The Best of GRReporter
flag_bg flag_gr flag_gb

The government will stop the funding if the professional football does not take measures against hooliganism

02 May 2011 / 19:05:51  GRReporter
4419 reads

The Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports George Nikitiadis threatened today that the government would stop all funding to the Greek football clubs if the Hellenic Football Federation does not change the way of imposing penalties. He made his statements after his meeting with the Secretary of Sports Panos Bitsaxis and the President of the Hellenic Football Federation Sofoklis Pilavios.

The meeting was held urgently after the bloody clashes that hampered the match between AEK and Atromitos with a score of 3:0 for the Cup of Greece.

The referee Kakos did not even manage to announce the end of the match as the fans of AEK had already descended from the stands to the football field and "dealt out". They turned to the stand of the official guests where the wives and the children of Atromitos’ players were. Then, violent clashes with many injuries from both sides followed.

Some of the words of Atromitos’ coach George Donis during the ensuing press conference sparked a fierce debate. He described the match as a parody, the Greek football - as a brothel and compared it with the Greek state. The comments that followed were not focused so much on the content of the statement as to whether it is appropriate to say such things live on the national television.

The attacks in the ensuing "war" of communiqués became personal between the presidents of the two football clubs. The members of the Atromitos’ management stated that "the stadium looked like a Roman arena. It was clear before the start which one of the teams would be the winner but the lions were ready to tear us because AEK had to take the cup at all costs." AEK defined the team of the metropolitan suburb of Peristeri, which had the opportunity to fight for such a high distinction for the first time, as "provincial".

During the clashes were injured 22 policemen and five of them were hospitalised for treatment. The police arrested 13 and seized 60 fans from both teams.

"The question is not to look for the culprit, but to take prompt measures. If this does not happen, the authorities will stop any funding for the football not to spend the money of the Greek people in vain. There should be penalties for fighting in the stands, the tunnel or the field, which should reduce the points in the ranking and the punished teams should fall down in the group. The new law should provide an opportunity to block the participation of the punished team in international football competitions," said the Deputy Minister. George Nikitiadis said that contracts with teams that rent public stadiums would be terminated. "Let them find other stadiums to play," was his explicit comment.

The Minister of Culture and Sports Pavlos Geroulanos is expected to address the national lottery OPAP and the national television ERT on suspending the revenue flow from all sources to the teams. The new bill on violence will be submitted to the Parliament in June. The Deputy Minister Nikitiadis stated that the measures would not affect recreational football.

On his part, the president of the Football Federation Sokratis Pilavios stressed the need for urgent implementation of three measures: to prevent bringing fireworks and bombs to stadiums, the involvement in major clashes to be defined as general recidivism and mechanisms for immediate interruption of the match to be established.

Meanwhile, the case with the well-known records could be defined as "much ado about nothing." In a today's decision, the sporting prosecutor of the Hellenic Football Federation announced that the case is going to the archives and is not going to be of sports justice concern.

The arguments of the prosecutor Fakos state that the misconducts recorded on the "tapes" were committed on the 11th of September, 2010, while the lawyer and president of Panahaiki Alexis Kougias submitted them on the 9th of March, 2011. The prosecutor also pointed out that according to the one month term specified in the Disciplinary Code, the misconduct for violating the course of a football match falls within the limitation term, and justice authorities would not consider the case any longer.

The investigation of the case, however, continues to prosecute Ahileas Beos - the president of the football club Olympiacos Volos - for attempted extortion. There is also a pre-trial investigation for the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Olympiacos.

Tags: SoccerMatchGreek CupClashesPenaltiesHellenic Football FederationFundingMeasuresGovernment
SUPPORT US!
GRReporter’s content is brought to you for free 7 days a week by a team of highly professional journalists, translators, photographers, operators, software developers, designers. If you like and follow our work, consider whether you could support us financially with an amount at your choice.
Subscription
You can support us only once as well.
blog comments powered by Disqus