Sport Minister Sticks to His Passo-Guns

Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic has said the government will press on with the Passolig ticket system that has decimated attendance at top-level matches so far this season.

The poor attendance and complaints are part of a "transition period," Kilic said today. "Everyone needs to make a bit of effort" to make the system work, he said.

His comments follow sharp declines in attendance and criticism from club owners including our beloved Ilhan Cavcav, who said last week that Passolig is damaging the game. Cavcav said the system was a "pettifogging" attempt to deal with football violence, and the real solution lies in applying the law to deter bad behaviour.

Those looking for good news in the minister's comments may reflect on the following:

1) In football, when anyone says "We have complete confidence in X", X generally ends up getting fired within a month.

2) Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic is not the most powerful man in the Turkish Government.

Finally, the word "decimated" may not be entirely accurate in this context, but it's not far off.