24/2/2008 : Hertha BSC Amateure - Türkiyemspor Berlin : 0-2
289 spectators
Berlin is sometimes nicknamed the "most Turkish city outside of Turkey". The number of Turkish immigrants in Berlin beats any other city in Europe. Almost half a million Turks live in Berlin. Turkish restaurants, shops and cafes are everywhere in the city. Especially the districts of Kreuzberg, Wedding and Neukölln are real Turkish bastions, although in other Berlin districts there are a fair number of Turks as well. While Berlin is multicultural in general with people from all over the world (something I, as a left-wing supporter of multicultural cities, strongly like), the Turks are dominant.
With all these Turkish people it was obvious Turkish clubs would be formed, including Turkish football clubs. At this moment there are lot of Turkish football clubs in Berlin. Names such as Hilalspor, SV Galatasaray Berlin, Trabzonspor Berlin, Yesilyurt Berlin, and more such names leave little to the imagination. All those clubs however are small amateur clubs in the very lowest leagues of German football.
One exception however became a success: Türkiyemspor Berlin. The club was founded in 1978 in Kreuzberg, the most Turkish of all districts of Berlin (some streets in this district have almost 80% Turkish citizens). The club was originally named Kreuzberg Gencler Birligi (similar to the popular Ankara-based club) however when it officially registered in the German Football Association it adopted the name Izmirspor as many founding members were immigrants from the Izmir region.
The club immediately appealed to a lot of people within the Turkish immigrant community and local merchants financially supported the club. To attract a wider audience, the name Izmirspor was dropped in 1987 and the new name was adopted: Türkiyemspor Berlin.
The club has been a success ever since, climbing the ladder to the semi-professional levels of the German league. In Europe, only 1 or 2 other immigrants teams have done better. Apart from that, Türkiyemspor has always been strongly multicultural with both Turkish immigrants and Germans in the team. The team has won several prices for their role in integrating immigrants into the local Berlin society, and they showed the outside world that multicultural teams could become a success. This inspired Turkish people in many other cities to set up their own local Turkiyemspor teams, which exist now in many German cities but also in Holland, USA, Australia and many more countries. So to say that Türkiyemspor Berlin has made a large impact, is an understatement.
The team won, only a few weeks ago, yet another trophy which rewarded them for their positive role when it comes to integrating immigrants and local people into an organisation. But as much as the club is proud of these achievements, they of course also aim for success on the pitch.
Türkiyemspor's biggest achievement was reaching the 3rd division of German football. They are currently in 4th division but are aiming to promote to the 3rd division again.
This season may very well be the perfect occasion for that promotion. Türkiyemspor has a good team and is currently in 2nd position. The only team ahead of them is the reserve (amateur) team of top division club Hertha Berlin. Hertha was 7 points ahead of Türkiyemspor and had not lost a game this season. This weekend was the big clash between the two top teams. If Hertha won this game, the gap was 10 points and the title was theirs. Türkiyemspor needed to win this game to come back to 4 points behind Hertha II and make the title race exciting again.
A very interesting game and I needed to be there. Who would I support? The answer is so easy to guess the question is unnecessary even. I lived in Turkey for a while and fell in a deep love with the country, I would even love to re-emigrate to Turkey. Plus, I love multicultural societies and clubs. So the answer was clear: I was hoping for a Türkiyemspor victory!
Note by the way that the teams play in an interesting league with also a few very traditional old clubs like Dynamo Berlin (the team from the former DDR police) and Tennis Borussia Berlin. A second Turkish team, SV Yesilyurt, was also supposed to play in this league, but they collapsed before the season started, leaving Türkiyemspor as the absolute nr 1 immigrants team in Germany.
The Hertha BSC Amateurs play their games in the (what a dull name...) Amateurstadion. This stadium is located within the quite impressive domain of Hertha BSC who have a lot of smaller training pitches next to the impressive Olympiastadion. The Amateurstadion is located next to the Olympiastadion, in the shadow of the big arena. From the stand of the Amateurstadion you see the impressive Olympiastadion right in front of you.
The Amateurstadion is decent, but that's all really. A small terrace behind the goal (terrace sounds more impressive than it really is) and a stand with seats. I think the capacity would be maximum 1000. Today, for a top game, there were only 289 spectators. If you realise that at least half of them were Turkiyemspor fans, you can imagine the Hertha fans don't really care about their amateur team. It is in my opinion not even justified that reserve teams are allowed to play in the regular leagues. But I of course liked the Turkish invasion of the stadium and had a nice time talking to the Türkiyemspor fans. Talking about how much we like Turkey, about Turkish football, ... You get the picture.
