You are a citizen. You go to the stadium with your children or with friends. You don’t have time to read all the banners, you don’t understand every slogan. But suddenly your gaze freezes. A banner that doesn’t speak of a team, of passion, of victory. It speaks of a murderer . It speaks of the one who, with a flare, caused the serious injury that led to the death of the Chief Constable of the Hellenic Police , Giorgos Lyggeridis . And then you are no longer just a spectator. You are a parent, a sister, a colleague. And you feel anger , disgust , shame .
How can a stadium be turned into a stage for beautifying a person who took their life? How can a banner be raised that essentially supports or glorifies a perpetrator? This is not fandom. It is not “exaggeration of the stands.” It is moral deviation .
For years we have been talking about “known unknowns”. About “isolated incidents”. About “blind fan violence”. And every time tragedy strikes, we discover again that the problem exists. But when the stadium doors close and responsibilities are personified, when you can no longer hide behind the anonymity of the crowd, then the truth is revealed. Violence in stadiums is not an accident. It is a culture of tolerance .
Supporting a police officer who murdered someone while on duty is not an “anti-systemic act.” It is an insult to the memory of a deceased person . It is an insult to his family. It is an insult to the very society that wants to live in a state of law. Whatever your opinion is about the Police, about the state, about the system, there is a red line: human life.
The stadium should be a place of sports, passion, and release. Not a place of political or criminal legitimization of violence. When our children see such banners, what message do they receive? That murder can become a slogan? That violence can become an identity? That hooliganism can be dressed in the colors of a team?
If we don’t say it clearly, we will pay for it again. You cannot declare that you “want violence to end” and at the same time tolerate its glorification. You cannot talk about catharsis and turn a blind eye to such phenomena. Tolerance is complicity.
Society must choose. Either it will clearly defend the memory of the deceased and the value of life or it will let the stadiums become laboratories for raising criminals . There are no “yes buts” when we talk about murder. There is no ideological alibi.
So the question is not whether we are “shocked.” The question is whether we will allow shame to be normalized. Because if it is normalized, then we will not just be talking about violence on the field. We will be talking about the erosion of our own social conscience .
G. ANTON
