Anorthosis play down mafia comments

CYPRIOT UEFA Cup contenders Anorthosis Famagusta got a nasty scare during their preparations in Sicily ahead of their game with Palermo tonight after being told they would be sued for making insulting comments against the Sicilian club.

Club chairman Andreas Pantelis yesterday received word that his club was about to be dragged through the courts by the Sicilian club, who claimed that Anorthosis had described Palermo as an “arrogant side”. Palermo officials were also said to have been stunned by jibes supposedly made against Sicily in which Anorthosis described the Italian island as “a mafia-driven nation”.

Pantelis later found out that the comments were published on anorthosis.net, a supporter-run website, which had mistakenly been linked by uefa.com as the club’s official website.
Italian reporters and Palermo officials could scarcely believe their eyes when they clicked onto the website only to see a picture of the Sicilian side’s home stadium under the title “The arrogance and mafia of Sicily”.

Chairman Andreas Pantelis was quick to try and defuse the situation, insisting the website had nothing to do with his club.

“We are in no way affiliated, neither do they have any correspondence with this website. This internet site states the views of certain individual supporters which do not state the views of our club.

“Anorthosis Famagusta are currently in the process of developing their own official website and that official website will be announced when construction of the site has been completed.”

Anorthosis take on Palermo in the third and final qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. Victory over the Italians would see the Cypriot champions enter the more lucrative UEFA Cup group stages.

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.