As long as I can remember, the name “Giorgos Karagounis” was very familiar in my household. Before I had taken my first breath, I was anointed into the Panathinaikos fandom because of my father.
Even before I was conscious of football, it was a weekly ritual for my father to come home and either give us the great news of a Panathinaikos victory or to stay quiet because of a loss.
I recall travelling to Greece in 2008 with my whole family and it was there that my father, along with one of his best friends from Lamia, handed me and my two brothers our first customised Panathinaikos jerseys.
My older brother received one with “Karagounis, 26” on the back and, since we could not all have him, mine was “Salpingidis, 14” (later I would get “Katsouranis, 29”) and my little brother had “Ninis, 7”.
He was too young at the time to understand why he was given the name of the up-and-coming talent who we all hoped would become our next “Karagounis”.
My old man always thought of himself as the “Giannis Goumas, 8” of our clan, another great captain of the Greens.
I remember vividly the first time I saw a Panathinaikos match live. It was October 5 2008. We played Levadiakos at the Olympic Stadium and we won 2-0, with Salpingidis also scoring in that game which made me very happy. From there, I was hooked to Greek football and my love stretched towards the National team as well.
I went to Greece at the time of the 2010 World Cup and got to watch my heroes play on the biggest stage of them all, led by Karagounis.
The ecstasy I felt seeing Greece win their first World Cup game against Nigeria 2-1 (which again saw Salpingidis score) was only surpassed two years later when Karagounis scored the winning goal against Russia to see us advance to the quarter-finals of the 2012 Euros.
Going forward another two years, I was in Greece again and I got to see the “Ethniki” qualify for the round of 16, thanks to an injury time penalty from Georgios Samaras.
What should be clear at this point is that Giorgos Karagounis was at the centre of nearly all of my childhood, leading Panathinaikos and Greece to such great heights and giving me memories that I will always cherish.
So, when I heard the news that the leader of my teams and the player who also had such a pivotal role in Hellas winning the Euro 2004 trophy to Sydney, I made it my mission to achieve two things: get a photo with him and secure an interview.
Karagounis was to come to Sydney for the first time in his life, at the age of 45, as a guest of the Brilliance Football Academy, run by Greek Australian Nikos Mouzourakis.
Most of the family was eager to be at the airport. Only one made it, and oddly enough he saw his picture with Karagounis published in this very same newspaper. I had to wait for my opportunity to meet my idol.
I learned that a private dinner for just Panathinaikos fans was being organised for him at the premises of the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW, so I resigned myself to that being the moment I would get to meet him.
Oddly enough, I met him earlier than then but it did not happen in Sydney, the city of my residence. It happened in Melbourne, the “Greek” capital of Antipodes.
I was in Victoria, on a camp trip with the UTS Hellenic Society wherein I had also organised a conference with some fellow Greek-Australian students at NUGAS.
As part of the trip, I bought a ticket to attend George Kambosos Jr’s rematch with Devin Haney at Rod Laver Arena. Lucky for me, Giorgos Karagounis had also gone to the fight and as I exited the arena, I saw him walking towards me.
With whatever childhood I have left after 21 years of life, I approached and asked for a photo. So willingly, he stood next to me and now I have a photo to treasure forever.
So, step one, the photo, was complete. But what about the other ambition: the interview?
Despite repeated attempts, my efforts were not so fruitful (It was later that I was informed that Karagounis is not too keen in giving interviews).
I knew though that I had one final opportunity: the private dinner.
About 60 passionate fans of Panathinaikos and admirers of Karagounis welcomed him warmly. After the short speeches, a Q and A session was opened. I was chosen to be the first questioner (It helps to have a “μέσον” as they say in Greece, the inside connection, when the organiser of the event is none other than your father).
I admit I was prepared with many questions. Knowing that I would not be able to ask them all, I had to prioritise on the spot, which I did.
I remembered in 2012 that he missed the quarter-final against Germany due to suspension and in my research, I discovered he missed the Euro 2004 Final for the same reason. So, I asked on behalf of Neos Kosmos how those experiences affected him.
“If we had lost, in the final against Portugal, maybe it would have bothered me a lot. In the second case, I was upset because, as you noted, with my goal, we progressed to the quarter finals. Had we qualified, we were going to play Germany, which was a match I had dreamed of playing,” Karagounis told Neos Kosmos.
“Plus, I was the captain of the team and my teammates would feel differently if I was on the field with them. So of course, it was bad for the team as a whole, apart from my personal interest that I wanted to play very much,”
“However, I emphasize that I have experienced great moments with the National team. I always remember the best ones and there are a lot of them,”
“In the 15 years that I played with the National team, we played three Euros and two World Cups. We won the Euro. Another time we made it to the quarters. In the World Cup we made it to the 16 best teams.”
“For many years, we, the “little Greece”, were among the eight best teams in the world according to the FIFA ranking. That says a lot and I’m very proud of it.”
The second question was supposed to be from someone else but again, having …the inside connection, I was the given the opportunity for another one. I knew Karagounis was here for a football clinic so this time I asked what it meant for him to be offering his guidance to our youngsters.
“Just as I, when I was little, always looked at the elders and wanted to acquire their knowledge and skills, so do these children now look at us. We should set a good example to inspire them to dream, as I dreamed as a child,” Karagounis said.
“Following our dreams means that we can achieve the impossible, as we did with the National team in 2004, which no one believed we could…Always make the effort, because football and the struggle to be at the top of your game brings more sorrows than joys,”
“Many times, rejection and failure can be the keys to success. Because all of us, from the beginning, have had very difficult times and rejections. I personally experienced this too. But that made me stronger, to want to achieve things. And in the end, everything turned out well.”
This answer hit me very hard because what Karagounis did not realise was, just as he was talking about his desire for children to achieve their dreams, mine were being fulfilled just by having the chance to speak with him. Needless to say, the whole experience was not simply for professional gain but something that made a dream come true.
The Panathinaikos fans gave him a going-away gift that was meaningful for two reasons. One, to remind him that he was standing on the ancestral lands of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.
Second, because, like the boomerang which was gifted to him, we all hope that he will come back and we will get to meet him again.
