Fans United
Supporters of leading Turkish Clubs in Istanbul are uniting against terrorism. Follow the #hashtag to see what activities are being undertaken and any results achieved. Is there scope for similar in the UK? See: #Terörekarşıbirlikteyiz
Posts tagged ‘Fenerbache’
Sep 9
Welcome to Manchester
With our very own connections and affinity to Turkey, we couldn’t but offer a warm welcome to the latest Turk to the City of Manchester. Manchester City has signed a young Turkish forward, aged 18, called Enes Unal.
Who? I might hear you say. Well a track record of prolific netting – Turkey u16s 24 goals in 25 games; and 170 in 102 matches in the Coca Cola Academy League means he certainly has the pedigree and an eye for goal! A little birdy has however tweeted recently that the visa may not be a formality.
I still get excited by Turkish imports to the beautiful game – and if Fenerbache gets the right result tonight they too might travel here with the latest familiar faces of RVP and Nani.
A feminine touch
Turkey was in the news today for less than appeasing reasons. Last night at Elland Road, a minority of Manchester United fans taunted the Leeds supporters with a rendition of “always look for the Turk carrying a knife” (edited from original lyrics as fans often do!). This verbal attack, also visual by an odd flag pronouncing ‘Galatasaray’ or ‘Istanbul’. Naturally, both sides played a part, with a reminder of Munich in the Leeds’ repertoire.
Just up the road in Istanbul another footballing spectacle was catching worldwide attention. You’ve no doubt read earlier about the problems in the Turkish game. After the allegations facing Fenerbache and other instances of fans’ violence, it was expected that empty stadiums would be one form of punishment. The Turks however, brought us a novel approach, courtesy of our friends at the TFF including Cem ülkeroglu (Turkish Football Federation).
They opened the gates to last night’s game against Manisaspor, but only to — women and children under the age of 12. That’s right no men, the traditional dominant punter were not allowed into the Ground. It doesn’t stop there. All tickets were free of charge. A whopping 40,000 crowd attended the fixture! The singing and hospitality was more ‘lady like’ in tone and activity also.
Now that’s a turn up for the books. How can this impact on that Country’s sport which mirrors many of the problems that were former ‘evils’ of the British counterpart in former years?
Turkey ban has legs
Just feel the need to “talk Turkey” today, as not been reporting much on happenings in that Country in this Blog. As if by magic, a scandal unfolds, in no small way – as only the Turks can! How often does Baba look at me with that expression when I ask why something has happened with the phrase “burası Türkiye”.
I am referring to the massive corruption that has been found to have legs. Last week saw the arrests of three Club’s Presidents, Fenerbache’s being the highest profile. In addition, more than sixty others from the profession were targeted under allegations of match-fixing. Fenerbache has since put out a statement pleading innocence.
The investigation continues and is also looking at the decisive league game last season in which Fenerbahce secured their 18th title of the Turkish Süper Lig with the victory over Sivasspor. In connection with this match Sivasspor’s goalkeeper has been taken into custody. The whole scam includes looking into players and managers.
Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, himself a dedicated supporter of Fenerbahce has said “it is a decision of the judiciary and police”. Talk about stating the obvious.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has said it would be following the investigations closely (I recently shared a stage with them). This story clearly will run and run.
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