Can we borrow Holt Please

[Discobolus 11]

Been to my second match in Cyprus,I was taken by a couple of Cypriot friends from the village where I live, I was informed I would be a Paphos supporter from now on.The supporters are kept well apart, the plastic seats are for the home supporters and the concrete bench seats for the away.Paphos stadium is quite big with good floodlights but not a lot of seating about 5/7500 I would think. The home game I went to, about 2500, the noise was incredible for such a small attendance, the standard of football about lower half of div1/ div 2. Paphos lost 2-1 at home to Larnaca, the home support were not happy and made it obvious. Yesterday we went to Peyia for the away game, this time we had the concrete bench seats which were red hot, the temps are still in high 30''s during the day,this is why games are played at 7pm usually on a Sunday, we were right in the middle of the support, they had two very large base drums which were hammered for the full 90mins, I could still hear them this morning, there was a guy with what looked like a speaking trumpet he led the chanting perched on the fence, we were behind one of the goals, the Peyia support was as far away as possible to one side in the other half of the pitch, both pitches I have seen were in very good condition, there were about 1000 supporters for each team but Peyia were completely drowned out, I dont know what they were chanting, my Greek doesnt stretch to that but it was effective and very loud. because Paphos won 1-0 eventually, should have had about four, twice forwards were clean thro it was easier to score than miss, they missed, the Paphos supporters went crazy. The build up play was good, short passing was good with lots of little tricks, the defending was good, the tackling was fierce to say the least, the goalkeeper was very good saved them in the first half, the strikers awful, thats why we want to borrow Holt, he would have had a field day, we will send him back Mondays honest. There was no trouble, about a dozen cops, unarmed, Cypriot Police are usually armed, there was one Police car in the ground, one cop in our end of the ground who sat smoking and chatting to the crowd, seemed he knew most of them, cost 17 euros , thats about £14, all in all an experience I will repeat often, to say the supporters are passionate is an under statement, I will have to learn the Greek swear words so I know whats going on, every foul every ref decision that went against Paphos whas greated by howls and an increase in the drums if that was possible. But again if you could just put Holt on Cyprus Airways flight at Stansted on a Sunday morning we will send him back Monday cause Paphos need a big stiker urgently.

[Beauseant 0]

Sounds like great fun. I''m going to be in Paphos on Sunday 17th. If they''re at home I may well come along!

[BigFish 1,986]

Wouldn''t have thought that Peyia was big enough for a pub team (taverna?) let alone have a stadium??

[Discobolus 11]

Well the Peyia stadium has a capacity of 3,828, the Peyia Municipalty gave the football team 1/3 of its annual budget about 2 million euros, I expect some of the tax payers weren''t too impressed. they won the Cyprus cup in 2009, were the first team from the Paphos area to play in a UEFA competition visiting Rapid Wien in the UEFA Europa league 3rd round qualifying round.not bad for a Taverna team, the full name is Peyia Kintras, they were formed in 2003, mind you they have played 3 lost 3 this season.

Unfortunately Paphos are at home 16th in a cup game,away 25th, home 31st

[pete_norw 0]

[quote user="cypriotcanary"]Well the Peyia stadium has a capacity of 3,828, the Peyia Municipalty gave the football team 1/3 of its annual budget about 2 million euros, I expect some of the tax payers weren''t too impressed. they won the Cyprus cup in 2009, were the first team from the Paphos area to play in a UEFA competition visiting Rapid Wien in the UEFA Europa league 3rd round qualifying round.not bad for a Taverna team, the full name is Peyia Kintras, they were formed in 2003, mind you they have played 3 lost 3 this season. Unfortunately Paphos are at home 16th in a cup game,away 25th, home 31st[/quote]

Must admit when I last drove past the stadium a few weeks ago looked impressive, I have a villa in Kato Paphos and am there every year, must admit neverto have been inside tough, but a couple of my old city shirts hang behind the bar of the Robin Hood