OMONOIA Nicosia…
The most popular club in Cyprus which with its creation marked a new era among the Cypriot football and society. The club managed to join people from all social layers and in extent accomplished to unite all fans who shared a common ideology, all around the island. This fact established the club as the one with the most fans within the island since the number of OMONOIA fans goes up to an unreachable figure (A recent reliable statistical analysis indicates that within every three Cypriots one of them supports OMONOIA).
The fans did not limit to simply following the club in big numbers, but furthermore took the support of the team into the next level. By taking advantage the mass of fans on OMONOIA stands, it was time to organize the first fanatic core which would soon shake the foundations of the fan scene within Cyprus.
1992 is the historical landmark for OMONOIA fanatics. It is the date which marks the creation of the official hardcore part of the OMONOIA fans. The characteristic place of the core at the time is under the big clock of Makario Stadium. Within the years that part is transferred to its natural location, the legendary north stand of the stadium. As time progresses the phrase ‘north stand’ is replaced with Gate 9 since due to the nature of the stadium the spot of the north stand was rightfully conquered by the generations of hardcore Gate 9 fanatics. The name given to the fanatic part of OMONOIA fans was not at all random. It is common all around the world to establish fan cores under the name of the gate they are seated. Although Gate 9 took its name from there, its number was completely due to another reason. Nine was the number of the greatest football figure of OMONOIA and Cypriot football in extent, Sotiris Kaiafas; Hence Gate 9.
From the first years of its creation, Gate 9 clearly showed its ideological direction which was radically leftist and communist. Within Gate 9 you would often see the red flags along with hammer and sickles, while the historical figure of revolutionary Che Guevara was seen imprinted in flags, shirts, and scarfs all over the Gate 9 stand. Our chants, our banners and our actions would always give the stigma of the left, anti-racist, and oppressed. Our fathers nurtured us with those values of the left and the working class. We learned to respect our fellow human beings without distinguishing according to race, colour, social class, religion or sexuality. All these elements together resulted to a Gate 9 parted by different people, all seeking for a shelter within a world full of prejudice and racism in all fronts. Within Gate 9, all were made into one, to fight against two common enemies, racism andfascism. The oppressed, socially excluded, and misfits, had finally found a family and a home of their own.
The fact that the family of OMONOIA and Gate 9 embraced everyone, resulted to fans all over Cyprus joining this movement. Within all cities and districts the numbers of Gate 9 members were rapidly increasing while new divisions of Gate 9 begun to emerge. These new divisions are branches of Gate 9, all following the path of our main organized core. Gate 9 branches make their appearance to several cities of the country a fact which endorses the fanatic core’s diversity even further.
The madness though, knows no boundaries, therefore Gate 9 begun to expand even further outside the Cypriot borders. Our students travel to other countries for their studies and carry along their passion. The first branches of Gate 9 outside Cypriot borders are a fact, and as years progress more and more are created to fulfil the puzzle. Although miles away, our students managed to create meeting points and watch their passion from TV. They registered members and helped expand the numbers within Gate 9, while numerous times they dropped their universities for a trip to Cyprus to stand by our sides.
Twenty one years later, Gate 9 has reached about 1000 members, eight official branches all around the world and multiple ones within every corner of Cyprus.
Gate 9 is the most organized group in Cyprus both, in political actions and within the stands. The powerful chants on the stands are unreachable for any other group while the Gate 9 choreographies are years forward of all our opponents. There were many cases were Gate 9 took onto the streets to protest and oppose against the injustice within Cypriot society and all around the world. In many cases we took on the initiative of voluntarily painting the walls of our training centre and stadiums. Our environmental conscience is another attribute we posses since we often organize tree plantings to help parts of the island recover from physical destructions.
Within the years we have lost many of our brothers in car related accidents and Gate 9 has always tried to stand by the side of their families, both in economic and moral sense. We organize a yearly tournament of mini football which is often dedicated to driving behavior and our brothers who left this world so early.
The Cypriot educative system teaches hatred towards the Turkish people from a very early age due to the political tensions amongst Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey. After the separation of the island in 1974 the problem was aggravated and the hatred grew even further. We as anti-racist accept the Turkish people and the Turkish-Cypriots as fellow human beings, without promoting the hatred that others impose on us. We condemn the invasion of the Turkish army as we do with all military interventions. In extent, we condemn the nationalistic upraise within the island which led to the invasion. Gate 9 condemns all nationalist actions whether those are governmental or social.
A significant point of reference is an OMONOIA game against our rival apoel (hereon called the unnamed), where five hundred Turkish-Cypriots were seated with us on our stands, in Gate 9. In that match, Gate 9 along with the Turkish-Cypriots launched a common action with banners written both in Greek and Turkish. The banners wrote the word PEACE. From that moment and on our hated rivals call us Turks and traitors but we feel proud since once more we showed the way of the ANTIFA movement.
The year 2008 is another significant landmark of the Gate 9 ANTIFA actions. It is the year our fanatic core makes its first official brotherhood and the first ever in Cyprus. Gate 9 and Ultras Hapoel are since brothers in battle. This was shortly followed by our second official brotherhood with the Ultras Inferno 96, thus launching the famous IH9 (Inferno, Hapoel, Gate9).
Gate 9 has two main opponents. The police and the unnamed. The fascist police force is against Gate 9 and what it stands for. Numerous times Gate 9 had a ‘chat’ (our word for an all out riot!) with the police and we can say in certainty that we are ahead of them in wins. This, along with the fact that Gate 9 is the only fanatic core which they can not control with their authority, often leads them to unexplained actions. They ambush our fans, and even use chemicals in the north stand while the game is still going on. Gate 9 always answers and when it does, they are torn to shreds.
The recent events which took place in Greece both following the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos and most recently Pour Antifa brother Pavlos by state police security and the Fascists of the Golden Dawn shocked the world. Gate 9 organized a big protests on both occassions and marched to show its opposition against the state’s use of excessive force and the very existence of these fascist scum.
Furthermore we have organised multiple marches and even a surprise appearance during the Cyprus National Football team game to stage our opposition to the ongoing economic Crisis and the inhumane austerity measures imposed by the EU and the Troika.
Our other rivals are the ones we do not say their name; the other team of Nicosia which is parted by fascists in all fronts. Their fans are members of extreme right groups (such as the National Popular Front, which is the Cypriot branch of the Greek Golden Dawn) and act exactly like what we fight against. Their stands are often decorated with nazi symbols and swastikas and they often make racist shouts against colored players. But Gate 9 has always been there to protect the club and our fans from the fascist and what they want to establish within the stadiums.
To conclude, we want to thank all our brothers around the world who share the same beliefs as us and fight the same common enemy.
SMASH FASCISM AND GOODNIGHT WHITE PRIDE
