By Takis Triadafillou.
Old memories were awakened on Sunday at Lambert Park in Sydney where legends from Sydney Olympic FC and APIA Leichhardt FC played against each other during a friendly match.
The match was part of the third annual Festival of Football which featured a day of football, as well as 20 Greek and Italian stalls alongside traditional music, singers and dances.
On the day, the stadium was full of fans and children chanting for their favourite teams.
The Under 20’s played at 9am, followed by reserve women at 11am. Then at 1pm the celebrity ‘legends’ match between past players of Sydney Olympic and APIA kicked off.
The legends on Sydney Olympic’s team included Peter Katholos as Head Coach, Tass Evgeniou as Team Manager, Spiro Hantzis, Manny Spanoudakis, Zlratko Nastevski, Steve Karavatakis, Kerry Agiasotis, George Sorras, Jim Nikas, Kenny Wilson, Terry Patalis, Ari Traiantafilou, George Pantazis, Robbie Hooker, Norman Tome, Marshall Soper, Eric Hristodoulou, Paul Henderson, Steve Heilas, Scott Bailey, Chris Hadjianestis, Chris Macias, and Pablo Cardozo just to name a few.
Despite losing to APIA 1-0, the veterans showed once again that they had not lost their passion for football.
“It was a fantastic day where we met up with old teammates from both our own team and from APIA,” Mr Katholos told The Greek Herald on the day.
“The importance of this game was our participation and reminding the world of the football of another era. Thank you to everyone for the support and applause.”
Mr Evgeniou added that it was a “wonderful day.”
“I’m very happy that I helped with this magical football fiesta. Even more so because it brought me back to when I was a kid going to the stadium and watched Sydney Olympic play. Feelings that cannot be erased over the years,” Mr Evgeniou added.
“Let’s also thank APIA for showing us with this festival that football always unites the past with the present.”
