A team in Florina was on the verge of collapse until three expatriates from Australia heard their call for help and rushed to help.
While this might sound much like a fictional drama film script, it is indeed true.
Founded in 1923, Alexander the Great of Florina had a not-so-obvious but always substantial relationship with Alexander the Great of Melbourne.
Many of Heidelberg United’s founding executives were either executives or supporters of the Florinian team before moving to Australia.
Thankfully, the ties to the team back in Greece have turned out to be lifelong ones and so when the Florinians found themselves at a dead end they reached out to their brothers in Australia whereby the response was immediate.
“I felt indebted to my father who immigrated to Australia in 1960 and from the very beginning was close to a group called Alexander the Great. My father Charalambos Stampoulidis, instilled the love that this name represents in my myself and my children. I understand that the times we are going through are difficult, that is why I responded immediately to the appeal,” said Grigoris Stampoulidis, who is one of the three expatriates who hurried to financially support Alexander the Great of Florina.
The initiative was started by active member of the administration Nikos Rachovitsas, who for several years conitnued contact with the new president of Alexander Florina, Antonis Kromilidis.
“This club is connected to our team and I felt obliged to contribute,” said Nikos Rachovitsas, who instantly jumped at the opportunity to help out when he learned about the team’s financial difficulties.
In recent years Mr Rachovitsas has been researching the history of Heidelberg United and preparing a long anniversary video with his associates for the 60 year anniversary of the club. He has been with Mega since the 1970s and stayed loyal to the team close to his heart.
“We hope that in future when we are completely free from the pandemic, to host the team that gave rise to the action of Alexander the Great here in Melbourne or to travel to Florina and meet them in our motherland,” said Mr Rachovitsas.
His father George immigrated to Australia in 1965, while his uncle Dimitris, shortly before the transatlantic voyage to Australia, was a goalkeeper for the Florinian team.
According to Nikos Katsakis (father of coach George Katsakis) there were several instances where players wore the jersey of both Mega Florina and Mega of Melbourne.
Some of the dozens of dual players include Giannis Dafinis, who belongs to the first generation of footballers from 1958, Takis Petridis who before coming to Melbourne also played in the northern biceps (PAOK), Takis Amiridis, Costas Koidis and Stefanos Naomidis, who later played in Hellas Melbourne and several others.
As strange as it may seem, there was another club named Hellas Florinas, in which Michalis Triantaphyllidis played before coming to Australia and joining Mega of Melbourne.
Grammatikos (Graham) Athanaseris was heavily involved in the community of Sydney, is the third person behind the support plan of the Florina football club.
He was president and vice-president of Sydney Olympic for 15 years, vice-president of the Hellenic Club for ten years, while for a short period he was also involved in the administration of the Pontian Eagles football club, which was also called Alexander the Great.
“I have always had a passion for the Greek culture. I have a special sensitivity towards the Macedonian issues and at the same time I appreciate Nikos and the people who manage Alexander in Melbourne. I think that the Greeks of the diaspora who have the financial ability, must support our fellow people in their homeland in these difficult times,” said Mr Athanaseris.
The ‘yellow-blacks’ of Florina, who play in the local A ‘Division (one step before the C’ Ethniki) and who in three years complete 100 years of history, found themselves one step away from collapse.
The effects of the financial crisis of the last decade, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic have greatly impacted amateur football. Teams with extensive history in the local leagues have ‘disappeared’ from the football tapestry, while others seem to be led with mathematical precision to their dissolution.
The 36-year-old president of Mega Florina along with a small group of administrative agents are fighting a possible disappearance and in every way try to keep the club alive, even if that meant maintaining the team from their own pockets.
In recent years, Alexander the Great has been playing and sharing the Municipal Sports Centre with PAS Florina – which this year won its promotion to the playoffs in the G Ethniki (3rd division). No revenue is generated at their games, as is common here in state football from tickets or from the canteen so understandably, survival is an extremely difficult situation.
“The support that comes from Australia, apart from being financial, is also moral,” said the young president of the association, Antonis Koromilidis.
“Our relationship with Alexander the Great of Melbourne has been fraternal for many years. I knew we were the same team and that filled me with joy. Our fellow citizens were uprooted in difficult times from Florina and went to faraway Australia. There they founded Alexander the Great of Melbourne. I consider it very important and that fills us with pride. And with this show of humanity I realised how much like family we are. I spoke for the first time with people I did not know and I really felt that we were brothers. A few years ago I met the coach of Alexandros from Australia, George Katsaki and gave him a team jersey as a souvenir.”
The companies Stambos by Mr Stampoulidis, Technologies 2000 by Mr Rachovitsas and Envirosystems Technologies by Mr Athanasseris, will adorn the new yellow and black Alexander the Great of Florina jerseys and will give financial support next month to the historical team of northern Greece.
In the end this story shows us that distances do not matter.
What matters is the common denominator in the love for our sport and our roots and with that distances are eliminated.
Alexander the Great of Florina are able to take a deep breath and continue to exist on the football map of Greece along with Alexander the Great of Melbourne who has graced Australia since 1958.
*Translated by Marianna Alepidis