Its dimensions history of her journey AEK in Belgrade he characteristically described the Dimitris Melissanidis.
As the initiator of the sensational initiative 1999 and today (25 years later) it is a reason of pride for the friends of “Union”, the administrative leader of the group spoke to Serbian version of the BBC.
After emphasizing that he responded to the pressures of the government with the rant “let them bomb us”revealed his father’s shocking plea not to take his brother along “to have at least one son”.
In detail, the article about the game with Partizan, which Dimitris Melissanidis characterized as the “most important in the history of AEK”states:
“After 25 years, I am sure, today perhaps more than before, that that match in Belgrade is the most important in the history of AEK,” says Dimitris Melissanidis, president of AEK in the 1990s, in an interview with the BBC.
In the midst of the bombing, Melissanidis and the leaders of the Greek club launched an initiative for a friendly match with Partizan in order to “show compassion for the Serbian people and help them”.
AEK, one of the biggest clubs in Greece, founded in 1924, until the end of the bombing remained the only foreign club to come to Yugoslavia at the time, which was again punished by international sanctions due to the conflict in Kosovo.
Melissanidis says that when he remembers those days “the first thing that comes to his mind is the very violent reaction of the Greek government due to the decision to go to Belgrade and the pressure we were under”.
“They didn’t like it at all, they wanted us to abandon the trip and tried to scare us with stories that our bus might be bombed,” remembers Melissanidis, who took over the administration of AEK again in 2013. He says he wasn’t scared at all.
“If they’re going to bomb us, let them bomb us,” I told them. “My father was really scared, he asked me not to take my brother, even though he wanted to, so that he would have at least one son.”
A few days after the beginning of the bombing in Belgrade, the phone of the leader of Partizan rang. “At first they thought we were joking, they didn’t believe it,” says Melissanidis.
“It was unbelievable to them that a team could come to Belgrade at a time like this, while their country is being bombed and when no one had the courage to stand by them, but AEK did.” He immediately points out that he is “not interested in politics”.
However, when they saw “the shelling and the suffering of the Serbian people,” they decided to react and help as best they could and “send a message of peace,” he says.
Zarko Zecevic, one of the most decorated leaders in the history of Partizan, calls the Greek club’s action a “heroic act”.
Did it surprise him?
“The right thing to tell you is… While bombs are falling around us, someone comes who wants to play a game with us,” Zecevic says in an interview with the BBC in Serbian. The Greek club started everything and Partizan organized it, he explains.
“This friendly gesture that cannot be forgotten, when everyone turned against us, they came,” adds Ivan Curkovic, president of Partizan at the time, for the BBC in Serbian.
However, the arrival was not easy either.
“They asked us from the administration who wanted to go, but they also said that those who don’t want to, don’t have to,” he recalls. “Some people really didn’t want to, they were afraid, so it was crazy to go play where there was shelling,” adds the former Vardara footballer.
However, the majority agreed to leave for Belgrade.
He thought, “if the administration and the president and everybody else can do it, so can I.”
“I had friends in Belgrade, where I served in the army, so I heard them and knew that they were constantly in warehouses, waiting, God forbid, for something to happen,” says former footballer and father of David Babunski, who later played for Red Star .
It was not at all easy to get to Belgrade, isolated at that time by sanctions.
The solution was Budapest, the Hungarian capital, which at that time many people in Yugoslavia. Part of the delegation of AEK footballers and club executives landed there, and then took buses to Belgrade.
About fifty fans left Athens by bus for Yugoslavia.
“It is the most memorable trip in my thirty-year journalistic career,” says Yiannis Kyfonidis, a reporter who covered AEK at the time, for the BBC.
“Some were crying on the road, next to the village we stopped at, it was really unique.” Melissanidis says that this image “is constantly in his mind”.
“People welcomed us on the side of the road, served us bread and salt… I’ll never forget it, it was very moving.”
“When we entered Belgrade, I felt pride above all for the decision to come, I knew we had made the right decision.”
His brother was not with him. He fulfilled his father’s request.
Footballers from Partizan and AEK took the big banner “stop the bombings and the war” onto the field, accompanied by loud applause. “AEK, AEK, AEK”, was heard from the stands.
“Here we experienced that for the first time from the south of Partizan the fans are shouting against the opponent,” Covinjalo says on the show.
Just over 10,000 people packed the stadium on a warm spring day, as evidenced by the large number of shirtless or shirtless people in the stands.
A large number of famous people were filmed in the stadium’s ceremonial box, also known as JNA, by the Yugoslav People’s Army.
Shortly before the start of the match, the anthems were played.
Greece was greeted with applause, while whistles were blown during “Hey, Slavs”, the anthem of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ), then the anthem of the FRY.
Partizan’s most ardent fans, gathered in the south stand, sang the Chetnik song “Od Topola, pa do Ravna Gora”.
Head referee Dejan Delevic says that “this fight stayed in his memory for the rest of his life”.
“Martial law, bombings, miracles, alarms, suffering and then – a football match,” Delevic told the BBC in Serbian.
Partizan took the lead in the 14th minute with Matei Kezman, but AEK equalized in the 27th minute with Paris Zoumbouli scoring.
“It was played normally, there were duels, chances, shots, defenses, dribbling,” says Delevic, although he admits that two and a half decades later he does not remember the final result.
If the air raid siren had sounded during the match, “protocol” would have been followed.
“In case something happened, the plan was to go to the dressing room and have the fans go under the stands, put them there and hide,” says Delevic, now an executive at the Serbian FA.
Instead of a protocol, everything “happened spontaneously, driven by feelings.”
“It was like sirens went off somewhere in the distance at one point, but that didn’t stop the players and us from playing football,” he says.
The half ended with a score of 1-1.
As the players rested, Greek and Serbian officials planted an olive tree on the Partizan pitch as a symbol of peace.
The fight continued, but it didn’t last long.
It was stopped after about fifteen minutes of play when fans of both clubs ran onto the pitch, holding the flags of Serbia, Macedonia and Greece.
“It seems to me that the fans finished the game by entering the pitch,” says Kovinjalo.
“If it was a competitive match, we should be angry because of their gesture, but in this situation we should understand them,” he adds.
“Now we are opening a museum of the history of AEK in the stadium, where there will be a special section for the match against Partizan,” says Melissanidis, speaking again of “the most important moment in the club’s history.”
Why;
“Not only for football reasons” he answers immediately.
“AEK is not an ordinary football club, AEK is history, it was founded by Greek refugees and it is its duty to participate in such actions outside of football. That’s why it’s different to be an AEK fan.”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
