The Full Story of
PANIONIOS G.S.S.
On September 14, 1890 in Smyrna, young people from prominent Greek families of the city decided to found the "Orpheas" Music and Gymnastics Association.
In 1893, by the members of Orfeas who wanted the club to deal mainly with sports, the new Club named "Gymnassion" was founded with the aim of developing and spreading the sport of Gymnastics.
This Association organizes sports competitions which it calls "Public", but the journalists of Smyrna have since called them "Panionian". The "Panonian Games" were held 19 times from 1896 to 1922. In fact, the club had an active participation in the first Olympic Games held in Athens.
The joint participation of athletes from the two unions in the various competitions as representatives of Smyrna resulted in the development of friendly relations and finally led to the reunification of the two co-operative unions in October 1898. Earlier in the same year, the joint organization of the B Panionian Games. The Public Games established by the Gymnasium in 1896 were called Panionian Games by the city journalists, as a result of which the name was established and eventually became the name of the club that arose in 1898 from the reconnection of Orpheus with the Gymnasium.
Thus the new association was named the Panionios Gymnastic Association of Smyrna. Blue and red were defined as the clubs colors, colors used by the Greeks of Asia Minor in various events. However, after the destruction of Smyrna, the colors took on a deeper meaning for some. The red is the blood of the Greeks that was shed in the persecution and the blue, the color of Greece and/or the Aegean that the refugees crossed. Twenty-four athletes of the club either die heroically on the battlefield or meet a martyrs death at the hands of the butchers. Panionios enters the fleeing ships, together with Hellenism and together they flee to the Attic lands.
In 1902 the Panionios Gymnastics Association of Smyrna founded the first school of gymnasts. From all over Greece, the school administrations send teachers to the School to learn Swedish Gymnastics, while two years later, the 1st Panhellenic Educational Conference that met in Athens awarded the Gold Medal and Diploma of Honor to P.G.S. S. for his contribution to sports education.
In the years following until the destruction of Smyrna by the Turks, Panionios created the first volleyball team (1913), introducing the sport of volleyball to the Greek area, while simultaneously with Athens and Thessaloniki, he created a basketball team (1919), organizing even a championship in Smyrna.
The ethno-martyr Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Smyrna (killed by the Turks on August 27, 1922) was a helper in Panionios effort to develop sports in Smyrna.
The Historic One (nickanme given to the club throughout the years due to it's history) became a refugee in 1922. The Asia Minor Catastrophe brought him to Athens and he was granted a room in the locker room of the Panathenaic Stadium, from where the reconstruction and reconstitution of all parts of the club began.
"Panionios is an idea and ideas never die", said the clubs president at the time, Dimitros Dallas, which proved to be true over the years, since the Nea Smyrni team is a club-jewel for Greek sports, with many and ardent supporters throughout Greece.
Through actions of Chrysostomos, the stadium of Panionios G.S.S. was created in Smyrna, having even refused a loan of 100,000 gold pounds offered to him by the British. Specifically, with the recommendation of Metropolitan Chrysostomos, the Demogerontia and the Central Committee granted an area of 105 acres, although they had a tempting offer of 100,000 pounds from the English, to sell it. The new stadium was built there, which was inaugurated in 1912 at the 14th Panionian Games. The new stadium included a track with a perimeter of 334 meters, a football field measuring 95x65 m, a gymnasium equipped with modern equipment, a stand for 7,000 spectators, changing rooms and offices.
Today, 132 years later, the pride of the refugee lives in a climate of rebirth.
Panionios G.S. Smyrnis with over 130 years of contribution to Greek sports and to Hellenism in general, from Asia Minor in the end of the 18th century, until today, having thousands of children under his arms , is proceeding with the establishment of an eSports division, wanting to star in yet another area of sports.
Representing the club and having as a principle its ideals, the same ones which guided the club, on 2 continents and within 3 centuries of its existence. We want to bring the same ideals to electronic sports and the Panionian ethos that govern the club.
