For many Greeks, football is life. Local identities, business interests and even politics are inextricably bound up with sports clubs. But the passion comes with a dark side and, in recent years, the cost of supporting a team has been violence and even death. In Life, Death and Football CGTN Europe’s Evangelos Sipsas examines why fans are so ready to risk their own lives and those of others through conversations with a fan, a police officer, a journalist, a professor and a father whose son paid the ultimate price for his allegiance.
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00:00We want freedom.
00:02We want freedom.
00:26There was a code in the past.
00:29The opposition may have been against it,
00:31but most of them didn't do anything.
00:36Because there is no longer the luxury of competition with bare hands.
00:41This takes a lot of time.
00:42Now it's an organized army.
00:45The form that violence has taken is much harder and much more absolute.
00:50How is it possible, in two years, to kill three victims,
00:54three young boys, to have enough injuries?
00:58For many, football will always be more than just a game, but how much more?
01:12It's a question that can no longer be avoided for fans, clubs and the government in Greece.
01:18Match day stadiums are frequently declared no-go zones.
01:23This year's cup final, held in the Pantasalikos Stadium,
01:26in the seaside city of Volos, between Panathinaikos and Aris,
01:31was just one example.
01:34The problem for the authorities is that the violence is not confined in the stadiums,
01:39but as seeped across society.
01:44In the past, violence had a different nature and a root that has nothing to do with today.
01:52The fans were sitting together and there was this fan experiment.
01:58If there were, let's say,
02:03riots and fights, when the other fell down, it stopped.
02:08No one took out a knife to stab him, nothing.
02:13This lasted until the end of the 1970s.
02:20Just before 1980, things started to change.
02:24The first murder of a fan was in Larissa, Pliona, in the mid-1980s.
02:32Since then, there have been thousands, if not hundreds of incidents.
02:38We have dead people, we have injuries, we have seen images.
02:42Every year there are incidents in the stadiums of all the games.
02:47The time was 12.20 a.m. on February 1st, 2022.
02:5319-year-old Alkis Kavanos was hanging out with a group of friends in Thessaloniki,
02:58close to his beloved team's stadium, when ultras from another team approached him.
03:04They asked Alkis and his friends whom they supported.
03:07Aris, they replied.
03:09This led to a violent attack that lasted a mere 66 seconds
03:14and resulted in the death of Alkis.
03:17He was stabbed multiple times.
03:19He was the third murder victim in five years, with a clear link to fan violence.
03:25I learned about it from a phone call I received in the early hours of the morning.
03:32My brother, Tasos, said that Alkis had been killed.
03:45It was the moment when I doubled in pain,
03:50because I felt as if the world around me had been lost.
04:03The whole time we were moving from Veria to Papanikolaou Hospital,
04:11we were trying to find out if Alkis really existed.
04:18It was one of the worst moments of my life.
04:23All the memories of Alkis were beautiful.
04:30You could see that he was trying to be a good athlete, a good person.
04:38When I was driving and sometimes I would get angry
04:43because of the driving situations of other drivers,
04:47he would say to me,
04:50How would you feel,
04:54seeing the others lose their children because of violence?
05:05How would you feel?
05:09Your soul?
05:11How?
05:14It's difficult.
05:16That's not how it should be.
05:18Many times I want to breathe.
05:23I feel that I want to breathe.
05:27But I feel that the air that our society breathes
05:37smells strange.
05:39My sense of smell is bad.
05:42And I think, how is it possible?
05:45Paok is a god,
05:48and we have to take someone else's life because he is not Paok.
05:53Isn't he crazy?
05:56I see him as crazy.
05:59Oppressive violence is a word umbrella, as we say,
06:03which covers a range of identity questions.
06:11One identity is what we usually call a youth subculture.
06:17We have teenagers who enter the process of adoption
06:25by both the parental authority and society.
06:29It offers them the necessary parenting experiences
06:34that are needed as young children.
06:38At the same time, it gives them all the opportunities
06:41they need to be adopted,
06:43to be self-realized,
06:46and to have the recognition they need
06:49in order to build this identity.
06:53A second identity is gender.
06:58The courts are a field of action
07:01where masculinity takes place.
07:05A third identity is territorial.
07:08The defense of Kerkida,
07:10as a place of asylum, I would say,
07:13is indispensable from any other invasion.
07:18Athens, Parathinaikos,
07:21one of the country's most prominent clubs.
07:24For many, this club is a religion.
07:27Giannis Bastardis, also known as Dokken to the fan community,
07:31is the leader of Gate 13,
07:34the oldest fan club in the country.
07:36At every game, he's in the heart of the Ultra section.
07:40Those around him will follow his lead in chants
07:43and sometimes beyond.
07:46Even since he joined the fan club in the 70s,
07:49Parathinaikos has always been a way of life.
07:52Even if that meant sacrificing his own.
07:57My life was in danger.
08:01If I'm alive, it's a miracle.
08:04In Thessaloniki, with Lachlis,
08:07at 5 a.m., there were two pullmans.
08:10Most of us slept in the pullmans,
08:12and there were two people outside.
08:14Forty people came.
08:16We tried to defend ourselves with our hands.
08:21They took out knives.
08:25The Evangelist told me to run to the pullmans.
08:28The pullmans started to leave,
08:31watching the episodes.
08:37We ran to the pullmans.
08:39Two people.
08:41The Evangelist was in front of the pullmans,
08:44and I was behind him.
08:50Knives.
08:52No one cared about who it was.
08:56Everyone knew who it was.
08:58The people of Thessaloniki helped us.
09:01The police didn't intervene.
09:04I went to the hospital,
09:06to get an x-ray,
09:08and it turned out that
09:11if the pullmans had opened,
09:13I would have been dead.
