P.O.K.

P.O.K. stands for Podosfairikes Omades Kentrou (Ποδοσφαιρικές Ομάδες Κέντρου), which is Greek for Central Football Teams, meaning the football teams of Athens. The term comes from an event that took place in 1927, when Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens chose to abstain from the Greek Championship after disagreements with the Hellenic Football Federation. The main reason had to do with the Championship's financial status. HFF decided that the league's revenues would be equally divided between all teams that participated, however Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK denied to do so. Later they decided to form a group called P.O.K. and during that season they played friendly games with each other, since HFF had erased them.

Even though P.O.K. does not technically exist anymore, the name is often used due to the continuing dominance of the three "former P.O.K." clubs in the National A Division. It is an extremely rare occurrence for a team outside the former P.O.K. clubs to finish in the top three of the Championship and when that happens it is said that that team "broke the P.O.K.". Since 1928, only 3 other teams (Aris, AE Larissa and PAOK) have managed to conquer the Greek Championship. PAOK is the team that has managed to break the P.O.K. the most times, and also the last to accomplish it, having finished 2nd for the 2008/09 season, leaving Panathinaikos and AEK in third and fourth place.

Establishment

In 1927/28, the EEA (Committee of Professional Sports or in Greek, Επιτροπή Επαγγελματικού Αθλητισμού) was preparing to host its first football championship in Greece with the participation of the League teams of the three founding football associations: E.P.S. Athens, E.P.S. Piraeus and E.P.S. Macedonia. At the start of the season and before the games had begun, EEA decided to punish Olympiacos FC for formal reasons and ordered the other unions not to play them in any official or friendly matches. Panathinaikos and AEK, however, did not obey and followed Olympiacos in organizing friendly matches between the three teams. Essentially, this was the outbreak of a dispute that was brewing between these 3 clubs and the administration of the league for the control of the latter.

After this development, the EEA dropped all three clubs on 31 October 1927 and proceeded to organize the league without them. The teams that took their place were Atromitos from Athens, Ethnikos from Piraeus and Aris from Thessaloniki.

Activities

The teams that "formed" P.O.K. tried to weaken the EEA, holding their championship with the participation of even some other smaller clubs, although the majority of clubs continued under the official administration of EEA.

They also proceeded to organize various tournaments, during which they invited other foreign football clubs from Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Romania, such as Ferencváros, OFK Beograd etc. The three clubs shared the costs of hosting as well as the revenue from tickets sold.

The tournaments organized for the Christmas and Easter holidays were respectively called Cup and Easter Cup. They had great economic success, given that the three clubs were supported by the majority of fans in the Athens basin. The organization of those tournaments continued even after the war when relations with the EEA had again resumed.

The end of conflict

In July 1928 the EEA finally decided to re-insert the three major clubs into the records. However, this decision didn't mark the end of the collaboration since the clubs recognized that they had vested interests in each other. Essentially, this continued until the establishment of professional football. Some areas of cooperation were:

• The organization of the Easter and Christmas cups by each one of them in succession with the invitation of foreign clubs until the late 50s.

• Dissuasion transfers from one club to another and particularly between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, even for athletes of other sports, except football.

• Mutual help in the elections for the administration of EEA and the decisions of the Board. The climax occurred in 1976, when the representative of the Olympic committee responsible of the next to vote saved from demotion Panathinaikos in bribery of players I. Hercules, which has become known as "Case of flowers."

The term "P.O.K." continues to be used even nowadays, when people want to emphasize the supremacy of the 3 Athenian clubs in Greek football.

Easter Cup

The first Easter Cup was organized by P.O.K. in 1928 with the participation of the Serbian and Romanian Beogkraski benzo crops (???). It continued with interruptions until 1964. Of the total of 22 events that took place, one (in 1948) stopped before completion. After Olympiakos who won the cup 10 times, came AEK and Panathinaikos with 4 wins and lastly with 1 win each came Ethnikos Piraeus, German team Cologne RT and Romanian team Progkresoul Bucharest. From 1930 to 1935 there were no events held due to obligations of the top clubs (POK) on national stage, but the three POK teams continued to play each other in the stadium of Alexandras Avenue during Easter.

Winners:

• 1928: Olympiakos
• 1929: Olympiakos
• 1930-1933: Not held
• 1934: Olympiakos
• 1936: Olympiakos
• 1937: Ethnikos Piraeus
• 1938: AEK
• 1939: Not Held
• 1940: Panathinaikos
• 1943: Olympiakos
• 1944: AEK
• 1945: Olympiakos
• 1946: Olympiakos
• 1947: Panathinaikos
• 1948: Interrupted
• 1949: Olympiakos
• 1950: Not Held
• 1951: Olympiakos
• 1952: Panathinaikos
• 1953: Olympiakos
• 1954: Panathinaikos
• 1955: AEK
• 1956: Cologne RT
• 1957: Pao
• 1958: AEK
• 1959: Olympiakos
• 1960-1963: Not Held
• 1964: Olympiakos

Christmas Cup

The first Christmas Cup organized took place in 1943 and the first event lasted for two years. Organized with the participation of foreign clubs and the three clubs of P.O.K., this continued with various interruptions until 1962. All in all, there were 17 events held, plus one (in 1951) which was stopped before completion. The team with most wins (9) was Olympiakos , while AEK emerged victorious three times, Panathinaikos twice and in the case of two events there was no winner (cancelled in accord with all participants)

Winners:

• 1943-44 AEK
• 1945-1946: Not Held
• 1947: AEK
• 1948: Olympiakos
• 1949: Panathinaikos
• 1950: No Champions
• 1951: Interrupted
• 1952: Olympiakos
• 1953: Olympiakos
• 1955: Panathinaikos
• 1956: Olympiakos
• 1957: AEK
• 1958: No Champions
• 1959: Olympiakos
• 1960: Olympiakos
• 1961: Olympiakos
• 1962: Olympiakos

Sources

1. "Everything in football (three Almanacs), Ed IMAGES 1991.
2. John Diakogiannis, "Football" cactus ed. 1979.
3. "Olympiakos: An - A History", ed Miletos 1995.
4. "Panathinaikos 100 years" if. SportDay, 2008. SportDay, 2008.
5. G.CH.Alexandris : History of Olympiakos