Anorthosis – Fenerbahce
Hooliganism in sport presents a big problem but is not very common to be an issue when it comes to volleyball. Still there are certain occasions where a volleyball game is ruined by a non-sport related factor such as hooliganism. But are the fans only to blame or there is a background story behind everything? Is it just enough to recognize a problem or you need to act fast to solve it? That is the main issue here as no one even dared to tell the World about what happened in Famagusta.
Fenerbahce arrived in Cyprus and everything was going as planned. Organization was at a high level until the game start.
Now everyone who played any sports in Greece, Turkey or Cyprus knows about the fans passion towards the teams and the way that they express themselves. When you add political issues that Cyprus and Turkey have, heated atmosphere in this match couldn’t be avoided. Fener is a symbol of Turkey and fans in Famagusta, couldn’t be happier to express their anger towards the Turks.
There was a lot of flares, smoke bombs, firecrackers and similar stuff that is usual thing in these countries. But when second set ended and Fener led by 2-0 flash bomb (not the first one) hit the court and referee decided to interrupt the match. Fenerbahce’s players left the field due to safety issues and the game was officially done.
But when troublesome fans were ejected from the stands, coaches of both teams got together and agreed to play game till the end, for Anorthosis to avoid numerous penalties and legal issues. Of course ending the game was supposed to be just a formality but home team refused to act like that. They’ve played with full strength and at the end took one set of the Fener as the game later ended with 1-3 score.
What was the outrages act is the fact that delegate of the game didn’t mention everything that happened in his report. He said that game ended with 1-3 score, that the fans are removed after second set due to some minor incidents and that the game ended successfully???
There is only luck to thank to because there were no injuries, fights, or God knows what could have happened. Luck or not, when this happens with match under the CEV panel and at the so high level of organization, what to expect from the minor competitions? Who knows how many games ended like this and nobody was informed about it?
It easy to point a finger towards the fans and blame them for everything, but are they the only one guilty?
