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Iraklis players strip jerseys on court, team president calls team play “gay”

February 1, 2011

By the time the home side left the floor, the teams resembled members of a schoolyard “Shirts vs. Skins” game, but very little playground bonhomie was evidenced in the aftermath of Sunday’s Iraklis BC-PAOK match in Greece.

PAOK (8-7, tied for fourth place in EƩAKE play) manhandled the homers (3-12, tied for 14th) in the match, 87-68, resulting in a bizarre move of protest demanded by Iraklis coach Georgios Kalafatakis. Gathering the team together at halfcourt, he had his players remove their jerseys and leave them on the floor. The team president stunningly later apologized for his team’s (lack of effort), reportedly referring to their game as “queer” – and not in the sense of “strange.”

(The key word in Greek is “αδερφίστικο,” which defies Google translation, but judging from the backlash, BiE will take the media’s word for it.)

While Iraklis captain Vladimir Petrovic was later reported as stating that he and his teammates “don’t deserve to wear this team’s jerseys,” an outraged players’ union statement declared Iraklis officials to have made “homophobic sentiments.”

Firstly protesting the rules violation of untucking the jersey from the shorts, the PSAK statement goes on to condemn “the attitude of the team administration and those who foster and tolerate [homophobic statements],” going on to say that call for more public responsibility, for “such practices do not promote the sport, but convert [it] into a Roman arena.”

Highlights from the game – okay, so it’s mostly a PAOK free-for-all – follow, topped with the bizarre denouement. Iraklis plays at Ilysiakos on Sunday in a game between the two teams at the bottom of the EƩAKE table.

Feb 1, 2011ballineurope
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Comments: 7
  1. Pavlos
    12 years ago

    Aderfistiko means faggot-like

    ReplyCancel
    • Os
      12 years ago

      @ Pavlos: Ah, thank you very much!

      ReplyCancel
  2. iraklis-g10
    12 years ago

    i am a fan of iraklis team…. the fans ask the players to remove their jerseys not the couch the presedent apologised to the fans for the sisi game wich the players plaued

    ReplyCancel
  3. fofonka9
    12 years ago

    The fans asked the players to remove theirs jerseys at the end of the game.
    We chanted an anthom which states this.

    The president apologized for this behaviour to our fans.

    No one cares about basketball, is a dead sport anyways. This comming from the #1 country in European Basketbal……cheers

    ReplyCancel
  4. THANASSIS IRAKLIS
    12 years ago

    DEN XEROUN TIN TIFLA TOYS TIN MAVRI…
    THE FANS ASKED THEM NOT(!!!) THE COUCH FOR GOD’S SAKE

    ReplyCancel
  5. Joseph
    12 years ago

    I checked several Greek gay websites, and couldn’t even find a mention of this. Is it any wonder that homophobia thrives in a shame-based society like Greece? When it comes to civil rights for gays and a sensitivity to the issues that affect Greek gays, Greece is at least 20 years behind the rest of Europe.

    ReplyCancel
  6. Jack
    12 years ago

    Actually, “aderfistiko” more acurately translates as “sister-like” or “sisterly”. The Iraklis team was accused of playing like women; Greek society is not only homophobic, it’s also anti-feminist as well. In all fairness, this is also comparable to one gay man calling another “Mary”, a slur which has righteously fallen out of fashion.

    ReplyCancel
Pingbacks: 1
  1. Greek Basketball Coach Orders Players to Remove Shirts After Loss, Apologizes to Fans for ‘Queer Game’ | American Brands
    12 years ago

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ballineurope
12 years ago 8 Comments MoreESAKE, Georgios Kalafatakis, Greece, Ilysiakos, Iraklis BC, PAOK, PSAK, Vladimir Petrovic, YouTube
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