Those European guys just
don't play fair now, do they?
It is though time
we learned that British 'fair play' is not all that popular around the
world!
(Stuart Crowther)
HIBERNIAN AND ALL WHO FOLLOW THE CLUB
have for many years taken a great deal of pride from the fact that our
team were among the European pioneers in terms of football. Indeed,
it is true that Hibernian were pioneers of world football, taking on the
Brazilians in their own back-yard when Pele was still kicking cans
along a sandy beach.
It was all much simpler
back then in the 50's, 60's and even the 1970's. The Hibees flew out
to Albania, Spain, Italy and the likes more often than not on scheduled
airlines and with perhaps a few dozen fans tagging along, these invariably
being of the businessman type who could actually afford to make such trips
and even had the required passports that most of us would not dream of
owning for many more years. Indeed the first 'European' trip I can
remember Hibee fans travelling to in any number was when the coaches
loaded up and moved out to distant Yorkshire, where Hibs took on the might
of Leeds United. I seem to remember a wee bit of bother in Leeds
city centre that day, but it was hardly a multi-national cultural
exchange!
These days are so
different. Travel around the world is now commonplace for us all,
let alone making the much shorter hop between European nations.
Communication in terms of moving thousands of people from one part of the
world to another has improved so much since those heady Euro nights
enjoyed by Hibs in the 1970's, communication that permits thousands of
Hibs fans to travel and support the team on foreign soil. The shame
though is that Hibernian, the pioneers of European and World club
football, have in recent times lost touch with the culture of other
nations, because we have not been regular attenders on the European stage
for so long. The result of this is that many Hibs supporters were
left disappointed from their first European experience, disgusted indeed
by the behaviour of those form another nation who purport to support their
club but seemed more interested in inciting violence or at least a little
intimidation.
"Travel around the
world is now commonplace for us all, let alone making the much shorter hop
between European nations."
Supporters of AEK Athens, it has to be said, did not
behave in a manner that we would like our fellow human beings to behave.
They did not respect the silence in memory of the human tragedy that must
surely have touched every person in every nation of the world. They
bombarded their 'guests' huddled in the away section of their stadium with
missiles throughout the game, and they intimidated and yes, in some cases
even attacked Hibs fans outside the stadium and in the city of Athens when
these fans wandered too far from the beaten track. All of this
however should not have come as a surprise to those who travelled to
Greece. The warnings had been made by Greek nationals and AEK fans
on this very site; the same warnings had been given via official channels,
including the warning to fans not to expect a great deal of help from the
Athens police.
So did we believe that these warnings were false?
I think perhaps this was the case, as being Hibs fans who enjoyed two
trips to Brussels in 1989 and 1992 or heard the stories from these trips,
we might be forgiven for believing that they can't be that bad, all we
have to do is behave ourselves and no problem. Sadly what such
thoughts did was demonstrate our own inexperience in European travel (at
least in the football sense). We have a belief that Scottish fans
are viewed throughout the world as a friendly bunch of drunks who will do
no harm, and therefore the locals will simply join in the party and a good
time will be had by all. We now know differently, we now surely know
that in some nations we are simply seen as the enemy.
Hibees in Athens - in the city centre is was for the most part fun all the
way (hibs.net)
It would be very easy then for us all to act in an
indignant manner, blast at those foreigners with everything we have or
even indeed give what few of their number dare travel to Edinburgh this
week some of their own medicine. That must not be allowed to
happen.
What just about any British tourist to Greece or her
islands will tell you is that they had a fantastic time in that nation.
They will tell you how friendly the vast majority of Greek people are, in
particular towards Scottish tourists. And they will tell you that in
football, they have fans who are a law unto themselves, and who vie with
those in Turkey in terms of notoriety. This of course is not pretty,
it is not nice, in fact it is bloody horrible - but it is their
culture, it is their nation and the way they deal with the problem
is ultimately their decision. We have our own standards,
standards to which we ourselves all too often fall short in adhering to.
Ask most people in the street if they consider themselves to be reasonable
individuals and they will agree that they are; put these same people into
a large group angered by a refereeing decision and watch all that reason
vanish into the floodlit night.
So when a few hundred AEK fans take their seats at
Easter Road on Thursday evening, they must see around them packed stands
with Hibernian fans roaring on their side in an important night for us
all, the return of European football to our stadium. They will see
that these fans are every bit as passionate as their own may be in Athens,
but they will see no cages, no raised fences - no missiles, and no hatred.
Intimidation will be limited to that provided by our players on the park
against their opponents, in the stands the Greek fans will be treated with
the utmost respect and every bit of that hospitality the Scottish people
are famous for. And when these Greek fans return to AEK, no matter
the result, we can but hope they will talk of these things and others will
learn that, when all is said and done, it is only a game of
football.
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