One more Super League weekend without fans

By George Georgakopoulos

The Super League will suffer another round of games without fans at the stands as Deputy Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis announced late on Wednesday the extension of the fan ban for all teams in the top flight to this weekend, in the wake of the pitch invasion at the AEK vs Olympiakos Cup game a few hours earlier.

?By decision of Deputy Minister for Culture, Education and Religions Stavros Kontonis and following the recommendations by Hellenic Police and DEAV [the commission against violence], the 28th round of games will take place behind closed doors. The decision will be forwarded [on Thursday] to the organizing authority,? read the ministry?s decision almost an hour and a half after the abandonment of the Cup game at the Olympic Stadium.

This will be the second weekend in a row when games take place without fans, following a weekend of no action at all in the aftermath of the Panathinaikos vs Olympiakos derby riots and the clash between club officials at the Super League governing board.

However the measure continues to affect no more than just the Super League, as there are no measures for the Football League, where AEK incidentally plays this season, and where there were significant riots in the last few weeks too, namely in the matches between Lamia and Anagennisi Karditsas, and between Larissa and Olympiakos Volou.

There is also no impact on other team sports, such as basketball and volleyball, where riots have repeatedly taken place, too.

Furthermore last weekend - when there were no fans at the stands - one man was seriously injured and another less seriously in Thessaloniki at an incident in the early hours of Sunday when two Aris fans taunted four PAOK supporters outside a PAOK fan...