Experts on the Football Field

As Greece struggled to find her feet, only sixteen years after the end of World War II, the notion, role, and function of professional football was still unexplored. With this in mind, the most popular and beloved football players in the 1950s were passionate enthusiasts who competed for the love of sport and the fleeting glory of Sunday's match. Andreas Mouratis was a bill poster, Kostas Linoxilakis was an engineering student, and Kostas Poulis was a petrol station attendant. After the grave injury of Kostas Linoxilakis during a match of the national football team, an incident in the guests' dressing room resulted in Mouratis' expulsion from the Hellenic Football Federation. However, the Greek team didn't take this situation lying down, refusing to play in the next game. —Nick Riganas