Interview with a member of fan group Red Boys (Paniliakos, Pyrgos)

Once again, we had an interview with a representative of the Greek fan scene. This time we will focus on the Peloponnese and the small town of Pyrgos in particular. This area is known for its rich history in the ancient period, but about local fan movement is not so much information. Therefore we decided to fill this gap and talked to anti-fascists fan Paniliakos. About the club and the city of Pyrgos of course, few people know, however, far from here there was a settlement Olympia where for the first time passed known around the world Olympic games.

- What is your name and how long do you support Paniliakos?

- My name is Giannis and I support Paniliakos since I remember myself (I am 30 years old now). I was baby when my father took me to the stadium for first time. Both my father and my uncle were going every Sunday at the stadium so it was sure that I was going to become a Paniliakos’ supporter. But they didn’t force me to become a Paniliakos’ fan. The fact that made me a “red boy” was the stadium’s pulse.

- Tell us about your city Pirgos. What has football traditions in this city? What are the attractions do you have?

- Pyrgos is a city at the western part of Greece and the capital of the state of Ilia. It is 5km far away from the sea, 19km far away from Ancient Olympia and about 300km away from Athens. The city’s climate is mediterranean with lots of rain in the winter and high temperatures in the summer, whch is the best season to visit our city, because of the many beaches. Pyrgos appeared in the 17th century and the founder of the city is Georgios Tsernotas. Also, it was the first place that the Turkish destroyed during the time of slavery.

The first football clubs in Pyrgos were “Hercules” and “Ethnikos”. Later on, other two teams were formed named “AEK Pyrgou” and “Appolon”. But the enmity between these teams was obstacle for the future of the city’s football. So in the season 1957-1958 these teams merged all together and made the city’s biggest sport club that is Paniliakos.

Nowadays, the city of Pyrgos does not have many football clubs but the wider area of Ilia has its own local championship(4 divisions) with lots of teams .

As a citizen of Pyrgos and Ilia, I have visited Ancient Olympia many times. But it is something normal for us. We are used to the fact that we are almost next to the motherland of Olympic games, team spirit and all those values that the Olympic spirit contains.

-Tell us about the history of your support group Red boys. Do FC Paneliakos other firms?

- “Gate 3”, was founded in 1982 when some students started going to stadium’s gate 3 and they were the “hotter” supporters of the team. They were, let’s say, the “ultras” of that time/era. It was the start point for many supporters’ groups that were formed during the next years, such as “Mikri Kerkida” , “D.R.I. Club” etc. “Red Boys” is the name of the supporter’s club/group that was founded in 1996 and it is still “alive” . Red Boys are called the members of this supporter’s club. “Red boys” have followed Paniliakos even at the most far areas that the team has played and they still do this. Except for “Red Boys” , the team has also another supporter group ,named “Athens Club”, which represents the team’s supporters in Athens. Athens Club was founded in 1994 and its members follow the team in every match that gives away from Pyrgos. Finally, two years ago, the younger supporters of Paniliakos (under 18) formed their own group, that is “Red Youth”, which belongs to “Red Boys” but they have a type of self organization. It is, let’s say, the Red Boys academy.

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

- Paniliakos’ fans do not support any political party . However, Red Boys and Athens Club, are mainly young people who care about social issues and express their opinion on them. For example, we make banners for issues that have to do with our city, such as the problem of garbage. We have made banners for things such as the murder of Killah-P(Pavlos Fyssas) by a fascist, for the war in Palestine etc. Someone could name as politically “left”. But we do not have any left ID. But some things such as police’s violence or fascism are unacceptable by us because they have to do with our society in general. But, you also have to know that in Greece of crisis, people have stopped supporting political parties because most of them are liars and are fooling the people. So the only thing that has left is the ideology. We can’t say if we are anarchists or not, because it’s a big discussion and anarchism is not something easy to support. Many people name themselves anarchists but they are not.

- Which clubs have friendly relations? What fans hate?

- Let’s start from the easy one. The fans that we hate. Our basic “enemies” are Kalamata’s fans and Panachaiki’s fans. Both of them belong to cities (Kalamata and Patra) that are near Pyrgos (about 1 ½ hour away). The enmity with Kalamata started in ‘70s but the peak was in ‘90s with many “battles” in and out of the stadiums. The facts that have made us hate them is that they are fascists(they played in the first division during the junta) and most of them supporters of “Golden Dawn” and also friendly to police. It is characteristic that, in collaboration with police, they manage in every game we play in their city, to block our trips to there.

The enmity with Panchaiki is also historical but the peak was in 2000-2001, when we played together play outs in the first division. That time Panachaiki’s president, was tangled with illegal betting so our team ,unfairly didn’t manage to “survive”.

We do not have very close friendly relations with other football clubs but there are many clubs that we respect because of their history and their fan’s culture and they also do the same with us. Such clubs are Panegialios, Proodeftiki etc. Also worth noting is that 8 years ago we had a game in Xanthi and local fans invited us to their fan club and treated to beer. But the fans there are not hooligans and are ultras calm.

