IT IS NO secret that football clubs on the island are backed by political parties, with DISY-backed APOEL and AKEL’s Omonia the biggest examples.
Indeed, the political aspect of the game took another twist only last week when the Chairman of the Referees’ Union, Costas Constantinou, accused AKEL deputy Ayis Agapiou of using his position as AEL chairman for political gain. Agapiou had hit back demanding that Constantinou apologise or face legal action for his comments.
But House Chairman and AKEL leader Demetris Christofias yesterday dismissed claims that political parties were fuelling the problem of football violence on the island.
“Why on earth is politics being blamed for the events that took place at Saturday’s game? Did you see anything political about the scenes we saw in Limassol? The two teams played against each other within a climate of good sportsmanship.
“Measures taken in advance to tackle any possible problems of violence erupting at football matches do not touch the heart of the problem. The heart of the problem is the bad habit that we have and this is a problem that needs to concern the whole community and all those involved in our future generations. The cure to this problem is how we are going about raising our future generation.”
But opposition party spokesperson Tasos Mitsopoulos of DISY believes that everybody, including the state, is responsible for the tragic situation Cypriot football is in.
“These incidents have blackened the image of Cypriot football. For years, we have had dialogue upon dialogue and have yet to produce any results in the fight against football violence. We need to better prepared ahead of games and I don’t mean just in the stadium but out of the stadium and in society.
“We also need to look into the way games are being built up, because the game in Limassol was no exception to such hype. We have seen club officials make comments that create tensions, we have seen television and newspaper publications inciting fanaticism ahead of games and we have see announcements from various organisations circulating on the internet ahead of games. Nothing is done to monitor these things and it is here that the state and all of us have failed.”
The rift isn’t just politically motivated. The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) is considered by some to be almost a ‘breakaway’ federation from the Cyprus Sports Federation (CSF).
For years, the CFA has been acting on its own devices and has many times in the past clashed with the CSF, particularly on matters of funding.
CSF Chairman Titos Christofides yesterday reiterated the antagonism his federation was facing from the CFA.
“We have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds in the creation of a new system which issues stadium tickets and is just part of a tool to maintain the safety of spectators. But all we get are letters opposing these ideas. The Cyprus Football Association did not stand by our side in implementing at least some of these measures. We had continuously called on the CFA to send people being punished by the disciplinary board of the CFA to be also sent to the Supreme Court Committee of Sports for further penalties. I was very glad to hear that only yesterday the CFA agreed to this.”
