By Mehmet Bahadır Akgün/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Beko President Ali Koc spoke to Fenerbahce TV and made some harsh comments about Ergin Ataman, who as he stated “is the last person to talk about fair play because of his past” and shared his part of the story about what happened at the Fernando Buesa Arena this past weekend.
“I would like to talk about Anadolu Efes as well. They were amazing this season. They were deservedly here. I sincerely congratulate them. There were some incidents following the game. Even though they didn’t last long, they get ahead of the game because of the way they were handled and represented. I am deeply sorry to be obliged to make this statement, as it would have been much better if such incidents between two Turkish teams had not happened in a third country. I wish they did not, it is sad. However, I want to say a couple of things with the aim of telling the true story. Fenerbahce fans did not leave the arena following the game, and a huge majority supported Efes sincerely waiting until the end of the game. Those who did not support did not say anything and shackle. Until when 25 seconds left in the game when the game was decided. Because of past incidents and bad blood, Fenerbahce fans started chanting ‘Call a time-out’ for Efes head coach Ergin Ataman. And this is where the dimension of the situation changed since Ataman used sharp swearings towards two different parts of stands not only once but twice. You can see it clearly on the broadcast as well. Fans closer to the court could not only lipread but also hear what he said. That’s where the dimension of the situation changed. Fans closer to the court reacted, and it came to the point where there were several physical contacts. And we tried to help officers to split them. Gladly it did not go beyond. As I said, I wish it did not happen” Koc told Fenerbahce TV.
The Fenerbahce chairman focused on the “disrespectful” actions from Anadolu Efes‘ side.
“First of all, I would like to make this clear: One should not swear at not only Fenerbahce fans but also any other group of fans. It is a huge disrespect. Especially that coming from a sports person is not acceptable. As for his post-game comments, there are two types of sportspersons in our country. The first group is those who are putting all the tension, sensitive points and past incidents aside and trying to do their job within a fair-play context without getting affected by external factors. And then there is the second group of people who are more than wanted and trying to raise tension by exploiting the sensitive points, to start tension depending on social psychology and taking this as an advantage in the competition. They do it and attempt to create victimization. Unfortunately, the given head coach is in the second group. I’m saying this in a sad manner. There are many incidents of him with Fenerbahce Sports Club from his past clubs. And that’s why Fenerbahce fans have a different mindset about him. He made some comments following the game mentioning insults and swearings towards him, underlining fair-play and expecting an apology”, Koc added.
“First of all, it sad that it came to this point while we were expecting a “Thank you” due to our support for Efes throughout the game. Fans did not swear at him. They chanted “Call time-out”. Following his swearings, several incidents occurred in the stands closer to the court. I don’t know if any individual swearing incident happened following that. But he was the one to ignite the fuse. Considering this, creating victimization by saying that the fans swore at him is suitable for the type that the second group of sportspersons are in. He is the last person to underline fair-play taking his past actions into account. At least, he is the last person to underline fair-play for the games he competed against Fenerbahce. Expecting an apology is its cheekiness dimension. It’s his past insincere attitude, theatrical manner, aiming at social psychology, raising tension that made things come to this point. Regardless of social psychology, we don’t have the luxury to act in such a way as sports people. However, I do realize that when you are too kindly, people tend to take advantage of it. There are playoff series ahead of us. They will come here, we will go there. It is a necessity not to raise the tension further. He needs to look at the mirror and array himself. No one can handle the fans including us, security forces if it continues in this way. One wrong doing does not justify the other either. Fans’ behavior would be wrong as well. But what I’m trying to say is that he should focus on his job, be a sports person and do his job in fair-play just like our head coach does. As for Anadolu Efes, we do not have any issues with Anadolu Efes as Fenerbahce club. The investments and successes Efes has had in Turkish basketball for decades are obvious. Therefore we have only respect and sympathy for Efes. That’s why I’m so sad that we are having such problems with Efes because of the given head coach”, the Fenerbahce Beko President concluded.