Soccer Cup final gets new date over safety concerns
Underscoring this country’s persistent and irritating hooliganism problem surrounding soccer, the Greek Cup final, to be contested by two of the domestic competition’s biggest clubs and rivals, AEK and Olympiakos, has been postponed and rescheduled over security concerns resulting from police commitments elsewhere on the original match date, the Greek soccer federation announced yesterday. The final, to be played in Iraklion, Crete, has been pushed back to May 10, a Wednesday, from May 6 because a leading police official said that an anti-war gathering in Athens at the same time, expected to draw some 30,000 participants from various parts of Europe, would undermine security efforts for the soccer final. Following a meeting at Iraklion’s police headquarters yesterday, its chief official said that the gathering, organized by the anti-globalization movement European Social Forum for May 4-7 in Athens, would deprive the soccer final’s security effort of the necessary police reinforcements that had been expected to arrive from the capital. Iraklion’s police chief said that about three-quarters of the police reinforcements requested will instead be on duty at the Athens anti-war rally. The European Social Forum’s three-day event had been planned well in advance. Accountability for the lack of foresight when the original soccer final date was set remains unclear. Security efforts and coordination aside, the root of the problem lies with the country’s persisting hooliganism woes – or, more specifically, with troublemaking fans and the state’s ineffective measures against them. Successive governments have pledged to take action and clean up the game, but soccer-related violence, both in and around stadiums, and, at times, well beyond in unrelated neighborhoods, remains a common occurrence. Efforts to clamp down on the violence have so far proven futile. More effective measures seem to be lacking. In the leadup to the Cup final, locals in Crete have expressed concern about the game’s tension spilling over into the streets. The very need for extraordinary police presence – financed by the state budget – for a single soccer match serves to highlight how acute the country’s unresolved hooliganism problem has become. The change of date is expected to prompt some confusion over advance bookings for accommodation, travel and match tickets. Officials of both clubs said yesterday that fans unable to attend the Cup final on the rescheduled date would be refunded for their match tickets. It remained unclear how travel agents, airlines, and ferry boat companies would deal with fans requesting refunds. The Greek soccer federation provided AEK and Olympiakos with 9,050 tickets apiece for the Cup final at Iraklion’s 26,400-capacity Pankritio Stadium. Security measures for the encounter include empty stands serving as safety buffer zones between rival fans.
