Interview with a member of fan associations Gate 13 (Panathinaikos Athens)

Bring to your attention an interview with a member of one of the most famous and influential fan associations in Greece. Multiple champion Greece and member of European club Panathinaikos needs no introduction, and his fans known far beyond the country. Athens had once been known as the cradle of Greek culture and the birthplace of democracy. Now this metropolis known as political protests and football fights. And here it will be one of the protagonists of such confrontations Gate 13.

- Tell about history your club.

- Panathinaikos was founded in 1908. Our emblem is a clover and the team's colours are green and white. Our traditional home stadium is Leoforos and we play there since 1922. The heart of Panathinaikos is in Athens but as i said we have fans everywhere in Greece. Our club was by far the most successful in Greece until 1979. Then the greek football turned professional and Panathinaikos was purchased by a family called Vardinogiannis. Gate 13 was from the start against this family. The reasons are that although the Vardinogiannis family was very strong and rich, they did not invest much money in the club. They did not love it and care much about her. Also they let  Olympiakos win championships by bribing referres and did nothing about it althouth they had the power. Gate 13 was founded in 1966. We follow the club in every sport. We want to see the players fight for the win. Winning is not the case . We want to play with honour, morality and values

- You take part in the parliamentary elections? You are an anarchist or a supporter of any political party?

- Officially Gate 13 is ''no politica''we have a lot antifa fansbut unfortunately there also a few fascists

Bianco Verde is a radical group inside Gate 13, the biggest supporting club of Panathinaikos AC. Gate 13 is the oldest club in Greece. Gate 13 has members all over the world. Bianco Verde trying to promote radical ideas for supporters and social problems generally. We are in contact with other fan clubs on the basis of solidarity. For us, the first enemies are fascists/nazis, the police and the judges and after all these follows the others sports clubs. We believe in direct action inside the stadiums and at streets.

I consider myself as an ''unintegrated left''. I agree with some ideas of anarchism but i have not settled a strong opinion yet

- What is ΝOΠΟ and Vasileos Boulgaroktonos? Nazi group?

- Yes there were two nazi groups that established around 1975. They existed for 2 or 3 years but then disappeared

- Which groups are included in the gate 13?

- In the past , Gate 13 was divided into groups such as Athens Fans, Mad boys etch etch. Somewhere in 2000 there was a decision that Gate 13 will be united so all groups went into the united Gate 13

- What achievements in your club?

- We have won 20 Greek Leagues and 17 Greek Cups. In european contests, we played in 1971 with Ajax in the final of the old Champions League. We have also gone to the semifinals two times and two times in the stage of 8? In basketball we have won 33 greek championships,14 greek cups and 6 Euroleagues! We have many achievements in other sports too, especially in volleyball

- How many women support Panathinaikos?

- Yes there are women who support Panathinaikos and Gate13. As long as they love Panathinaikos and support the team, women are of course welcome to Gate13

- Have you many teenagers?

- Yes we have many teenagers. The most fans are between 20 and 30. There is also the old school fans, who are 40+

The inscription on the banner: "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty."

- Who friends Panathinaikos? Which fans do you hate?

- Panathinaikos has a brothership with Rapid Wien. Also, a group of Panathinaikos fans has a brothership with Roma Ultras. We hate Olympiakos fans(Gate 7), who have a lot of fans from Golden Dawn(greek far-right political party). We also hate Aek Athens, Red Star(Delije) and Lazio

With Ultras Rapid and Curva Sud (Roma) we are in a brotherhood. We have traveled together and we stand in continuous communication. The importand is tha both ultras Rapid and Roma promoting antifascist ideas unlike Austria Wien fans and Lazio SS neonazis.

Athens has 3 teams, Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and AEK. The famous derby is between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. Panathinaikos and AEK have a small amount of fascists and they afraid to manifest but in Olympiakos exist a trouble. In crisis years Panathinaikos fans characterized as antifascists fans unlike Olympiakos fans who characterized as fascists. Rumors says that the president of Olympiakos FC is the main sponsor of neonazis party in Greece.

