Bursa is one of the deplacements I rarely go. Although Bursaspor has just once become a champion in Super League to the date, it is a team that always play for the top ranks and is the nightmare for the other teams particularly due to its votary fans. Of course for us as well….
Since we have not won against them nearly for 6 years, it is true that they are successful against us for whatever reason.
When talking about Bursa, I remembered a memory of many years ago and it does not allow me to go to Bursa. I was studying in high school and I was always wearing a yellow-red scarf since I was a fan of Galatasaray as I am now. It was a gift from one of elder buddies from my neigborhood; and it was my first yellow-red scarf, therefore very valuable as it is now. I such doted on my scarf, thus Galatasaray that I got on TV with my scarf when I was selected to make a speech on TV during my years in Beşiktaş Girls High School.
I was accidentally in Bursa one day when there was a match between Bursaspor and Galatasaray. I could not go to view the match but I was aware of the match and wondered the result. Please do no suggest me to view the match through TV, internet, facebook or twitter. Mobile phone was a fantastic dream for us during those years. We were very close to the stadium in a bus. I discovered from the fans of Bursaspor who were rushing into the street and letting out victory yells that we were defeated ‘again’. Meanwhile, one of the fans of Bursaspor saw my scarf and told me to take off it. Aha! To me! Within one instance hundreds of fans surrounded the bus after I was addressed by the first fan and they started to kick the bus. They were shouting, swearing, weaving the bus and pounding the windows. Everyone in the bus asked me to take off the scarf but I didn’t even if I was very scared. Eventually an uncle took me to the back part of the bus, and hid me to save me from those brutals, who were unable to slow down even if they had got a victory. I was exposed to football terrorism for the first time when I was still a child.
Here is that famous scarf of mine:
I went to Bursa through seabus, which was newly started sailings from Kabataş, Istanbul. It takes exactly 2 hours to arrive at Mudanya, Bursa. Although it shook a bit, I slept during my trip, which was very comfortable. Since I landed on my feet as always, I met one of my friends and one of her friend took us to Bursa. If not, the municipality busses tak you to every corner of Bursa. Anyway, you can go to Bursa from Mudanya within less than half an hour. The transportation is easy to Bursa but I am not sure if it would be safe if I went there through municipality busses.
As soon as we arrive at Bursa Atatürk Stadium, we had our photos taken while our scarves on us, because there would not be a chance to do it in the evening.
After taking photos, it was the time to eat something. With redirection of some of my twitter followers, I went to the Uludağ Kebapcisi and it was wonderful.
This time we went to Kebabci Iskender, which dated back to 1864, since we have a friend living in Bursa. http://www.iskender.com.tr/bursa-merkez.html
We lined up at the door before entering the restaurant. The wording ‘how much you want say now, you will not take once again” was true, which were thinking that it was just a joke. When we said, “ah, we are coming from Istanbul, we would like to drink coffe and tea”, the waiter firmly told me that “no coffe and tea here, you should go there if you would like to drink tea” referring us to the tea house at outside. Let me mention this with twitter language: we were in a mood of a frustrated student who is late and sent to the management by the teacher to receive permission slip.
The Iskender kebap was wonderful but we should not let them to pour the sausage with butter on it. It reminds me itself by dancing in my stomach.
We became sure that we made good choice when we saw a team of Lig TV was shooting there.
Since we had problems to find ticket, some of us viewed the match among the fans of Bursaspor in VIP tribune. When I was entering the stadium, the security guard saw the scarf in my bag and call the authorized manager, and he told me that he had to withhold it. I took the risk of being lynched, would I give them it? Nobody can take this from me, I told. “You can’t enter in, if you do not give it to me” he said. I told him that I would enter and would not leave behind my scarf. He saw a person who is more decisive than him, he accepted me to enter in, but he advised me not to wear it. I would like to say that I would wear it but I am not crazy, I am just passionate.
Bursaspor fired Ertugrul Saglam, the four-year coach of Bursaspor, last week, and took the match under the leadership of the vice-coach Ersel Uzgur. Bursaspor had tranfered a footballer within last week. It is impossible to understand how a team can transfer a footballer without a coach.
This is valid for every team but why do they not understand that the success depends on stability for the teams such as Bursaspor and Trabzonspor, the teams that may compete the 3 strongest teams in Turkey. Ertuğrul Saglam lead Bursa in being champion for the first time, he realized a dream; he should be allowed to do some permanent things. Again, Trabzonspor fired Senol Gunes; have they hired a better one? Whatever may come, Senol Gunes led the national team to be the third in World Cup. He gained the footballers such as Burak Yılmaz, Selçuk İnan and goalkeepers such as Tolga Zengin and Onur Kıvrak for Turkey.
Anyway, let’s turn to ourselves. Because of the cards, Fatih Terim’s choice of squad was different but Burak Yilmaz was not among the first eleven. Burak is an emotional person; he was very dispirited and reluctant while warming up. The fans of Galatasaray, who saw this, cheered on him twice calling him before the tribune. Since I was just an audience I had to be contended with viewing this scene but did not shoot. I hope Burak perceived this sincere support towards him.
Even Sneijder could not save the match played under the influence of an unbelievable southwester and the match endud up in a draw. We had to accept 1-1, when we did not evaluate the opportunities. Even though 1 point seems to be important in such matches, we felt very sad on the other day for missing the opportunity to draw away, since the other rivals also lost points.
There is no senseless thing such as returning from Bursa via airlines but we returned with an airplane since the scheduled trip via seabus was cancelled because of southwester. In fact, the ones who had moved immediately after the match arrived at the borders of Istanbul until we landed on.
During our return trip, I have never seen Fatih Terim such dispirited and nervous. That is not the point to win or lose but I think he was angry since the footballers did not show a strong struggle and they extenuated the match. I would say that the footballer, who is not with passion even under the leadership of Fatih Terim, deserves a beating you will be cross with me but when Ziya Pasa said “If a gentle warning is not working, try yelling and screaming. If all of the above fails, then nothing is wrong with a good beating”, you take this as a proverb…
Anyway, as all newscasts, let’s finish the article with news on children to conclude the writing well.
Since we transferred world-star Sneijder, I was received requests for jersey, signature, and saying hello, kisses (ok, ok, I have fabricated the kisses). The most meaningful thing in the airplane was that I had Sneijder to sign the uniforms sent by my friend who live in Netherlands and has 7-year old child.
The moral of th story: It is good to make a child happy, do not neglect it…
