Yawn

Not much of a match report from me today as I was rather distracted for large swathes of the match. No, it wasn't a good-looking girl sitting in front of me but the fact that I brought along my son, Matthew (age almost 3) for his first ever football match.

A good meet up at the Chopin saw French Kanka Hande and her man Spine (rather than the other way around), soon to be joined by Maniac Kanka Harun who was there on a mission to sell Gencler shirts. We bought three, all official merchandise, along with three key-rings. All kitted up we were drinking our beers and eating our kofte when Nordic Kanka Stian and his little boy Bendik walked in. A minute or two later Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo showed up and we were in full swing.

It was getting quite close to kick-off and I wanted to get off to the stadium but who insists on showing up and insisting on a last minute beer? None other than Smart Arse Yanky Kanka Dave and his good wife Mrs. Smart Arse Yankee Kanka Suzanne. Obviously, once they ordered a beer so did the rest of table. The sacrifices one makes for the kankas!

Finally we made it to the stadium and amazingly, considering the weather was perfect, tickets were bloody cheap at just 2 TL (about 1.50 US dollars) and that Gencler are riding high in the league, there was very little difficulty getting into the stadium.


(PHOTO: Oz Kanka and Little Oz Matthew)

The only difficulty was when PC Plod smelt on my breath that I may have had a beer in the last two weeks.

"Are you drunk?", PC Plod asked me.

"No", I replied.

"Let's go and see my captain", says PC Plod.

Holding on to little Matthew's hand we go off to see someone with brain. As soon as the captain realises that as I'm with a three year-old I may not fit the perfect description of a hooligan intent on destroying the peace I was told to go on my way. For God's sake, I only had a couple of beers! NOTE: Remember to eat Fisherman's Friends closer to gate, not in the taxi on the way to match.

Onto the match.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 0 Gaziantepspor

Both Matthew and Bendik loved the atmosphere at the match... the singing, the clapping. Ah, almost forgot. As we were walking in some camera guys from TRT zoomed in on us (I'd like to think it was because they saw how good looking I am). Instead of concentrating on me they pointed the camera at Matthew who did a wonderful version of "kirmizi, siyah, en buyuk, Gencler". I have no idea what programme they plan on showing this footage but if anyone sees it please tell me.


(PHOTO: Little Nordic Kanka Bendik wearing what looks like something Japanese out of WWII but is in fact merely proof he is prepared to die for Gencler. Oz Kanka and Little Oz Kanka in the background)

Back in the stadium, the match kicks off and... well... I guess it can be best summed up by Nordic Kanka Stian:

"I just saw your son yawning for 30 seconds".

As far as I remember, and don't forget that I was distracted quite often during the whole match, Draman Haminu had a chance at goal... but blew it.

Gencler just didn't seem to be up for it. If anyone looked like scoring it was Gaziantep, and quite frankly they were rubbish, which made us look like total idiots.

I have no idea why but our coach Mesut Bakkal decided to replace Draman not long after (we are still in the first half here).

(PHOTO: French Kanka Hande and Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo)

Second half wasn't much better, Isaac and Okan up front weren't doing much, and Mr. Fish managed to bugger up a fine chance when he headed the ball wide. I should also point out we were bloody lucky on a number of occasions when Gaziantep missed sitters.

Then Tozo, the Brazillian who had replaced Draman, was given a second yellow card (quite deservedly). This was around about the 60th minute mark and amazingly this was the spark that woke Gencler up.

We had attack after attack and if just one of the chances in the last few minutes had gone in... I'd be a happy man.

But they didn't and we left the stadium in low spirits.

Not to matter, it was off to Sakarya for more beers and little Matthew has now learnt what all this football stuff is all about.

ie. go to the pub... go to match... watch rubbish... go back to the pub. Get told off when you get home for being late.

I have to admit, it was a real father-son bonding sort of day. Loved it.

CRITICISM v PRAISE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I think it is fair to say that The Round Ball in Ankara has for the most part been heavy into criticism since its inception, and perhaps that is not surprising if you support ANKARAGUCU or Genclerbirligi.

So, it is with pride that I tell you about an instance of praise been meted out to footie fans which I saw on the HIBERNIAN web site today.

The Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway sent a letter to Hibernian Football Club recently praising the behaviour of the Hibs supporters at the recent Scottish Cup match between Queen of the South and Hibernian. Surprisingly for such an occasion, there were zero arrests and zero cautions. He went on to praise their good humour and sportsmanship.

It is easy to criticise and quite common in most walks of life these days. However, not so common to see or hear of praise being given even when it is warranted.

Perhaps the ManYoo and Lille managers should engage their brains before their tongues tonight ??!!

Congratulations to the Hibs supporters in question and long may your sportsmanship continue.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim (standing on his soap box !!)

Any excuse will do

Genclerbirligi chairman Ilhan Cavcav has in recent games been slagging off his own club's supporters for not coming out in force last week for the Gencler-Fener Turkish cup quarter-final.

