Match report Dynamo Moscow – Omonia Nicosia 21/08/14
After the draw for the play-off round of the Europa League, it became clear that the Cyprus Omonia will hold two games with DynamoMoscow. This meant that the legendaryfan association Gate 9 will come to us in Russia. These guys are known far beyond the borders of their country not all only their club support, but also for their political stance. and anti-fascist views. Well, I as a fan of Greek-style ultras and anti-fascist initiatives on the football tribunes I decided for the sake of the holiday to travel to Moscow for a few days (I live in the city of Yekaterinburg).
Dearest guests, as you know, accepted to meet at the airport, so we headed to the Sheremetyevo. Accompanyingme on this trip was a friend and a fan of the small anti-fascist sector of Lokomotiv Moscow. We learned the flight number from corresponding with some Omonia fans of the internet. The plane was flying from Larnaca, because Nicosia’s major airport is under Turkish occupation since 1974. We traveled all over the airport from the beginning to the end we find a necessary terminal to us. In the evening, the plane with the team and a bunch of fans arrived.
At that moment all the Russian dismal environment at the airport disappeared, the Cypriots began to make noise and sing songs. Airport guards were a little stunned, but did not dare to interfere with the fans. Immediately our eyes caught a heterogeneous composition of guests: there were old people and children, quite a few were women. In contrast to Russia, where football is a filled with fascist marginals in Greece and Cyprus, it is really part of the culture.
Approaching the bus, fans unfurled a cloth with the words “Even in Moscow, we travel for our team” and headed for to the hotel Cosmos in 4 buses one of which was driving the team. That is the Omonia fans arrived somewhere 150 strong (3 completely filled the bus) but in Moscow at the end of the day they approached 350 in total. On the way to the hotel we taught Cypriots Russian obscene expressions, as well as singing songs in Greek (also with obscene language). I was in a PAOK shirt, so we discussed the attack in Thessaloniki’s Office of the Golden Dawn and the action of solidarity with the 46 arrested fans of PAOK. Greeks also learned various details about the Dynamo and their glory Cop club. They saw on facebook joint photos Dynamo fans and enemies of Anorthosis Famagusta, with whom Dynamo recently engaged in an official brotherhood, so they been configured for the upcoming match seriously.
Talked a bit about the ultras scene in Cyprus. The right-wing fans at Anorthosis, APOEL, Apollon Limassol. Good ultras have actually Omonia and AEL Limassol and Nea Salamina. Also noted apolitical fans AEK Larnaca. This is essentially all of the major movements in Cyprus, because the state itself the Republic of Cyprus you can drive around for a couple of hours and large cities can be counted on the fingers of one hand, thus its easy to travel to away games.The biggest rivalry of course is that with the hated fascist scum of APOEL from which the breakup lead to the creation of Omonia back in 1948. They explained to us the history and how the communist-athletes for the establishment of Omonia, rejected a fascist statement of the club back in the days and decided to give them the finger. We also remembered how fans APOEL Champions League match against Zenit fraternized with the blue and white on the basis of orthodoxy.
Initially, I was told to find out about tickets in one female fan of the Gate 9named “N”. But she did not know anything about their program stay in Moscow, so we only shared with her a few things and some stickers. The next day they had planned a sightseeing tour of Moscow, so we decided to come in the second half of the day in the hotel and ask them for information on tickets.
The next day we came to the hotel.Cypriots began to return from trips and cultural relax on the ground floor. Part of the fans however did not go on a trip and would prefer to sit in the pub. As we know some fans Omonia Communists, so go to the mausoleum for them was a priority.One of them returned from the tour, we learned why many Nazis in Russia with such a history behind him, we give him time to explain the intricacies of Russian postmodernism. We also showed a few dudes that antifa in Russia as a whole is involved, they are particularly surprised on our “Straight Edge” theme, for Cyprus this is uncommon, and the fans before the matches drink and smoke regardless of political views. I gave them a stack of stickers of various Russian left-wing organizations, that they gave their comrades from Cyprus. We also showed them our zine “Left side terraces” with an article about their movement Gate 9 in Russian.
Talked to a guy named “R” over territorial disputes in Cyprus. His family suffered during the invasion of the Turkish army in 1974. He said that people are caught between two fires: on the one hand the Turkish imperialism, on the other Greek nationalism. The Turkish invasion occurred after ethnic unrest fueled by the far-right Greek Cypriot organization EOKA. The military junta black colonels in Greece also sought to gain control of the island. Gate 9 does not support in this conflict none of the parties, they clearly support of the unity of the Turkish and Greek inhabitants of the island.
