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Greek Soccer Star Banned Over Nazi Salute

AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis is the latest celebrity to embrace that “I’m a moron” defense in the wake of a scandal. In celebration of a goal against Veria last week, Katidis did a Nazi salute. It would be an outrage in any country but the Germans in World War II killed as many as 800,000 of his countrymen — though the precise number has been recently debated. He has now been banned from the national team.


Katidis’ teammates also appear unconcerned by the Nazi salute though Brazilian-born teammate, Roger Guerreiro, looked at him in surprise.

In the aftermath, 20-year-old Katidis insists that he was ignorant of the meaning of the salute. A grown man in a nation occupied by the Nazis had no idea what the salute meant? Really. I am not sure what is worse claiming to be a complete moron without any sense of history or being a fascist loving creep. I find the notion that Katidis never went to a World War II movie, let alone read a history book rather unbelievable.

This is not free speech issue. The team has every right to ban racist and offensive gestures, particularly in a country ravages by the Nazis.

48 thoughts on “Greek Soccer Star Banned Over Nazi Salute”

  1. @Gene,
    Why does the truth disturb you so much? I gave you websites that have real news and that prove facts. Do you only read publications like NYTimes and their writers like Jayson Blair? They will only print the fictions that fit. They will not tell you the truth or the facts. Here is another article with real facts that you will not like because it tells the truth. You cannot read what is really going on by only following propaganda stories put out on regular corporate media or blogs like this one that echo the corporate media.

    http://www.debbieschlussel.com/60509/alhamdillulllah-praise-allah-dark-knight-murderer-james-holmes-converted-to-islam/

  2. Malisha,
    As I wrote above, if the soccer players contract required him to tow the line, then he should bear some consequences. However, if not, then it s a free speech issue, imo.

  3. Ooo. Debbie Schussel and The Times of Israel. That gets filed under “consider the source”. Why not just quote Likud talking points directly instead?

    As for me “being wrong”?

    Firstly, you should learn what a joke is.

    Secondly, what is the goal of international diplomacy? It is to avoid wars and build stronger relationships between nation states. When was the last time Sweden started a war of aggression? That would be against Norway in 1814 and it ended with the Convention of Moss. Norway? You have to go back even further for a war of aggression (the Scanian War of 1675 – although Norway was involved in defensive actions during the Napoleonic Wars and the Gunboat War). Since then, Sweden and Norway have both been largely politically neutral although the Nazis did occupy Norway in WWI. If they’ve got – as in either country – a problem with how Israel acts on the international stage? That is their right of self-determination and how to react against actions of other states they find offensive. Israel is not special. I’ll say it again. Israel is not special. Only Zionists and End-of-Timer fundamentalist Christians think so. Without question, Jews deserved a state of their own after WWII. Without question, they deserved a better government than they got – which too be clear is run by extremists right wing war mongering nutbags like those in the Likud.

    In general, your cites – aside from being a pedantic and propagandistic “retort” to a joke – are an attempt at argument by incomplete comparison, an argument by non-sequitur, and a false equivalence. Neither country having an issue with Israel is the equivalent of those countries being Nazis or even on the political right. To throw those particular issues out as “evidence” that politically liberal and left leaning countries is nonsensical. It is a false equivalence to try to paint the left in any form as Nazis. They were right wing authoritarian fascists of the worst sort. And when was the last time they started a war of aggression?

    Why that would be the 1st of September, 1939, when Hitler’s forces marched into Poland.

    So you see, some countries learn faster than others that wars of aggression lead to nothing but needless death and instead opt to act like adults on the international stage – avoiding conflict whenever possible. Unlike the right wing of any country who are by definition almost universally hawks. Like the hawks that led this country into a war of aggression by manufacturing “evidence” to justify invading Iraq. – a country which not only didn’t have the WMDs or connections to Al Quada that the neocons claimed, they didn’t have jack squat to do with the attacks on this country on 9/11. That would be the neocons best buddies the House of Saud and their stranglehold over Saudi Arabia responsible for funding and manning terrorist organizations like Al Quada.

    To paraphrase Curly: Hotsie, totsie, who smells a Nazi?

    I sure do.

    But they aren’t on the left anywhere.

    And they certainly are not in countries that have been using words to solve their conflicts for a century instead of marching around trying to prove who has the bigger military penis.

    I’ll see you in Poland Iraq, baby.

  4. Rafflaw, with respect to whether it’s a free speech issue or not, here’s my two cents’ worth: Had the guy “Heil Hitler’ed” in the street, at a picnic, in front of his house, anywhere, fine, he’s a moron and who cares. He was at an event that was sponsored by someone. He was at that event because he had the privilege to be there; if I, for instance, wanted to be out on the soccer field that day right next to him, they wouldn’t let me be there, would they? So he was on SOMEONE ELSE’s turf. Being there, at someone else’s event, at someone else’s pleasure, having a function, he was not free to exercise his free speech. He should have saved it for when he was NOT on a soccer field; when he was wherever he wanted to be, in public, doing something he wanted to do without hurting the guy next to him or using someone else’s forum to make HIS asinine statement.

    Banned is OK in this circumstance. As to his stupid lies of not knowing what the salute meant? I can’t remember the Greek word for “liar” but after all, it’s pretty obvious isn’t it? In any language that’s what this guy is.

  7. pete9999,
    I have almost quit watching, and have not gone to a race in years. Sad thing, is, Denny Hamlin is right. I have contacts in racing, both at the team level as well as track management. They are trying to do two things which are almost mutually exclusive. They want the cars to be safer, which I agree with 100%. If Dale Earnhardt, Sr. were to have that crash today, he would survive with little more than a few bruises and his dignity damaged.

    On the other hand, car design is so rigidly controlled, the auto manufacturer’s prototypes would not pass a template inspection. The cars are virtually identical. If you put an unpainted “Ford” next to an unpainted “Chevrolet” you can’t tell them apart. They are identifiable only by the decals representing the grille,logo, and lights. Parity one thing, but it has now gotten to the point of being ridiculous.

    In every professional sport I know of, athletes can go public on many subjects, but if they say anything negative about the league, venues or equipment, they will get hit with fines and suspensions.

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