AEL - Big game today!

[fork me]

Big day for my adopted club here in Cyprus, AEL (Athlitiki, Enosi Limassol).

We're at home today against Anorthosis (who we should beat), the other big game today is the Nicosia derby match, APOEL v Omonia, We're currently two points ahead of APOEL with just one game to play after today, meaning if we win and they draw or lose, we're champions and get a Champions League place next season. This is no mean feat, it's 43 years since AEL last won the league.

If we do get it today, Limassol will be painted yellow! Graffiti is big here and the rumour mill has it that Gate 3 (the AEL Ultras) have bought a HUGE amount of yellow paint ready for today.

Really looking forward to it, the atmosphere at the ground last game was awesome today will be even bigger. We're getting to the stadium an hour and a half before the game starts as it's the only way to get a decent seat (no allocation over here, you sit where you want/can). Last week the singing had already started at that point, and the noise of jeering, boos and abuse when the APOEL players arrived at the pitch was deafening.

 

[LukeOwen]

Good luck

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

What time is it on? Worth a look on a live stream if it doesn't clash with the English Challenge Cup Final Tie.

 

[El Presidente]

I'm working in Nicosia this weekend, your news explains why everyone wants me to finish early!

 

[fork me]

What time is it on? Worth a look on a live stream if it doesn't clash with the English Challenge Cup Final Tie.

5pm here, which means 3pm your time.

 

[fork me]

I'm working in Nicosia this weekend, your news explains why everyone wants me to finish early!

Oh yes, there's likely to be a LOT of trouble in Nicosia after trhe game as well. APOEL are very nationalist and last time Omonia played them they turned up with Turkish flags to wind them up. It worked as well. APOEL ended up playing their last three home games behind closed doors.

 

[fork me]

So, we won and APOEL lost meaning we are now champions of Cyprus and have a Champions League place as a result. It's only 43 years since we last won it!

How's THIS for a pitch invasion at the end of a game:

The fans are going mental round town, big processions of cars and other vehicles, all honking constantly. The town will be painted yellow tonight, it was mentioned on the radio news earlier today that ALL the shops in Limassol have sold out of yellow paint. It'll be a graffiti blitz. The Cypriots are rather passionate about their football.

Full set of pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150878299338055.477545.779563054&type=1&l=9d4dc36bf8

Would have got more but my phone memory was filling up. The last two were taken at a fountain on a major roundabout in town. The fans were swimming in it and setting off fireworks and flares around it. It's on a major roundabout in town, they brought the city to a standstill, the police just gave up, sat back and let them do pretty much whatever they wanted!

 

[Superphil]

I love Cypriot football fans!

 

[LukeOwen]

Can't put a link to it because I'm on my phone but search into YouTube 'Ael Cyprus 5/5/12' there is a 8min video. What would the FA think of that if it was in England.

 

[LukeOwen]

Managed to get a link
http://t.co/wP5Vid4y

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Is that Withdean Stadium at the end of 2010/11?

 

[house your seagull]

There was a bunch of Cypriot fans all dressed up in Manchester yesterday. They were wearing yellow so maybe they were your lot.

 

[fork me]

Managed to get a link
http://t.co/wP5Vid4y

Awesome stuff, the crashing noises you can hear staring at about 1:20 was the way we got onto the pitch. There's a big dry moat between the stands and the pitch, then the "emergency" exit you can see in my picture, which has spikes on the top and padlocked door made with metal and clear perpex. The first few fans climbed over these, then they got the big metal advertising hordings and used them as battering rams to smash the perpsex. Way over half the crowd were on the pitch, including families with kids.

The players of both teams were rushed out of the ground down the tunnel, but most of the AEL players defied the rules and came back out en masse while the invasion was in progress, some of them in their underwear half way through getting changed. There were players being carried round the running track by dozens of fans. "Suovenirs" I saw strapped to cars driving round town later including whole advertising hoardings, seats and even the stretcher!

The passion at this club, not just from fans, but from players, managment and the "suits" is amazing.

 

[fork me]

There was a bunch of Cypriot fans all dressed up in Manchester yesterday. They were wearing yellow so maybe they were your lot.

If they were in yellow, they would have been. A lot of Cypriots go to Uni in England, and Manchester Uni is very popular with them.

 

[Superphil]

If they were in yellow, they would have been. A lot of Cypriots go to Uni in England, and Manchester Uni is very popular with them.

And of course, oddly, if they were wearing orange, then they support the team that plays in yellow, APOEL.

 

[fork me]

And of course, oddly, if they were wearing orange, then they support the team that plays in yellow, APOEL.

Ture. Although they'd hardly be celebrating! Considering they lost to the team they hate most in the league, which helped us (their second most hated team in the league) to win.

At AEL we do a lot of stuff like the Seagulls north stand/soth stand (now of course north/west/east stand) between the upper and lower teirs. When we played APOEL last week, in Greek it was:

Lower stand: The oranges (using the Greek word for the fruit not the colour)
Upper stand: Are sons of bitches

Subtle, AEL are not.

 

[BensGrandad]

No doubt the seafront In LIMASSOL will have been filled with cars tooting etc all the way from Makarios Ave all along to the tourist area. Did they also win their cup semifinal last Wednesday evening.

You must give the Cypriots their due they certainly know how to celebrate whether it be a football win or a wedding.

 

[The Terminator]

Ture. Although they'd hardly be celebrating! Considering they lost to the team they hate most in the league, which helped us (their second most hated team in the league) to win.

At AEL we do a lot of stuff like the Seagulls north stand/soth stand (now of course north/west/east stand) between the upper and lower teirs. When we played APOEL last week, in Greek it was:

?
Lower stand: The oranges (using the Greek word for the fruit not the colour)
Upper stand: Are sons of bitches

Subtle, AEL are not.

why is it that APOEL fans all wear orange when their colours are blue and yellow, is it just orange clothing or is it club branded.

 

[fork me]

No doubt the seafront In LIMASSOL will have been filled with cars tooting etc all the way from Makarios Ave all along to the tourist area. Did they also win their cup semifinal last Wednesday evening.

You must give the Cypriots their due they certainly know how to celebrate whether it be a football win or a wedding.

Yes they did. Limassol-Omonia in the final at Larnaka. I'm going to that as welll. God knows how the fans will react if we do the double.

 

[fork me]

why is it that APOEL fans all wear orange when their colours are blue and yellow, is it just orange clothing or is it club branded.

Orange is now the colour of their main Ultras group, founded in 1979. Their current away kit is orange as well. According to wikipedia the first time they wore orange was in 1992 in a game against AEL. I have no idea why, it certainly doesn't fit their political history, APOEL was founded by Greek nationalists as a sporting club for Greek Cypriots only and to fight for union with Greece. So you'd expect them to wear blue and white, the hellenic colours. Having said that, Apollon, the Greek nationalist side in Limassol wear blue and white. As to the branding, the Ultras groups and the clubs are very tightly linked, and the Ultras have their oen branding which the clubs are fine with.


AEL fans wear yellow, the colour of their Gate 3 ultras group, but the current AEL kit has mlore blue than yellow on it. Most AEL banners etc are yellow with dark blue writing, or various yellow and dark blue patterns. Also, because AEL are quite anti the Greek nationalism of Apollon and APOEL, it's common to see the flags of the nations of popular players adorned with AEL logos in the ground. There's a HUGE Angolan flag that is always there, and yesterday there were Argentinian and Italian flags in evidence, as well as a banner from the Leicester AEL supporters group with a George Cross on it.