“Come on, how dare you even think about destroying my work?”

I am sure that if Konstantinos Karamanlis were alive, that is what he would have said with his strong Serrai accent to those who decided to destroy the Saint Kosmas National Youth Sports Center (EACNAC), which the then Prime Minister foresaw in 1959 and opened in July 1961 His descendants decided to hand over the vast area to an investor who occupied the old Hellinikon airport.

There is currently a lot of concern in the sports world about “what’s next” for the sports fields of Agios Kosmos. Where will all the sports grown there be placed?

The investor undertook to build a large sports center in the old airport. Do we have reason to doubt? Of course. Because the past teaches the future. The case of the Karaiskaki stadium, which was turned into a purely football stadium, is very revealing, and the athletics track, which was to be built next to it, remained promised. In addition, we live in the country of the early. Lots of examples. First we demolish and then we build to accommodate what was in the building we demolished. Perhaps this seems excessive to you. But in Greece, what is absurd for other countries is normal. If not, it’s reasonable.

For more than 60 years, Agios Kosmas has been offering hundreds of thousands of people the opportunity to take their first steps in sports. It is light for sports as well as an outlet for city dwellers from their daily lives and problems. And it shouldn’t be lost.