Greek players successfully start anti-violence action

Wednesday 01 September 2010

The new football season in Greece began with a delay of 15 minutes, as the players from Panathinaikos and Skoda Xanthi refused to kick off on the scheduled time. It was the start of a successful action from the Greek professional footballers association PSAP.

PSAP had mobilized all footballers in the country. All professional league matches during the first weekend started with a delay of 15 minutes. This was the footballers’ way of protesting against violence surrounding the Greek game of football. The players had announced their action on August 12th during a extraordinary general assembly of the PSAP.

The first game of the season was a suitable location, as the encounter between Panathinaikos and Skoda Xanthi had to be played behind closed doors, a sanction due to crowd trouble during last season.

With 15 minutes delay the players took the field, with both team captains Kostas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos) and Athanasios Kostoulas (Skoda Xanthi) jointly displaying a banner with the slogan: ‘Don’t you want us to play football? Enough with violence’. In addition all players paid tribute to Panagiotis Bachramis, who recently deceased. Prior all Greek games this weekend, this protocol was repeated.

Players from Atromitos and Bachramis's former club Larissa take the field

PSAP president Stelios Giannakopoulos was one of the few spectators at the Panathinaikos-Skoda Xanthi game. ‘The players are united and determined to show everybody involved that they will do their best to prevent those sad incidents from happening’, said Stelios. ‘This situation can not continue anymore. We have got the federation and the league on our side, as well as a majority of the fans. They will help us secure the safety of ourselves and the safety of the spectators.’

The PSAP can also count on the help of the country’s secretary general for sport, Panagiotis Bitsaksis. On Friday morning Stelios Giannakopoulos had a meeting with Bitsaksis, who later stated on national television that he fully supports the PSAP’s actions to eliminate violence in Greek football.

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