Feature: With or without spectators, a question for Greek football

After a fortnight with games of the Greek Super League football championship conducted behind closed doors in a bid to put an end to hooligan violence, spectators returned to their seats on Wednesday and Thursday for a round of matches that had been postponed from late February.

Following an outburst of clashes among fans over the past few months, the Greek Sports Ministry promoted a series of measures to improve stadium security and eradicate violence.

The Greek Super League championship has been suspended three times since autumn after a string of violent incidents occurred inside and outside stadiums and a few days ago Deputy Minister for Sports Stavros Kontonis said that the season would be completed in May behind closed doors.

In the coming weekend, some games will still be held without fans as a punishment for violent incidents of fan clubs in previous games.

In September a football fan lost his life after scuffles between fans during a third division game on the island of Crete. A few weeks later a referee official was injured in an assault. In February and March several matches were disrupted by fans hurling flares, rocks and bottles at players.

"The new government will take all measures necessary to stamp out violence, even at the risk of having Greek clubs and the national team excluded from European tournaments," Kontonis stated.

As a first step, after the conduction of games behind closed doors, he called on the 18 football clubs participating in the Super League to implement long-delayed security measures such as electronic ticketing, the installation of security cameras in stadiums and the close down of fan clubs.

In the next weeks new sports legislation will be tabled in parliament.

But how harsh are the measures? "The decision to have matches without spectators is temporary. They will open again, it's not a drastic solution," veteran football player Nikos Karoulias told Xinhua.

The best solution for Karoulias is the exclusion of Greek clubs from European competitions for at least two years.

"Clubs and fans will have to cooperate for the common good. If Kontonis makes such a decision, he will stay in the history of Greek football. Only with such drastic measures the Greek football can recover, since club owners will take in account the huge financial losses," he said.

Greek football has suffered from hooligan violence for years. Some analysts linked the incidents with the five-year debt crisis. They said that football violence was an outlet to the frustration of Greek youth which faces a 60 percent rate of unemployment.

However, football violence was present in Greece even in times of prosperity. In the country which gave birth to the Olympic Games and the ideals of sportsmanship and fair play, hooliganism casts a dark shadow. Players, coaches, sportscasters and fans see a lack of sports culture.

For Karoulias and Nikos Papaioannou, columnist at Greek news portal "Sports24.gr" one of the key problems is also impunity.

"The Greek state has not shown fist in regards to law enforcement and violence in stadiums. There are laws against violence in stadiums, but they are either misinterpreted or simply not applied," Papaioannou told Xinhua.

Can troublemakers be contained? Papaioannou noted that when Greek clubs participate in matches conducted under the auspices of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), violent incidents are "miraculously" rare, because UEFA shows zero tolerance and imposes severe punishments on teams.

Football violence, corruption and lack of punishment have driven several Greeks who love football away from stadiums, according to a recent study carried out by a Greek university for local television channel Skai.

Three decades ago Karoulias used to play in front of 150,000 spectators every Sunday. Today on average there are only 15,000 tickets sold.

Today one out of two Greeks has a negative impression of the Greek professional football and believes that several football matches in the Greek championship are fixed.

Eight out of ten respondents believes that the state tolerates delinquent behavior and violence.

Papaioannou added one more factor in the mix of Greek football violence in recent years. The clubs of organized fans have also political identities and in some cases the far-Right seems to have penetrated these organized clubs. Endi