Scarf Around My Neck

Başlığıyla bloguma isim babası olmuş 2007 yılında ülkemizde yayınlanmak üzere yola çıkmış ancak tek sayıyla kalmış exTR-a Time dergisinde yayınlaşmış yazımı blogda yayınlamak uygun olur diye düşündü. İlk sayıda Türk futbolu ve 3 büyüklerin geçmişine değinmiştim. Tabi dergi İngiltere'de basıldığında İngiliz Futboluna etkisini yazmışım. Buradan anı fotoğrafı kullanarak yazıya ve dolayısıyla başlığa hayat veren Adrian Stores'u anmayı boç bilirim.Umarım sıkılmadan okursunuz:

Some people say that football is an International language. Well here’s a brief introduction to the World of this sport in Turkey.

We start by referring a little, to how football evolved in ‘Turkiye’ and mention something about the three big football clubs in Turkey. Though I’m sure there will be some readers who say it should be a big 4 or more!

There are eighteen teams in the Turkish Super League but three of them are focussed upon – all from Istanbul. They are Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray. They are selected as the champions in the league, which has been played since 1959. The only exception is Trabzonspor who won the title six times and took the cup out of Istanbul.

Although, today’s top teams are from Istanbul the first football games in Turkey were played in Izmir. Because of the restrictions of establishing even a union between Turkish people, the Ottoman Emperor, II. Mahmut, forbid Turkish people to come together and establish a club or union in any area. English families like La Fontaine, Giraud, Whitall, Charnmad led all the football activity in Turkey in those days. One of the leading people was James La Fontaine who moved to Istanbul from Izmir and established the team called the ‘Football Association’. There was also some other teams which were launched by both Greek and English people at this time. Finally, they set up the league called ‘Constantinople (Istanbul) Football League’ in 1904. There were not any Turkish team at the time they started to play.

The first sport club to be formed was Besiktas, though their main interest was in gymnastics rather than football at this time (the abbreviation for Besiktas is BJK - which stands for Besiktas Gymnasium Club in Turkish). So the first Turkish club joining the Istanbul Football League was Galatasaray in 1906 and they won the title for the first time in 1908. Fenerbahce joined the league in 1909 and won the title in 1912. The games between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray are still known as one of the biggest ‘derbies’ in the world. The competitiveness between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce dates back to those days.

The first game between these two teams was played on 11^th January 1909 and resulted in a thumping 2-0 victory for Galatasaray (guess who I support?). In 1914, these two teams had a big disagreement so two different league were formed and the inevitable match between these two ‘champions’ was delayed to identify the ‘real’ champion. Fenerbahce won the title that year.

Interest in football was increasing so Besiktas started to show an interest. Surprisingly, Besiktas’ first application to join the League was not accepted, so they set up their own called Turk Idman Birligi League with other Turkish teams in 1920. By the time Besiktas joined the Istanbul league, it had become a strong team. They won the title five times in a row between 1938 and 1943 and two times after Fenerbahce stopped them in the 1943-1944 season.

Istanbul Football League, which is known as the ‘father’ of today’s league, was played for 51 years. It was interrupted for 4 years because of Olympics, the First World War and Turkish freedom war. In total, Fenerbahce had won the title 16 times whilst Galatasaray 14 and Besiktas 13. So Galatasaray was the first Turkish team which won the title and Fenerbahce the last team before its name was changed to the Turkish National League in 1959.

The first Turkish League One was played in a group system (two groups). The winner of the white one, Fenerbahce beat the winner of the red one, Galatasaray and therefore won the first championship title.

Having helped to develop football in Turkey in the beginning of 20^th the century, English players and managers have played a role in Turkish teams many times in the following years. A few are now highlighted.

Brian Birch managed and won the title with Galatasaray between 1970-73. Winning the title three years in a row was a resounding success; repeated by Gordon Milne when he was working with Besiktas for six years between 1987 and 1993.

Graeme Souness remains never forgotten by both of the ‘big 2’ as he stuck the Galatasaray flag into the Fenerbahce ground’s centre-circle in the Turkish Cup final in the 1995-96 season. He was their Manager at the time.

