No Football without Fans

No Football without Fans 

By Steve Kountourou

From its humble beginnings, to the cultural, social and quite frankly financial powerhouse, the beautiful game of football, at its core, would be nothing without the fans. The backbone of any football club are their wealth of supporters who, in this new age of technology and social media can come from all walks of life. From long traditions of supporting your families club who come from that town or city, or the supporter that watches their team play in the early hours of the morning from the other side of the world. 

This is what makes football fandom so unique compared to other sports. The same can certainly be said for football in Greece, which has always been graced with some of the most passionate supporters on the continent. Whether your team is playing in the local derby, or a European side pays a visit and is met by a sea of Greeks singing in unison to create an electrical atmosphere, Greek football and its supporters are a breed like no other. But where did it all start for the fan bases of the Super League's biggest clubs? 

Well after a message from Cahir May, asking about the backgrounds of what made all the big 5 teams sets of fans support the club, we thought it would be a nice idea to take a look at just that. So for this weeks blog I will be taking a deep dive into the origins of the fans of Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, AEK Athens PAOK and Aris, touching briefly on the clubs formations, the fans that rose to support them from the beginning and how they came to follow their local side, which led to the evolution to all these clubs being supported internationally by not only fans in Greece, but diaspora and even non Greeks too.  

Panathinaikos

Let's start with the oldest club of the Big 5, Panathinaikos. The club was founded on the 3rd of February 1908 by Giorgios Kalafatis, after breaking away from sports club Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos, and named Podosferikos Omilos Athinon meaning football club of Athens. The intention of the founders was to create a team that all of Athens could support as well as connecting to the rest of the European football movement that was going on at the time. Eventually, after a couple more name changes and the move to their current home of Leoforos, the club finally settled on calling themselves Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos or PAO for short in 1924. A few years later and with the formation of the Hellenic football federation as well as the Greek Championship Panathinaikos support began to flourish as the prasini went undefeated and won the championship in 1929/30.

 

At first, supporters of PAO hailed from the club's native home of Athens. The Greek capital, being considered one of the cradles of ancient civilisation in the country, had always been seen as a place of the upper class and high society from then all the way up until the 20th century. This was also the case for the traditional fan base of Panathinaikos in the early days of Greek football. This was a stark contrast to their eternal rivals Olympiakos whose fan base originated from the poor working class outskirts of Athens in the Port of Piraeus.

 

This stereotype of the Athenian club would eventually become less prominent over the years however. This was due to the rise in support for the team outside of Athens, the golden years for the club in the 1960s further increasing that support, with one of the most famous of their ultras group, Gate 13 being formed in 1966 and were huge influencers for increasing the support of the team in Athens and all around the country. During Panathinaikos historic run to the 1970/71 European Cup final against Ajax, which put them on the map as a traditional European side, this helped the side gain more support internationally with Greek diaspora and non Greeks alike. In the modern era Panathinaikos is still seen as the second most supported club in Greece with no real identity in class amongst their supporters anymore. This however is made up for the fact that they have a wealth of fans worldwide who are just as passionate and dedicated to their club as any Greek football fan. 

Aris 

The next club on the list is Aris and this one I find is the most unique of the big 5 in Greece. After being founded on the 25th of March 1914 and being named after the god of war, Aris. With the deity that they were named after having a rivalry with mythical demigod Heracles, Aris formed a natural rivalry with neighbouring team Iraklis as well as their biggest local rivals PAOK. The rivalry originally stemmed from between the upper class being the supporters of Aris and the Greek working class refugees who migrated from Asian minor after the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. There is also a rather sizable number of Greek Jews and Armenians, who came to be some of the original supporters of the Kitrinomavri being credited for having some of the most cosmopolitan of fans originating from the Northern reign of Greece. With the success in the early part of their history with late 20s and early 30s came a rise of support from the local community as well as the other areas in Macedonia. 

