by Christos Zabounis

Mourning belongs to silence. Pain is mute.
Especially when it is fresh.
Death, however, is oblivion – and PAOK supporters do not forget their dead.

Every year since 1999 and onward, they lay wreaths at the place where six members of the PAOK Kordelio Supporters’ Club lost their lives in Tempi.
The people’s muse then composed the following chant:

My two-headed eagle, once for you
six boys left this life behind
their love for you carried them away
yet they will always be alive.

Our brothers living up there above
shout loudly together with us
know that it is you who guide us
since ’99.

In an almost identical manner – through an overtaking maneuver – yesterday seven supporters lost their lives while traveling by road to Lyon to attend a match of their beloved team.
Perhaps along the road they were singing another chant, a more recent one:

We traveled miles again
for our greatest love
PAOK trips with defiance
that’s how we learned as kids.

May they rest in peace.