09:15And it's not only fans affected by the violence.
09:19Dimostenis Pakos, who served for almost 30 years,
09:23is now the president of the Athens Police Officers Union.
09:27He served in many divisions,
09:29including M.A.T., Greece's riot police unit.
09:33They are the ones first on the scene
09:35when clashes break out.
09:37I was not shocked by anything else.
09:39I was not shocked by what I experienced,
09:42like what I didn't experience when I was present.
09:44On December 7th, 2023,
09:46at around 10 p.m.,
09:48during a volleyball match
09:50between rivals Olympiacos and Panathinaikos,
09:53for the League Cup,
09:55approximately 150 individuals clashed with police forces,
09:59creating a chaotic and volatile situation.
10:02During the incident,
10:04a naval flare was thrown,
10:06seriously injuring police officer George Lygaridis
10:10in his left thigh,
10:12causing him to bleed to death.
10:14An incident far too familiar to Pakos.
10:18It wasn't the first time we were hit by a naval flare.
10:21It was the 1000th time.
10:23It's been happening for many years.
10:25So what did the rest of us expect?
10:27That we would be in his shoes
10:29and that we were living in a failure.
10:31We would often joke about it,
10:33because it's a routine,
10:35especially as a veteran.
10:37You have more experience in dealing with incidents,
10:40more relaxed, so to speak.
10:42After the incident,
10:44we sat there and thought
10:46that we were out of luck.
10:48For me, that's the most important thing,
10:50the zero point of my entire career.
10:54Our team, to put it this way,
10:56has a great deal of responsibility
10:59in how the situation has developed
11:01and how the climate has developed.
11:03Climate is what often favours
11:05such phenomena.
11:07We have the phenomena
11:09from our side,
11:11of Pavla Dimosiografos' fans,
11:13who speak in person
11:15when they refer to the team.
11:17Why so much hatred?
11:19Why so much hatred?
11:24What do I hide in them,
11:26these kids here?
11:28Although I believe
11:30that these kids here
11:32are being guided.
11:34They are being guided by some people
11:36who found a place
11:38in football,
11:40which I feel
11:42are real people.
11:45And do you think it's possible
11:47that these football fans
11:49use the colour of their own teams
11:51perhaps to other activities,
11:53some like criminal activities?
11:55Clearly.
11:57In the past, it was a combination
11:59of fanaticism and fanaticism.
12:01There were definitely some
12:03who were more fanatic,
12:05but they didn't use the colour
12:07of the team to do other jobs.
12:09Right now, this is the only thing
12:11that is happening.
12:14If the managers
12:16of the football clubs want,
12:18this can all end within days.
12:20Do you agree with that?
12:24But how?
12:31But you agree with that claim?
12:43If the managers of the football clubs
12:45want, this can all end
12:47within days.
12:49And at the same time,
12:51as long as the police
12:53allow it,
12:55this can all end within days.
12:57Then the question is why?
12:59Why is fan violence
13:01still a problem?
13:03How come people are still
13:05falling victim to it?
13:07Well, there has been criticism
13:09of insufficient or ineffective
13:11addressing fan violence
13:13and hooliganism.
13:15The laws already in place are inconsistent
13:17and referred to as
13:19just a slap on the wrist for the violent
13:21offenders, which in many cases
13:23are even protected
13:25by the club management,
13:27according to the police,
13:29leading to the sense of impunity
13:31among violent fans.
13:33In a move to try to prevent all this,
13:35the Greek government is installing
13:37enforcement cameras in all stadiums.
13:39A move that, according to
13:41criminal professor Anastasia Tsoukalas,
13:43only allocates the problem
13:45elsewhere.
14:09The police should do
14:11any necessary checks
14:13on the public
14:15and on the space
14:17outside the stadium.
14:19They should filter people
14:21going to the stadium,
14:23maybe even check the ticket.
14:25Cameras.
14:27The police says in the body checks
14:29for the tickets at the stands.
14:31I disagree with the body check.
14:33There should be cameras,
14:35and you should be arrested
14:37if you don't have one.
14:39If you have security,
14:41you should call the police.
14:43Goodbye.
14:45The only country that
14:47implemented the most successful
14:49version of preventive policy
14:51is Belgium.
14:53The intention was not
14:55to eliminate the violence
14:57from the stadiums overnight,
14:59but to cut
15:01the public
15:03income
15:05to the next generation.
15:09They demonized
15:11violence in schools.
15:13No European
15:15country today
15:17follows this path.
15:19No government
15:21has a political benefit
15:23by adopting
15:25a policy that will
15:27benefit the blind after 20 years.
15:29I personally feel
15:31guilty
15:33because all these years
15:35that I have been protesting,
15:37what I have told
15:39the Panathinaikos
15:41supporters
15:43to avoid violence,
15:45I did not achieve
15:47the result I wanted
15:49and unfortunately
15:51I am losing my life.
15:53I am responsible.
15:55But you have been part of
15:57the Panathinaikos movement for years now.
15:59Was there any
16:01moment that you were involved
16:03in any such incidents?
16:05I want to
16:07apologize because
16:09I don't want to go back
16:11to that specific moment.
16:13Let's ask ourselves what is happening
16:15and not cry over
16:17the dead.
16:19Before we cry, let's ask ourselves
16:21what we did.
16:23The politicians, the police, the ordinary citizens.
16:25What did we do?
16:31What did we do?
16:33What did we do?
16:35What did we do?
16:37What did we do?
16:39What did we do?
16:41What did we do?
16:43What did we do?
16:45What did we do?
16:47What did we do?
16:49What did we do?
16:51What did we do?
16:53What did we do?
16:55What did we do?
16:57What did we do?