THE ROUND BALL IN ANKARA - TIME TO CELEBRATE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

As most of you know by now, The Round Ball in Ankara will be celebrating One and Half Years in existence on 16 June 2007 in The Red Lion Club in Ankara where the End of Season Bar-B-Q will be held.

With all the footie and trophy questions all done and dusted, it is now time to relax and celebrate the end of another season.

This is an opportunity for all kankas to come together in one place at the same time to contemplate last season and look forward to next season. Will the Ankara Big 2 be chasing domestic honours, aiming for YooRo footie qualification, or will they be fighting another backs against the wall fight at the end of the season. A good time to put your views forward. It is also a good opportunity for our wives and girlfriends to have a moan to each other about how much we neglect them !! We don't have a creche for the children but I will bring handcuffs, red cards (Eski Kanka's fav colour !!), and whips to punish them if they are naughty !!!

The Club will be open at about 4.30pm for pre-Bar-B-Q `refreshments` and the Bar-B-Q will be served when you feel hunger pains. Assuming it will be a warm summer evening, we will be using the garden and balcony. Later in the evening there will be music and dancing - I heard that Oz Kanka performs a passable pasodoble. He may not be twinkle toed on the footie field but on the dance floor he is natural Old Pro !!!

Footie colours should be worn which should give our roving cameraman (Flying Dutchman Kanka) lots of opportunities for those `kodak moments` !

Lanky Kanka Jorg informed us that we may have some guest footie players from ANKARAGUCU and Gencler attending, but more on that later if it transpires that they are available.

If you haven't done so already, please tell Oz Kanka or myself if you are coming.

Look forward to seeing you there for a fun afternoon and evening.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - THE ROUND BALL IN ANKARA REPORTS IT FIRST !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Breaking news which has not been reported by the Turkish press yet !!! You hear it first in The Round Ball in Ankara !!!

This will be of special interest to kankas planning their summer holidays in Germany this year !

ANKARAGUCU will play Watford (recently relegated from the English Premiership - but now of the English Championship League) in Munich on Tuesday 24 July.

It might be an opportunity for Lanky Kanka Jorg to turn up in his Gencler top which I'm sure will be acceptable to the thousands of ANKARAGUCU fanatiks who will make the trip to Munich !!!

Watch this space for more on pre-season `friendlies`.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Sun, sea, beer and football

"Oh I do like to be besides the seaside,
Oh I like to be beside the sea.
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside,
To see a Genclerbirligi victoreee."

It was about time I got myself to a Genclerbirligi away match (playing away to Ankaragucu and Ankaraspor don't really count) and so with the TFF setting up our last match of season in Antalya it wasn't too difficult to convince Mrs. Oz Kanka to join me down by the Mediterranean.

Unfortunately Antalya decided not to have any section for Genclerbirligi supporters and at first I thought I'd have to watch the game with "the enemy" all around. In the end though I managed to get into the Protokol section thanks to the second in charge at Genclerbirligi Oftas getting me a ticket. Thanks Suphi.

The stadium was full. 13,000 Antalya fans singing away while I was the only non-employed by the club Genclerbirligi fan.

Antalyaspor 1 - 3 Genclerbirligi

The atmosphere was great. Antalya needed a win to stay in the top flight and the way they were playing, or perhaps that should be, the way we were playing looked very likely to achieve it.

Gencler were playing like they had their minds already on their summer holidays while the Antalya players were playing for their careers.

The first half ended nil-nil but Antalyaspor should have been about 3-0 up. They had so many shots, some very easy chances as well and it was only thanks to the heroics of Jesus in goal that stopped them.

The crowd was getting restless and it was on the 53rd minute that things started to turn nasty. Isaac Promise sent in a cross which an Antalyaspor player tried to send behind for a corner. Instead he managed to find the net. 0-1.

Time for all out attack from Antalya who were missing sitters left, right and centre. At this stage they seemed to have completely lost any composure and were playing purely with fear inside them.

