By Stuart McLennan.
The Greek city of Athens and Australia's bush capital don’t have much in common apart from national parliamentary proceedings but if you dig deep you might find a shared passion for rugby league and the lime green colours of the Raiders.
On a cool night in west Athens, head coach Christos Mouzakitis is putting his group of around 30 players, made up of local men and women, through their paces at training.
After a couple of false starts, the Athens Raiders rugby league club commenced playing in the Greek domestic league in 2019 under the leadership of staunch Green Machine fan Mouzakitis wearing a strip donated by the Canberra Raiders.
“I’m still stoked to be able to represent the Raiders in Greece, let alone coach this side,'' Mouzakitis said.
“I think it’s every supporter’s dream to pour their love for the club back to their own environment, either a bush area or moreover another country.”
Mouzakitis said he settled on following the Canberra Raiders team back in 2012 after he started watching the NRL a few years prior. There were two key factors for choosing the Green Machine.
“I decided that I wanted to be associated with a club and picked the Raiders for two reasons. It was an Australian team that didn’t belong in NSW or QLD and I was always attracted by outliers and the thought of being like a small village of Gauls playing rugby league. It was also the same colours, (mainly green and white), that my Greek football team Panathinaikos has.”
The big love for the Canberra Raiders isn’t confined to the team coach. In fact Mouzakitis inadvertently set his five eighth on the same path when he gave Kostas Arvanitis the task of analysing the play of an international star.
“Christos told me to watch some NZ Warriors games and closely watch Shaun Johnson who was at his prime.
“I loved the Raiders logo, the Viking was really intriguing as I was a huge ‘Vikings’ series and Viking mythology fan,” Arvanitis explained.
“So I watched NZ Warriors versus Canberra Raiders. I tried to keep an eye on Shaun Johnson but my attention was caught by another player playing in the halves in the opposition, Blake Austin. Wow! From that moment I knew who I wanted to be like as a player. After the game, I texted Christos and said I watched a game with Shaun as you told me, but I loved the opposing number six and the team in green with the Viking logo. That's who I am going for. And the rest is history.”
Suffice to say former Raider Austin was a hero with Arvanitis, while of the current squad he favours Josh Papali’i and Jack Wighton. Coach Mouzakitis is also a Wighton fan.
“I didn’t have the opportunity to watch live the great ones like Big Mal, Sticky, Daley, Mullins etc, but my favorite is Jackie Wighton, he came through the same year that I started following the Raiders, he wears his heart on his sleeve every time he plays and he’s a testament that hard work pays off eventually,” Mouzakitis said.
There is agreement amongst the Athens fanbase that 2023 may just be Canberra’s year to win their first premiership since 1994. Both are desperate to travel to Australia and one day watch their beloved Raiders.
“It would be a dream come true. I've thought of moving to Australia one day and I think Canberra would be the first place I'd look for accommodation and work,” Arvanitis said.
“Oh that’s on the top of my bucket list for sure.I haven’t ever been to Australia, the stronghold of rugby league, and being able to watch my beloved team playing live and doing the Viking clap with my fellow Raiders fans gives me goosebumps just thinking about it,” Mouzakitis added.
If you ever see these Greek rugby league fans wandering around Canberra Stadium wearing lime green be sure to say hello or maybe a ‘yiasou’. They’d love to talk footy with you!
