The
history of Atromitos began 82 years ago when the club
was officially founded in May 1923.
There had been
a league however, since 1920, and that was when Kalomvounis,
Petos, Glykofridis, Stathopoulos, Synodinos, Rigopoulos,
Stamatopoulos and other students who lived in Victoria
Square (which was then called kyriakou Square), decided
to realise a crazy dream and form their own football
team.
In 1923, Vaggelis Stamatis, the teacher of maths and
an old member of the Panhellenic football League, joined
the administration board of Atromitos.
At this time Stamatis
was one of
the big names of pre-war Greek football history, and
his appearance in combination with the organised effort
of several friends or fans of football who lived in Victoria
square, made the team very important to Athenian football
and very attractive to the league of Athens.
In 1924, they were accepted into the league but the absolute
official signature of the foundation was written in 1925.
At this time Atromitos played in the football grounds
of Panellinios and Panathinaikos which were in the park
of Aris, and during their first spell in the first division
they gained third place behind Panathinaikos and AEK.
The team were a very significant side before the war
in the league of EPSA, and they were in the first division
of the Athinian league 14 times.
The most distinguished year was 1928 when they were declared
champions of Athens, beating Goudi 4-3 in the final game
in the stadium of Rouf. As champions of Athens they took
part in the first Panhellenic championship which was
organised in 1928 by EPO.
On the 24th of May they were beaten 3-1 away by Aris
(who later became champions) and another defeat on the
3rd of June saw them lose to Ethnicos Pireaus 5-0. The
10th of June brought only a draw at home against Ethnicos
1-1, and the final blow came seven days later when they
lost again to Aris 3-1.
During the following 2 years Atromitos stayed in the
upper part of the first division of Athens and in 1929
they finished third behind Panathinaikos and AEK. In
1930 they finished third again, this time with Panathinaikos
becoming champions and AEK in second place.
In 1932,
Iosiph Chouroukchoglou and Nikolaos Epioglou made the
big decision to move the club to the town of Peristeri.
The main reason for this was that the club had been in
the same area as Panathinaikos, which didn't leave much
opportunity for Atromitos to establish a large fan base
or develop a unique identity amongst the teams playing
in the championship.
In the following three decades the team appeared in the
second division until 1959.
In 1963 they played in the second division of the national
league (southern region), but it was always their aim
to play in the first division, a goal they achieved sometime
later.
A special reference should be made here to the player
Mugandi Chimaga, who died so pointlessly in 1996 while
playing in the Megaro ground, due to the unavailability
of an ambulance to take him to hospital.
| THE CHAIRMEN |
Past chairmen
of the club have been virtuous men, some with
advantages and some with disadvantages, but even
those without a large financial background have
taken care of Atromitos to the best of their
abilities, portraying earnestness, fervour and
love for the club.
Some of them achieved their
goals, some not. There is no attempt to single
any one of them out here, for any reason, we
simply want to remind you of the men who had
the privilege to run the team from the west suburbs.
It started with Iosiph Chouroukchoglou, followed by Nikolaos Epioglou
, Nikolaos Chakiris, Adonis Galaios, Stefanos Kaloumenos, Evaggelos Stais,
Takis Anevlavis, Adonis Ksipnitos, Pavlos Panoutsopoulos, Stamatis Glykos,
Andreas Koulopoulos, Giorgos Douros, Vasilis Petrou, Yiannis Kourtis,
Kostas Stathakis, Vasilis Chigos, Tasos Papanikolas and the present Chairman
Giorgos Spanos.
|
| FIRST DIVISION NATIONAL LEAGUE |
The record
of the team in this division is not outstanding
as yet, but they have had some famous victories
which have made the fans very proud.
One of these
was in 1976 when they managed to beat the champions
PAOK in the Touba ground.
Going back to 1928, they had victories mainly in local championships but from
1931 they started having Panhellenic success.
In May 1972 their dream became
reality, and Atromitos, under the coaching of Savva Papazoulou, won promotion
to the first division. The main victory which defined the 'blue and whites' during
this time, was their win at home over AEK 1-0, featuring Papaioannou, Erea, Ravousi
and Theodoridis etc.
However, the first division proved to be a difficult experience for them and
they were relegated the following year.
In 1975 the club returned to the first
division, this time better prepared and with a large support behind them who
packed the ground every game to watch them claim 13th position and secure their
place in the top flight.
The best moments of that year were the draws against
the champions Panathinaikos in the Karaiskaki ground, and against Panathinaikos,
AEK and Aris at Peristeri. In 1976 the team became more powerful and achieved
9th position, the best in their history.
This was also the year of their sensational
victory, away to the mighty PAOK, with Kourdas, Terzanidis, Sarafis, Iosifidis.
At the same time they drew with the cup holders Iraklis, although Iraklis had
many great players, Hadgipanagis, Kousoulakis, Gessios and Nikoloudis.
In 1977
they suffered and the team from the west suburbs didn't play well at all except
for a draw at home against Panathinaikos whose team included Domazos, Adoniadis
and Eleftherakis.
In 1981 the expectation of the fans was huge, as great players
like Stylianopoulos, Alvarez, Toskas and Athanasopoulos were now playing for
the club, but unfortunately, in spite of the high ambition, the team played for
the last time in the top games and once more returned to the lower divisions.
After 8 years of suffering the nightmare of playing in the third division, they
finally won promotion back to the second division in May 2002, by beating Levadiakos
in the Patra stadium.
Among the notable achievements of the club is the 1991
landmark moment when the team became the first to gain more than 900 points in
the second division.
|
| THE PEOPLE |
Many different elements exist in the history
of any football club, and are an integral part
of the story and tradition of that club. One
of the strongest of these elements is the home
ground.
The home of Atromitos, which in latter years has been neglected, and in no
way resembles the old victorious times when, with a rattle in one hand and
a Somali cake in the other, the fans gathered in the morning to first watch
minor games, and then the Atromitos game.
The stories the old men can tell
you about those times are endless, and often exaggerated, but they reveal a
love for the team that represented their part of society, a part which had
grown to become the fourth largest municipality in Greece. Some of them remember
Saturday mornings when they went to clear the pitch of stones, so they could
get in to see the game on Sunday for free.
Primarily the first home ground
of Atromitos was the ground of 'Bravery', which
was beyond
the last 'shanty town' of Evaggelistria.
In
1953 they moved to their present location which
only had central stands for the spectators,
and the changing rooms were a small room at
the end of the stands.
Much later a larger
stand holding 6000 spectators was built but
this didn't get full during the games, only
during the summer concerts of the Scorpions
and Guns and Roses etc.
The only exception
was the cup game between Haidari and Olympiakos
(0-7) in 1991 when the stadium was full with
13000 spectators sitting or standing.
During the chairmanship of Victor Mitropoulos in EPAE, blue and white plastic
seats were installed in the central stand.
One and a half years ago they installed floodlights and renovated the running
track so the ground could be used as a coaching facility during the Olympic
Games.
Under the football ground there are spaces and facilities for activities such
as wrestling, chess and boxing etc., and a room has been donated to the fire
service and one to the scouts.
Also underneath the stands, the organised fan
club - 'The Fendayin' have a space for themselves.
As part of the ongoing renovation
of the ground, seats will be installed in all the stands,
and a roof built over the VIP area.
Repairs
to fragile parts of the stadium due to humidity
and earthquake damage, are also expected to
be carried out.
The media box will be improved
as at the present it resembles a storage room,
and in the direct future there will be another
stand added where the opposing team's fans
will be accommodated.
There will also be improvements
to the dressing rooms and an area provided
which will act as a reception hall.
|
|