Another manager from the United Kingdom, was Welsh, John Benjamin Toshack. He worked for Besiktas between 1997-99 and his name has a ‘sensational’ (not to be forgotten!) meaning in Turkish. He later transferred to Real Madrid in 1999.

Many managers, including those mentioned, liked to transfer players from their respective countries. Les Ferdinand, Alan Walsh, Ian Watson played at Besiktas when Milne was Manager. Les Ferdinand played for one season on loan, when he was young, whilst others were, let’s say, in the latter stages of their careers. Nevertheless, they all added a lot to Turkish football. These included such players as: Dean Saunders who played for Galatasaray; Mike Marsh and Berry Venison who also played for Galatasaray but did not stay long; Dalian Atkinson playing for Fenerbahce. Atkinson arguably did not do much, but scored terrific three goals against Galatasaray on a derby game and become a hero for the fans.

So back to the big 3: Besiktas (BJK), also known as Black Eagles (black and white scarves), has won the Turkish League 10 times and Turkish Cup 6 times. It is widely accepted that the Club has the most creative and passionate fans. They play their games at Inonu Stadium which is opposite to Dolmabahce Palace and has a beautiful sea view. They are also the first winner of the Turkish Super Cup, which is played between the Champion and Turkish Cup winners, in 2006. They won the championship in 2003 which was the 100^th anniversary of the Club. Even though their origins were related to gymnastics – they are the only team with the Turkish ‘crest’ and ‘star’ in their emblem – as the first club.

Fenerbahce (FB), named as Yellow Canaries (yellow and blue) has won the championship 16 times and Turkish cup 4 times. They have the biggest and most modern stadium called Sukru Saracoglu in the Anatolian side of Istanbul which will be home for the 2009 UEFA Cup Final. They are the richest club in Turkey at the moment. They try to sign big names in order to win the title in their 100^th year celebrations on 2007. Anelka was there till recently transferring to Bolton Wanderers. Fenerbahce has not won the Turkish Cup since 1983. An interesting thing happened in 1980-81 season…… Fenerbahce had the same points as the team which was relegated. This is the first time one of the biggest teams was so close to relegation!

Galatasaray (GS), lions (red, yellow strip), have the most success in Turkey historically although they waited 13 years to become champions after 1973. They are named as champions for 16 times and took the Turkish Cup after 14 victories to their museum. They are also known as “Conqueror of Europe” because of their success in European games. They won the EUFA Cup in 2000 beating Arsenal in the final and then the Super Cup same year against Real Madrid. They played in the semi final in the Champion Clubs Cup in 1989 and quarter final of the Champions League after the season they won the UEFA Cup. But apparently they were not as good at all aspects of management - and they could not turn all this success into money. They are having reported financial problems nowadays. Their home is named Ali Sami Yen, after the founder of the Club. Readers might recall seeing the fans welcome the opposition with the flag with the writing “welcome to hell’ on it.

2005-2006 season witnessed one of the most dramatic finales in the League. Galatasaray had big financial problems and were struggling to pay wages. On the other hand, Fenerbahce with the big names in their squad beat Galatasaray in both home and away games. However, Galatasaray won against Besiktas before the last game of season, scoring the winning goal in ‘exTRa-time’ dramatically. Fenerbahce won its’ home game, playing without their own fans because of a Turkish Football Federation’s fine. So the last week set it all up. Fenerbahce was leading the league on the same points with Galatasaray. Everybody was sure that Fenerbahce would beat Denizlispor (who themselves had to get a draw in order to stay in the League) and win the title as they did the two previous years. But it was not that easy. Denizlispor scored the first goal which surprised both Galatasaray fans and players who were playing their match. Then, the Galatasaray game finished but there was something weird. The referee added 16 minutes to the Fenerbahce game because of disturbances at half time. Probably, it was the longest 16 minutes in a Galatasaray supporter’s life. All stadium was awaiting the outcome at the final whistle. Fenerbahce did score an equalizer but time was not enough for a winning goal! Galatasaray were crowned Champions for the 16^th time.

At the time of this article being submitted, Fenerbahce is leading the League with 7 points advantage in front of Galatasaray. Besiktas is in the third position and 8 points behind the leader.

In conclusion, the English have had a key role in the history of the Turkish game. Nowadays in keeping with other nations, the passion and rivalry make football enjoyable and a key part of everyday life.