- What achievements have your club?

- Generally ,the greatest achievement of Paniliakos is the 7th place in the first division .That time the 6th place was leading to Europe games, and in the very next year also the 7th place was leading to Europe. So we can say that we were unlucky.

However,personally  I think that the greatest achievemnet is the players that played in our team such as Djordjevic, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Vyntra, Karabelas , Lakis , Tochouroglou , Ouzounidis, Lukic etc.

- What does the name of the club and logo?

- “Paniliakos” has several meanings such as “the team of Ilia’s citizens”, “above Ilia”, “the greatest team of Ilia” etc. The torch derives from the Olympic torch due to the fact that Paniliakos belongs also to the motherland of Olympic games.

- Tell the story of the club Paniliakos. What happened to your team during the junta?

- Paniliakos was founded in 1958 from the union of four teams from the city of Pyrgos (Ethnikos, Iraklis, A.E.K., Apollon). It was a vision of three people: Lampaounas, Galanopoulos and Liatsis. Paniliakos is a very important club for Greek football history, due to its constant presence in the Greek first division and its amazing results, especially during the 1990s. However, the past few years the club has known a decline, since former president of the club, Sakis Stavropoulos, owner of "International Service", a major Greek enterprise decided to give up on the team.

During the junta, Paniliakos was going up and down the 2nd and the 3rd division. We are proud that in this period we remained “pure” and away from “dirty” political games.

- Do you have any fans in other Greece cities and countries?

- Paniliakos, has fans not only in the whole Greece(Athens,Thessaloniki,Ioannina,Patra,Crete,Larisa etc) but also in other countries(Sweden,USA etc).

- Do in Pirgos social projects?

-  During the last years, Pyrgos has shown a great development in such issues. We have woken up but the city does not have the power of the crowd to express strong opinion. “Red Boys” many times are the start point of such social projects because someone must be the leader.

- Do you participate in rallies and demonstrations?

- Yes, I do participate in such demonstrations. But not as often as some years ago. In Greece I do not like the fact that people participate in demonstrations in groups that are politically separated. I believe that people should be all together in order to strengthen our “war” against the system.

- Tell us about your stadium. How much is a ticket for the match and whether you can go for free?

- We call our stadium “Maracana”…Yes, like Brazil’s Maracana! Its capacity is about 8000 seats but many times in the past this number has been overcomed . It is a historical stadium because Paniliakos has played there all his matches in Pyrgos. It is Red Boys’ second home. The price of the ticket depends on the division Paniliakos plays each time. This year the tickets’ price is going to be from 5 to 15 euros. It depends also on the stadium’s gate. For “Red Boys” the ticket is cheaper. Also kids that are under 18 and people who do not have any job can enter the stadium for  free.

- As far as the strict laws in Greece against the ultras?

- The last 2-3 years we have faced a very bad behavior by the police. Every Sunday it was sure that we were going to fight with police because the author of Pyrgos’ police was very strict. Generally ,as ultras we are against every police’s violence (ACAB). It is a fact that the laws against ultras become more strict during the years and it is more common to fight against the police than against other ultras.

- Do you have a good relationship with the players and management of the club?

- We try not to have very close relationships with players and managers. Our duty is at the stadium singing for our team. The only relationship that we have is to learn the team’s news by someone who works in the team and that’s all. Also we talk to players sometimes in order to play better and in order to teach them respect the shirt they wear.

- What performance do you prepare for a match? Are pyrotechnics?

 - The week before a match is a whole preparation. Especially , if the match is against “enemies”. Pyrotechnics are not allowed , so it is difficult to have pyros in every match because of the police. But commonly and especially in “derbies” we have pyros. If the match is not in Pyrgos we search for buses in order to make a trip . If it is in Pyrgos we prepare our songs, make new banners etc. Also we drink alcohol before the match in order to be in the best “mood” !

- Is you weapons during fights? In Greece there are fights with other fans?

- In Greece ,it is very rare to see fights between fans e.g. 40 against 40 in a forest as in Serbia,England etc. Here,fights usually take place in or out of the stadium during a match. Weapons are very usual in such fights but when you want the respect of your enemy it is better to fight only with hands.

- Than Peloponnese style ultras different from others?

- Our nickname is “The Boss of Peloponnesus” so you can imagine that we are the best ultras in Peloponnesus. But ultras in Greece generally do not have many styles…Some are used to sing more(like us) some others are used only to insult their enemies etc.

- You visit other sports - hockey, basketball, volleyball?

- Paniliakos was only a football club for many years…But the last years Paniliakos formed also a basketball team, so we started going also to basketball games and we can say that it is hotter to sing in a basketball stadium.

- How many in Greece at the moment the Nazis? In Pirgos, a lot of Nazis? how do you feel about the murder of Pavlos Fyssas?

