‘Cyprus soccer is no longer for me,’ bemoaned a referee today in 1958. ‘I’ve had enough’.
That was what Limassol referee Yiannis Savva told the local media after he was beaten up by a hostile crowd of football fans at the Paphos Stadium.
It was the second time Yiannis had been beaten up by a crowd that disagreed with his decisions and as far as he is concerned, ‘it will be the last.’
He intends to have no more to do with the game, and in justifying his decision before KOP, the Cyprus Football Association, he will call for APOP, the Paphos Second Division team to be dismissed from the Association.
Yiannis played for years in AEL, on every sports ground in Cyprus. He remembers with pride and gratitude many happy moments as a player.
‘But as a referee,’ he said ‘I have learnt that Cyprus soccer is rotten in too many places.’
According to Yiannis, the Paphos supporters were hostile even before the Division Two championship match began
He says he told the APOP committee before the match that if spectators crossed the wire more than twice he would stop the game.