The game itself started slowly. Hertha had a bit more possession but Türkiyem had technically more gifted players. About 3 or 4 players were German and they also had 1 African player, the others were Turkish immigrants. The fans were 80 to 90% Turkish people, plus another few Germans who supported Türkiyemspor (and me of course :)).
The first chance was for Hertha: a high ball from the left side reached a player that stood totally isolated at the far post, he controlled the ball but then delivered a very weak shot right at the Türkiyemspor goalkeeper.
Türkiyemspor reacted with a long dribble but the shot went past the far post. Hertha got a free kick but the ball was kicked over the bar.
Some small chances, but nothing too special really. The game was, at that point, rather boring and luckily some conversations with the Turkish fans kept me awake...
Luckily Türkiyemspor realised they had to win this game to keep promotion within reach, and the technically gifted Turks started to attack. A few shots were blocked, the rebound was going straight at the Hertha goalkeeper.
Hertha woke up and also tried to react, with a long pass over the ground and a shot from the edge of the 11m line. The ball went straight into the upper corner of the goal, but the Türkiyemspor goalkeeper managed to catch without many problems. Another Hertha shot deflected on a Turkish leg, the ball bounced out of reach of the goalkeeper but Türkiyemspor was lucky to see the ball bounce just next to the post into corner.
Türkiyemspor reacted with one of the finest technical moments of the game, when a player dribbled past 4 or 5 defenders, only to be stopped by the Hertha goalkeeper diving into his feet to catch the ball. Great moment though.
A nice conclusion after a somewhat disappointing first half. One player however caught my eye: Türkiyemspor striker Fatih Yigitusagi, who was technically very gifted and was a constant threat to the Hertha defense. Remember that name, because he would play a decisive role later on in this game.
The second half was of a lot better level than the first half. Hertha immediately chose to attack with a shot from inside the box which however just missed the near corner and died in the wrong side of the net.
However, by this time Türkiyemspor really became the better side and the chances for the Turks came as well. First a very hard shot only narrowly missed the far post. Then another one of those beautiful dribbles came, but this time it was concluded with a shot right at the Hertha goalkeeper.
However, the pressure from Türkiyemspor was broken suddenly when a cross from the left from Hertha was headed in from close range. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into the field, the rebound from just outside the box aimed straight at the upper corner of the goal but the Türkiyem goalkeeper caught the ball with an excellent dive.
The big chances came and a goal was just a matter of a few more minutes. Rightfully deserved, it were the Turkish who scored the opening goal. A great pass over the ground from the left side of the pitch reached Fatih Yigitusagi in front of goal, who controlled the ball and perfectly shot it in the far low corner of the net. The Hertha keeper had no chance and the by far best player on the pitch had put Türkiyemspor in front.
Hertha just had to react but didn't manage to seriously bring any danger to the Türkiyemspor goalkeeper. On the contrary the opposite happened: once again Fatih Yigitusagi made a fantastic dribble (seems to be his trademark!) past several defenders, and this time (once again face to face with the goalkeeper) he shot the ball into the net.
0-2 and Türkiyem was in fact sure of victory at that moment. Hertha kept trying but never came close apart from one moment: a cross from the left was headed in from very close range at the first post, the ball bounced off the ground and into the arms of the Turkish goalkeeper.
That was it. 0-2 and Türkiyemspor is entirely back in the title race. 4 points behind Hertha II still, but this is a gap that can easily be closed. For the Hertha reserves, this was the first defeat of the season. With an away game versus the tricky Dynamo Berlin coming up, Hertha could be facing another very tough weekend.
While the Hertha players immediately went hiding in the dressing rooms the Türkiyemspor players danced and celebrated on the pitch, singing "Türkiyem Türkiyem Türkiyem" for minutes, then on to celebrate and hug the fans. I had a few more conversations with the Türkiyem fans before going home.
The first half was disappointing, but the second half was amusing and the best team won. The technically very gifted Fatih Yigitusagi was by far the best player on the field, and Türkiyemspor deserved this victory. Hopefully on to promotion now.
Also, the friendly Turkish fans and the very technically gifted players were a pleasure to deal with, and I am surely going to attend a home game of Türkiyem the coming weeks (their home is the Katzbachstadion not far from their native Kreuzberg district). Of course, as much as I like Berlin, I fell in love with Turkey and would love to emigrate to the Middle East again, but an afternoon like this, talking to the Turkish people (often with the subject how nice and beautiful Turkey is :)) was a nice moment while waiting and hoping to be back in the Middle East itself in the near future.
And I will finalise with a traditional chant of Turkish football fans and, given the Türkiyemspor victory tonight is very appropriate: "En büyük Türkiye !" (Turkey is the greatest!)