It is getting all a bit weary to hear this bloke drone on about how we don't come out in force. While you will definitely hear plenty of criticism from us that too many people in Ankara support Istanbul teams you will never hear us slag off anyone who actually supports Gencler (or Ankaragucu for that matter).

Unlike Mr. Cavcav who seems to enjoy taking shots at his own team's rather small fan base.

This is not supposed to be a rant against Cavcav (well, only a bit) but what the hell did he expect? Cavcav put the prices for Maraton tickets at 30 tl. While many of us yabancis can afford this how many working class Turks can blow that sort of money. I know of many Gencler supporters who arranged to watch the match at tea houses because they simply couldn't afford the prices.

To put it in perspective, tickets for the Galatasaray - Trabzonspor match this weekend are miles cheaper, not to mention Ankaraspor who are currently filling their new stadium out in the middle of nowhere thanks to selling tickets for just 50 kuruş (about 30 cents US).

That price by the way is exactly the same as the price was for the good seats at the first ever Genclerbirligi - Fenerbahce match back in 1928 (Sir Eski Kanka had a cold and couldn't make it to the match).

According to Tanil Bora's book "Ankara rüzgarı" (from which I will no doubt be subjecting you to even more trivia facts) some 3,150 showed up for that match. In a piece of genius from which our current chairman should learn from, but which he won't of course, women were let in free.

The point of this post. Not sure really but any excuse to have another go at Ilhan Cavcav. "Yonetim istifa"

Hibernian 0-2 Rangers

Hibs indifferent league form continued with a two goal defeat to second placed Rangers. This defeat makes it very difficult for Hibs to catch even fourth place although with a cup final and a semi final to come there is still plenty to smile about.
On Sunday it was two goalkeeping errors that seperated the sides. The first saw Simon Brown leave a huge gap at his left hand post which Charlie Adam picked off with no problem. That was after just four minutes, the second came after sixty minutes and saw a harmless shot from the same player trickle through Simon Browns legs and into the net.
This knocked the heart out of the Hibs support who from then on could hardly bring themselves to abuse Kevin Thompson who was returning to Easter Road for the first time in a Rangers jersey.
All in all a very disappointing result.
Next up for Hibs is Falkirk at home followed by the League Cup Final. We look forward to welcoming Sir Eski Kanka to Hampden for that game, his ticket is safely locked away from other Hibbees who are fighting for tickets.

C'mon the Hibs

Fridge-Makers go down

With Fenerbahce finally behind us, we've played them four times this season and lost four times, it was time to look ahead and upwards this weekend and Genclerbirligi pulled off a great away win.

Fridge-Makers Manisaspor 0 - Genclerbirligi 3

According to a report posted on the Gencler fans site Alkaralar by a fellow called "Ulastol", who made up 10 per cent of the Gencler fans at the match, the Fridge-Makers came out strong but were unable to get the goal they wanted.

Towards the end of the first half a man who seems to be coming on, Isaac Promise, started a counter-attacking move, passed the ball to Okan Ozturk who smashed it from outside the box and into the net.

The Anatolian news agency report of the match it looks like Gencler came out for the kill.

On 56 minutes Mehmet Nas, our best player a few days ago against Fenerbahce, sent in a pass from the right, Okan Ozturk jumped high and headed it at goal, only for it to come back off the post, to where our man of the moment, Isaac Promise, headed it into the goal.

2-0 up and all going well.

Okan then capped the game off with his second goal of the match. A penalty given after Mehmet Nas was fouled in the box.

Back to Ulastol's thoughts on the match. Mehmet Nas and our defender Traore were for him our best players. Even though we won it 3-0 Ulastol still reckons we don't have that dangerous finishing touch. He also pointed out that once the third goal had gone in the Fridge-Maker fans started calling for Ersun Yanal's resignation. Wasn't all that long ago when they were at the top of the league all the top clubs wanted him. Quite a fall for the former Ankaragucu, Gencler and Turkey coach.

A good win which moves us up into fifth place, just two points behind second-placed Besiktas. Looking like a nail-biting end to the season.

ANKARAGUCU - WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT SHATTERED

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

ANKARAGUCU's world record attempt at 3 wins in a row was blown off course yesterday when they were brought down to earth by lowly Denizli. The result was -

Denizlispor 1 ANKARAGUCU 0

No details of the match were given in Turkey's finest, The Hurriyet, but thanks to the `freebie`, Bugun, I can give brief details.

Denizli came out of the starting blocks like an express train and took control of the match, and apart from one near miss by Sedat, it was all Denizli. Then in the 40th minute Denizli scored the goal that their play had deserved. Ahmet received a pass from Yusuf who released it to Adriano. He crossed into the box and there was Fatih to head the ball past Serkan for the only goal of the match.

No details of what happened in the 2nd half. However, as Bebbe received 3 stars, I suppose he ran himself ragged again as the lone ranger up front !!!

As one would expect, the Denizli coach, Guvenc Kurtar, was upbeat about his team's performance and is quoted as saying that Denizli will NOT be relegated at the end of the season. That remains to be seen with the situation at the bottom in a finely balanced state.

