Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1849602/tv-broadcasts-football-games-assist-struggling-cyrpus-bar-owners-make Football
TV broadcasts of soccer matches assist struggling Cyprus bar owners to make ends meet
'Beautiful game' can make poor men feel rich as games draw fans keen to watch their teams, but who cannot afford the expense of attending live matches
Tottenham's Kyle Walker can't beleive his misfortune to score an own goal. Photos: Reuters
Watching the English Premier League season's opening weekend from a multi-screened beachside cafe while holidaying in Cyprus - the sea lapping close by, a blazing sun accompanied by a Mediterranean breeze and the thermometer simmering at an acceptable 36 degrees Celsius - is not to be sniffed at.
The calamari fell off forks as we guffawed at the Arsenal-West Ham scoreline, a chili pepper dropped from a kebab when Tottenham's Kyle Walker own-goal gifted Manchester United three points, and the locals, expats and tourists spoke the lingua franca fluently and in unison when debutant Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was shown red after fouling Swansea's Bafetimbi Gomis ... "Arrgh!" we went.
The waiter thought one table ordered double helpings of dessert when the sunburnt arms of two relieved Saints supporters spontaneously shot in the air on Shane Long's equaliser a few thousand miles away in Newcastle.
Wayne Rooney celebrates after Tottenham's Kyle Walker scores an own goal - the first goal for Manchester United.
We dusted off the sand and were back for seconds at the tongue-twisting Thalasokoritso (aka Mermaid) Cafe in Limassol for Sunday's fare to witness Liverpool beat Stoke. And we dined out on Manchester City stylishly trumping West Brom, England's highest-paid footballer Raheem Sterling thumbing his nose at his critics as moussaka was munched on Monday.
"Come back on Wednesday for the Cyprus Cup match between Apoel FC Nicosia and AE Limassol, urged cafe owner Eros Alkivaldos.
"It's a big game for us and I need all the customers I can get," he said, only half-joking.
The screening of live football has been sustaining his livelihood and others like it since the country's economic crisis, he explained.
Players of Apoel Nicosia celebrated their win during a third qualifying round, second leg soccer match against FC Midtjylland at GSP stadium, in Nicosia. Photo: AP
Since the financial bottom fell out of the local economy three years ago, Cypriots have changed their spending habits, reining in on luxuries such as dining out and buying season tickets.
For their football fix, they instead treat themselves to a beer and a kebab in small cafes with large TV screens on the nights their clubs are playing in big games, including local derbies, the Europa and Champions leagues.
Many businesses have gone to the wall - across the road many shop and cafe fronts are boarded up with To Rent signs - and those that have survived are on the brink.
The screening of live football kept the wolf from the door when the tourists would leave at the end of this month, said Eros.
The premature exit from the Europa League qualifiers of the three Cypriot teams - Apollon, Omonia and AEK Lanarca - meant the takings for the year will be down
And he always hopes for a good run by the home teams in European football to keep the rhythm of the cash register going until at least December.
Alas, the premature exit from the Europa League qualifiers of the three Cypriot teams - Apollon, Omonia and AEK Lanarca - meant the takings for the year will be down.
"We still have the Champions League to help pay the bills," he said as he cleared the table, referring to Nicosia's first division champions, Apoel FC, who will represent Cyprus in the continent's premier showcase.
Omonia's Fylaktou Yerasimos (left) fights for the ball with Pukki Teemu of Brondly IF in a third qualifying round, second leg soccer match. Photo: AP
Wednesday's domestic cup clash between Apoel and rivals Limmasol drew the crowds as promised - more so, it seemed, than those attracted to the near-empty stadium, where even cut-price €10 (HK$86) tickets were seemingly still too expensive for most fans.
Small beers were nursed during the tense encounter and Eros called out several times that he expected his customers to refill their glasses at half-time. They jeered back in jest. Some older customers waved their worry-beads at him.
Observing the ranks fixated on the television screens, one wondered why they bothered spending what little money they had on a game that might have been rigged.
As many of the sports pages scattered on the tables reminded in bold headlines, Costakis Koutsokoumnis, the head of the Cyprus Football Association for the past 14 years, had earlier in the week stood unopposed and is to serve his seventh consecutive term.
Yet his shoo-in comes amid a police probe into a referee-turned-whistle blower, who claimed match fixing among his fellow refs was widespread in Cypriot football.
The investigation has so far proved inconclusive, but cynicism and distrust has been festering all week. "Our football is poor - it's run by too many crooks," Eros moaned.
Small beers were nursed during the tense encounter and Eros called out several times that he expected his customers to refill their glasses at half-time
So why not boycott the local games in protest and instead just go big on the European TV offerings - La Liga, the EPL, the Bundesliga?
He dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "We are proud. We want to watch our own teams play. We are not naïve, but corruption is so widespread on our island we have to believe they all play fair because what else you can do?
"We have to have hope, because without hope we have nothing. And without football, I am a poor man."