Olympiakos’ proposals for dealing with violence

One overall “package” of proposals regarding how the phenomena of violence in Greek football can be dealt with, as well as a series of proposals submitted by the president of Olympiakou Vangelis Marinakis to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and UEFA president Alexander Ceferinat today’s (16/08) meeting which was also attended by Giannis AlafouzouDimitris Melissanidis and Arthur Davidian.

In detail, the framework of the “red and white” positions is as follows:

“VIOLENCE and football

* The issues of violence and criminal behavior in football are clearly a social phenomenon.

* While there is a devastating punitive framework for the groups (PAE) paying millions in fines, the offenders are not caught and have no sanction.

* It is the State’s job to check whether the person entering the stadium is armed and not the teams. To this day, there is not the slightest control, especially in the stands of the fanatical fans.

* It is also the job and obligation of the State to implement the law and stop the gangs that cling to football and delinquent people who have no business being in our stadiums.

* An important reason why there is violence in the stadiums is the feeling that there is organized injustice from the institutions, so radical changes must be made if we want to move forward.

* You have to understand that even this year’s Championship which starts in a few days starts in a shadow of the Betting Scandal that has broken out and the Interpol investigation which we hope will go to the end and those involved, the guilty will pay!

WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING:

1. Creation of a Special Unit to deal with violence in Sports.

2. Tightening of the Law and lifetime bans from sports venues for those convicted of violence in a sports venue.

3. Framework of controls at the stadiums by EL.AS. so that thousands of fans do not enter the stadiums without any control.

Non-implementation of the Holistic Study by the EPO:

* The Holistic Study on Greek football was an attempt to modernize the EPO and operate on the basis of legitimacy. But the Holistic Study was not applied to its essence.

* There are no regulations for EPO committees! The meetings (duration) as well as the agenda of the committees are done arbitrarily and without preparation for their members, obviously fraudulently. There are cases when regulations of hundreds of pages are sent to committee members for preparation a few hours in advance.

* The Professional Football Committee of the EPO is foreseen by the OM that it will be the Committee that will have a decisive role in all matters concerning Greek football. But as the specific committee was set up by the EPO, it defines as a… minority the representatives of professional football and decides on all our issues Amateur football.

* No institutional reorganization took place. Instead, a CEO was installed without any international competition and a given President who watches like a puppet or is machined.

* No plan was prepared for the National Team and its training center as the Holistic Study clearly predicted. On the contrary, non-transparently, the auditees designate the AEK stadium as the headquarters of the national team, the AEK stadium as a training ground instead of a lease.

* At the same time, the journalistic information wants the EPO to have two proposals for the training center in its hands, which will be financed by FIFA/UEFA. One in Elliniko, from Lamda, which wants the training center in the most modern and largest park in Europe with a cost close to 20,000,000 and delivery within 2024, however, EPO prefers the solution in Markopoulos, in an environment of… Hippodrome, where EPO will pay 28 million and the delivery will take place years later. And all this because it is an area of ​​specific interests.

* The electorate continues to be a body of people with total dependence and it is unacceptable that in 2023 there will not be more of them voting in the Federation Election.

WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING:

1. President of the EPO of common acceptance and a group of Experts from UEFA and FIFA who will implement the Holistic Study consistently and with the existence of operating regulations for all relevant committees. Reorganization at the level of Disciplinary, National Teams, Services of the EPO.

2. All Unions that are legal and included in the National Registry should vote in the Federation elections.

3. Immediate change of the composition of the Professional Football Commission so that Professional Football has the Majority in the Commission.

PROFESSIONAL REFEREEING IN SL+foreign referees in Greek Football.

* As you already know, the operation of professional Arbitration in football is provided for in the law of the State. We already proposed to the EPO the establishment of the GRO (Greek Referee Organization) in which the EPO will be a shareholder with 20%, but the EPO does not wish to manage Professional Football the refereeing? For what reason; And she will save money and no one will accuse her of complicity.

* Some believe that some teams have a problem with the presence of Mr. Clattenburg that FIFA/UEFA had proposed for the Greek Issue. I don’t care if it’s the one. Let them give us someone else. Not knowing who is even better. But things will be done professionally and without the involvement of local Associations that will make each referee’s agent.

* I also notice that the EPO is showing interest in stopping foreign referees from coming to the big games. If this is done, levels of questioning will once again soar. UEFA’s commitment to the presence of foreign referees in the matches of the Greek competitions should emerge from this meeting. If foreign referees stop coming to Greece, then today’s meeting, which was called on the occasion of the recent incidents of violence, should be held every week.

WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING

1. Immediate implementation of the decision of the Super League to operate the GRO with the participation of the EPO. There is already a ready plan and a year’s preparation from the Super League.

2. Foreign referees and VAR Referees in all Hellenic Championship derbies to be selected by FIFA and UEFA officials in direct discussions with their Associations and without the involvement of the UEFA. The criteria must be that these referees (and their team’s VAR referees) are from the Elite list of referees or Division A or referees refereeing in Division A of the top ten Leagues based on the UEFA rankings. UEFA should understand that in the field of Refereeing, the EPO is the biggest part of the problem, and cannot be part of the solution.”