- If we take into account the elections, the fascists in Greece are almost half a million. But I am sure that they are not all Nazis. Greece has been “flayed” by Nazis in the past so I can not imagine that Greeks can be Nazis. “Golden Dawn” is the political party of such Nazis/fascists. In pyrgos we have also fascists, but they are minority.

The murder of Pavlos Fyssas was a shock for the Greek society .I still feel anger for his murderer. But ,as everything, this sad fact will be forgotten by many people after a few years.

- Many of the girls on tribune Paniliakos?

- We have many girls who support Paniliakos and some of them belong to Red Boys Club. Especially since Pyrgos has its own university, many gilrs-students started coming to the stadium and supporting Paniliakos even they were from other cities.

- Tell me about the ultras scene in Greece. What is the ratio of left and right fans? Have Paneliakos ever Nazis among fans?

- The ultras scene in Greece is separated between left and right fans. Some fans used to go to the stadium and support a team only for political reasons and purposes. But this soon failed. You support a team firstly because you like the team and you love the team. However, ultras clubs/groups have political ideology/ID . This is a good way of understanding what type of people consist an ultras group. For example, when an ultras group is full of right/fascists/Nazis you can imagine that even if you love the team you can’t follow team’s supporters (personal opinion).

Fortunately , Paniliakos never had fascists among fans but it had and still has some right fans,but it’s ok.They are not fascists and they agree with our revolutionary ideology.

- How often travel to away matches? What is your long-distance travel in Greece?

- We try traveling in every away match our team gives. But it is not easy, especially in crisis. We have travelled in the whole Greece, even in the smallest village Paniliakos has played. Our longest trips are two, in Xanthi (770 km away) and in Heraklion-Crete (630 km away).

- Are there organizations in Greece against the commercial football? What is your financial situation, as stated on your club greece economic crisis?

- There are organizations in Greece against the commercial football and we support them. One of them is R.F.U that’s a nice try from the guys that they are involved to this, and it’s a good brotherhood of many ultras that they can talk each other and have a good relationship R.F.U did some articles about our ultras and our culture and we want to say thanks about all this! Our financial situation is not good in general the most of our people here they are not rich and we work all the week to give our money for our tickets to see our team and to travel to the away matches! The economic crisis in Greece is something that made things harder for all people and most for us that we are not rich!

- How you feel about the teams from Athens?

- About Athens teams, I can say that they are in the system so they are always favored by referees etc.

- Do you support the national team of Greece?

- Yes , as Greeks we do support our national team but romantically. We do not have any relationship with national team’s supporter groups.

- You are to cooperate with the immigrants? Do fans of Paneliakos people of other nationalities?

- We support immigrants because they are firstly humans and then immigrants. Paniliakos has some fans of other nationalities , especially players who have played in our team but also other people who learn about Paniliakos through Greeks from Pyrgos who live in foreign cities, such as Goteborg.

- Do you have your fan club room and bar?

- Red Boys Club has its own place in the city centre. It is a big ground floor place, where Red Boys meet each other several times a week. It is the spot that any Paniliakos’ supporter can find his mates and discuss issues about the team. It is our place, our home. We drink beers there, we sing team’s songs, we have fun…

Athens Club when was founded had also its own place, but nowadays due to the crisis it is difficult to pay rent for a place in Athens , so the Athens Club’s members meet each other in other places where they arrange their trips etc.

- If you have your own magazine? Do draw graffiti? Many of you punks and skinheads?

We do not have a magazine(we used to) but we have our blogs and our web radio. We draw graffiti in our city in order to make Pyrgos more beautiful and feel every neighbourhood like home.

We still have some punks and skinheads in our fans but in the past,when punk rock was more famous we had more such fans.

- What is the ultras scene in the world do you like best?

- The ultras scene that we like most is Russian,Poland,Serbian basicly balkan ultras!

- What do you know about Russian fans? About MTZ Minsk, Arsenal Kiev?

- The most things that we know for Russian fans is from internet course we never had a real life meeting , we know that they are strong and they like to support their teams with passion. They fight a lot with cops and other clubs but they are fair course the most of them they don’t use weapons and knifes, they are a lot respected here in Greece and they are on the top of our taste! The only things that we know for MTZ Minsk and Arsenal Kiev is from youtube that they like to fight a lot!

- What are your plans for the future

- Our plans for this season is to have a good league with our team and good travels all over Greece and a great success with our team.our plans like ultras we want to bring more people to our stadium and give them the fire that we have inside our souls and make paniliakos and red boys one of the strongest and respected clubs in Balkan!

- Your wishes to Russian anti-fascists

- My wishes to all Russian anti-fascists are to keep their faith and souls up,to be strong and support their ideas with any cost!fascists are the cancer of our world and we have to defeat them!there is a punk rock band here in Greece that we like a lot and his name is “ten beers after” and one of his songs is our slogan “together we are strong” I wish all the best!

PANILIAKOS - RED BOYS CLUB    A.C.A.B