Dearest Herald Sun,

As a mediocre football fan, I find your article regarding last night’s friendly match between Greece and the Socceroos offensive, unresearched, quite obtuse, and I even sensed a hint of racism. It’s as if you had already written the article before the event, and were simply waiting for some photos to come through which suited the picture you had painted.

As a cultural specialist here in Melbourne, through our dance school we have taught and inspired thousands of Melburnians (and Australians country-wide), and last night’s event was yet another big ‘tick’ for cultural diversity in Melbourne.

Despite a handful of flares let off by some renegade supporters of both teams, the demeanour and general vibe of the majority of attendees (we know because we greeted the majority at the gates), was passionate, pleasant and patriotic.

Our dance group and band provided free outdoor cultural entertainment, through live music floorshows, traditional Greek dance exhibitions and interactive sessions over a 2-hour period where Greeks, Australians and Melburnians from diverse cultural backgrounds all danced our famous “Zorba” arms around eachother, cheerfully, respectfully. They applauded our efforts, and we in turn applauded their conduct and enthusiasm.

Inside the stadium, the vibe was one of national pride- not for the Greek national team, but for us as Australians. Everyone, everywhere was ‘buzzing’! I have attended AFL and cricket matches in our glorious state, and I can confirm that the verbal diarrhea at those events (as well as the level of intoxication) was ‘off the chart’ compared to our passionate and loud football fans. It seems that although Melbourne prides itself as the Sporting Capital of Australia, biased media prefer that we ‘select’ the sports which we promote.

We were super-proud to be a part of last night’s event. Seeing as none of the content your paper focused on was of the actual game, but rather spectators and other elements outside the stadium, you might as well have used one of the countless photos of dancers and musicians.

Lastly, your write-up (attack) on last night’s event went as far as highlighting ‘violence’. There were no fights, no animosity, no tension, no arguments and definitely no fights. I would be surprised if there were even any arrests- but I do not have this information at hand to verify. Despite this, the fact that you highlighted ‘violence’, implies that I, as the director and supervisor of my troupe had my students in harms’ way- especially as our focus was pre-game entertainment, outside the stadium. Many of our students (in fact the majority of whom are under 18), felt safe, protected, supported and ‘appreciated’ by everyone at the event. At no moment did anyone feel unsafe, vulnerable, threatened, or subjected to any type of ‘voilence’… and we were in the epicentre of it all!

Unfortunately, you could have promoted our ‘cultural flair’ instead of the orange ones you opted to highlight.

Sincerely,

Dimosthenis Manasis

Director / Instructor of the MANASIS School of Greek Dance and Culture