CYPRUS’ national side may not have played as well as we know it could, in the 2-1 defeat by Ireland on Saturday night. National team coach, Angelos Anastassiades described the performance as the “worst of the World Cup qualifying campaign”, even though he felt that a draw would have been a fairer result.
It should be mentioned, the team was not helped by the low turnout of fans for the match. The impression given to anyone who went to the GSP stadium was that Ireland were playing at home as they had more fans on the stands than Cyprus; there were only between five and six thousand fans in total. It appears that only when the big national sides like Italy or France play here do local fans go to the ground.
Yet how can we expect our national side to give visiting countries a good match if we cannot be bothered to go to the ground to support it? Strong support raises the performances of most sides. The low turn-out for the matches of the national side against opposition that is not considered world class, is not a problem faced only by Cyprus. Many national sides play home matches in half-empty stadiums.
Under the circumstances, the Cyprus Football Federation’s (KOP) idea to allow free entry to all children under the age of 12 was excellent. Unfortunately it was not marketed and advertised adequately, relying more on word of mouth to inform the public which is just not good enough. If properly advertised – through the media – there would have been a much higher turnout, particularly if the free entry was raised to children up to 14.
International games are also trouble-free, which is an added incentive. There are also long term benefits, in that youngsters will grow up to be loyal supporters of the national side.
Admittedly, an earlier kick-off than 9.30pm would have helped, but the authorities always bow to the demands of television. Indeed, in the future KOP should consider not broadcasting Cyprus’ home matches live, because it discourages people from going to the stadium. Perhaps a recording of the match could be shown a few hours after the match. Under the circumstances the CyBC chairman was out of order in complaining that the Cyprus-Ireland match should not have been broadcast live by Cytavision as access was restricted to subscribers. He wanted a free-access station to show the game. But if this were the case even fewer Cypriot fans would have turned up to cheer on the national side on Saturday night.
