Exclusive video: direct trajectory flares on the pitch and vicious beatings at the Final Cup of EPO’s football cleansing

The statement in the era “cleansing”of Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) President Vangelis Grammenos statement, a PAOK loyalist as Ivan Savvidis stated, after the final cup at the OAKA Stadium, will be of immeasurable worth in years to come. Something like the political declaration in 2009 that “money is available”.

Mr. Grammenos maintained that the AEK-PAOK Final Cup was a “won wager”, which simply had “certain problems before the match, but which otherwise was worthy of the institution”. He said it was worthy of the great history of the two Football Clubs, and that it conveys a symbolic message about the next day in football”!

What you just read is not the product of splicing or a selective quotation of words. These are the exact words of the president of the Hellenic Football Federation’s president.

If he did not actually turn a blind eye to those who in fact supported his election (which is logical if you have a relation of dependency with someone), but rather thinks that all the tragic events that occurred at EPO’s and football’s celebration were much ado about nothing, he should probably think twice, and do something about it.

The videos and photographs of all that occurred with the wager of Mr. Grammenos, who considers PAOK the equal of AEK, bears undeniable witness to what truly occurred.

We set aside the savage beatings before the start of the match, the minimum control of fans by those competent to oversee them, the burnt cars, and the head injuries.

We shall preoccupy ourselves only with what happened after the scoring of PAOK’S second goal in the final. It was a moment of joy that was transformed into a pretext for the armies of the two teams to participate in the party in their own way.

As you can see from the videos posted by to 10.gr from OAKA, immediately after the 2-0 score, things got out of control, with AEK fans surging at police and the bleachers of the stadium resembling a war zone for five minutes.

At the same time, PAOK supporters, instead of celebrating that their team won the cup, decided to start a new circle of clashes with riot police (MAT). That resulted in the firing of at least five flares at a direct trajectory, which fell in the pitch even as referee Borbolan was trying to bring the situation under control.

The tensions did not subside at the end of the match. PAOK supporters set fire to their bleachers, even as AEK supporters were playing the chase game with gas bombs, flares, and body-to-body battles with police.

This was a true party of “cleansing”, as befits the new order of things in Greek football. Mr. Grammenos may want self-defilement, as one surmises from his unfounded statements, but whatever he may say, the punishment of AEK and PAOK for incidents in the pitch and the rest of the areas in the stadium, for damage and injuries, is a given.

That is, except if EPO wants to cook and skew even what all of Greece saw.

We note that Article 15, Paragraph 4, of the disciplinary code regarding incidents in the locker-room, bleachers, or more generally in the playing in the field, as well as regarding the entry of fans in the pitch, provides:

a)     Monetary fines between 20,000 to 100,000 euros, as long as the entry of fans into the playing field is linked with violence against individuals and temporary property damage.

b)      If enthusiasts’ admission to the pitch or episodes to the other venues on the pitch above are associated with acts of violence against persons or damage to property, a monetary fine of 50,000 euros up to 250,000 euros, and a penalty of conducting two games without spectators, for between two and four games and the subtraction of three points.