Athens via Croydon: Panionios and Crystal Palace, a friendship.

Words: Matt Barnes

Images: Matt Barnes

What is a small slice of Croydon doing graffitied on a bench in a nondescript Athens neighbourhood?

What am I doing outside a regional third division Greek stadium on a Saturday afternoon?

The Stadio Neas Smyrnis is a crumbling, ruinous temple to past glories, much like parts of the city.

This particular stadium is playing host to Panionios FC of the Gamma Ethniki group 4, Greece’s oldest club.

But why Crystal Palace?

©Matt Barnes/ Terrace Edition. Panionios FC.

To find out, we speak with one of the leaders of the Panthers, the notorious ultras who have been the heartbeat of the team, and for the purposes of anonymity, will be called A.

A explains this particular kinship.

“Going back to the year 2006, a girl called Eleni, a Panionios fan studying in the UK. In the beginning it was the colours, blue and red, then she got in contact with some guys from Crystal Palace and introduced them to the guys back in Athens. Some people went to London to check it out, and some Palace guys came to Athens, and went with the flow”.

You know the feeling when you meet someone who just gets it? The same happened for the Panthers.

“It was a perfect match, we all have very similar worries, the guys over there are very different to the classic typical football English football fan, they had social, political thoughts. Ok support the team, neighbourhood, city, but there is more to that”.

“In Athens in 2008 we had a severe economic crisis, we took part in demonstrations, and the guys were there with us. Crystal Palace have always been the underdogs, a smaller part of the big city. The guys were setting up the Holmesdale Fanatics back then at the very beginning, the Panthers were formed back in 1983, but still a big change to the fanbase, the political and social views. It was the right time these groups met”.

“The friendship has continued to blossom in unexpected ways. We all think of the Premier League as a monied behemoth, but the Holmesdale Fanatics never forgot their brothers in Athens”.

When financial difficulties hit Panionios, hundreds of Palace fans bought season tickets for the Greek club and launched a fundraising initiative, themselves no stranger to financial strife.

Today’s opponents are AE Pyliou, and promotion is tantalisingly out of reach for the home side, but still they turn up in numbers, in the searing sun. Gate 3 is the designated entrance for the Panthers, and let’s say, it’s not the most official entrance.

A large, intimidating man takes a cursory look at my ticket and waves me through, a smile is only offered when I explain I am a Palace supporter (which I’m not). A DIY bar selling bottles of beer, and a toilet block in pitch black are the rest of the amenities, no prawn sandwiches or cheese room here, merely the second hand smoke from weed.

The game itself is delayed as there seems to be an issue with the goalnet. An official gets on someone’s shoulders and sways towards the crossbar, then a chair is rushed over as Faithless aptly plays out.

Nine minutes late, and the lino is happy. Greek third division football everyone. The home team race out the blocks and it’s 1-0 early on, toilet rolls rain down to cheers of ‘Bravo Bravo’.

AE Pyliou equalise, then a contested offside is met by a can of beer thrown on to the pitch with Olympian technique and shouts of ‘Malaka’ and we have half-time.

Ultra by definition is an extreme level of support bordering on fanaticism, and with that, comes strong views, often leaning towards extremism, be it right, or left.

The Panthers are famously Antifa, as A tells us. “We try to be fair. We don’t have the attendance of Palace obviously, Panionios might have had the attendance of 10,000, we wouldn’t like to say everyone is left wing, but back in the 90s, the older Panthers, it was strange. You could have two differing extreme views on the same stand, without any problem, because back then Panionios was more important to them. All of that we wanted to clean up, some people were light on those issues, others were not. Now in the Panthers, the only sure thing is we have no tolerance for fascists, Nazis, zero tolerance.”

After a dans le noir toilet break in the interval, Cosa Nostra graffiti hint at more generational rules within the Ultras scene. The home team start brightly in the second half, hoping to end the season on a high and an absolute beauty of a strike from outside the box sends the Panthers into rapture.

Flares of blue and red lighting up the air, in a choking, thick smoke. This most welcoming of stands with children playing nonchalantly while this passion engulfs. Then it’s 3-1, just to make sure, and another season in the Gamma Ethniki comes to an end.

What does the future hold for the Panthers and the club, according to A. “We like to be close to the younger guys, because in football it is easy to have the young ones go in the wrong direction, to stay in the correct social point. We have more than 10 sports, basketball volleyball, football, water polo, track and field, ping pong, and martial arts”.

“We entered the management because there was no option. We found people to help out and finance the club”.

“The big problem is the football, it needs a lot of money, there is lots of corruption in Greece. Nikitas, who helped start the relationship with Holmesdale, is now running the club; we are now in the 3rd division. If we go up, that is difficult, we will need more money. Its utopia to bring the club up with a sufficient amount in the second division”.

“My hopes are we go back up, and for the Panthers, I hope to be still be very passionate and close to the team”.

Panthers 1983 celebrated their 40th anniversary this year with a get together with friends from Crystal Palace and Genoa, showing that bonds continue despite greying of the hair.

At the end of the game, the Panionios fans wonder what might have been for this season, but it wasn’t meant to be.

A convincing performance on and off the pitch, so close to getting promoted, and now the slowest, calmest pitch invasion.

The Panthers are still jubilant, still firmly behind their cause and their club and with a penchant for Croydon.

You can find Matt on Twitter: @gazzetta_stadio and Instagram: @gazzetta_dello_stadio

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