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Wednesday, 4 April 2007, 22:25 GMT 23:25 UK

Greece outlaws sporting fanclubs

By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens

Aftermath of fan violence near Athens on 29 March 2007 Greece's government has outlawed some 300 mostly football supporters' clubs in an attempt to stamp out hooliganism.

It is the latest action in the wake of last week's riot just outside Athens which left one football supporter dead and several others seriously injured.

Last week, the government suspended all professional team sports for two weeks to force clubs to do more to address the violence.

The ban is due to be introduced after Orthodox Easter on 8 April.

Angry reaction

The pitched battle took place between fans of Olympiakos Piraeus and Panathinaikos football clubs ahead of a match by women's volleyball teams aligned to the clubs.

According to government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos, the fan clubs are being targeted because they have acted as nests of violence both inside and outside grounds.

After last week's battle between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos fans, police raided dozens of clubhouses and seized scores of weapons such as chains, clubs, petrol bombs and knives.

Until now teams like Olympiakos were able to distribute match tickets through the supporters' clubs but that facility has now been banned because the government wants to link names to tickets in an attempt to boost security.

The government plans to introduce new legislation after Easter to control the activities of fan clubs. In the meantime, they have been disbanded.

Club leaders have reacted angrily to the suspension.

Car damaged during clash between rival Greek fans

But one of Greece's most prominent sporting figures has argued that the government's action is not stringent enough.

Demis Nikolaidis, once a member of the national football team and now President of AEK, the third main Athenian club, has called for all Greek sides to be banned from European competition for the next three years.

Nikolaidis has been trying to eradicate hooliganism at AEK so that families can feel safe.

Often stadiums in Greece are swamped in tear gas as riot police try to pacify violent supporters but Nikolaidis' radical proposal is unlikely to receive much support from other leading clubs which rely on European exposure for much of their revenue.




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Related to this story:
Brawl halts team sports in Greece (30 Mar 07 |  Europe )
Fifa chief says 'football is ill' (24 Mar 07 |  Football )
Calcio crisis (09 Feb 07 |  Europe )
Country profile: Greece (30 Nov 06 |  Country profiles )

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