Chris Alefantis
The spirit of the game
Posted by Chris Alefantis - 23.01.2010
The mother of all battles it was not. Surely, however, it was a battle played in wonderful spirit with both winners and losers making the most of what was a glorious sunny Saturday morning in Athens. Early in the morning of Saturday January 9, the Greek Homeless Team and the team from “Ta Nea” newspaper (Ta Nea is the largest selling newspaper in Greece – www.tanea.gr ) “clashed” on the turf of Agii Anargyri Stadium. There was no trophy to be won. There is no better trophy than the fun of just playing the wonderful game of football, anyway.
The mayor of Agii Anargyri Mr. Nikos Sarantis was there (Agii Anargiri is a municipality of the Greek capital some 10 kilometers from the city centre), as were tens of friends of both teams, who responded to the call. The Greek Homeless Team beat their opponents 5-2 (Fiorakis 2, Bilal, Tarazan and Vitali scored for the Homeless Team, while Miroulis and Sarkidis scored for the “Nea” newspaper), in a game with no losers.
Before kickoff, the players of “Nea” donated winter jackets to the members of the Greek Homeless Team and the referee Antonios Daloukas (a professional referee who is himself campaigning against racism in football through his website www.foul.gr) offered to both teams traditional snacks and drinks from his hometown Volos. On the day some 850 euros were raised. The amount was donated in full to ARSIS-Social Organization for the Support of Young People (www.arsis.gr), an NGO which is at the forefront of the struggle against social exclusion in Greece.
The game was also used as a launchpad of the “Klotsia sti Ftohia –Rio 2010” campaign. The official launch of the campaign is scheduled for early March.
For more information: chrisalef@gmail.com, www.blogal.gr/homelessworldcup