The team that won the championship mathematically and almost lost it - a retro story

[cosmicway 1,252]

I will take you back to the year 1965 in Greece.
It was an eventful year during which many things happened, mainly political.
It was the year the government of George Papandreou broke relations with the king and a long period of instability followed.
But it was towards the end of the 1964-65 season, in May that this football mystery occured.

The month of May 1965 was in itself a month with many episodes.
First of all in the film festival of Salonica actress Eleni Anousakis was arrested for appearing in a topless dress.
The picture of the arrest:

Then in the football it was Panathinaikos who defeated AEK Athens by 1-0 and secured a three point lead.
Two matches were remaining and in the last but one both AEK and Panathinaikos managed to beat their opponents.
But as the point system was 3-2-1 that meant Panathinaikos were champions now. Only if something happened and they were punished could they lose the title.
In the last day Panathinaikos were to play agains Niki Volou, at Volos (Thessaly).
AEK at home against the other big team, Olympiakos Piraeus.
But the minister of justice -the same one who ordered Eleni's arrest- ruled that during the last football day there should be a breakdown of all communications, in all football divisions and no radio transmissions of course ! He did this so there could be no fixed matches between teams in the relegation zone mostly, but applied to everybody.
So what happens ? AEK go 3-1 ahead against Olympiakos and 10 minutes were remaining. AEK super star Mimis Papaioannou keeps losing one chance after the other against a poor Olympiakos defense. Yet somehow the AEK defenders fall asleep and Olympiakos equalize 3-3, with their superstar Georgios Sideris being the scorer.
The match ends in a 3-3 draw but what about Volos ?
There the following crazy story happens. The score is 0-0, something happens and the players start fighting among themselves and with the referee and the Panathinaikos team leaves the pitch ! The referee awards the match to Niki Volos - could n't do anything else really !
That meant 0 points for Panathinaikos (a punishment) and if AEK had won their match then there was going to be a play off !
Why ?
Nobody knows to this day.
If you are a Panathinaikos player and if the referee is bad then let Volos win by 6-0. Who cares ?
Meanwhile had the players of Olympiakos and AEK known about Volos they would have fixed things, AEK was going to win. Such was the hatred of both against Panathinaikos that anything else is unimaginable and indeed improbable.
We learned of the Volos events late in the evening, when it was all over. Some rumours circulated of people from Volos trying to phone the Athens stadium or houses near the Athens stadium but having failed.
The explanation is not known. 10 years ago I met briefly with Panathinaikos star of the period Takis Loukanidis and I wanted to ask but I did n't and as it happened I had no other chance to meet with him later.
So it is one of  history's football mysteries.



 

[cosmicway 1,252]

And it's a semi-topless as you can see. Not a topless.

[bigbluewillie 1,805]

And the only other good thing to happen there was Chelsea's 2-1 replay win, in the European Cup Winners Cup Final against Real Madrid

Mind you that was 6 years later lol

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece

[cosmicway 1,252]

5 minutes ago, AChes1ofus said:

And the only other good thing to happen there was Chelsea's 2-1 replay win, in the European Cup Winners Cup against Real Madrid

Mind you that was 6 years later lol

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece

I was in both matches.
There is an old man in the neighbourhood now who says he was one of the evzons who were going to accompany the trophy to the team that won. He says they started marching when Zocco equalized, in the first match, in injury time.
In 2007, L'pool v. Milan I was at a conference meeting in the ministry of sport. Went along with the president of one of the horse racing bodies. I totally forgot about them, to ask for tickets !