Derry City FC diehard George Fertakis cheering on Candystripes from Marathon Tomb as love for the city endures

Forty kilometres North east of Athens where 2,516 years ago the Greeks defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, George Fertakis will pull on his Derry City jersey with pride.

Originally from Kypseli in the Greek capital, the 54-year-old runs a record store in Nea Makri, a town on the Aegean coast close to Marathon where he has been living for over two decades.

"From 2004 onwards I moved into my family’s summerhouse in Marathon...It’s mostly known as the theatre for the Battle of Marathon against the Persians in 490BC and being the starting point of the original Athens Marathon Run.

"The area that I live in is named Marathon Tomb, hosting the tumulus of the Athenian soldiers that holds the cremated remains of 192 Athenian warriors who died during the battle,” George explains.

A few weeks ago when Derry flew to Sofia for the club’s Europa League clash with CSKA, George was present at the bar in JJ Murphy’s in the Bulgarian capital sipping a pint of Kamenitza with fellow members of the ‘Red and White Army’.

CSKA, he told the ‘Journal’, had been a ‘dream draw’ as it had been relatively easy to make it up from Athens to Sofia within the greater Balkans.

“It was my first ever DCFC away match in Sofia. I enjoyed every minute of my trip and met a great bunch of people that welcomed me as one of their own.

"It was a great experience in the pub before the match and in the away end meeting DCFC fans,” he says.

George fell in love with Ireland at a young age. His Granda used to take him and his brother to a public library in the National Garden of Athens where a member of staff would play Celtic music while reading Irish fairy tales to the children.

In his school days he corresponded with pen pals in Ireland, including Dubliner Ciara Harbison, who always sent ‘a beautiful postcard along with her letters’.

His burgeoning bond with this country was bolstered by the happy coincidence that his home town club, Panathinaikos, share the green and white and the shamrock with the Irish national side.

He loved Irish music. In his record shop, Sonic Boom and Used Records.gr in Nea Makri, you are likely to find albums by The Undertones, Rory Gallagher, The Pogues, The Dubliners, Thin Lizzy, U2, Sinéad O’Connor, Stiff Little Fingers, Outcast and Blood or Whiskey.

George became a voracious consumer of Irish film. In his formative years his eyes were opened by features including Cal (1984), The Crying Game (1992) and In the Name of the Father (1993).

"Visiting Ireland was always a goal and a dream that came true in the early 2000s. My brother Nick had just died and a common friend, Manos, got me to start planning that trip both as a tribute to my Irish-loving brother and as a way to have a good time in what was a rather depressing time for us. Back then there was actually no plan at all except our return tickets, some 20 days after landing,” he explains.

They landed in Dublin one August and eventually made their way north winding up in Dungiven where they were introduced to poitín!

"We even brought a bottle back home and drank it ceremoniously on the next New Year’s Eve,” he laughs.

After four or five days in Dungiven they had been due to travel to Belfast but ongoing parading tensions at the time forced a change of plan.

"I still remember us two arriving in Derry trying to locate the hostel [Steve’s Backpackers], carrying our backpacks and being stopped by random people outside pubs inviting us for a pint.

“We tried to explain that we had to find the hostel first only to get the response, ‘Never mind, even if you do not make it to the hostel we will accommodate you’.

"We realised that an Irish-Greek bond exists and it’s quite strong.”

The duo finally made it to the hostel and were greeted with great hospitality by Steve.

They soon began to soak up the history.

"During our week’s stay in Derry, we managed to visit the Bloody Sunday museum. It was moving and I could not hold my tears,” he says.

George recalls the buzz around the city centre and the many pubs visited during that memorable late summer.

One night they were in Tracy’s in Waterloo Street when an impromptu sing-song broke out.

“We were informed that we should also contribute and sing something from Greece. That was it. The Panathinaikos anthem came first and Sinnefiasmeni Kiriaki (Gloomy Sunday), a sad Greek classic afterwards.

"Strangely people seemed to love our out of tune singing or they were just being Derry-polite,” George reflects.

During his sojourn in the city he visited Free Derry Corner and viewed the Bogside murals, which he described as ‘breathtaking’.

They visited John ‘Jobby' Crossan’s legendary sports shop on the Racecourse Road.

“The very kind owner introduced us to the Derry City kits and even showed us Eusébio’s match-worn national team jersey. If I can recall the story was that he had played against him,” he says.

Ironically, George and Manos steadfastly refused to don the red and white of Derry because they were also the colours of Olympiacos, Panathinaikos’ fierce rivals in Greece! Nonetheless a seed was planted.

“It was the early days of the internet in Greece and when I returned I was always trying to get any information I could on DCFC. Some years later I discovered a Facebook group named Derry City Exiles, mostly Derry people living abroad.

"I got a great jersey and a fantastic hoodie from the lads and I’m still wearing them,” says George.

He religiously tuned into Drive 105 on match evenings ‘trying hard to understand the northern accents’ but was unable to catch much of the live action until the advent of LOITV.

"Earlier this year I managed to get a LOTIV subscription for the first time and now Friday nights are DCFC nights – my missus is not so happy about it!...It all started with my love for the Derry people and the city. Being a football fan, I would not let myself pass up the opportunity to somehow support a club that I also realised is highly ethical and seems to stand on the right side of history in so many ways.”

Three weeks ago George belted out Teenage Kicks with the Derry City support as they marched into the Vasil Levski National Stadium. He proudly unfurled his Marathon Tomb supporters’ flag over the away end and cheered city on to a valiant 3-2 away defeat.

On Thursday, not far from where Miltiadis led the Athenians to victory all those years ago incredibly, George will be rooting for Derry as they try to overcome a 1-0 deficit against Rijeka at the Brandywell.