.

That's just typical racist bullshit, and there's plenty of anglo-saxons in Australia that still think like that to this day.

But at the end of the day your an Australian.

Man honestly Im not gonna sit here and twist your arm to go for Australia, but the fact is that your born in Australian which makes you an Australian.

When you get married in the near future or maybe your already married, what will your kids be? Greek? or Australian?

I know it's hard to say your Australian megale I was just like you, but at the end of the day if you goto Greece you will be called an Australo!

:gr:

re in greece people beat up people from diffrent cities its the greek way we like to pick on each other so dont worry if they call you an australo and if you dont want to be a greek you dont have to ,ok.at the end of the day we are all greek like it or not

it dosent mean that if your not born in greece your not greek,if you where born in china whould you be a kinezo noooooooooooooooo so dont say crap

we where waiting so long for greece to come and know we hear greek people saying that they will support australia.my god whats wrong with this peolple :unsure:

elladara skise ta kangoro

[mixos]

GO THE AUSSIES!

:P

MY BLOOD IS GREEK!

BUT MY HEART IS WITH AUSTRALIA!!!

Gonna be a nuts game.

I will be making the trip down to Melbourne from Sydney to see this.

Will be wearing my Australian jersey holding a Greek flag :P

ena kako eixan oi ellines panta ipirxan panta prodotes re oust

i hope you sit in the oz crowd :angry:

[mixos]

GO THE AUSSIES!

:P

MY BLOOD IS GREEK!

BUT MY HEART IS WITH AUSTRALIA!!!

Gonna be a nuts game.

I will be making the trip down to Melbourne from Sydney to see this.

Will be wearing my Australian jersey holding a Greek flag :P

you've got to be joking

Iam in Greece now but i will be in aus for this game

its gonna go off!!

These days the atmosphere at ethniki games is like an ekklisia

there will be 50,000 Greeks and we will creat one sick atmosphere

'ELLAS THRYSKIA KAI STHN AUSTRALIA'

'WELCOME TO MELBOURNE, GREECE'

'WELKOM TO YOUR NIGHTMARE AUSRALIA'

###### I hope we rip out a tsonda somehow

5-0 GREECE

5-0?

Too bad the ethniki couldn't beat Albania 5-0.

Otherwise they might of been along side Australia in the world cup :P

2-1...

Bresciano & Culina...

Also there will not be 50,000 Greek supporters mate.

Last week when we beat Uruguay there was 75,000 proud Australian supporters, lucky if 15, 000 Greek supporters even turn up.

To be honest I would prefer a draw, we'll make me happy.

:gr:

And all you so called Greek supporters who live in Australia and are born in Australia grow the hell up. Honestly last time I checked it's the country im born in that has given me such a great opportunity in life. NOT GREECE!

Dont get me wrong, Hellas will always be in my heart aswell and I embrace my background & culture.

But I find it so pathetic that all these kids in Australia cannot accept the fact that they Australian not Greek.

To all the Greeks in Greece, goodluck and let the best team win.

And respect for supporting the country you are born in.

HELLAS OLE!

:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

i hope that the country you where born in loses 5-0 and if greece wins that day i would like to see how you would feel ,and when thousands of greeks will be singing the national imno ,and we will have tears in our eyes ,you can sing oz oz oz yo yo yo

a re ti ratsa exoume :(

[Ziaka]

According to FIFA web site the firendly against Australia will be played in Sydney.

[Akritis_1944]

After what happened in Cronulla, Sydney on the weekend I will always be a Greek and a proud Hellene and to hell with what some drunken yobo in some backward craphole beach suburb thinks.

Also, for that matter the sleazy skato in an Athens kafeneio might call me a Xazo-Australo kangaro or what have you. I am MORE Greek than these people. I don't defame my name or my heritage.

I am and will always be Greek.

[XXX-18T]

After what happened in Cronulla, Sydney on the weekend I will always be a Greek and a proud Hellene and to hell with what some drunken yobo in some backward craphole beach suburb thinks.

Also, for that matter the sleazy skato in an Athens kafeneio might call me a Xazo-Australo kangaro or what have you. I am MORE Greek than these people. I don't defame my name or my heritage.

I am and will always be Greek.

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

[Akritis_1944]

Drunk yobbos, mate!

Look at these fine ambassadors for the country! :)

[efti]

guys there will be a ###### load of greeks here in aust goin to the game...it will be 50/50 in the stadium at least. you cant seriously think they will lose 5-0 lol since when is aust better than brazil...there not that great buddy.there good but not a better squad than greece maybe on the same level but greece is a better TEAM.

and i been in austrtalia all my life with citizenship, i still call myself greek there is big phisical and cultrul diff between aussies and greek were not the same at all..greek / australian yes but never just plain aussie.im not that nieve to leave behind the reputation my ancestors left me and forget about being greek any1 that does is a tool.

i predict a draw, and a good showing.

it will be a crazy game to go too i cant wait

[Euphoria]

Ziaka are you sure it will be in Sydney?? Melbourne is the 3rd largest Greek city in the world, it would make more sense to stage it in Melbourne

I couldn't find the fixture on the FIFA site

[Ziaka]

The fixture was listed on the FIFA site. It was listed as being played in Sydney there. I checked the FIFA site today and is no longer listed. Maybe the deal fell through.