Hibs reward for beating Gretna 3-1 at Easter Road last Saturday was a quarter final against Queen of the South. Queens are currently bottom of the Scottish First Division however they will be at home and looking for a lift from a passionate home crowd.
A big crowd at Easter Road had seem Gretna match Hibs for the first 25 minutes until some Scott Brown wing play gave Rob Jones the chance to head Hibs in front.
Two more goals early in the second half secured the win for Hibs, Gretna got a late consolation that their play deserved. Hibs will have to start finding a bit more form as they have not been dominating games against lower placed teams, hopefully they will rise to the occasion this Saturday when Celtic at Parkhead await.
Hibbee Kanka
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Dynamic Danes crush Australia
As those journos for the Guardian like to say, "in London you are never more than 10 yards away from a rat, or an Australian". Which meant that Tuesday night's Australia versus Denmark friendly in London was a home match for us.
The Aussies came out in force for the match at Loftus Rd. and here in Ankara Viking Kanka Jens invited a few of us over to his place to watch the match on Eurosport.
Australia 1 - Denmark 3
In some ways the match reminded me of Genclerbirligi a couple of years ago. Australia was going for it. With a few of our top players not playing the rest of the squad decided to try like hell. What we got was some lovely attacking football but then, at the back, gaps were left and the Vikings were very clinical in taking all their chances.
"Denmark has the luckiest defence in the world," Viking Kanka said at one point. He wasn't far wrong. We had one goal disallowed for absolutely no reason. Another was rightly disallowed for offside and someone sent the ball into the post. Possession-wise we must have dominated.
All up though it wasn't a bad game but still any loss is depressing, as can be seen in the accompanying picture of Spice Kanka Duncan and your reporter for the match. The happy couple behind are Ditte and Soren who, being diplomats, didn't give us too much crap over the result.
Of course, Australia and Denmark have very good relations nowadays thanks to some sheila from Tasmania who managed to hook herself a Danish prince during the Sydney Olympics a few years ago. The question has to be though, just who did "Our Mary" support last night. She probably came out with some sort of cliche like "football was the winner".
Just as an aside former Genclerbirligi midfielder Josip Skoko had a very good match while Sivasspor goalkeeper Petkovic was a bit unlucky to have the defenders he did.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Of flags and footy
Politics has definitely been on display on the terraces in Turkey in the last few weeks. In the main it has been nationalist groups angry that those attending the funeral of Hrant Dink held up placards saying "We are all Armenians".
In response various nationalist groups, especially Trabzon supporters, have been carrying placards "We are all Turks" or variations on the theme. I don't want to go into the details or my views on the matter as this blog tries to stick to the big issues affecting Turkey, such as the still-proposed banning of smoking at football stadiums.
But I thought I'd run something political straight from The Observer, Sir Eski Kanka's Sunday reading material concerning a bloke called Mete who seems to have upset the Greek Cypriot community of London.
From The Observer Notebook article:
Why have Arsenal redecorated the Emirates Stadium?
When Arsenal moved in to the Emirates Stadium, they asked the fans to help them 'decorate' it with flags. Now, it seems, they'd prefer any colour, as long as it's red. The club has banned national flags of every description and demanded that 'only flags in support of Arsenal Football Club' be flown.
This is not, perish the thought, an opportunistic attempt to boost merchandise sales. No, the 60,000-seat ground is turning monochrome because of a fan known as Mete, who has been flying a Turkish Cypriot flag. More than 8,000 people complained about his flag, as the 'Republic of Northern Cyprus' is only recognised by Turkey (who knew the Highbury faithful were so politically aware?). So rather than removing the offending item, the club banned all national emblems. How odd, when Arsenal are the United Nations of the Premiership.
In response various nationalist groups, especially Trabzon supporters, have been carrying placards "We are all Turks" or variations on the theme. I don't want to go into the details or my views on the matter as this blog tries to stick to the big issues affecting Turkey, such as the still-proposed banning of smoking at football stadiums.
But I thought I'd run something political straight from The Observer, Sir Eski Kanka's Sunday reading material concerning a bloke called Mete who seems to have upset the Greek Cypriot community of London.
From The Observer Notebook article:
Why have Arsenal redecorated the Emirates Stadium?
When Arsenal moved in to the Emirates Stadium, they asked the fans to help them 'decorate' it with flags. Now, it seems, they'd prefer any colour, as long as it's red. The club has banned national flags of every description and demanded that 'only flags in support of Arsenal Football Club' be flown.
This is not, perish the thought, an opportunistic attempt to boost merchandise sales. No, the 60,000-seat ground is turning monochrome because of a fan known as Mete, who has been flying a Turkish Cypriot flag. More than 8,000 people complained about his flag, as the 'Republic of Northern Cyprus' is only recognised by Turkey (who knew the Highbury faithful were so politically aware?). So rather than removing the offending item, the club banned all national emblems. How odd, when Arsenal are the United Nations of the Premiership.
ANKARAGUCU v ankaraspor - IS POLITICS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GENUINE SUPPORTERS ???
Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
First up, the result of yesterday’s match…………
Ankaraspor 1 ANKARAGUCU 0
However, apart from the result, this match will not be remembered with affection by the ANKARAGUCU supporters, or for that matter, the players. This was all about the black side of politics and not about footie !!
According to my understanding of the situation, it all started last week when the Chairman of Ankaraspor, the now infamous Melih Gokcek, suggested that the match take place in one of Ankara’s smaller stadiums rather that 19 Mayis Stadium. This was rejected by Cemal Aydin much to the annoyance of Mr Gokcek.
So, the `nice` Mr Gokcek decided (as an act of revenge) to hike up the price of tickets for the match from the normal YTL 5 -20 to YTL 150 -250 ! A wonderful act of sportsmanship and a truly wonderful way to reward all the punters who turned up on a cold day in Ankara to see a footie match !!
The ANKARAGUCU supporters protested outside the Stadium but all in vain. Only a very few paid these extortionate prices and so the ANKARAGUCU tribunes in the Stadium were almost empty.
Atilla Turker of Hurriyet Newspaper was scathing in his criticism of Gokcek when he asked the question…………. Who is the elephant and who is the bush ?! The elephants are fighting and the bushes are being mashed !!
I suppose that is one way of putting it ??!!
He went on to say that it seemed as if Gokcek was saying……….. don’t come to the match – stay away !
It seems to me that Gokcek should attend the next ANKARAGUCU v Bursa match so that he can learn a thing or two about sportsmanship and the importance of supporters. Doesn’t he understand the basics of the sport ?? The life-blood of every successful team are the supporters and if a person in his exaulted position doesn’t know this then I throw my arms up in despair !!
The fact that Gokcek went into the ANKARAGUCU dressing room after the match to shake the players hands was, in my opinion, too little too late !!
I am sure that we have not heard the end of this !!
Back to the important subject ……… the match.
The record book will show that Ankaraspor won the match and there can be no argument about that. A goal is a goal and 3 points are 3 points. However, apart from the goal from Hurriyet in the 24th minute (assisted by a rare error from Serkan), it was all ANKARAGUCU. The undisputed man of the match was the Ankaraspor goalkeeper Hakan. No doubt he will be in Hurriyet’s Team of the Weekend in tomorrow’s newspaper ?!!
ANKARAGUCU totally dominated the match, the 2nd half in particular, and Aytekin and Tita were the worst offenders by scorning good opportunities to score. Only heroics by Hakan kept the score down. I suppose he will be next on Trabzon’s shopping list ??!!!
I was unable to attend the match due to work commitments, but acknowledgement is made to the Hurriyet newspaper for the above brief report.
No doubt ANKARAGUCU missed the midfield guile and leadership of Ceyhun, and where was he I can hear you ask ? He was sitting on the Trabzonspor bench !!! His replacement, Yordanov from Bulgaria, came on for ANKARAGUCU for the last 15 minutes, but with all due respect to his ability, I doubt if he can take over from where Ceyhun left off. He has been around quite a few Turkish teams over the past few years, and at 33 years old, is no spring chicken !!! Time will tell !
ANKARAGUCU have now slipped down to 12th position in the league, but they are only 6 points behind 4th placed Manisa. So, still all to play for.
Looking forward to next weekend……..
Saturday 10 February – ANKARAGUCU v Kayseri – KO 2pm
Sunday 11 February – Genclerbirligi v Bursaspor – KO 2pm
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
First up, the result of yesterday’s match…………
Ankaraspor 1 ANKARAGUCU 0
However, apart from the result, this match will not be remembered with affection by the ANKARAGUCU supporters, or for that matter, the players. This was all about the black side of politics and not about footie !!
According to my understanding of the situation, it all started last week when the Chairman of Ankaraspor, the now infamous Melih Gokcek, suggested that the match take place in one of Ankara’s smaller stadiums rather that 19 Mayis Stadium. This was rejected by Cemal Aydin much to the annoyance of Mr Gokcek.
So, the `nice` Mr Gokcek decided (as an act of revenge) to hike up the price of tickets for the match from the normal YTL 5 -20 to YTL 150 -250 ! A wonderful act of sportsmanship and a truly wonderful way to reward all the punters who turned up on a cold day in Ankara to see a footie match !!
The ANKARAGUCU supporters protested outside the Stadium but all in vain. Only a very few paid these extortionate prices and so the ANKARAGUCU tribunes in the Stadium were almost empty.
Atilla Turker of Hurriyet Newspaper was scathing in his criticism of Gokcek when he asked the question…………. Who is the elephant and who is the bush ?! The elephants are fighting and the bushes are being mashed !!
I suppose that is one way of putting it ??!!
He went on to say that it seemed as if Gokcek was saying……….. don’t come to the match – stay away !
It seems to me that Gokcek should attend the next ANKARAGUCU v Bursa match so that he can learn a thing or two about sportsmanship and the importance of supporters. Doesn’t he understand the basics of the sport ?? The life-blood of every successful team are the supporters and if a person in his exaulted position doesn’t know this then I throw my arms up in despair !!
The fact that Gokcek went into the ANKARAGUCU dressing room after the match to shake the players hands was, in my opinion, too little too late !!
I am sure that we have not heard the end of this !!
Back to the important subject ……… the match.
The record book will show that Ankaraspor won the match and there can be no argument about that. A goal is a goal and 3 points are 3 points. However, apart from the goal from Hurriyet in the 24th minute (assisted by a rare error from Serkan), it was all ANKARAGUCU. The undisputed man of the match was the Ankaraspor goalkeeper Hakan. No doubt he will be in Hurriyet’s Team of the Weekend in tomorrow’s newspaper ?!!
ANKARAGUCU totally dominated the match, the 2nd half in particular, and Aytekin and Tita were the worst offenders by scorning good opportunities to score. Only heroics by Hakan kept the score down. I suppose he will be next on Trabzon’s shopping list ??!!!
I was unable to attend the match due to work commitments, but acknowledgement is made to the Hurriyet newspaper for the above brief report.
No doubt ANKARAGUCU missed the midfield guile and leadership of Ceyhun, and where was he I can hear you ask ? He was sitting on the Trabzonspor bench !!! His replacement, Yordanov from Bulgaria, came on for ANKARAGUCU for the last 15 minutes, but with all due respect to his ability, I doubt if he can take over from where Ceyhun left off. He has been around quite a few Turkish teams over the past few years, and at 33 years old, is no spring chicken !!! Time will tell !
ANKARAGUCU have now slipped down to 12th position in the league, but they are only 6 points behind 4th placed Manisa. So, still all to play for.
Looking forward to next weekend……..
Saturday 10 February – ANKARAGUCU v Kayseri – KO 2pm
Sunday 11 February – Genclerbirligi v Bursaspor – KO 2pm
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
Saturday, February 03, 2007
A late one
This is a few weeks late but it shows the general demeanor of Ankaragucu fans (and Gencler fans for that matter), at the moment.
Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo took this photo during Ankaragucu's loss to Besiktas in the Cup a few weeks ago.
On the left we have a dejected Maniac Kanka Harun and his mate Sir Eski.
Friday, February 02, 2007
When will this nightmare stop?
Snowing in Ankara and fears that the taxis wouldn't be able to get up the hill from the Knight and Flight bar back to the Occupied Territories, otherwise known as Gaziosmanpasa, meant I had to watch the match at home. No worries though as I had Little Oz Kanka as company who sat with me through the whole first half of Fenerbahce versus Genclerbirligi.
I can now understand what all those "do it yourself bringing up babies" books are all about. These kiddies do mimic their parents. Every "C'mon Gencler" from me brought out a "c'mon Gencler" from Matthew. When I laughed at Fener mistakes so did he. Unfortunately he also repeated what I said when Fener scored... mmmm. On to the match itself
Fenerbahce 2 - Genclerbirligi 1
I have to admit I'm getting sick of playing Fenerbahce. We lost to them 2-1 on Tuesday in a Cup match and by the same amount tonight. Not sure when but we will have another match against them soon for the return leg of the Cup quarterfinal.
As usual we started well and definately had the best chances of the first few minutes, one especially good shot from Erhan (whose last name escapes me and when I can't check it out on the Genclerbirligi website because Chairman Ilhan Cavcav seems to have pulled the plug on it) from about 30 metres out hit the top bar. But again as usual we went behind in the ninth. Some bad defending but it was a good header from Tuncay.
Didn't have to wait too long though for the deserved equaliser. Mehmet Cakir sent it in. A defender headed it out. Mehmet Nas from miles out absolutely belted the thing and bang... goal to Genclerbirligi.
I was jumping up and down as was Matthew (age almost 3 by the way) and quite frankly I was feeling slightly confident. Stupid me.
Despite Fener fielding a full strength side, unlike on Tuesday when they rested a whole heap of people, I thought that despite a few flashes of brilliance they weren't playing that well. On the other hand Genclerbirligi seemed to be doing quite well, that's if you don't count Isaac Promise who yet again looked like a bunny caught in the headlights.
First half over and Matthew decided he had better go to bed (actually it was Mrs. Oz Kanka who decided that). Perhaps I should have done the same.
Not sure what was in the orange juice our players were drinking at half-time but it clearly wasn't cocaine as we came out very slow. They weren't that slow but still, we had few chances on goal.
Then Fener put the knife in with a goal to Aurelio. No real excuses here. Fener passed the ball well in and around the box and I have to admit it was a nice goal.
More buggering around for a while and then something very strange.
It was the 74th minute play was going along and then the referee for no apparent reason pulled out a straight red card for Kezman. The television gurus at Lig TV couldn't even find the incident. In other words I don't have a clue what happened. Kezman didn't complain much though and considering he is a Fenerbahce player this is tantamount to admitting to mass murder.
Didn't really help Gencler though. We had a few attacks on goal but nothing much of substance.
Another loss... Let me call on Gencler coach Mesut Bakkal yet again... "Please drop Isaac Promise".
EDIT: Saturday. Seems as if Kezman got sent off for saying "fuck you" to an opponent. According to the Anatolia news agency he has accepted that he said it but claims in his defence that everyone says it in England.
I can now understand what all those "do it yourself bringing up babies" books are all about. These kiddies do mimic their parents. Every "C'mon Gencler" from me brought out a "c'mon Gencler" from Matthew. When I laughed at Fener mistakes so did he. Unfortunately he also repeated what I said when Fener scored... mmmm. On to the match itself
Fenerbahce 2 - Genclerbirligi 1
I have to admit I'm getting sick of playing Fenerbahce. We lost to them 2-1 on Tuesday in a Cup match and by the same amount tonight. Not sure when but we will have another match against them soon for the return leg of the Cup quarterfinal.
As usual we started well and definately had the best chances of the first few minutes, one especially good shot from Erhan (whose last name escapes me and when I can't check it out on the Genclerbirligi website because Chairman Ilhan Cavcav seems to have pulled the plug on it) from about 30 metres out hit the top bar. But again as usual we went behind in the ninth. Some bad defending but it was a good header from Tuncay.
Didn't have to wait too long though for the deserved equaliser. Mehmet Cakir sent it in. A defender headed it out. Mehmet Nas from miles out absolutely belted the thing and bang... goal to Genclerbirligi.
I was jumping up and down as was Matthew (age almost 3 by the way) and quite frankly I was feeling slightly confident. Stupid me.
Despite Fener fielding a full strength side, unlike on Tuesday when they rested a whole heap of people, I thought that despite a few flashes of brilliance they weren't playing that well. On the other hand Genclerbirligi seemed to be doing quite well, that's if you don't count Isaac Promise who yet again looked like a bunny caught in the headlights.
First half over and Matthew decided he had better go to bed (actually it was Mrs. Oz Kanka who decided that). Perhaps I should have done the same.
Not sure what was in the orange juice our players were drinking at half-time but it clearly wasn't cocaine as we came out very slow. They weren't that slow but still, we had few chances on goal.
Then Fener put the knife in with a goal to Aurelio. No real excuses here. Fener passed the ball well in and around the box and I have to admit it was a nice goal.
More buggering around for a while and then something very strange.
It was the 74th minute play was going along and then the referee for no apparent reason pulled out a straight red card for Kezman. The television gurus at Lig TV couldn't even find the incident. In other words I don't have a clue what happened. Kezman didn't complain much though and considering he is a Fenerbahce player this is tantamount to admitting to mass murder.
Didn't really help Gencler though. We had a few attacks on goal but nothing much of substance.
Another loss... Let me call on Gencler coach Mesut Bakkal yet again... "Please drop Isaac Promise".
EDIT: Saturday. Seems as if Kezman got sent off for saying "fuck you" to an opponent. According to the Anatolia news agency he has accepted that he said it but claims in his defence that everyone says it in England.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
HIbs Go To Hampden
Eski Kanka asked for some good news and we can certainly give it to him. Hibs beat St Johnstone 3-1 after extra time to reach the final of the League cup.
Hibs went one up after only three minutes and looked as if they were going to run riot however St Johnstone dug in and turned the game around. From that point on Hibs were second best to everything and were hanging on to their lead by the skin of their teeth.
A deserved equaliser for St Johnstone after 77 minutes was the catalyst Hibs needed though and in the second minute of extra time Murpy scored a free kick. Hibs were reasonably comfortable after that although St Johnstone had a couple of minutes pressure only to be caught at the death.
Not the best performance but we are still going to the final.
Hibbee Kanka
Hibs went one up after only three minutes and looked as if they were going to run riot however St Johnstone dug in and turned the game around. From that point on Hibs were second best to everything and were hanging on to their lead by the skin of their teeth.
A deserved equaliser for St Johnstone after 77 minutes was the catalyst Hibs needed though and in the second minute of extra time Murpy scored a free kick. Hibs were reasonably comfortable after that although St Johnstone had a couple of minutes pressure only to be caught at the death.
Not the best performance but we are still going to the final.
Hibbee Kanka
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