 

Despite not winning a league title 1945/46, Aris has still maintained a relatively big following in Greece as well as internationally. With the formation of Super 3 their biggest fan club in 1988, fifty more Super 3 clubs in support for Aris have popped up all around Europe. Organised fan groups brandishing the Bulldog symbol can be found in Germany, Italy and Sweden. This is mostly down to the fact that Aris fans native to Greece are among some of the most vocal and passionate of any football fans. Polls estimate that Aris currently have over one million supporters and are recognised as the 5th most popular club in Greece. Nowadays local fans the modern era are more mixed with regards to their class, and with their recent accession back as one of the countries major clubs, there is hope from the fans that their long wait for silverware might soon come to an end. 

AEK 

We return to Athens now with AEK. Founded by Constantinpolitan refugees who were displaced after the Greek/Turkish war in the early 20th century. AEK was founded with the purpose providing athletic and cultural connection to the refugees of Constantinople and Anatolia who were uprooted from them homes in Aian Minor and settled in the suburbs of Athens, including Nea Filadelfeia, Nea Ionia, Nea Chalkidona and Nea Smyrni. Over time AEK became the most popular club of all the refugee based clubs in Athens, surpassing compatriot clubs, Panionios and Apollon Smyrnis. Support grew further after joining the new Greek Championship and winning their first two titles in the late 30s. But it wasn't until the 1960s where support for AEK grew after being the first Greek side to reach the quarterfinals of the European Cup in 1968/69. 

 

Rivalries with neighbouring clubs also started to grow due to social differences between the groups of fans. With AEK and Panathinaikos, it stemmed from the working class refugee community Enosis had as their supporters, coming up against the Athenian upper class which were the original supporters of the Prasini. The Olympiakos rivalry seemed to come about more due to the rivaling success of the two football clubs due to the fact that both clubs fans were of a similar social class, that being working class. 

 

By the 1980s Greece was going through a huge cultural shift after the fall of the dictatorship in the country. For AEK this particularly pivotal, as this helped initiate the official formation of supporters group Original 21. First starting out as Gate 21 in 1975, where the most intense supporters were situated in the Nikos Goumas Stadium, the group would eventually experience a split in 1982 following internal disputes. From the ashes rose Original 21 who took up the mantle as the biggest support group for Enosis and gained a reputation for their loyalty and passionate support as well as being very left wing in their political views. In the modern era Original 21 have around 60 different sister associations across the globe, spanning from Greece, Cyprus, London, and in Australia with Sidney and Melbourne  not to mention USA and Germany amongst the Greek diaspora. 

 

Nowadays AEK boasts a huge fanbase in Greece and all around the world. They are regarded as the third most popular Greek team and according to a sky sports poll AEK make up around 15% of all Greek fans. Interestingly there is a strong Greek diaspora support for Enosis, in Cyprus with a poll from Kerkida.net ranking AEK as the second most supported on the island behind Panathinaikos but ahead of Olympiakos, with 27% of Cypriot football fans supporting AEK. The reason behind the amount of popularity for AEK can be traced back to the Athenian clubs refugee roots, as many Greek Cypriots emphasize with refugee families from Athens, after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the displacement of many islanders after this event. To see a football club represent a community of people throughout history in the way the Kitrinómavri has is testament to the rich history of AEK and the fans should be proud of all the club has achieved in and out of the beautiful game. 

 

Olympiakos 

Now on to the big one. When talking about the rich history of football fandom in Greece the team that is on the lips of every person, love them or hate them is Olympiakos. The most successful club in Greece started life from humble beginnings way back on the 10th of March 1925 in the Athenian Port of Piraeus which is still the clubs home to this day. The original aim of the club was to develop athletes, and spread the olympic ideology of sporting excellence, sportsmanship and establishing fanship amongst the youth culture. With the unification of Piraikos Podosfairikos Omilos FC and Piraeus Fans Club FC came a new club and it was senior officer of the Hellenic navy, Notis Kamperos who proposed the name Olympiakos as well as the club's badge of an Olympian wearing the laurel crown. 

 

Olympiacos Syndesmos Filathlon Pireos as it was and still is fully known as, started to again huge popularity in its early years playing against local sides and eventually when they entered the Pan Hellenic Championship thanks to the Greek Footballing legends and the 5 brothers of Yiannis, Dinos, Giorgos, Vassilis and Leonidas Andrianopoulos who helped raise the profile of the club throughout the local community and all around Greece itself.