This of course gave Gencler huge gaps and great counter-attacking opportunities. It was in this situation that Sandro exploited to score. 0-2.

As the teams lined up for the restart the Antalya fans had decided they had had enough. Flares and smoke bombs were lit and chairs were smashed up. All of which were thrown onto the pitch. The calls for the management to resign went up and their was real anger out their on the terraces. At this point the Antalya governor who was a few seats in front of me decided to leave and I thought it might get very ugly indeed. Luckily it didn't.

The referee held play up for a few minutes to get the field cleared of foreign objects and it was back on.

Same as before, Antalya would go full on attack, we would counter attack. This was exciting, if not especially brilliant football as we got a shot on goal every minute or so.

It wasn't over though and Antalya managed to get one back. 1-2.

Edge of the seat stuff. Antalya needed two goals in about 15 minutes of play when Draman Haminu capped off what was a great day for him with a wonderful shot from outside the box. 1-3.

Just a few minutes left and the Antalyaspor supporters knew they were going down. The anger was clear. Even some of the Protokol fans were shouting at the chairman of their club. I felt sorry for them, and for me as next year I won't have the opportunity to mix sun, sea, beer and football.

England take down Turkey 4-0

In the first of two “friendly” amputee internationals played on Sunday evening at the ‘Aktepe Stadi’ in Ankara a resolute England team, in front of Her Majesty’s Ambassador, Nick Baird, defeated an energetic Turkish side 4-0. The score line belied a tough, uncompromising game in which both teams exhibited impressive skills and combined to provide the crowd with end-to-end entertainment. Indeed, at half time England edged their opponents by a solitary, well-taken goal, fortunate to be ahead perhaps as Turkey had hit the woodwork twice in the period.

However, in the second half the experience and stamina of the England team marked the difference between the two sides and a trio of well-executed goals secured a hard-earned win. Strong and confident in all facets of the game the English squad nonetheless expect an even tougher challenge in the follow-up game on Monday night.

These matches form part of the preparations for the Amputee Football World Championships to be held in Antalya in November 2007 and in which up to 12 teams are expected to participate with Russia and Brazil the favourites.

ANKARAGUCU - ANOTHER CRISIS TO RESOLVE

Greeting Kankas and Kankies.

Stop press......... breaking news...............

I have just received a phone call from Maniac Kanka Harun to inform me that Hikmet Karaman, the ANKARAGUCU coach, has resigned.

We have no further details at the moment, however, I'm sure Oz Kanka will tap into his journalist sources tonight and give more details when they become available.

On a personal note, this is a tragedy ! He is the best coach this club has had in recent times since the unfortunate departure of Ersun Yanal. You can sure that if Cemal Aydin is responsible for this then he will suffer the fury of the fans !

Better news coming out of the Genclerbirligi camp............... the Erciyes coach (name ?) has replaced Mesut Bakkal. More on that too from Oz Kanka tomorrow.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

CONGRATULATIONS TO HIBERNIAN LADIES FROM THE ROUND BALL IN ANKARA

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Well, as expected, the Hibernian Ladies did the double and retained their Premier League title.

Having won the Ladies Scottish FA Cup final last week in Perth, it was all eyes on retaining their league title which they did in style yesterday.

Last Tuesday they went to Forfar and won 6-0 with Suzanne Grant scoring 4. With Eski Kanka's heroine, Kim Little, being rested for this match, it was an opportunity to give her strike partners a chance to grab some of the glory.

Yesterday, the Ladies went to Kilmarnock and wrapped up the league title with a convincing 5-0 win.

Three trophies in the Easter Road Stadium cabinet is not a bad day's work me thinks !!

Congratulations to the Hibernian Ladies from The Round Ball in Ankara and we will be watching you again next season to see if you can do the treble !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU CONSIGNED TO PLAYING SUPPORTING ROLE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Last night in Istanbul it was all about Fenerbahce, with ANKARAGUCU there `to make up the numbers` !!

