MKE Ankaragücü President Faruk Koca came onto the field after his team equalized at the last minute in the 1-1 draw with Çaykur Rizespor. Few could imagine what would happen next. Koca punched referee Halil Umut Meler in the face.
In the ensuing melee, the referee was knocked to the ground and kicked several times. The husband and his entourage were eventually restrained, but the damage was done. Meler was carried off the field by his fellow match officials, who displayed a visibly swollen black eye. Jonjo Shelvey was among the players horrified by what they had just witnessed. However, no matter how ugly the incident was, I was not surprised.
Relating to: Football league was suspended due to Ankaragücü President punching the referee
Koca, who won the fair play award in November 2022, said that the referee’s “provocative behavior” was the catalyst, aiming to “spit in his face” and react “verbally”.
Meler had a different version of events. “The husband said to me and my colleagues, ‘I will finish you off.’ He addressed me and said, ‘I will kill you’.” Koca and two more suspects were arrested. Meler needed hospital treatment for bleeding around his eye and a small fracture.
On Tuesday night, Koca resigned and apologized. “Nothing can justify or explain the violence I committed,” he said. “Sports fields should be the venue for gentlemanly competition. “There should be no attitude in the stadiums, including mine, that casts a shadow on fair play.”
However, Turkish football has developed a toxic attitude towards refereeing; This puts the situation very lightly. This didn’t happen overnight. For years, Turkish club officials, managers and presidents have slandered referees. Some elements of the sports media have fed the narrative that referees are dishonest, corrupt individuals who work in cahoots with dark forces to hold back the team that was on the receiving end of a bad call that week.
This has spilled over into fan culture as well. It has reached fever level. Reasonable football fans truly believe that there are referees who conspire with opposing teams and are part of the football deep state determined to sabotage their progress. The general belief that refereeing as an institution is corrupt is widely accepted and openly encouraged at the highest levels of the sport.
The physical attack on Meler was condemned by almost every club, sports media and football federation. Football was suspended. Turkish Federation President Mehmet Büyükeksi said at the press conference, “Matches in all leagues have been postponed indefinitely.” “This attack is shameful for Turkish football. Enough is enough. They blame the referees every day. Referees are human, of course they make mistakes, but responding with punches and kicks is not a solution. We must put an end to this.”
The crocodile tears of the people who contribute to this environment are hypocrisy. Everyone is responsible for what they did and Ankaragücü undoubtedly deserves the severe punishment that the club and the president will receive. However, it would be wrong to see this as an isolated coincidental event and then continue its normal course.
In October, Fenerbahce President Ali Koç said: “There were very strange events. [refereeing] decisions in the last seven weeks; “There were decisions that affected the score in almost every match.” He then singled out four referees who needed investigation for their poor refereeing.
Former Beşiktaş president Ahmet Nur Çebi said last month: “The referees have changed the way they target us; they are conducting their operations against us through VAR.”
Galatasaray published a “referee report” in April: “Referees who make mistakes in matches that do not concern us will be punished, and referees who make mistakes in Galatasaray matches will be rewarded.”
This rhetoric is widely used in most clubs at all levels of Turkish football and referees are constantly berated in the media. Not a week goes by without a referee scandal.
The illusion was created that the ills of Turkish football were caused by referees. Fans were lied to that their club would have been mired in silverware if the insidious referee mafia had not thwarted them. This is ridiculous. However, it is more appropriate for clubs that are under great pressure to succeed to find a scapegoat.
Meler is on UEFA’s elite list and serves at the highest level. Turkish referees officiated the Champions League finals, World Cup and European Championship qualifiers.
Referees made mistakes and the lack of transparency in explaining controversial decisions and refusing to apologize for mistakes added fuel to the fire.
Trying to silence opposition to referees at this stage will only make matters worse because trust in refereeing has completely eroded. VAR discussions fueled the negative atmosphere. And this rebellion against refereeing is growing not only in Turkish football but also in other national leagues.
The Federation, clubs, sports media and refereeing bodies need to work together to restore confidence in the system. Clubs and sports media need to take a more mature approach. Many times referees are used as scapegoats as a convenient excuse for the team’s failures. Referees also need to be more transparent and explain their decisions and rules clearly to the fans.
Unless serious changes are made, the incident that happened on Monday will soon be forgotten and will not happen again. Well, who remembers when a Trabzonspor fan attacked the referee in the 89th minute against Fenerbahçe in 2016?