The Rise And Fall Of Sparta F.C. And Football In Laconia

The Rise And Fall Of Sparta F.C. And Football In Laconia

By Alex Koutakos

Football in Laconia has always been a true passion and pleasure as it is in every other Greek regional unit/province. Over the years, football in Laconia has been underfunded and has seen a huge decline! Henceforth, in this article I will write to you(the readers) about the rise and fall of Sparta F.C.(the biggest club in Laconia) and the rise and fall of football in the region of Laconia.

The Rise Of Sparta F.C.

Sparta F.C. was initially founded under the name of Charisiakos F.C., in 1991. However, a few years later the club changed its name to Sparta F.C. The club’s home ground was “Sparta’s Municipal Stadium” up until the dissolution of the club in 2019.  The ultras of the club were called the 300’s. In terms of trophies, the club has won 7 "Laconic Cups and Titles", for a total of 14. They achieved promotion from the 3rd division to the 2nd division in their very successful 2015-16 season. In the 2016-17 season they officially became a "professional team" as they played in Greece's second division. Things were looking very bright at the start of the 2016-17 season. However, Dimitris Gianakopoulos( the owner of Panathinaikos B.C) bought the team and ever since the club has gone downhill!

The Fall Of Sparta F.C.

After the purchase of Sparta F.C. by Dimitris Giannakopoulos, the club was severely neglected. Moreover, wages were not fully paid and the training ground was not properly run. The club was then relegated twice in the next 3 seasons.Weirdly, Francis Antetokounmpo( Giannis's older brother) even played for the team in 2019( before the dissolvement). The club eventually dissolved in 2019,and just like that another promising team in rural Greece went under. This is the sad reality of Greek football! EPO and Giannakopoulos had the chance to rescue Sparta F.C. but like everything else in Greece, corruption and laziness plays a role!

The Rise Of Football In Laconia

Football in Laconia started to grow and have a sizable community after the Civil War. During WW2 and the Civil War the area was absolutely devastated(socio-economically, politically and culturally). After the Civil War, football was seen as a hobby and helped the populous cope with previous hardships. In the late 50's and early 60's football grew in popularity in Laconia as stadiums and local pitches were built. However, under the dictatorship of Papadopoulos from 1967 to the early 70's football was neglected and many clubs that opposed the dictatorship were financially penalized and even forced to shut. From the mid 70's to 2003 soccer rose again in Laconia. Furthermore, clubs were formed, training grounds were established and many relatively ordered and transparent federations were in charge. Then came Greece's victory at Euro 2004! It all went downwards after that for football in Laconia.

The Fall Of Football In Laconia

When Greece won Euro 2004, EPO was awarded a lot of money! In most cases across Greece, that money was not handled appropriately. In Laconia, the money was also not handled properly. Moreover, in Laconia that money was primarily spent on the signing of foreign players and also for building pitches in rural areas. For the latter, I have seen many modern and well-preserved pitches beside the "Ethniki Odos" for no reason. I have never seen anyone play in those pitches. It blows my mind how the federation approved the building process for such modern pitches in such horrible locations! If I was in charge of Laconia's football federation I would have spent it on renovating pitches and building pitches in Sparta, Gytheio and Neapoli(all of these places have a youthful population).  Another reason why football in Laconia has declined recently is the non-paying of groundskeepers. For example, in my Yiayia's town(Krokees, Laconia) the local groundskeeper( the person who cuts the grass on the pitch and makes sure that it's suitable for playing football on) is sometimes not payed and when he is payed, he is payed for the amount of grass that he cuts! The owners of the pitch in Krokees are too cheap to pay him(the groundskeeper) to cut the grass that grows inside the net. Therefore, the groundskeeper does not cut the grass  inside the net and the grass keeps on growing. Last time I checked it was a meter tall! Unbelievable!! I am sure that this is occurring all over Laconia. Personally, I think that this is the main reason why Laconia lags behind so many provinces/regional units in terms of player development. If you don’t have the necessary pitches/training facilities there's no way that you can produce talent.

Hopefully, things will change in Laconia for the better, but sadly they will only change for the better if the federation does its job for once!!

Hellas Football 

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