Blog 12

The Greeks are mad about football. There are matches shown virtually every night on one or other of the TV channels and, of course, matches are well attended. The noise of chanting and drumming can sometimes be deafening as flags are waved and banners unfurled. Sometimes I wonder what the fans sitting behind the overlarge banners and having their sightlines obscured think of it. Presumably fights don’t break out in these cases as they are all on the same side, separated from their opponents and wearing their team colours to show their allegiance; a whole stand of red, green, orange, or whatever. I wonder if mankind will ever lose the tribal instinct. Sometimes sight can also be obscured by the flares that send clouds of coloured smoke wafting over the field of battle. Naturally hooliganism can be a problem. An Anek ferry was once trashed by Panathaniakos fans and idiots will toss missiles and run on to the pitch if given half a chance. At one match the start was interminably delayed as fans sitting behind one of the goalposts hurled what looked like toilet rolls streaming onto the goal and neighbouring area as ground staff desperately tried to clear it, all the time more streamers descending so that the pitch area was a sea of white. What a waste of paper if nothing else and in aid of what may one ask? Simply delaying the inevitable outcome by twenty or so minutes? Panathaniakos is an Athens club. Their great rivals are Olympiakos based in Piraeus. Olympiakos have won the championship so many years in a row it’s a wonder the other teams even bother to take them on anymore. If the Greeks are mad on football they’re just as crazy for basketball, simply called “basket.” I can appreciate, enjoy, enthuse over most sports but basket is a game, like golf, that I simply cannot enthuse over. I find them both extremely boring but obviously millions don’t. The clubs have their basketball as well as their soccer teams.
I was pleased to discover the Greeks are taking to rugby. There are already a number of teams (well a few) up and down the country and Greece has fielded a national side against other small nations. Hopefully one day they might take on the big boys though Italy has been trying for a long time with not much success. I now read in the Athens News that the venue for the equestrian events at the Olympic Games is to be the new home of Greek CRICKET!! Wonders will never cease.