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Anastasia Balezdrova

Two police officers were injured before the start of the football match between the teams of Olympiakos and Panahaiki for the Greek Cup in Patras on Wednesday evening. One of the guardians of the law was stabbed in the back with a sharp object, and the other was hit in the eye with a metal object, probably a knuckle-duster. Both were taken to Patras hospital.

The clashes began when a group of fans attempted to enter the stadium without tickets. In an attempt to stop them, police officers who guarded the entrance, used tear gas and the reaction of the fans was not late in coming.

Poor refereeing by football judge Dimitropoulos also caused heavy clashes between fans of Olympiakos and Panahaiki from Patras. Commentators categorized the match for the Greek Cup as a derby, however, not on the football field, but in the stands.

According to sports journalists, feelings ran high following the referee's decisions, such as the elimination of a player in a situation which wasn't even a foul, and the awarding of a nonexistent penalty kick. The climax came when the referee did not award a penalty kick to Patras's hosting side. A lot of sports reporters commented on Dimitropoulos's refereeing as biased in favour of Olympiakos, although the "red" team did not need such support in order to be classified in the next phase.

The game was stopped in the 88th minute after a "rain" of various items that showered on side judges. Dimitropoulos was forced to give the final whistle in order to protect himself, his colleagues and players of both teams from the wrath of angry fans.

The leadership of Olympiakos accused President of Panahaiki, Alexis Kougias, of being the initiator of the clashes, because "he made feelings run high in every possible way."

At the same time, the conflict between Alexis Kougias and the former president of Olympiakos Volos football club Achilleas Beos is still continuing. Yesterday, Beos was arrested following a complaint filed by the lawyer, charging him with an unprovoked verbal assault and defamation. According to sources, the incident happened a few days ago in a large cafeteria in the seaside suburb of Glyfada.

Achilleas Beos was brought to court on Thursday, within the 24-hour term for an express procedure. In statements to the media, he did not fail to seize the opportunity to attack once again his "enemy" and said he had also filed a complaint against him, but Alexis Kougias was hiding in order to avoid arrest.

On Wednesday, late at night, some media reported that the lawyer was arrested by the police in Patras. A little later, the former major shareholder in Panahaiki disproved the information, saying: "What arrest? I'm travelling to Athens."

According to sources, however, Alexis Kougias was actually taken to the police station in Patras, where he talked to the chief officer. Following the intervention of the prosecutor, he was released because legislation does not allow retaining a lawyer at a police station in order to be convicted under the express procedure.

"The conflict between them is related to their competition in football and dates back to more than 10 years ago," said for GRReporter sports journalist Panthelis Perivolaris. Beos and Kougias have even gone so far as to literally fly at each other's throats, or throw ashtrays and other objects at each other at meetings of the Board of the Hellenic Football Federation.

"The most recent incident between the two was connected with the fact that Achilleas Beos considered Alexis Kougias as one of those responsible for his legal troubles in connection with the match-fixing scandal, for which he spent a long time in prison," added the sports journalist.

At the same time, there is no progress regarding the judicial investigation on the case of fixed matches. Most of the judges, players and football bosses who were arrested and sent to detention, were released after the statutory 18-month period of police custody.

"Practically, there are no new details about the case. A huge number of records was presented and the media published fragmentary dialogues - it was total chaos. Then, the investigation began and some of the major players were sent to police custody.

But my personal opinion is that, based on the data known so far, we cannot expect any new progress on the case of fixed matches. The two teams, Kavala and Olympiakos Volos, which were punished at the time, have already been participating in the championships again. Things are in the hands of justice," the sports journalist said in conclusion.