AO Acharnaikos - PAE Anagennisi Karditsas (28-05-2017)

 

Last time I was in Athens, two years ago, there were no games to see, so this time around I was happy to see that the season wasn’t all over yet. The Superleague Greece (First Division) was in the play-off stages, with the game between the big teams from Athens and Thessaloniki mired by violence. As I have seen all the major teams of Athens already more than two decades ago, I decided to go and see a game in the Football League (Second Division). My Dutch friend WL, who has lived in Athens for decades, went with me, which was not just good for company but also for directions – turned out that the bus line we needed had been discontinued a year ago. So, after two different buses, and an almost one-hour travel to the outskirts of Athens, we arrived in a very sleepy suburb of Acharnes, where the effects of the economic crisis are much more visible than in the heart of Athens.

 

Athlitikos Omilos Neos Acharnaikos was created in 1938, but only founded in 1959 – I also don’t know why. Until 1961 they were known as Yperochi Menidi – Menidi is another name for Acharnes. Their colors are green and white and their logo is a four-leaf clover, which makes them look very similar to Athens powerhouse Panathinaikos – although they are not officially connected. Until the 1990s they played in local divisions of Athens.

 

After a cup of coffee in a far too modern café close by, we return to the stadium, where we buy tickets (€5) for the main stand, which turns out to be the only of two stands open today. Fortunately it is covered, as it looks like the rain will return during the game.

 

Acharnes Stadium is an old concrete stadium in a residential area, probably from the 1950s, which has seen little investment since its opening. It has a capacity of 4,450, but today there are barely 250. Only some 5 percent are women, rest mostly older, local men. No one had the made the almost 300 km (180 miles) track from Karditsa in the North of Greece.

 

The weather has been terrible all day, i.e. cold, grey and rainy, and the pitch is in a horrible state. This doesn’t help the already limited players:both teams are on the lower end of the table. The pace of the game is low, the control poor, and the passing cautious. And then, out of nowhere, in the 8^th minute, the hosts shoot from 25 meters and the goalie completely misses the ball: 1-0. I start to wonder about the Chinese gambling mafia.

  

In the 11^th minute a free kick of Acharnaikos goes nowhere. Fifteen minutes later a good attack by the hosts is shot at the goalie from close range. Another ten minutes passes in which little happens and most of the audience remains low-key, mostly passing time by talking with each other.

 

In the 35^th minute an Anagennisi corner is missed by everyone and a minute later their free kick is headed well over. In the 38^th minute two players get injured and stay on the ground for a while. Then the official clock is moved to 45 minutes and it turns out it was running 8 minutes slow. Half time: 1-0.

 

The second half continues where the first half left off: slow pace, poor control, cautious passing. In the 53^rd minute Anagennisi has two attacks, one is headed out by the hosts, and in the rebound a visitor volleys the leg of an Acharnaikos player rather than the ball. Overall, the game is full of injuries, which makes it even slower.

 

The visitors are pressuring, as the hosts mainly defend. Anagennisi mainly pumps in crosses, which are (easily) headed out by the Acharnaikos defenders. At one attack the home goalie almost fumbles, at another he tips the ball over the goal. In the 66^th minute Anagennisi has another attack, this time ending in a low and slow shot, which is saved by the goalie. In the 75^th minute the guests finally score; once again the attack is over left and this time it s finished in the right corner: 1-1, which is also the final score.

Acharnaikos is a great destination for an adventurous groundhopper, but might not be worth the trouble for the average football fan. I’m just happy WL went with me and didn’t even complain!

Iraklis 1908 FC – Apollon Kalamarias FC (22-03-2015)

Greek football has its fair share of problems, including bankruptcies, corruption, and fan violence. The latter has become so bad that the Greek Football Association decided to suspend all leagues for one week and afterward play some games without spectators. This all happened two weeks before I had to be in Greece for work, having scheduled two weekends in the country to see a lot of games. In the end, I got to see one, which is better than nothing.

Despite a large police presence, I saw several small fights on the way to the stadium. They were mostly between small groups of teenagers. Still, this was a game of Iraklis 1908 Thessaloniki FC, the third team of the second city of Greece, not known for its violent fans (unlike PAOK or Aris). My colleague, an Iraklis supporter, had bought tickets earlier that day (€15 for main stand), so we passed by the not too busy ticket office and entered the big Kaftanzoglou Stadium.

While built in 1960, when it became the home field of Iraklis, it has been seriously renovated for the 2004 Olympic Games and is now a modern stadium that holds 27,770 people. This seems quite ridiculous for the third team of a city, which plays in the Football League (Second Division). Still, Iraklis has a good chance at promotion to the top flight of Greek football next year, given its standing and the fact that two teams have already withdrawn from the Super League during the season because of financial problems.

The teams get onto the pitch with the song “Bad Medicine” of Bon Jovi. The players are accompanied by people with Downs syndrome, who get a lot of applause from the roughly 6.000 people (my estimate). The audience is very male. At the main stand, where we sit, are mostly older home fans, while the younger fans are behind the goal (including the ultras). Apollon has taken some 100 people, mostly young, even though the come from a suburb of Thessaloniki.

 

The game has slow pace and some poor passing. After some 25 minutes a great through ball by Iraklis finds no one in the center of the box. Apollon responds directly with a good long counter, but a poor last ball. 

After some 30 minutes an Iraklis free kick is deflected by an Apollon defender, brought back into the box, and finished with a half-volley in the far corner: 1-0. The game goes back and forth slowly and imprecisely. Maybe that is the reason that people around me ('dad ultras') start to taunt the away fans and have to be pushed back by the police. A bit later a harsh Apollon foul leads almost to a fight on the pitch and two yellow cards for Apollon players, who don't really respect the authority of the referee (they push him with their chest as they argue). Half Time score: 1-0.

 

The second half starts hectic. An Iraklis corner leads to 2-3 half chances, but no second goal. Some ten minutes later the visitors shoot a free kick from 20 meter in the far corner, but it is too slow and stopped by the goalkeeper. In the next ten minutes Iraklis has two soft chances.

 

In the 69^th minute a terrible back pass leaves an Iraklis player alone in front of the goalkeeper at 35 meter and he scores cool from 16 meter: 2-0. Given that Iraklis is much better than Apollon, that is the game.

Apollon has now totally given up and the only reason that they don’t get slaughtered by Iraklis is that the hosts are wasting chance after chance out of sheer laziness. In the 89^th minute they do finish a great through ball from close distance: 3-0.

A minute later all last doubts are taken away, when an Apollon player gets his second yellow card of the game and has to leave. Three minutes into extra time Iraklis gets a free header at the goal, but misses. Final score: 3-0.

While the quality of football was really poor, in terms of stadium, fans, and ambiance Iraklis FC is more a first than second division team. They are worth a visit, even if the setting is not really that of a third team of the city.