‘Soccer terrorists’ are able to attack with apparent impunity
The savage, near-fatal beating of Aris Stathopoulos, vice president of the Greek Football Federation (EPO), on August 27 was another brutal reminder of the suspect and highly unsavory activities taking place on the sidelines of football in Greece. The attack was by no means the first. Earlier, Thessaly football official Thanassis Papayiannis had been attacked under similar circumstances. Both men were set upon in the parking lot of EPO’s headquarters on Syngrou Avenue by two hitmen. If not for the cries of a woman passerby, Stathopoulos, who was attacked with an iron crowbar, may well have been killed. The attacks are not only newsworthy for the light they shed on the degree of degradation in the sport itself, but for the fact that they were treated by the football world as nothing out of the ordinary, if not expected. Referee Yiannis Spathas was shot in the legs; another referee, Spyros Voulgaris, had also been badly beaten up. Revelations had been coming thick and fast about a group suspected of fixing matches when the arrests of suspected November 17 terrorists pushed other news off the front pages. A categorical statement by Vassilis Gagatsis, EPO president, that the attackers were from «the football world» and he would «ask for protection» was interpreted as a response to those who ordered the beating of Stathopoulos. Gagatsis was in effect telling those behind the attacks that he knew who they were and that they would do well to beware, otherwise he would talk. At the same time, he was letting it be known that he was taking his own precautions. It is also known that both the president and other EPO officials have received threatening telephone calls. The answer to the question of who is responsible for the attacks and why is a simple one. The EPO officials attacked had either betrayed someone or owed someone something. No one is beaten so brutally unless some kind of transaction is involved. There is no doubt that the motive was financial. People who are attacked in this way have upset a financial establishment. The beatings in the EPO parking lot are a message in the vein of «We are here, we are the bosses, so behave yourselves and await orders.» This is the view of a senior football official, who for obvious reasons asked to remain anonymous. «It would be easy to wind up in a ditch with my legs or ribs broken,» he said. That is why there is no peace in the football world and why dirty business on the sidelines continues to prevail. Gagatsis was quite clear on this in his statement that the culprits were from within the football world itself. Spathas, who was shot in the legs, said nothing. Nor did Voulgaris, who was found beaten to a pulp in a pool of blood in the football stadium at Nikis Rendi. Thanassis Papayiannis, also beaten within an inch of his life, «saw nothing, heard nothing.» Nor does Stathopoulos, who underwent surgery for serious injuries to his lungs, appear willing to say anything about his assailants. It is now up to the police and the courts. The football industry represents an investment of billions; it is the single most popular sport, adored by young fans. Yet football terrorists continue to shoot, beat, bribe and threaten. The authorities have rooted out the November 17 terrorist organization and the underworld of crime. One wonders indeed why these football terrorists are «untouchable.»
