On 21 July 2012, more than 120 Greek Directioners descended on Syntagma Square in Athens for a flash mob. They danced for over six minutes and did an amazing job. The five girls at the front wore red vests with KEEP CALM AND BRING ONE DIRECTION TO GREECE on the front and they each had a boy’s name on their backs. The girls had spent hours making huge banners asking the boys to visit Greece.
The organisers posted a video on YouTube with the message, ‘We want to thank all the Greek Directioners who came and did this with us, you were all amazing! A HUGE thank you to Athens Deejay radio for helping us to make one of our dreams come true and for all the support. Also, we wanna thank the girls from the other flash mobs who inspired us to do this, Flash mob L.A., Flash mob Finland, Flash mob Sydney etc.
‘Thanks to Dimitra who recorded the whole flash mob and the girls who took us pictures :)
‘I personally wanna thank the other four girls who made the choreography, I love you guys, you are my flawless angels :):)’
To see the video, search ‘One Direction Flash mob Greece’.
Superfan Ourania, who is 14, sums up why she thinks One Direction have so many fans in Greece: ‘They make us laugh so much with the silly things they do. They not only have amazing voices, but they are just normal guys who like the same things we do.’
Greek Directioner Joanna, who is 19, can’t put her finger on one thing that makes them so popular. ‘The reasons why we love them are countless,’ she says. ‘They are so talented and beautiful; they enjoy their lives and live life to the fullest. All of them are perfect in their own way. Greece loves One Direction and we pray that they will come to visit us soon.’
Eighteen-year-old Artemi says, ‘My life has dramatically changed because of these five beautiful, adorable, funny and very talented boys. Whatever happens, I will always support them with all my heart, even if I never ever have the opportunity to see them from close.’
Dimitra is 15 and from Thessaloniki. She says, ‘To be a Directioner here in Greece is a little bit weird: we don’t get to hear things about the music world as fast as other countries. I found out about the boys one year after they’d been on The X Factor. I found a video of them on YouTube by mistake. From that moment, I started searching more and more, finding out who they were, their lives and how they came to be where they are today. So, little by little, I became one of their fans, joining millions of other girls from all around the world. I also got to meet some other Greek Directioners from different areas! I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing them perform live yet but hope to one day, I will never stop supporting them.’
Vasilia is 15 and from Athens. If she had to choose a favourite member of the band and a favourite song, she would have to say Liam and the song ‘More Than This’. She tries to ignore the haters who say nasty things about the boys and their fans, she says, because ‘nothing is gonna stop me from supporting these boys, who have changed my whole life. Every day I tweet them in the hope that they will notice me, every single day I want them to be happy, I want the best for them. I can’t explain how much they mean to me. Because of them I have made so many true friends, that I never had before, my 1D family.’
The boys love receiving tweets from fans and, even though they can’t reply to every tweet individually, they appreciate each one. One day Vasilia may receive a tweet back or even a follow from one of the boys – and that would mean the world to her.
Maria and Natalie are two best friends from Thessaloniki. They are 18 years old. Natalie was the first to find out about the boys and she introduced their music to Maria.
Natalie says, ‘To be honest, being a Directioner in our country is not the easiest thing to do. People criticise fans for supporting the boys; they say things like, “Why do you care so much about them, do you really think you’ll marry them? You know nothing about their lives and they know nothing about your lives.” Or, they’ll say things like, “It’s just another boy band; they will fade away in a few years.”’
Maria adds, ‘Some people think we only care about their looks. But they’re so wrong. Like, seriously, why did we buy their albums then? To listen to their faces? No. We like them for who they are. We like their amazing voices. They inspire us to be better people. And that’s why we thank them for entering our lives.
‘Luckily, the Greek Directioner family is strong and united. We organise meet-ups to get to know each other. There, we sing One Direction Songs, talk about our lives and interests; generally, we bond with each other. We also do flash mobs, to make the boys notice us. We have loads of fun there. That’s a positive aspect of our lives as Directioners in Greece. All in all, although we experience some difficulties, we have good times and that’s all that matters.’
Ritsa is 18 and lives on the island of Crete. She became a Directioner on her birthday after her friend dedicated one of their songs to her. She joined the Greek team on 25 November and made so many friends. She can’t choose a favourite 1D song – she loves ‘Moments’, ‘Little Things’ and ‘More Than This’ equally. She says, ‘At our meet-ups we have awesome experiences! All Directioners are crazy! We make many things together, sing, dance. I didn’t go to the first flash mob because I wasn’t a fan then, but I’ll be definitely taking part in the second one we do. I can’t wait.’