zariz
Bekanntes Mitglied
aber leider nur auf englisch. vielleicht kann uns das ja jemand der englischkönner übersetzen
PAOK is the historical continuation of the ‘Hermes’ Athletic and Cultural Association from Constantinople established by Greek residents of the city in 1875 in the very heart of the city in the Pera area. The need of Constantinople’s Greek residents to express and support their Hellenism within Turkey was what led to the creation of this club. In 1923 following the Asia Minor Catastrophe when the Turks expelled countless Greeks from the coastal regions of Turkey, the Greeks of Constantinople renamed their club Peraclub in line with the new constitution adopted by Kemal Ataturk. Despite this blow to Hellenic culture in Turkey, which was forced to take the path of the refugee and to abandon its traditional home, Peraclub continued its sporting struggle, promising to continue to do so as long as there were Greeks left in Constantinople. The club won cup after cup proving that although the Greeks were a minority they continued to have a strong presence in the sporting sector. However, that situation did not last long and most players were forced to flee, leaving behind a team consisting of residents of Constantinople renamed Politakia. Those who fled settled in Thessaloniki and in 1926 established PAOK which translated means the Panthessalonikian Athletic Club of Constantinople, retaining the symbols of their ‘Greekness’, the twin-headed eagle of the Byzantine Empire combined with mourning black to symbolize the tragic history of the Greeks in Turkey and white, the colour of optimism, a window onto the future, symbolizing their struggle for tomorrow and the victories they intended to win. This club history stretching back to the 19th century in effect makes PAOK one of Greece’s oldest athletic clubs but also means that it shoulders a heavy historical burden.
The club’s first charter was approved on 20th April 1926 by means of decision of the Thessaloniki Court of First Instance (No. 822). However, PAOK had in effect been established a year earlier when it took part in the Thessaloniki Championship where it was unfortunately demoted to the 2nd Division, a demotion which forced the founders of the club to bolster it substantially.
PAOK’s first emblem adopted in 1926 was a four-leaved clover and a horseshoe. The leaves were green with the letters PAOK marked on each of them, a symbol devised by Kostas Koemtzopoulos who took the idea from a packet of cigarettes he smoked.
The club’s founding members were A. Angelopoulos, A. Athanassiadis, K. Anagnostidis, M. Ventourellis, F. Vyzantinos (second Chairman), A. Dimitriadis, D. Dimitriadis, N. Zoumboulidis, M. Theodosiadis, T. Ioakimopoulos, P. Kalpaktsoglou, T. Kartsambekis, D. Koemtzopoulos, K. Koemtzopoulos, P. Kontopoulos, K. Kritikos, M. Konstantinidis, P. Maletskas, I. Nikolaidis, L. Papadopoulos, F. Samantzopoulos, T. Tsoulkas, M. Tsoulkas, S. Triantafyllidis, T. Triantafyllidis (who was also its first Chairman).
PAOK’s first Board of Directors serving between 1926 and 1927 consisted of :
1) T. Triantafyllidis (Chairman),
2) P. Kalpaktsoglou (1st Vice-Chairman),
3) A. Athanassiadis (2nd Vice Chairman),
4) K. Kritikos (Hon. Secretary),
5) M. Tsoulkas (Secretary),
6) T. Ioakimopoulos (Treasurer),
7) A. Angelopoulos (Football Steward),
8) M. Konstantinidis (Director) and
9) S. Triantafyllidis (Director).
After 2 months of preparation by the team following the club’s establishment it was decided that the team should compete against the other teams in Thessaloniki. The desire to see the new team compete led many to the Iraklis Football Ground on 26th July 1925 where it won 2-1. Two weeks later PAOK lost to the champion of Thessaloniki, ARIS 5-2.
In 1927 PAOK’s first anthem was heard: "We are the praiseworthy children of Constantinople who play outstanding football; overflowing with joy like no other team. Our system is to pass the ball, and at the season’s end to reckon up how many goals we have scored and how many we have let in. We have everything, yes everything: studs, boots, shorts, black tops and kneepads, to drive the young girls crazy. We fear no one not even ARIS or Iraklis, because we have skilful Ventourellis as our chief."
The vision of the club’s founders and fans of the team of establishing a home base became reality in 1928 following much effort and thus on 12th December 1930 the Syntrivaniou Football Ground was officially opened. This was followed by a friendly match against ARIS with the home team winning 2-1.
The first professional contract was a document of historic importance. It was signed by the Club on 5th September 1928. The contract stipulated that the footballer Etien who had come from the Constantinople club Peraclub would be paid 4,000 drachmas per month. The contract was singed by Dr. Meletiou (PAOK Chairman) and Mr. Sakellaropoulos, Hon. Secretary.