Turkey National Football Player Bülent Bölükbaşı
At the beginning of the season, high fees and flash transfers made Giresunspor one of the favorites to win the Bank Asya League
Due the construction at the Giresunspor stadium the majority of the games were played in different stadiums. There were games they played well but could not win. They were seriously parting from the plans they made at the beginning of the season.
Beating Altay who has no away loss in the league could have been a turnaround for them.
Ankaraspor being demoted from the Turkish Super League and the players being allowed to be transferred to other teams allowed Bülent Bölükbaşı to join Giresunspor. Bülent Bölükbaşı is a professional who has many successes in many different teams that he has played for. He especially done well at Kayserispor where he was able to play in European competitions and was even debated due to not being chosen for the National team.
We remember him as criticizing the choice of not being including in the national side by saying no Turkish citizen with principles would accept Marco Aurelio to play for the National Team.
In that situation he was seen as a player complaining because his individual goals were not met by some. Since then we have seen how right he was with his thoughts and what he said.
Bülent Bölükbaşı, Played in the Giresunspor Altay game with his full presence known.
Especially at the second half of the game as the Altay Manager I new I had to take special precautions for him. While these were happening seeing your team that is 3-1 ahead go 4-3 down totally unbalanced both the inner field and outer field.
A Giresunspor spectator jumped on the field and tried to attack the referee Bünyamin Gezer because of a foul he blew in which he was 100% correct.
When the supporter came in touching distance Bülent Bölükbaşı made a move on the supporter which made him go on the floor and anchored the supporter with he’s own body. In a game where many problems could have aroused he displayed strong, defiant sportsmanship
Despite all the stress that is put on a sportsman’s psychology when he’s team is 3-1 up and goes 4-3 down he showed attitude that reflected true character, personality and sportsman spirit. He demonstrated on the pitch what Ataturk said “I like athletes that are moral, agile and intelligent.”
He showed the same reaction that he showed when his name was changed from Mehmet to Marco.
During that moment a supporter and father took his sons water bottle and in front of his horrified eyes threw it in the field in the hope of hitting someone.
What a dreadful thing for a father to do in front of his 5 year old son, something that can affect his mental health for the rest of his life. Think about it, maybe that fathers action will make his sons joy of the game go completely or maybe to the contrary his son is going to turn into a fanatic that swears from the start of the game, fights with other spectators, throws what ever he can get hold of, break the seats that he sits on and continue his life in a very stressful way.
What if the father saw what Bülent Bölükbaşı did and explained to his son the reasons behind his actions. I believe that father lost much more then the 3 points that his team lost that day.
It is something that he can never change
I wonder if he realized his mistake?
I don’t think so.
As someone who lives through and sees what goes on in stadiums every week I can say I am pessimistic.
I hope that 5 year old boy will have the chance to see his fathers weaknesses and could help in the future to stop the violence that is insulting this beautiful game.
I would have been willing to give away 1 of the 3 points we won at Giresun for not witnessing this act by a father.
FUAT YAMAN