- What about Dinamo Zagreb?

- We have good relationship with Bad Blue Boys because of their rivalry with Delije.  

- How you relate to teams from Thessaloniki?

- Relationship with teams from Thessaloniki are hostile, especially Aris and Paok. With Thessaloniki teams exist a contra but in recent years the traveling supporters not allowed and this means no serious interaction.

- Tell about stadium team Panathinaikos

- It is located in the center of Athens. The original name is Apostolos Nikolaidis, who was one of the first presidents of Panathinaikos and a great man with ambitions. It is mainly called 'Leoforos' because of the street that is in front of it. It was the first stadium in Greece which had grass. It's capacity is 16,000. Because of the relatively small capacity, Panathinaikos has played many years in OAKA, which has 70,000 seats. However, almost all of our fans prefer Leoforos. That's our home. It's worth to be mentioned that during the period that Germans had conquered Greece in 1941, our stadium was a secret place where rebels and resistants were gathering. There was also a secret school  

- What happened to your club during the reign of the junta?

- There has been a propaganda in the recent years that Panathinaikos went to the final of the champions league in 1971 because junta helped us. Thats of course is a lie and there are proof. www.greenzone.gr has published many articles from the newspaper from that period (unfortunately, the site closed because of problems). The only team that was benefited from junta was olumpiakos. I laugh with those who say that Polytecnik riot was set up. simply, i think it was a honest from people who could stand living in junta anymore

- Tell me about your city. how many fans of Panathinaikos in Athens?

Athens is the capital of Greece. It has about 1 million residents. It is regarded one of the most historical cities in Europe. It is known as the first city which had democracy. Parthenon is the most famous site. It is tough to calculate the amount of fans of Panathinaikos in Athens but i think there are somewhere around 200,000

- For other teams from Athens how many people support?

- Olympiakos has ''made'' many fans during the last 20 years . They have somewhere the same number of fans may be more from us. But it's about the quality of the fans not quantity ;)    Aek has also many fans but less than Panathinaikos and olympiakos. From the rest of the Athens teams Panionios has about 5-6,000 fans.

- What about the other teams from Athens?

- From the rest of the teams from Athens, we are enemies with Panionios

Atromitos, Ilisiakos and Kallithea are small clubs and doesn't exist main conflict. In antifascists issues there is collaboration and solidarity. An example is what happened before 2 weeks, police arrested 9 antifascists fans of Atromitos and Gate 13 in a volley game against Olympiakos pick banners for solidarity to Atromitos Fans.

- Which cities have fans of Panathinaikos? do you have fan clubs in other countries?

- In Greece there are fans of Panathinaikos  in almost every city.. We have over 50 clubs in greece.. There are many Panathinaikos fans in Cyprus, too. We have also 3 fan clubs in Germany and 1 in Scandinavia

The inscription on the banner: "Having the power go unpunished. Citizens and fans pay for everything"

- How often do drive to away games? how many rides maximum?

- Unfortunately, in Greece the away trips are most times forbidden by the goverment. However, sometimes we drive to away games despite the prohibitive law around 1.000 fans. If we play in Champions League or Europa League , we always travel. The amount of fans depends on the country we play and the cost. The last big away travel was in Rome in 2010 (8.000 fans). We also travel away if we play in Final-4 Basketball Euroleague. Last year in Istanbul we were around 3,000

- What is your farthest trip?

- I think our farthest exit was in Wales in 1989. We have also traveled in Iceland and Finland, but with little amount of fans.

- In  Greece have strict laws for the fans?

- Yes, they have strict laws. Τhe sad thing is that there is not enough solidarity among the fans of all the teams in general. There is hatred and until now we are not united in orded to protect our rights as fans..

- Which price on the tickets? Can I go to the stadium for free?

- It's usually between 10 and 20 euros. Around the 20th minute of the game, yes

- What performance are organized on the match?

