Turkish football league stops matches after attack on referee
The blow came just seconds after referee Halil Umut Meler blew his whistle to end Monday night’s match in Turkey’s top football league. The first kick, and then the second, followed next, as the referee lay on the grass, desperately trying to protect his head with both hands.
Within hours, the referee was in hospital, the team president who threw the punch was arrested and all matches in Turkey were suspended indefinitely.
Chaos broke out at the end of a match in Turkey’s top division, the Super Lig, between Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor in Ankara. It had been a tough match, with two throwaways and a dramatic ending: a last-minute goal from the visitors, Rizespor, that denied the home side a much-needed victory. And while the heated scene wasn’t necessarily unusual in a league known for its hothouse-stadium atmosphere, the violence — and the reaction to it — certainly was.
Within moments of the final whistle, and as players, fans and others entered the field, Meler was chased by a group of angry Ankaragucu team officials, led by the club’s president, Faruk Koca. Koca approached the referee from the sideline and threw a punch that landed on the left side of Meler’s face, knocking him to the ground. Other men quickly surrounded the fallen referee and aimed kicks at his body and head as he tried to protect himself.
Meler, a respected referee who is part of an elite group of officials who handle big matches such as those in the Champions League, was protected by players and other officials. Helped to his feet, he was led away under a police escort with a visibly swollen, blackened left eye.
When Turkish politicians and football officials visited him in hospital on Tuesday morning, news reports said he had suffered a fracture.
The attack drew immediate condemnation across Turkey. Late on Monday, the Turkish Football Federation, which oversees competition in the country, suspended all matches indefinitely after an emergency meeting. Turkey’s Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc wrote on the social media platform had been arrestedand that others involved in the violence on the field would face similar charges.
Even Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is known for his love of football, was quick to condemn the attack. ‘Sport means peace and brotherhood’ He wrote in a post on X. “Sport is incompatible with violence. We will never allow violence to take place in Turkish sports.”
On Tuesday, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said visited Meler in his hospital roomand said he had acted as an intermediary when the referee spoke to Mr Erdogan by telephone.
The incident was particularly embarrassing for the government as Koca is a key figure in Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, known as the AKP, which has been twice elected to the country’s parliament.
Turkey is not alone in experiencing abuse and violence against officials. Neighboring country, Greece’s highest league postponed all its games last weekend after the country’s referees refused to work in protest at what they called dangerous working conditions.
Bomb attacks targeting referees have been a problem in Cyprus for years. A pipe bomb in June exploded outside the building housing the Cyprus Referees Association in the capital Nicosia, just weeks after a firebomb was thrown at the home of a match official.
Referees in Turkey have long been under intense pressure from fans and team officials who spread all kinds of conspiracy theories about decisions that they claim could have gone in favor of a powerful club, or against the club they support.
But even in an atmosphere of deep distrust of referees, Monday’s attack appeared to shock the country. Galatasaray, Turkey’s most decorated club, released a statement saying the club was “indescribably saddened” by the attack and urged Turkish football to ensure similar incidents never happen again.
However, whether the incident will change attitudes remains to be seen. Shortly after the attack on Meler, Ankaragucu’s largest fan club released a statement blaming the Turkish federation and the country’s referees for the violence. “We stand behind Faruk Koca,” the group said wrote on X.