As a result, we were summoned to a man of around fifty years of age, they said that he was the “boss”. It was one of the founders of Gate 9. He said that the tickets will be purchased at the ticket office at the stadium and informed how much it is necessary to approach the bus.
On the day of the match, we came to the main entrance of the hotel which has slowly started to have a green and white theme. There they brought out a drum and began to drink the traditional Russian vodka. The entrance was decorated with flags and banners, and so where more laid out on the hotel curb. Initially, there were about 10 people from the fan club Cosa Nostra, the Limassol branch of Gate 9 and in the end everyone gathered round. You could see people with merch of other clubs which have anti-fascist ultras. There were people with scarves Standard Liege, Hapoel Tel Aviv, on the drum was an old sticker St. Pauli. There was one man in a cap Green Ghetto (fan-group club Agrotikos Asteras from Thessaloniki). Almost everyone wore clothes with anti-fascist symbols. At the time, I even forgot that we are in Russia, where for such clothes can to earn you a great deal of problems in our country. They said that in Cyprus they periodically fight with the Nazis of Apoel. In addition, in a week was coming the second leg in Nicosia and if any attack would be initiated by the visiting Dynamo fans they would be ready to respond.
At 5 o’clock drove transportation and off we went to the Arena Khimki. On this trip, guests of the Russian capital could learn another local landmark – traffic! If Cyprus 2-hour drive from one end of the island to the other, in Moscow it takes that long to get to the suburbs!
Arriving at the stadium, we marched from the bus to ticket office. Prior to that, people have bought scarves of Locomotive, one can only guess what the fans of Dynamo would think when they witnessed this sight. Next to the ticket office of the fence stood Dynamo fan and the Cypriots began to scoff at them. Waving locomotive scarf they tried to taunt them, called them chickens (I mentioned that in the Russian anti-fascists also called the Nazis in honor of these feathered birds). Blue and white, too, began to answer back but the Cypriots did not feel intimidated.
Then we began to pass control, to which Cypriots were not ready, because apparently there is more laxed stadium controls in Cyprus. Some cops took some of their sticker, fans absolutely did not understand why some things were happening, because the cops they all explained exclusively in Russian, so communication was bad. The stadium itself was too bourgeois, even really have nowhere to hang banners. Guest sector is in an absolutely idiotic place: behind the glass at the top of the main stand, resembling a bloody aquarium! Banners have become hang directly on the wall of the aquarium and wherever space was available.
Dynamo fan sector was banned for this match for racist behavior. Basically, the stands were ordinary people, but still a certain part of the Ultras Dinamo was able to seep into the stands, but honestly they had nothing to show for their presence! It was the Omonia fans that really reminded us all that day that we were in a stadium and not in an opera house.
Came to Moscow fan clubs Cosa Nostra (Limassol), Akaki, Lakatamia, Tersefanu (Larnaca), Astromeritis, Lythrodontas, Thessaloniki, UK. At the sector were also present the flag of Cyprus. What is interesting Cypriot Nazis do not use their country’s flag and just hang the flags of Greece.
Omonia fans also brought a flags with Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, and after the game gave it to us for permanent storage. Gate 9 is renowned for their open-mindedness and to the same tribunes can sit supporters of the Communist Party of Greece and the anarchists in the first place are all united here the idea of anti-fascism. I hung the flag of St. Pauli. Also in the stands was a banner in memory of a deceased Gate 9 member who died in a car accident a few years ago, and this can be seen in many Omonia games. During the match, various songs were sung by classical motifs. It has long been known that the Greek and Cypriots love and know how to sing in the stands. During the match Omonia went twice ahead, especially the first goal at the beginning of the meeting created a burst of joy in our tribune. Dynamo player received a red card, but the Cypriots were still unhappy with the refereeing.
The match ended with the score 2-2, which is a good result given the class and financial resources Dynamo has over Omonia. We exchanged and Antifa Russia shirt with a scarf “Antifa Hooligans Gate 9 Salonica”. By bus we returned to the hotel with more signing and joyful expression and there we said our goodbyes. We exchanged contacts. Guys overall support from the Russian anti-fascists, and would be happy to travel and see them at their stadium in Nicosia.
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