The fact that TC's came to support Anorthosis (the Cypriot team) but were put off by the crowd, reminds me of the darkest periods of Cyprus when by our sheer stupidity we pushed the TC's into the arms of Turkey.
While I agree with you that at the end of the day this was just another football game and that politics should not mix with sports, I still believe that what we saw in both games was unavoidable, considering the current situation between Cyprus and Turkey. Expecting the behavior of the entire crowd in a football game like this, to resemble that of a crowd in tennis games is utopian. People always shout things at each other in football games and personally I do not remember ever attending a single football game that was different.
You write that there were TCs who went to support Anorthosis in the first game but were put off by the behavior of the crowd. My understanding is that what bothered these TCs most was the presence of so many Greek flags in the stadium. Again, was this something not to be expected in a game with a team from Turkey? Weren't the Turkish flags that appeared when Trabzonspor scored in Nicosia just as expected? Weren't the thousands of Turkish and "trnc" flags in last Tuesday's game were also expected?
Generally speaking I get very sad when sporting successes, which are hard to come by, are associated with national and political matters. This was standard practice in totalitarian regimes and shows above all lack of respect for the opponent which directly opposes the sporting ideals.
Personally I cannot compare what happened during the Cyprus game with what happens in totalitarian regimes, if this is what you are implying with the above statement. After all, the only official "directive" regarding the game in Nicosia was that everyone should behave well and that no banners with political content would be allowed in the stadium.
Just a couple of months ago, the Greek National team traveled to Istanbul to play against the Turkish National team for the World Cup qualifiers (that was a very important game for both teams). In every seat of the stadium there were a Turkish flag and a T-shirt awaiting every supporter of the Turkish team. Who made the decision to put those there and why? Last Tuesday evening, the stadium loudspeakers in Trapezounta were playing Ataturk's taped messages (something about how great it is to be a Turk) again and again. What on earth does Ataturk have to do with the Champions League anyway and what about Trabzonspor's all non-Turkish players?
The main issue in a "unique" game like this, Bananiot, was to ensure that no REAL trouble occurred and I am sure you are smart enough to understand that. In Trapezounta, GCs were attacked on at least 2 occasions by an angry Turkish mob and from what I understand, on one of them the Turkish police had to even fire gun shots in the air to disperse them. Fortunately, nothing like that ever happened in the Nicosia match, although we have violent behavior by some idiots in games between GC teams like AEL Vs APOEL for example. It is also my understanding that the behavior of some football "fans" in Turkey can be just as stupid, regardless of whether their team plays with Anorthosis or Galatasaray.
O.
