Referee attacks becoming all too familiar
Last week, Super League referee Athanasios Tzilos was attacked while travelling to work in Larissa, and assaults on Greek officials have become all too familiar over the years. AGONAsport investigates.
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This was just what Greek football didn’t need. In Larissa, Tzilos was dragged out from his car and beaten in broad daylight, an incident which prompted fellow Super League referees to go on strike and postpone the 15th round of the 2018/2019 season. Unfortunately, looking back over the past 10 years, there has now been a minimum of 27 reported attacks against those involved with refereeing in Greece, a statistic which is shocking to read.
Let’s investigate what happened in those 27 major attacks on refereeing personeel between 2008 and 2018:
October 11, 2009: An arson attack is committed against the motorcycle of assistant referee Antonis Karatzikas after he had recently controversially disallowed an Olympiacos goal in a Super League match against Kavala.
December 10, 2009: Referee Apostolos Amparkiolis is assaulted while working at a shop in Thessaloniki. In a Panathinaikos - Asteras Tripolis match (1:1), he had not awarded the Greens a penalty for a foul against Loukas Vyntra.
March 3, 2010: An explosive device intended for referee Dimitris Kalopoulos was discovered, but fortunately it didn’t cause any harm.
March 15, 2010: Assistant referee Leonidas Vasileiadis was attacked at Athens International Airport.
March 22, 2010: Grenades were fired at a block of flats in Palaio Faliro where the travel agency of Kyros Vassaras was located.
October 30, 2010: After being the referee inspector for Panathinaikos’ 2:1 Eternal Derby win against Olympiacos, Kyros Vassaras was attacked and injured by four hooligans.
October 31, 2010: Two thugs show up at referee Giorgos Daloukas’ house and threaten his family.
January 19, 2011: At the building where refereeing tests were ongoing, two people punched Tasos Sidiropoulos in the face and stole his motorcycle.
February 7, 2011: Upon his return from refereeing a local match, Vasilis Pampoiridis returned to see that his car had been broken into and the word “Aris” had been sprayed on it. Interestingly, just a week before, Pamporidis had refereed Aris’ match against Kavala without any controversy in the game.
February 20, 2011: Assistant referee Spyridon Tryfonas returned to Kerkyra after ruling out Kostas Katsouranis’ goal in a Panathinaikos-Olympiacos game and was assaulted in the airport.
June 11, 2011: Thieves broke into Giorgos Daloukas’ car, stole items including a laptop and set the vehicle on fire as to cover their tracks.
December 3, 2011: An explosive device was attacked to Giorgos Daloukas’ BMW car in Volos. At the time, the former referee worked as the Niki Volos technical director.
January 26, 2012: Rocks were thrown through the window of referee Petros Konstantineas’ bakery after he had not given Olympiacos a penalty in a match with Xanthi for a supposed foul against Vasilis Torosidis.
February 23, 2012: A month later, an explosive item inflicted serious damage on the bakery of Petros Konstantineas.
August 20, 2013: Dimitris Kalyvas, a member of the Hellenic Football Federation refereeing department, was attacked at a stadium.
January 24, 2014: Another EPO refereeing department member, this time Giannis Tsakaidis, was assaulted just outside of his home.
November 14, 2014: Deputy chairman of the EPO refereeing department Christoforos Zografos was severely beaten and was reportedly close to death as a result of heavy beatings with bars.
October 17, 2015: The exterior of the building housing EPO refereeing department member Fragiskos Somarakakis was subject to vandalism.
March 6, 2016: Arson was committed against the car owned by referee inspector Dimitris Kyrkos after an AEK-Olympiacos derby.
April 18, 2016: Dimitris Samoilis, Giannis Toumpakaris and Giorgos Kountourelis, all assistant referees, were attacked after a conference in Peristeri.
November 6, 2016: Member of the EPO refereeing department Giannis Tsakalidis received threats from the street when on his balcony.
November 9, 2016: EPO refereeing department chairman Giorgos Bikas was unfortunate enough to have his home set on fire. Police enquires proved that it was an arson attack.
May 26, 2017: Referee Kostas Karyfyllis was attacked in Peristeri.
October 2, 2017: Charalampos Kalogeropoulos fell victim to an assault from four people in hoods outside of a stadium in Iliopoulos.
February 1, 2018: Former referee Giannis Papapetrou was beaten outside of his home.
March 20, 2018: Ex deputy chairman of the EPO’s refereeing department Dimitris Gkroutsis was assaulted.
December 19, 2018: Current Super League referee Athanasios Tzilos was beaten up early in the morning when travelling to work in his car in Larissa. He was pulled out from his vehicle and received blows to the head and legs.
