What more proof do we need?

Do we need any more proof that Olympiakos can and does affect officiating in Greek football?

What a bunch of idiots. I mean the people who comprise the infimous KED (ΚΕΔ). They don't even have the decency to pretent that they are not controlled by Marinakis.

It's no secret that Greek referees suck. They suck so bad it's not even funny. It's a common impression in Greece that games and championships over the last decade were fixed. There was an early case with wiretaps that was thrown out of court because the wiretapping was illegal, and last summer there was another wiretapping case (legal this time) that exposed the rotten roots of the system.

These phone conversations have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that games are fixed and that referees are influenced. Although only few tapes have come to light, the methodology and system came to light. And I don't believe for a second that only "small" games were fixed by a couple of hillbillies who liked to play millionaires with crooked money.

If the system is in place to fix games, there is a reasonable expectation that this system will be used to fix the games that bring the multimillions to fatter cats.

The recent revelation and the jailing of the most brazen of masterminds seemed to put the fear into everyone this year and lo and behold, we see some normal game results this season.

So far in this short miserable "superleague" there have been a ton of teams that have complained about referee decisions against them, Panathinaikos included. I saw tons of errors for and against Panathinaikos, and every time I watched Olympiakos or other teams I saw the same.

I saw the work of really really bad referees, but what I haven't seen so far is the blatant pushing of Olympiakos by referees who in yesteryears invented calls and extended games until the red team got their wins and subsequent Champions League money. The epitome of this was of course last year's Olympiakos - Panathianikos game.

Somehow, I thought that this fear has put the fat cats in their boxes, now that they would be more reluctant to try funny business, seeing some of their peers behind bars.

So, all the complaining by all the teams was treated with contempt by the officials and the government. Nothing was ever done until the theatrical diving by Torosidis who realized he could not get to the ball even with rockets on his shoes and did a "bend and snap" on a normal "check" the kinds of which we see hundreds every sunday in such lobs in the penalty area (did you see the photo of Vintra being pulled by the shirt his Sunday as he was ready to score on a corner kick?).

I've been watching Greek football to know with certainty that if Konstantineas had called that play a penalty, Xanthi's president would be complaining about crimes against Xanthi. Furthermore, if such penalty was called against Olympiakos Theodoridis would be on the first plane to the court of Human Rights to file a crimes against humanity.

This little dive, silly as it was, brought out the master agitator (I wonder if he ever had any other real job in his life) out to pontificate about "crime against Olympiakos" and "wasted investment by his master", and other funny crap the kind of which we are used to over the years.

This was not a blatant penalty that the media nudged by Olympiakos would have you believe. It was a marginal play that should have never seen such publicity.

But things took a turn for the bizzare today. Suddently, KED fired Vassara from assigning referees, and assigned another old referee with a lot more baggage in that position.

You tell me that Olympiakos had nothing to do with this decision? I say your are looking for idiots.

What's really worrisome is that these people (the ones who can't play straight and want all the cards stacked on their corner) are so secure in the system they built that they are not even afraid to make such brazen and public moves in the middle of the season.

This is not an issue of whether or not Douros is better than Vassaras. They were both pretty bad referees and neither has any managerial and administrative qualifications or skills to make us believe that something will change with this swap.

It's an issue of who controls the game officiating.

Those who enforced their own wishes on the KED are sending the message that they can control refereeing no matter what. 


This football world is so screwed up and filled with crooks and small minded idiots that they don't even care about the effects, or how such moves further downgrade their own product. 


They don't care how such moves will mathematically lead to more violence in the near future.


They don't care. As long as their pockets are lined and their ego stroked, they'd do anything.

Theodoridis was certain that Olympiakos will take care of this championship in OAKA. He said so last week. Now I know what he meant. Except, now that the "entitlement" team has fallen further behind, they have to take care of this championship in more than one stadium or game.

I can't believe the government would just sit there watching this tragedy.

What needs to be done is to investigate immediately who called the KED people and if there was any pressure put on them to fire Vassara. Open up their phone accounts (and the bank ones too) to see who they talked with and who called them in the last 48 hours.

Second, someone needs to step up and stop the travesty of the refereeing in Greece. From now until the end of the season, and with the goal of restoring the lost credibility, the league must bring referees from abroad to officiate Greek games.

There is no way any refereeing error will be construed as "human error" from now on. The cat is out of the bag.

How can referees call the Olympiakos or Panathinaikos games when they know that when Olympiakos decided they don't like their calls their career will be history. They don't have to be bribed or threatened with "Russians, Romanians, etc". All they have to do is read the newspapers where marginal calls have destroyed the careers of other referees (Daloukas, and now Konstantineas), and even the most politically powerful ones like Vassaras have been axed.

You would say, why not? If they make huge mistakes they should be axed. Right?

But look closely, it took the equivalent of a nuclear blast to keep Kalopoulo off the games, even though he screw up majorly (well, his assistant really), and other referees that have burned other teams like Panathinaikos, AEK, PAOK, and Aris, to mention just the ones that are on top of the table constantly, have enjoyed the "human error" excuse and continue to officiate. Does anyone remember the Kakos red card to Sariegi in Karaiskaki a few years ago? Galleti pulled a high dive on a play where Sariegi didn't even touch him. That "error" influenced the game result and if we were idiots we would be talking about "crime against Greece". But it was a call in favor of Olympiakos, so Kakos continues to abuse the fans with his whistle.

I am no fan of Vassaras. I was actually prepared to write this week about what I think is wrong with Greek refereeing.

What's wrong with it is that it does not promote talent but butt-kissing. It doesn't have a system that rewards and promotes the best referees while it punishes and demotes the bad ones. It starts from the top where club shareholders control the officiating group, and they install old referees (the ones fostered by the rotten system) at the top decision-making spots. Unless this vicious cycle is broken, Greek football will always look like a lucrative hobby for underground hobbyists.

Let's see how this develops. I have a hard time believing that the state or the other teams will roll over and take this kind of abuse.