A Moment in Hell
The account of one Hibs fan of the
hell that awaited Hibees in Athens - ALISON CAMPBELL
AS AN INDEPENDENT traveller to Athens
last week, we did not have the luxury of boarding a bus after the game. We
braved the streets of N. Philadelphia, Athens and had the worst half-hour of
our lives!
We had read the warnings - "Hostile Atmosphere" "Stay off the Metro System"
"Travel in large groups" "Get there early" and many more. We expected
the AEK fans to give us a hard time, but the warnings did not prepare us for
the reality. We met up with a large group of Hibbys before the game, and
agreed that it would safer if we all travelled to and from the ground
together. The journey there was not too bad; we took the metro (against
advice) and apart from the odd stare or two, came to no harm. On arrival at
the stadium we headed for gate 19, as stated on the ticket issued for the
previous weeks game. We were outside the ground about 90 minutes before kick
off, and the streets were packed with AEK fans. We were jeered, we were warned
off, and I almost lost my "lucky?" scarf when an AEK fan decided he wanted to
swap his with mine. We reached gate 19 and were told that we would now be
seated in gate 2! This meant walking half way back round the stadium, a task I
really did not relish!
We reached gate 2 and went through a body and bag search, luckily enough I had
emptied my bag and only had my mobile, camera and cigarettes, I did get my
lighter taken from me though! Inside the ground, I was amazed to see line upon
line of armed police. There must have been one policeman for every 3
Hibs fans, and another row just inside the cage that housed the AEK fans.
During the game, we had missile after missile thrown at us, disposable
lighters, coins, nuts & bolts, and flares the list goes on and on. The AEK
fans were like wild animals, and very intimidating, but there were lines of
policemen and a cage between them and us, so no problem? Yeah-big problem… we
still had to go face to face with these people on the journey back to our
hotels!
Alison (right) during a slightly less frightening moment in the Greek capital
(hibs.net)
I started to worry about what would happen
when we left the stadium. The travel officials were sitting in the row
behind us so I pleaded with them to let us on a bus. I told them we
would pay for the journey, and would be happy to travel out to the airport, or
any other safe place. Their reply was: "You made your own way out
here, make your own way back!" We were kept in the stadium for
around an hour and outside the stadium for a further 20 minutes. The
party of 15 that travelled to the ground was now down to five! We
spotted a group of policemen and sought their advice on getting taxis, and
were directed up to the main road a few minutes walk from the stadium.
As we approached the main road we realised we had to walk through a street
café full of AEK fans, many of whom had been downing Ouzo for the hour and 20
minutes we had be detained in the stadium. We were in an impossible
situation.
Do we go back the way we came, with no
prospects of getting a taxi? Or do we brave it out and hope to god
nothing kicks off? As we had been spotted at this point anyway, we put
the heads down and made for the main road. The atmosphere from inside
the stadium erupted again, only this time there was no police, and no cage, we
were in the middle of the lion's den. Shouts of "Bin Laden" could be
heard, amongst many other taunts in Greek. It was the scariest moment of
my life! Thankfully we spotted a group of policemen on the other side of
the street, so we headed for them and pleaded with them to help us stop a
taxi. (We had already tried and they kept driving past us.) We
were told, "Wave, just like everyone else does" - one of the policemen asked
me if I had enjoyed the game, I replied "Nah, we got beat" he went on about
how it should have been three goals, and repeatedly asked me if I had been
scared. I then realised he was an AEK fan, and was getting a kick from
my fear! At this moment, I realised we were on our own, and this was THE
scariest moment of my life.
A magnificent city - but why do they instil the fear? (hibs.net)
Thankfully two taxis stopped, and we made our way back to the city centre for
a beer. In the café the caretaker's grandson, an AEK fan just back from the
game, joined us. I spoke to him for over an hour about what we had just
experienced, and he explained that the fans situated next to us, and at the
corner flag at the other end, were in his words "crazy". They are made
up of young hotheads, and he assured me like at every other club, AEK has good
and bad fans. He went into detail about the reasons for them breaking
the minute's silence, and expressed that not all Greeks agreed with this.
Overall I got the impression that while he was proud of the passion his fellow
fans had for their team, he and many others, did not agree with their actions.
Talking to him opened my eyes a lot, I still do not agree with what they did,
but I can now, somehow, understand it.
On returning to Edinburgh, I was very angry at the treatment we received from
the travel officials, the club and the Athens police. Our safety was
never taken into consideration, and I have since emailed Hibernian, and am
pleased to say I got instant replies and my points have been taken on board.
Mistakes were made regarding independent travellers, I am confident that
lessons have been learned and they will not happen again.
Much has been said since last week, regarding the AEK fans. Many people
are still very bitter at the treatment we received, and a few think we should
have retaliated with the same treatment they gave us. These are the people I
am asking to stop and think what that would achieve. It is likely that the AEK
fans travelling will not have been involved in the throwing of missiles or the
abuse we were subjected to. It would give our club as bad a name as
theirs, and we are worth much much more than that. I was delighted then
to see the behaviour of Hibs fans at the return leg, and hope that AEK fans
returned home in safety and without any of the fear we felt in Athens.
|
