A Fighting Soul

I meant to write about my personal experience I had a few years ago when I took a trip to Europe for Panathinaikos. Instead, after spending a few minutes on the site, I decided to go on a different direction. Pao Abroad has awakened my green consciousness and pride that over the years had faded as much as most of the Panathinaikos athletic divisions. 

I have been living abroad for a long time and throughout these years I tried to stay connected to the club I grew up with, but lately I had just given up on them. The behind the scenes nonsense, the management instability, the fan separation and disagreements, and the constant propaganda have all torn me in half and turned my passion to a complete apathy.

One early morning before heading to work, I was cowardly trying to pick on some news about the club when I accidentally caught the phrase on an article: “We are a group of dedicated Panathinaikos fans who live outside of Greece and have connected to help the club we love and support.”  Curiosity took me a step further and I visited the website that was printed underneath the phrase. I was profoundly moved by those Panathinaikos fans living abroad who displayed courage by building an innovative project during the worst economic crisis not just for the club, but for the entire nation. They made me realize that the green DNA that I carried for years had begun to deteriorate.

I began to follow the site updates, articles and news on a daily basis as I slowly rediscovered my passion again. They started organizing fundraising events for the athletic departments that required financial assistance while the site was updated with daily news about the amateur divisions. Their enormous efforts were based on their unconditional love for the club, the emblem and the ideals that it symbolized. 

I now want to be part of this project because of what it represents, because Panathinaikos means Παναθηναϊκή ψυχή (A fighting Soul) and though we have gone through many ups and downs Panathinaikos will always be one of the most important things in my life. 

I am sure many of you have felt the same way I have and gone through the same roller coaster ride however, helping Panathinaikos in any way possible should be our duty. If we don't stand by the club now that needs us more than ever before, when will we?

United we stand!

Thanks for everything and thank you for sharing my story.

Stavros from California.