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AIK Stockholm vs. Djurgardens IF
Stockholm, Sweden
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Rivals, The Offbeat Guide To The 92 League Clubs, is one of the best derby books available.
Read the review |
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| Besiktas JK - Galatasaray (0-0) |
| Turkish League (Süper Lig), 19 September 2004 |
| Stadium : BJK Inönü |
| Attendance : 35.000 |
Besiktas-Galatasaray derbies can be considered as friendly when compared to Galatasaray-Fenerbahçe. This has many reasons, 1st of all Besiktas' football team were founded later than Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe; who are the oldest football teams in Turkey. Also Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe have collected most trophies in Turkey. Another reason can be the tradition of the clubs. Besiktas were considered to be the team of Ottoman Palace and Galatasaray Lycee was then graduating students; who are soon-to-be politicians. Fenerbahçe was a team founded by workers. This is a short explanation of the derby background.
The 312th Galatasaray-Besiktas derby was to be played on 19/09/2004, at Besiktas' ground Inönü. Four days ago we (me and my uncle) ordered our tickets online, it's easy to get tickets if you do it via internet. Tickets for the "New Uncovered Stand" were about 18 USD each.
We met at my place and took the bus which goes to the famous Taksim Square of Istanbul. Inönü is just a 5 minutes walk from Taksim Square. When we arrived at Inönü, there was a horrible crowd, all Besiktas fans were very aggressive about their team's results; coming here with new hopes; and they were in queue for the stand entrances. They had won just one of their league matches, had drawn and lost twice and were 12th in the table. While Galatasaray had won four of their matches, losing one, ranking 3th.
Inönü was under construction for the whole summer. Besiktas played their first 5 matches of the season outside Inönü so this meant an opening match of the season for them. Ironically "New Uncovered Stand" is not uncovered anymore, but it's just what everybody's used to.
We didn't waste much time outside the stadium because we were already late for a derby game! Here the stadiums are filled hours before the derby kicks off. Also, outside the stadium there was nothing special as everyone was keeping their energy for inside!
When we entered we saw a different Inönü. The athletics track was removed, they had built extra seats were the track used to be. Our stand was what Italians call as "Curva sud". On the scoreboard, new "BJK TV" was making their first-ever cast. Besiktas fans were singing, everything was going well for Besiktas mentally. (Maybe it's late to say but we are Galatasaray fans who watched the game among Besiktas fans! Reason for this was that the away fan tickets weren't on sale through the internet. They were given to the fan groups to which we don't belong).
Whatever, the first Galatasaray players (Faryd Mondragon, Flavio Conceição and Sabri Sarýoðlu) came out off the tunnel to have a walk on pitch. There weren't as noisy whistles as I expected. After 20 minutes, both teams came on the pitch to make their pre-match warm-ups. It's a tradition here; we call our players to the stand and they show us a fist and than we chant "oley, oley, oley" as they rise their fists.
Besiktas fans called John Carew, Sergen Yalçýn and others respectively. Warm-up was completed and it was time to sing our national anthem before the match. After that, the two teams' captains Sergen Yalçýn and Hakan Sükür talked through the microphones asking the fans not to cause any violence. No fans listened to them, they whistled it!
By the kick-off, Besiktas fans went crazy like they always do. They were singing "Besiktas'ým benim/Biricik sevgilim/Söyle senden baþka/Kimim var benim?/Seninle aðlarým/Seninle gülerim/Söyle senden baþka/Kimim var benim?" which means "My Beþiktas/My only love/Tell me/Who do i have except you?/I cry with you/Smile with you/Tell me/Who do i have except you?". The noise of the 30.000 fans was like that of 100.000!
But the game was not that hot. Galatasaray playing a smart away derby team tactic and Besiktas was weak in attack. As most Galatasaray derbies, it was "boring" for most people. First half ended 0-0 with a few weak attacks from both sides. In 2nd half, nothing much changed. But this time there was something different. Galatasaray fans threw fireworks to Besiktas' most fanatic stand where their famous Çarsi group is settled. Besiktas fans threw them back on to Galatasaray fans, then Galatasaray fans threw back ... it went on like this for about 5 minutes.
The players didn't seem to be affected from this. We saw some more weak shots and unsuccesful attempts. But in the 58th minute Galatasaray found a good possesion, Necati Ates was fallen down by the Besiktas defence in the penalty-area. The referee gave a penalty and it made Besiktas fans furious.
When Hakan Sükür put the ball on the penalty spot, there was a big silence. When the referee blew his whistle, and the post denied Hakan Sükür's shot, at that moment Inönü turned out to be a hell itself. With the motivation of the missed penalty Inönü revived again.
Galatasaray fans weren't missing one second of silence, they started to sing. But of course Besiktas fans silenced them when they heard them singing. 30,000 versus 950 (i don't know the exact number). But nothing came of it at the end of match. For the second consecutive season at Inönü; Besiktas-Galatasaray derby didn't yield a "gooaaalll" celebration, both ended in goalless draws.
Besiktas fans were angry at their team and their coach Del Bosque. A "second" opening match of the season couldn't bring happyness to them. While Galatasaray were unlucky to miss a penalty and so got a 0-0 draw. Whole day no fights happened between fans because there were a lot of police and it would be stupid for Galatasaray fans to want a fight as there were thousands of dangerous "Çarsi" members!
Anyway, we came back from the stadium with a bit of a smile on our faces as we walked away from another derby without defeat. But at the same time we were a bit disappointed because of being unlucky with that penalty.
Report added : 05 June 2005
Report by : Semih
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