Beautiful blonde, on the Greek football field, referee. She runs back and forth with a checkered yellow-red pennant, passes in front of the stands, two meters from the grass, her long braid flutters in the wind. Hear everything from the stands, where 99% are men. At National Stadiums D, C and B. Any lady who uses sexist comments in a work environment should ask Chryza Kurobilia what she heard…

And yet, if anything has remained in the minds of those who have dealt with the 45-year-old referee because of our professional or sporting status, it is that time has passed in the game and the blonde myth has been dispelled, but in she mostly won respect with her sword. Even in her bad decisions, the viewer saw that she owns the object, that she loves what she does, and that her mistake does not hide her determination. The determination and dynamism she exuded, the way she forced herself on the players, the cooperation and understanding she had with her male colleagues left no room for doubt.

This is how the next male “lock” fell on the leading Greek referee, who, after the game between AEK and Volos last Sunday, decided to retire from active actions, “hanging up” his whistle, having also reached the upper age bar.
In an unsuspecting moment in her 25-year career, she said she would only speak when she stopped. He kept her personal life private and never gave her an interview. He did not engage in comments on social networks, which he considers a “meat machine”, he did not have and does not have an account in any social network. She always wanted everyone to be involved in her work on the field. At the very least, elements that emphasize her disciplined nature, her strong personality, her absolute focus on what she loved and chose to do.

“Now yes. I think that from the moment I made this decision, I have no reason not to compete,” he told us two days after her competitive final, as if he took an oath of honor, which he kept to the end.

“The referee chose me”

What most women never understood, namely offside, became her alter ego. “The decision to become an arbitrator was not made by me, no matter how strange it may sound. I never imagined myself as a football referee, despite the fact that I was always on the field and got infected from my grandfather and father, who were footballers. The judge chose me, not me. The former referee Manolis Tapatsas is to blame for this. After passing the TEFAA Komotini, I played football in the women’s team “Rhodopi 87”. I was a left winger, I even played for the national team. So he told me, become a judge, I see you will have a great career. You are fast, you have a sense of space, you are a man, you don’t understand anything … ”- the referee from Kallifon Karditsa tells K, who since childhood only wanted to run around the fields. . Do not play with dolls, do not help your mother in the kitchen, but sweat. Whether it was playing ball from village to village, or playing basketball at Filaletikos Karditsa and GAS Komotini, where she was also at her best, or sprinting in tartan. “I remember when I was 13 I played basketball and then I got on the bus and went to play for the other half of the football team,” he says with a smile.

“In 1997, at the age of 19, I played my first game with the local Komotini team. Then I moved to the 4th National, and later became an assistant in the 3rd National. There I had to decide whether to remain the first judge in small categories or assistant in large ones, and I chose the second. I could see my progress, it was continuous. I was not afraid of anything, and having played first, my supervision seemed easier. I clearly had the whole view of the field stored in my memory.” She doesn’t remember her first game. What she has left of that period are long and tiring trips to the most remote villages in Greece.

“I’m not afraid to fuck…”

It took 15 years to rise from the 4th national team to the Super League, receiving the FIFA badge. There her first game was an indifferent match, but in which the first unexpected thing happened to her. “It was the last game of the 2009-2010 season in Peristeri, Atromitos – Panthrakikos. The referee was Petros Konstantineas and the other assistant was Christos Magiannis. There was no intercom between us then. We just had a small car on our arm, where, if anyone – I wanted to chat with another, he pressed the button and we felt the vibration. It was broken, but Konstantinas told me from the very beginning, do not chew anything, I am not afraid of you. And I succeeded, “despite the fact that, as he says, “From my first year in the Super League, some people wanted to sideline me, but with my performances I won the world. What probably saved me, as oxymoron as it sounds, was that I slept without hesitation “I could adapt to the circumstances, but I was always real. I did not sell slavery. When the coach shouted to me from the bench: “Kurombylya, what are you hitting?” and I realized that I made a mistake, I would turn around and admit it to him: “Coach, you’re right.”