Back to the drawing board for Hikmet Bey this week as he plots the downfall of Besiktas next weekend. As conquerors of CimBom yesterday, Besiktas will be coming to Ankara with their tails up !!!

I noticed that ANKARAGUCU introduced a new player to the team yesterday. Perhaps Maniac Kanka can give some background on Aleksandrov ?

Details for next weekend's matches will be sent by email by Oz Kanka nearer the time.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

The Cup has gone

Nathan the weird Yank who supports Fenerbahce already has his report up. I am amazed. Here I am in Ankara, I go to the match and still Nathan in the US of A beats me to a report. Perhaps I shouldn't be going out for post-match beers. Nahhh, bugger that... you lot will just have to wait.

It was all high hopes pre-match. This was the return leg for a Turkish Cup match. The first had been won 2-1 by Fenerbahce but that meant we had an away goal.

Thursday night in Ankara and the weather was pretty good and a good crowd should have been expected. Unfortunately Ilhan Cavcav decided to fleece us all by charging well over the odds. The result: the Fener fans were out in force and although we tried to make as much noise as possible there was no way we could compete with Fener's Ankara supporters.

The most popular chant of the evening was surely "you are all Istanbul children" (which is a much better insult in Turkish than it is in English). It pissed them off. And they should be pissed off. If you live in Ankara, support a bloody Ankara team!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I was waiting patiently in the Chopin Bar, beer at hand and reading a wonderful article in Radikal newspaper by Altan Oyman concerning a recent fatwa (religious ruling) by the mufti of Istanbul in which the mufti ruled that it was wrong for good Muslims to use a fork with their left hand. I was loving it, the article that is. Unlike the Yanks, I was taught by my parents that the fork should always be held in the left hand.

The idea that I may go to hell for my table manners had me giggling away when my mobile phone rang.

"Oz Kanka, I'm in the Chopin Bar. Where are you?", said Romantic Kanka Gokhan.

"I'm also in the Chopin," I said.

Gokhan at this point realised that the voice on the phone was actually weaker than the voice just behind him. It seems as if I was so involved in reading my newspaper article, and the fact that Romantic Kanka can't believe that I actually read newspapers, meant that we couldn't see each other.

Never mind as Oguz (Kanka name yet to be found) joined us a second or two later. A few more beers... and in Gokhan's case not enough small fish, and then it was on to the stadium.

Spine, dressed in a suit and tie... but still with his Gencler scarf and funny hat, joined us and within seconds we got the tickets and were in.

(PHOTO: Spine in a funny hat)

Finally for some football.
Genclerbirligi 0 - 1 Fenerbahce

We started off fast. In fact it was the best start to match I had seen from Gencler for a long, long time.

Knowing we needed to win to get through to the next round the Gencler players were definitely up for it. Just seven minutes in we thought we had it. Mehmet Nas (whom if I don't mention again I must admit had a great game) sent the ball to Mehmet Cakir on the right. Cakir was clear, well... pretty much clear, he had a bit of an angle, and really should have at least forced a save. Instead he sent it out. If that had been a goal... and God damn it should have been... it could have changed the whole match.

Instead, and I'm getting sick of these "insteads", Fener came in with a nice move and Mehmet Yozgatli scored for Fenerbahce.

After such a promising start it was only appropriate for the man we all love, yep, Isaac Promise, to bugger up a brilliant chance close to the half-time mark.

A few seconds later Mr. Fish also stuffed up by sending a header over the post.

At around about this stage we were joined by Kyrgyz Kanka Scott (explanation too long) who had missed us all earlier on. I should also point out that Sir Eski Kanka was also at the match but unlike us plebs he decided to use his contacts and watch the match for free (and in comfort) in the protocol section. The term "class traitor" comes to mind.

(PHOTO: Kyrgyz Kanka Scott finally finds us)

Half-time and we were down 0-1, needing two goals to send the game into extra time.

I don't know what was put into the orange juice of the Gencler players at half time, but, by God, I want some of it.

This was much better stuff. It was full-on attack. Fenerbahce looked lost and if it wasn't for some inept last passes we could have gone two-three-four up.

As Spine pointed out at the time, it wasn't so much Isaac who stuffed up but Okan Ozturk. Okan may have scored plenty of goals in the league but tonight he just couldn't keep his headers down on goal. I also have to point out that I'm not sure if the midfield strategy of sending high passes in to Okan is working too well.

Having said all that, I thought we didn't play too badly. Mehmet Nas in particular played well and compared to the weekend match against Kayserispor I'd have to say we have learnt a lot.

So that's the end of out Cup run. Just the league to play for now.

As you all know, this blog has no, repeat no, none, zilch, love for Genclerbirligi Chairman Ilhan Cavcav. It was therefore gratifying that at one stage our supporters were singing "Yonetim istifa". The (Ankara-living-traitor) Fener fans a little while later also started shouting "Cavcav istifa".

This was the only occasion in which we actually agreed.