Story of my life: Chapter 2 - Salamina

Salamina: Chapter 2

I grew up at a time (1980’s) and in a place (Nicosia) where you were either Omonoia or APOEL fan..the two big teams of the capital. I still remember in elementary school, in my class of 31 students the teacher asking how many students support Omonia. When she counted the hands to be 15 she immediately made the assumption that there are more APOEL fans in the class (16). Little did she know that a little boy would raise his hand and in his shy yet determined voice would say “Kyria, sygnomi alla egw eimai me ti Salamina” (Ms. I am sorry but I support Salamina).

I still remember the first ever game I attended. It was a friendly game between Omonoia – Salamina and my uncle, my favorite uncle Andros took me. It must have been late 1980’s, around 1987 if I would have to guess. I was only 7 years old. That is when this unconditional love between me and a team started. Three years later, Salamina won their one and only title. And I wasn’t there. I missed it so I could go to a friend’s birthday…biggest regret of my life… I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember listening part of the game on the radio on the way back from the birthday party, my mum driving and my friend Marios in the car with us. I remember listening the end of the game on the only radio we had in the kitchen of our house. I remember how much I regretted that I was not there.

Since then, I would almost go to any game that my uncle would go. My brother and my grandfather would almost always follow. Almost 20 years later and the tradition continues, still going to Salamina games with my brother and uncle. I am sure that my grandpa would be proud of us since he was a follower until he couldn’t go any more.

I have been disappointed many times. I thought about giving up. After all, supporting a mid-low strength team gave me more disappointments than I can ever count. Countless weekends being in bad mood, almost speechless. Countless times of going to a game with high hopes and returning home disappointed. As hard as I have tried, I can’t give up. It is something that it is hard to explain, but the time when Salamina plays is the only time in the world I feel free. Free from everything, happy, away from the real world even for 90 minutes. It is the time of the week that I am looking forward to the most. Maybe things will change in the future, but there are no guarantees. I will still have to suffer those defeats every weekend. I don’t mind though because as my brother always says “Winning builds confidence, losing builds character” - ours has more than matured by now -