- In the important matches, we do sometimes choreographies.. We use pyrotechnics in almost every match. Through the game we sing and use pyrotechnics. In the last game we stayed around 45 minutes afted the end of the match and we were singing a new chant. Here is the video if you want to watch it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLWaA20hzLM)

- What performances lately you have the most beautiful?

- In the games with atromitos, kalloni and elliniko(in women basketball) we sat 45 minutes after the end and we were singing alone. A good perfomance was also this with olympiakos in basket two days before christmas

- What songs do you sing?

- We have many chants.. our newest chant has the melody from ''Hawkwind-Hassan i saba'' . Some melodies from our chants are ''Boney M - Rivers of babylon'' , ''Boney M - Rasputin '' , ''Iron Maiden - Fear of the dark'' , ''Pobel und Geschock - Ballerman Rocknroll '' , ''Pet shop Boys - Go west '' , ''White Stripes - Seven Nation Army '' , '' Ύμνος του ΕΑΜ '' ( The hymn of the greek partisans during the civil war '' ) Our most known chant is ''Horto magiko''

- Do you have punks and skinheads? Drink alcohol and marijuana?

- There are not many punks and skinheads nowdays in greek fansYes alcohol and marijuana are very usual in every match

- You in Greece there is no law against marijuana and alcohol? In Russia you can not carry them to the stadium

- Marijuana is not allowed, but there is not much control from the securities usually, so you can pass it in the stadium. Alcohol is allowed

- You are driving to other towns on the bus?

- Yes we are driving. Today we played in Livadeia which is about 3 hours from Athens. We were about 500 fans in the stadium. We have been to Heraklion. You travel there by ship. Crete has many Panathinaikos fans. So when we play to Crete, the fans of Paanathinaikos who live there meet with the ones they travel from Athens and go together to the stadiumLately the travels of supporters in Greece have been banned, so the trips to other cities are few.

- In what city in Greece you farther and more difficult to go?

- We go almost every year to Xanthi. In Thesaloniki it is very difficult to go because Aris and Paok have many fans and there will be clashes. The farther city is Komotini but we go every year. With bus it is about 12 hoursPersonally I think that the most distant travel is from Athens to Thessaloniki in Touba stadium (PAOK FC) but this travel has been banned many years ago. To Cyprus we have been many times for europe games without problems. To burn pyrotechnics is permitted but some times we have problems with police but still now is something that we can do easily. The laws for fans last years have united with laws for terrorism and concers riots between police and others fans and this is the main problem.

- Tell about greece ultras-scene. What is the ratio of right side and left side on the terrace?

- In the greek ultras-scene there is a tendency for "no politica". Gate 13 and Gate 7 are officially no politica. However,as i said before, the majority of Gate 7 are far-right.(One of their biggest club have SS as logo). In Gate 13 during the last years there are many antifa fans. But there also some fascist and sometimes there are conflicts inside the stadium. The majority of Aek fans are left-side. From the others teams, in left-side belong the fans of Iraklis,Panaitolikos,Olympiakos Volou, Niki Volou,Pas Giannena. Aris and Paok have both fa and antifa. Gate 4 of Paok is separeted in Gate 4a(antifa) and Gate 4b(fascist)

- You are prohibited from attending away matches with PAOK, Olympiakos, AEK, Aris?

- Yes in the derbies with PAOK, Olympiakos, AEK, Aris we are not allowed to travel

- In Athens, many anti-fascists? I heard that it left Exarchia district. Have the right areas?

- Yes exarchia is known as a left district. There are many left and anarchist. The right have not a specific area that is theirs. In Piraeus there are many fascists nowdays, but there are also some antifa there. It is not like exarchia that is entirely left

- How about Peristeri and koridalo? Which area many fans Panathinaikos?

- I dont know for sure my friend. In Peristeri though the fans of Atromitos are left. And the club of Gate 13 in Peristeri (west block) is also leftSome of the areas with many of our fans are Ampelokipi, Zografou, Ilisia. Outside of Athens, Patra has many Panathinaikos fans

- He truth is that the fight in Athens happen with knives and guns?

