Last Friday a sports-related tragedy occured in Greece. A brawl resulted in multiple stabbings and a death. As a result the Greek government has suspended all sports matches in that country for two weeks. And it conducted raids on supporters homes and clubs. Sports violence is on the rise, which is sad.
Saddest of all…the violence occured before a WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL MATCH!
I don’t want to trivialize the issue at all, but I do want to make the point that women’s volleyball, while kind of hot, is not a sport with a long tradition of fan violence. Or to my knowledge, the fervent dedication (i.e. the fanatacism that spawned the word ‘fan’) that often begets violence. This is not to say traditions, or the fervent passion of say, football hooligans, excuse their behaviour. But it at least makes it understandable.
But what the Hell is going on in Greece? I have trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that rival Panthainakos Athens and Olympiacos Piraeus fans met with the express purpose of beating the crap out of, and stabbing each other. Only to then go watch a bunch of tall girls in tight shorts particpate in a non-contact sport whose most violent attribute is the word ‘spike’, which actually describes a pretty non-violent action.
*You’ve hopefully noticed the (poorly) photoshopped picture. I’ve assigned myself the task of learning how to work with Photoshop as part of my Communications work. Watch for slowly improving quality of the photoshopping of the images.
