It was the afternoon of February 8, 41 years ago. Olympiacos, in a packed «Georgios Karaiskakis», makes one of the best performances in its history and crushes AEK 6-0. Even Nikos Vamvakoulas, who was introduced by Toza Veselinovic in the left back position, scored a goal and even the best of the game, as he took the ball just outside the «reds» area and after passing any AEK player in front of him, he scored the 5-0, to complete - shortly afterwards - the Olympiacos triumph, by Maik Galakos.
Nothing foreshadowed the tragedy. At the final whistle, the fanatical Olympiacos fans, who had their own space in Gate 7, want to go out of the stadium to continue the celebration, to go outside Gate 1 and the locker rooms, to raise their heroes in their arms. Unfortunately, though, things turned out differently...
In their attempt to get through the barrier of Gate 7, the first ones who managed to get there were crammed in without finding a way out. Those who followed ran into the first ones and then came more, and more, and more... The sequence is both familiar and tragic. Nineteen Olympiacos fans, in their prime, lose their lives on the spot. Most of them died tragically by suffocation. Another one died in the following days in hospital, where he had been taken with the dozens of injured, and a few months later, another injured man, who had fallen into a coma, expired.
Whose fault it is, no one will ever know. Some have argued that the gate was ajar. Others said that the first ones were trapped, some of them fell down and the damage was done. Although responsibility should be apportioned - if there was any - the important thing is that 21 people were lost. And they were lost for their beloved team, simply because they wanted to celebrate a great victory. A victory of their own, achieved through the Idea they stood for in those early years of their consciousness.
Forty-one years later, no one has forgotten them and that is the only consolation. Perhaps from where they are, they are watching the annual memorial service, in front of the gate, waiting for the next «Legend» game...
As a minimum tribute, their names follow. Panagiotis Toumanidis (14 years old), Kostas Sklavounis (16 years old), Elias Panagoulis (17 years old), Gerasimos Amitsis (18 years old - AEK fan), Yannis Kanellopoulos (18 years old), Spyros Leonidakis (18 years old), Giannis Spiliopoulos (19 years old), Nikos Filos (19 years old), Giannis Dialinas (20 years old), Vassilis Machas (20 years old), Efstratios Pupos (20 years old), Michalis Kostopoulos (21 years old), Zografoula Hairatidou (23 years old), Spyros Andriotis (24 years old), Kostas Karanikolas (26 years old), Michalis Markou (27 years old), Costas Bilas (28 years old), Anastasios Pitsolis (30 years old), Antonis Kouroupakis (34 years old), Christos Hadjigeorgiou (34 years old), Dimitrios Adamopoulos (40 years old).
