A referee was punched in the face at Turkish Top Football League

For more headlines like this, please subscribe to Afrihkanews.com 

The referee was on the ground after being punched by the president of the Ankaragucu soccer club.Credit...Abdurrahman Antakyali/Depo Photos, via AP

Monday night’s game in Turkey’s top soccer league ended with a brawl after the referee Halil Umut Meler was attacked and beaten up by a group of angry Ankaragucu team officials, led by the club’s president, Faruk Koca under a minute of the final whistle.

Mr. Koca approached the referee from the sideline and launched a punch on the left side of the referee’s face, knocking him to the ground while his accompany quickly gathered around him trying to kick him at any possible part of his body as he tried to protect himself.

The problem started at the end of a match in Turkey’s top division, the Super Lig, between Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor in Ankara.

The game had been seen as unfairly handled by the referee with two ejections and a dramatic finish: a last-minute goal by the visitors, Rizespor, that refused to count the home team a much-needed victory. And while the heated scene wasn’t necessarily unusual in a league known for its hothouse stadium atmospheres, the violence and the reaction to it were inevitable.

The referee was left with a noticeable swollen face and, a blackened left eye and within hours, he was in the hospital.  The team president who threw the punch was under arrest and all matches in Turkey had been suspended indefinitely.

The outrageous behaviours have been condemned by the Turkish authorities including Turkey’s justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, who wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter that Mr. Koca and two other attackers had been arrested and that others involved in the violence on the field would face similar charges.

Likewise, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is known for his love of soccer, quickly condemned the attack. “Sport means peace and brotherhood,” he wrote in a post on X. “Sport is incompatible with violence. We will never allow violence to take place in Turkish sports.”

土耳其頂級足球聯賽一名裁判臉部被拳打

週一晚上，土耳其頂級足球聯賽的比賽以一場鬥毆結束，裁判哈利勒·烏穆特·梅勒(Halil Umut Meler) 在終場哨響前一分鐘遭到由俱樂部主席法魯克·科卡( Faruk Koca) 帶領的一群憤怒的安卡拉古庫隊官員的襲擊和毆打。

科卡先生從邊線接近裁判，對裁判的左側臉發起一拳，將其擊倒在地，而他的同伴迅速聚集在他周圍，試圖在他試圖保護時踢他身體的任何部位。他自己。

這個問題始於土耳其頂級聯賽安卡拉古庫隊和凱庫爾裡澤斯波爾隊在安卡拉舉行的一場比賽結束時。

這場比賽被認為是裁判處理不公平的，他兩次被驅逐，最後的結局也很戲劇性：客隊裡澤斯堡隊在最後一刻進球，拒絕將主隊視為一場急需的勝利。 雖然在一個以溫室體育場氣氛聞名的聯盟中，激烈的場面並不罕見，但暴力和對此的反應是不可避免的。

裁判的臉明顯腫脹，左眼發黑，幾小時後他被送往醫院。 出拳的球隊主席已被捕，土耳其的所有比賽都無限期暫停。

這些令人憤慨的行為受到了土耳其當局的譴責，其中包括土耳其司法部長伊爾馬茲·通克(Yilmaz Tunc)，他在社交媒體平台X（以前稱為Twitter）上寫道，科卡先生和另外兩名襲擊者已被逮捕，其他參與暴力的人在該領域也將面臨類似的指控。

同樣，以熱愛足球而聞名的土耳其總統雷傑普·塔伊普·艾爾多安也迅速譴責了這次襲擊。 「體育意味著和平與兄弟情誼，」他在 X 上的一篇貼文中寫道。「體育與暴力是不相容的。 我們永遠不會允許土耳其體育界發生暴力行為。”