- Unfortunately yes. The fucking modern fans use knives. There have also been incidents with guns... It is very sad. Knives and guns are for cowards

- How often do you fight with Olympiakos? Where there are fights?

- There incidents with Olympiakos often, two three times per month. In bars and subway it's rare to fight , it used to be the case in earlier years around 80s and 90s. Now the most fights are in the fan clubs. Manytimes its not even fight. They go and plant small bombs in the clubs when are closed in the night. Sometimes the fans arrange meetings in the streets but unfortunately they use knives. Cowards

- With AEK are you fighting? They are now playing in a local league Athens. They seem to have ceased to be serious opponents

- Yes they have many fans. They are playing in 3rd division because of financial problems. But now a powerful man bought their team and in a few years they will have a good team and a new stadium. We fight with aek fans often, but there is as much hatred as with olympiakos. Personally i like aek fans

- How many Nazis in Athens? How you Communists?

- In the latest elections the far right party golden dawn had 31.000 votes in athens. the communist pary had 28.000. but there also communists in other parties such as siriza, which had 60.000. and there also the anarchists, many of whom dont want to vote

- You are fighting in the subway?

- Usually in the streets. It happens sometimes to fight in the subway but not very often

- Fans olympiakos attaked room gate 13?

- They have attacked sometimes in some clubs of gate13 . but otherwise too

- Do you organize social proect?

- The antifascist group of Gate 13 organize some social protection actions. For example, every Monday outside our stadium(Leoforos) there is free food for poor people

Action "Food Not Bombs"

- Gate 13 take part in streets protest action?

- We take part on street protect actions but individuals and not as Gate 13 officially. As i said before, the conditions in the greek Ultras scene are not good in order to unite with fans of other teams and protest in the streets.(as it happened in Turkey with Besiktas,Fener and Galata fans). For example, last year a group of Gate 13 took part in a big antifascist protest in Athens and we were attacked by fans of Aek...

- What do you think about the murder of Pavlos Fyssas?

- Pavlos was murdered by fascist bastards. The killer had orders from Golden Dawn. Gate 13 had banners in the game that was after the death of Pavlos against fascists and golden dawn. On the other hand, Gate 7 did nothing although Pavlos was a fan of Olympiakos.

- True that Grigoropoulos supported Panathinaikos?

- Yes we was a fan of Panathinaikos. We have a banner with his face

"Pavlos Fyssas 18/09/13 died from Nazi knives. Silence is complicity and we can not remain silent"

- You are allowed to hang in the stadium political slogans?

- No. three years ago, we had a banner in the stadium which said ''politicians corrupted, parliament of ensonced, the rage of the rioters will eat you''. the match stopped for a few minutes and we were asked to drop the banner. eventually after the game the cops attacked and took the banner

- Banner about Fyssas and Grigoropoulos are not political?

- Think its more social. the fascism is an issue that must be confronted by the society in general. antifascism is a social state. anyway, also these kind o f banners are not allowed, but nonetheless we had and will have in  Gate13 whenever its necessary

Banner memory Alexandros Grigoropoulos

- What ultras other countries do you like?

- I like the ultras from marseille, saint ettiene, dortmund, celtic , feyenord , rayo vayekanoi also like the fans fron south amerika, especially from argentina

- What are gate 13 future plans?

- The plan of gate 13 from the day it established is the same. follow our club everywhere in a every sport and support it. Now,we want to chase the dream for a new big stadium in Leoforos.. we will try to push the things in order to make this true..  Also in two years Gate 13 will celebrate its 50th birtday. We want to make a big feast,festival or something like that  

- Your wishes antifa Russian

- Greetings to russian friends.. i wish we all live in a society in the future where every kind of fascism will be distinguished.. it maybe is outopish, but trying to reach outopia will only make us better people.. especially to the fans, i wish more and more young people to attend matches and go to stadiums. not in order to become ''hooligans'' and spread the  violence, but to learn the culture of the real fans and get consiousness. Because as Che Guevara said : "Football is not like any other sport. It is a weapon for revolution."

 Left Side Terraces №1
February 2014