οπαδός – a fan
In LinNG 05 I referred to the murder of Alkis Kambanos, which has received a lot of press, radio and TV coverage. My word of the week, οπαδός, is the everyday word for a sports fan. A synonym is φίλαθλος. Kambanos was a victim of football violence, translated here as οπαδική βία. (In Greece supporter violence [a more literal translation] permeates both football and basketball.) Discussions on the radio also alerted me to the difference between a σύνδεσμος οπαδών (supporters’ club) and a λέσχη φιλάθλων (supporters’ club)!! The former is negative and police in Thessaloniki have been closing down dozens of them since Kambanos’s killing. The latter is probably what we call “an official supporters’ club”. But what is a σύνδεσμος? It is usually translated as ‘association’ or ‘league’, but these are not the best words here.
In the search for a better translation I googled Green Brigade, my team’s boisterous section at home games. Wikipedia states, “The Green Brigade are a Celtic F.C. supporter ultra group formed in 2006. They are situated in the North Curve corner section of Celtic Park.” Glasgow’s dark side doesn’t like the Green Brigade and often accuses them of sectarian chanting, but his is nonsense. Singing Irish rebel songs is political rather than sectarian. I spoke to a Liverpudlian mate, who did not like the word “ultra”, saying that in the Italian context ultras are neo-fascists and enjoy quasi-official status in Lazio and Roma. In England in the 80s, “firm” was often used to describe violent fans, the most famous being West Ham’s Inter City Firm as they used British Rail to travel to away matches. Greek σύνδεσμοι οπαδών have a lot in common with “firms”, but in the end I have opted for “unofficial supporters’ clubs”. Not very exciting, I must admit.