Player denies any link to neo-nazi group

FORMER APOEL player Varnavas Stipanovic yesterday denied any link with the neo-nazi ‘Pirates’ group, admitting he had worn the group’s t-shirt at a game but insisting he had no idea of the pirates’ ideology.

The 29-year-old Croatian forward, who now plays for Nicosia club, Olympiakos, pulled off his APOEL shirt to reveal a pirates’ t-shirt after scoring in May’s cup game against AEK in Larnaca’s GSZ stadium. A picture of him was placed in the neo-nazis’ website.
APOEL president Dinos Fysentzides had on Tuesday said the phot was not genuine and had most probably been tampered with.

But speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, Stipanovic admitted wearing the t-shirt. However, he isisted having nothing to do with the hooligans.

“One of my neighbours asked me to wear the t-shirt in the game for a favour and I did,” he said.

“This is the first time I hear that these fans were neo-nazis, and I am shocked. I have nothing to do with them, and I didn’t know what their t-shirt stood for when I wore it. If I caused any upset, I am sorry.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.