 

Post World War II, Thrylos popularity continued to climb with the original fans primarily coming from the local area by the port in Piraeus many of which were of a working class background. As said before, this is what fuelled the rivalry with local rivals Panathinaikos as the working class from the outskirts of the outskirts in Piraeus used their footballing rivalry with the upper class central Athenians as an excuse to vent their frustrations from their social difference as well as their football rivalry. 

 

After the gate 7 disaster in a game against AEK Athens on the 8th of February 1981, while rushing out of the stadium, 20 Olympiakos and 1 AEK supporter, lost their lives in the commotion of fans falling over each other to exit the ground. In memory of that day and that the incident occurred in Gate 7 of the Giorgos Karaiskakis, the biggest and most supportive fans of the club named themselves Gate 7 and are the beating heart of the fans in the stadium.    

 

The support of Olympiakos also grew in the diaspora with the consistent participation in European competition. This is due to the fact that Thrylos tended to be the most regular of Greek representatives in the both the European Cup/Champions League over the years, even being in the top ten of teams who have most participated in the Champion League group stage. They most famously reached the quarter finals in 1998/99.

 

Today, the constant successes of the Ethryolefki, came the dilution of the working class culture which eventually died out, with people from all walks of life in political ideology and social class supporting the team such was and is the popularity of Olympiakos. Thrylos are regarded as the most popular club in Greece, with 30% of the population said to support the Piraeus side. In Athens nearly half of the capital claims to support Olympiakos. With the most league titles, Greek Cups, appearances and Europe as well as being in the top ten most coveted football clubs in the world, it's easy to see why there is so much fanfare and support in Greece and across the globe for Olympiakos.

 

PAOK 

The 5th and final team I am going to delve into, is northern Greece's most successful club, PAOK. The Club was founded on the 20th of April 1926 by Constantinopolitans from the Pera Community, who fled to Thessaloniki after the Greco-Turkish war. The policy of PAOK in its early years was to allow all citizens of the reign regardless of whether they were refugees or not, to play and support the club. PAOK quickly developed a rivalry with fellow Northern Greek side Aris, due to the difference in social class between the two sets of fans. Aris, as said before where primarily supported by the upper class of Thessaloniki, were as PAOK fans tended to be working class refugees who were originally from Asian Minor, Pontus and Constantinople. Like many rooted fan rivalries it came from the animosity of the working classes' view towards the richer upper class, which was then vented through their football teams.

After playing the first few years in the Macedonian local leagues, the Aspromavri joined the Pan Hellenic Championship where they would face sides from all over Greece, this in turn helped their popularity grow from outside their core fanbase in Thessaloniki. Eventually this helped begin a new rivalry for PAOK, with Olympiakos, who was seen to be the symbol of the country's bias towards the south and the capital Athens, in comparison to Greece's second city Thessaloniki. The social and geographical themes of these intense clashes are still very much prevented between both sets of fans to this day although it has more recently stemmed from both clubs owners constantly at loggerheads with each other.

PAOK also consider the other Athenian club, AEK and Panathinaikos as major rivals, with the double headed eagle derby against AEK being prominent as both sets of fans were originally refugees from Asian Minor. Despite also sharing a rivalry both Panathinaikos and PAOK apparently share the most mutual respect for one another, when compared to their other rivals.

 

PAOK fans would have to wait until the 1970s for their side to win any major silverware, starting with their first Greek cup in 1971/71 and later with their first league title in 1975/76. This first major owner for the club also lines up perfectly with the unofficial formation of the clubs biggest fan group Gate 4, named after the gate at the Toumba where the ultras are seated. They are the beating heart of the PAOK faithful during home matches and can make for one of the most intimidating atmospheres in Europe even being known by sum as The Black Hell. Over time the number of groups relating to Gate 4 has since been estimated at 120 sub groups all over the globe, in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, Belgium, the US, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Tragedy struck the fans towards the end of the millennium.

 

In the modern era, PAOK is regarded as the most supported club in Northern Greece with the 3rd largest fanbase in the country. While fans can be found in the city of Thessaloniki they are also prominent across the rest of the Macedonian reign. After their most recent double winning campaign, fans of PAOK can be hopeful that even more success will be coming to the club in the future.

Hellas Football 

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