FORGET America’s Independence Day. For Greeks around the world, July 4 2004 will forever be remembered as the day their national football team beat Portugal 1-0 to become European champions.

Last Sunday, Greeks and people with a Hellenic affinity in every corner of the world took to the streets to celebrate the momentous victory, with feelings of euphoria and pride lasting for days.

And one person, who has made sure that moment will never be forgotten, is Nicosia’s George Tsourounakis.

Owner of a building on the Capital’s Kennedy Avenue, Tsourounakis, 32, has had a 60 square metre Greek flag painted down the side of its wall. The blue and white stripes are impossible to miss as you drive by, almost jumping out at you and daring you to deny that a remarkable win in the world of football.

But what made him do it? And how did he manage to get such a perfectly aligned flag painted down the side of his wall?

“It all started with a telephone call,” Tsourounakis told the Sunday Mail yesterday.
“My friend John, who owns a construction company, J.N.S Nicolaou, called me just before the game and told me that if we won the championship he was going to paint the Greek flag on my building.”

Tsourounakis said his friend had only made the remark as a joke, because he had spent a lot of money renovating the building only the year before. “John never expected me to go through with it, but after the game finished I called him back.”

Initially the project seemed like too much hassle because it would involve building scaffolding all the way up to the top, he said.

“So I called my friend Stavro, who had undertaken the renovation of the building with his company SEV Paints last year and who owns a crane we could use.”

The next step was to find a sponsor to provide the paints and materials to help make the dream a reality.

“Homeworks Ellinas DIY provided the lights (used to keep the flag lit at night), the paints and all the materials necessary,” said Tsourounakis.

By Wednesday the crew was ready to get to work.

“We started at 2pm. John went up in the crane first and drew the lines and designed the flag on the wall. He then painted the cross. When he came down, Stavro and I went up to finish painting.”

However, the ‘artists’ soon ran into a spot of trouble and the crane broke down for two hours, leaving the two men stuck in the sweltering heat. After the machine was fixed and the pair got back to work, it was 7.30pm before the flag was finally finished.

“We had a couple of beers to celebrate and then at night switched on the lights to look at it,” he said.

Because all the flats are rented, Tsourounakis did not have to ask the tenants permission to paint the flag. Nevertheless, there were no objections. “On the contrary, they’ve all said how beautiful it looks,” he said.

He has three wishes regarding his flag: “One, that pictures of this flag travel across the planet where all Greek people live sending the message, ‘Greece United, Never Defeated’ (Ellada Enomeni, Pote Nikimeni).
“Two, that another Greek person is found in the world that proves crazier than I am and paints a Greek flag on an even bigger building sending the message that ‘Greece Never Dies’ (I Ellada Pote Den Petheni).

“And finally third, if the players come to Cyprus to visit the president, that someone sponsors a plaque which the players and coach sign and it’s then put on the flag.”
Tsourounakis said: “The reason I did this was to keep the memory of this victory alive. For me, this victory in the football world has the same importance as Metaxas’ ‘no’ to Mussolini.

“I don’t believe any Greek person passing this building in years to come will be able to forget Charisteas scoring a goal, Zagorakis’ technique, Fyssas’ tackling or Otto Rehhagel’s whistle blowing. Nor will they be able to forget the hundreds of thousands of people who gathered in Panathinaiko Stadium Kalimarmaro in Athens or the celebrations in Eleftheria Square.”