Since then and until today, much has passed, much has changed. Technology has stepped forward, VAR has come into our lives, but distrust of refereeing, and especially of the Greeks, remains. She herself considers the Greek referees to be among the best in Europe, one of the most qualified. And then, why is there so much noise over time around their name? “Some Greek judges have mishandled some situations, but I think all actors find the best alibi in themselves to hide their own responsibilities. I know that if I hurt Beo, he will come into the locker room and tear me apart. I will criticize myself, but will he do the same for his team? We are an easy target. Indeed, which of the foreigners who came this year and played was not mistaken? Why should the error of the Greek be considered to be deceitful and conceal influence, while the error of the foreigner is innocent? As the taxi driver I rode with to blow the whistle rightly told me, “buffaloes argue and you frogs pay whether you like it or not.”

“Last Dance” with the World Cup

From that match in Peristeri until Sunday, when, in addition to a shocking surprise, the final was written (there is a chance that she will also be in the refereeing trio of the AEK-PAOK final, since the organization belongs to the EPO), the Greek referee took part in major European competitions among men and women. On 19/02/2015, she was Michalis Koukoulakis’s assistant in Torino’s 2-2 Athletic Bilbao match in the Europa League, becoming the first woman to be appointed to a European Cup match after 10 years.

The previous one, who was lucky enough to be nominated in high-level European Cup matches, was the French Venio. She has also been named to the Women’s Under-20 World Cup, Women’s Champions League, Euro and Nations League. She took part in the Rio Olympics as first assistant in the 2021-22 Women’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Lyon, where she performed exceptionally well.

“It sounds ironic, two weeks ago when I blew the whistle for the Champions League semi-finals, we got the full approval of FIFA and UEFA, but we cannot referee Panaitolikos – Asteras Tripoli,” she says, having now turned her attention to the last major competition. who will take part. “I will compete in my third Women’s World Championship which will be held from 20 July to 20 August in Australia. Earlier, I will take part in the tournament, which will be held in Marseille among the U-20 team. I think I will finish my career completely. Just like I dreamed of her.”

“Curses Bent Me”

There were hundreds of negative reviews that Kurobilla heard over the years from the stands and from the players, but she easily overcame them. Before I asked her about Ari’s match against Asteras Tripoli, which was abandoned for Thessaloniki due to her injury from a bottle in her stomach, she caught up with me. “Just don’t ask me about this match. I respect the fans of Ari, like all teams, but from the first minute objects fell down. So Curobilly had to be killed to stop this?” he told us and continued: “I have been a bully since childhood. I was not a romantic. I knew what I was about to face and it didn’t let me down. Moreover, the years went by and the competitions in crowded stadiums. I didn’t hear a thing, even if the dance floor was cursing me. It’s worse when you play in a stadium with about 100 people in the stands. Because you can hear everything there. Each curse is separate. What really broke me was the curses they threw at me and my family. Dirty words you can’t even say. I spoke and wished from within: “My Virgin Mary, do what they say about me so that they never suffer from it. Fortunately, I was hardened, because a normal person could not say such things without a hint of shame. These guys really needed psychoanalysis.”

For Chrysoula, “It goes without saying that respect in stadiums is earned. Especially when you’re a woman, you have to try twice. This thought has kept me going all these years. I didn’t do public relations, I didn’t talk to journalists to get promoted. What I did, I did with my work. At the UEFA evaluation seminar I was asked why I decided to play football. I told them that in the village where I was born, apart from agricultural work, you have nothing to do but play ball. But even if I was born in New York, I would play football. I was, am and will be in love with the ball. It’s in my DNA.” Since 2008, he has been combining work and family with all the difficulties that exist in the profession. Her husband, a surgeon by profession, supported her in every choice she made. “He told me since I played in the 3rd team, leave if you are not having a good time. I promised him that if I found that I was not satisfied with what I was doing. At big tournaments, abroad, we were separated for 20 days. We have learned to constantly live at a distance. After her last dance at the Women’s World Championships in Australia, her thoughts lead her to train the kids she loves so much, especially kids with special abilities. Chrysoula will leave the flag and the whistle in the closet of memories, but will not leave the field and will not stop running. The final termination will be accepted only when she wants to…