Fenerbahce 3 ANKARAGUCU 1

The Stadium was filled to capacity (approximately 55,000) to celebrate the presentation of the League Championship Trophy to Fener prior to the kick-off.

The Cappadokia Bar was also filled to capacity with traitorous Fener `supporters` who come from Ankara ! However, at least there were 6 ANKARAGUCU supporters to celebrate ANKARAGUCU scoring first and silencing the Pub (for a while at least) !!

Maniac Kanka Harun, his friend (can't remember his name), Harun's beautiful wife Asuman and gorgeous daughter Hazal, Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo and yours truly were all there in The Cappadokia Bar.

All the TFF VIPs were there at the Stadium kissing each other and trying to pretend that they weren't Fener supporters ! Tears of joy flowed from some of the players eyes which almost made me throw-up with excruiciating embarrassment !! Oh yes, and while all this bullshit was taking place, the ANKARAGUCU players were waiting in the tunnel to be called on as `bit players` in the Fenerbahce Show !!!

Flying Dutchman Kanka commented that it would have been more appropriate to make the presentation AFTER the match as happens in `normal countries` ! Agreed !!!

Anyway, after all the eyes were dried and the confetti cleared away, it was kick off time, and all credit to ANKARAGUCU for going straight into the attack. Hikmet Karaman has obviously heeded my advice about making attack the best form of defence !!!

Our `old` captain, Hakan Kutlu, was in the starting line up for the first time this season, obviously to add stability and experience to the defence.

It was pretty much end-to-end stuff with ANKARAGUCU looking the more likely to score, and the goal duly arrived on the half hour mark. A great ball in from the left to the far post where Bebbe was lurking unmarked, and a well placed header wrong footed the goalkeeper to silence the crowd in the Stadium. Meanwhile, back at the Cappadokia, the 6 ANKARAGUCU fanatics burst into song...... Bebbe, Bebbe, Bebbe, etc, for what would be the only time in the match !

Fener came out for the 2nd half and started to step on the gas. Tuncay and Kezman in particular were beginning to cause all sorts of problems for the ANKARAGUCU defence with the speed of their running on and off the ball.

The Fener goal arrived 10 minutes into the 2nd half when a free kick floated in to the near post was met by Umit Ozat with a glancing header that left Serkan rooted to the spot. Cheers all round and more tears from Umit who was playing his last match for Fener. Yours truly had to go to the toilet again to throw up !!!

All credit to ANKARAGUCU for continuing to press forward in search of a winning goal and it almost came from Mustafa and Bebbe who both went close on several occasions before Kezman knocked in the 2nd from another fast break away.

ANKARAGUCU's heads did not go down as they continued to press forward looking to salvage something from the match. However, it was from another break away that Kezman looked to have wrapped it up. But Serkan made an instictive save with the rebound landing at Emre's feet. Uncharacteristically for him, he became disorientated with body and ball and the ball was nicked by Kezman to score at the near post with a tight angled shot.

So, a disappointing defeat perhaps, but it has to be said that ANKARAGUCU were not disgraced in defeat. Their fighting spirit was there for all to see. Hikmet Bey must surely be aware of what is required to strengthen the team for next season. At the risk of repeating myself, and at the very least, we definitely need quality support for Bebbe up front and a class midfield player in the mould of Ceyhun.

Elsewhere, I am sorry to report that Gencler consigned Antalya to the 2nd league. Oz Kanka was there in Antalya to see the match and he will post his report on his return to Ankara on Tuesday.

Joining Antalya in the 2nd league will be Erciyes and Sakarya.

So ends another footie season in Turkey. However, rest assured there will be lots of reporting going on in the summer season on reflections of this and other seasons footie . We also look forward to the opening competition of next season at the end of July when The Sportswriters Cup will take place in Ankara.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim