Karditsa: “There is no confrontation with any OEM, the goal is safety”

Clarifications on the reasons for not providing tickets to visiting fans in the last two games with PAOK and AEK were given by Carditsa. As the Thessalian team explains, there is no possibility of separating the entrance and the presence of fans in the stands of “Yiannis Bourousis” and in order to avoid problems that have occurred in the past, it was decided for security reasons not to give tickets.

The announcement:

“As a team and organization, we stand for the simultaneous presence of friends and the two opposing teams in every basketball game. We believe that sports and basketball are for everyone, far from fanaticism and incidents. But this presupposes respect for the rules, but also for the possibilities that each stadium has and can serve.

As most of you know, our stadium does not have fan separation infrastructure, i.e. the existence of areas with dividers and exclusive access, which would allow the limited presence of friends of other teams hosted in Karditsa. In matches that took place in the past, there were significant problems with the simultaneous presence of friends of the visiting team. The main problems were the non-compliance of a significant portion of the friends of the visiting team, in terms of the space they can occupy and the non-observance of the seats indicated on their tickets. This resulted in several season ticket holders of our team being forced to move, or even withdraw from the match due to overcrowding and other phenomena observed.

For safety reasons and according to the study on the basis of which the stadium was built, it is obviously impossible to retroactively create distinct sectors in the stadium, with safe and efficient partitions and distinct entrances and exits.

The only way for the friends of the visiting team to be present on the field at the same time is for everyone to follow the rules for their presence on the field, as emphasized by our representatives, in the meetings held under the responsibility of EL.AS. before each match.

Ensuring this condition, i.e. the observance of the rules of presence on the field, could not be made possible with the simultaneous commitment of all involved. With the sole objectives of safeguarding the safety and functionality of the stadium, but also the protection of our team’s consistent and timeless friends, we were led to the decision to take specific measures for the matches with KAE PAOK and KAE AEK, i.e. the non-sale of tickets electronically, the non-operation of the ticket offices of the stadium before the match, but also the limitation of the availability of tickets to those fans who have attended at least one match of our team from previous five or six at home. In this way, we wanted to ensure that the fans of AS Karditsa JAPONIKI who are either season holders or often follow our team, will have the opportunity to watch the matches without crowding and problems.

These measures were obviously not liked by everyone, they obviously caused financial damage to our team, they were obviously horizontal and in some cases created injustices, but they were a necessary choice to preserve the safety and functionality of our stadium, to avoid unpleasant situations and finally , the comfortable and problem-free presence of our loyal fans, who support our team and are its best “teammate” over time.

There is absolutely no confrontation either with other OEMs, or with friends of other teams, and we believe that it is possible in the future for us all to observe a mutually delimited framework of rules. We will be next to every effort that will create an environment at our stadium capable of bringing all fans closer to basketball, regardless of their fan preferences.”