Atatürk and Galatasaray

Efforts to impose an alleged partiality toward a particular team in regard to Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, have remained fruitless in the face of historical facts. Very few persons in the history of nations have earned leadership stature and taken their place in the annals of national experience. To remove such leaders from the historical context to which they belong on the basis of oral history rather than documented facts, deliberately transporting them into the realm of a desired group or community is a distortion. Leaders, with the characteristics that have placed them in history, are above individuals, groups or communities. A defense of the opposite view, besides providing no benefit to individuals or communities, has the potential of opening irreparable wounds in the social conscience. Acting in the awareness of this, genuine leaders exhibit great sensitivity in this respect and refrain from participating in organizations that do not embrace the whole of society and of which they are not a founder or a part of. We must acknowledge with the same sensitivity that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is among the foremost historical personalities for which this holds true.

Galatasaray versus Beşiktaş 3 – 2

Galatasaray defeated Beşiktaş with three goals against two in the twenty- eighth week of the Spor Toto Super League Sunday night on February 26 at the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex TT Arena.

The first goal in the game was by Johan Elmander in minute 14 when he sent to to the goal net after Eboue gained the ball passed by Melo and directed towards the penalty area.

After the half-time İbrahim Toraman registered the tying goal for Beşiktaş in minute 46.

Felipe Melo scored the second goal of the Yellow-Reds in minute 52.

In minute 73 Semih scored an own goal for the visitor team in his effort to defend Quaresma’s goal attempt.

Jonah Elmander scored the winning goal of Galatasaray by the end of the game.

Galatasaray has increased its points to 63 atop the league standings and maintained its leading position.

Next Monday on March 5 Galatasaray will be visiting Sivasspor in the twenty-ninth week of the Spor Toto Super League.

Kazım Kazım on Loan to Olympiacos FC

Galatasaray Sports Club and Olympiacos FC have come to an agreement concerning the temporary transfer of Kazım Kazım to the Greek club for the rest of the 2011-2012 football season.

Olympiacos FC shall pay EU 875,000 fee to the Galatasaray SK for loaning our player with an option for full transfer by the end the season for 1,500 thousand euros.

We wish Kazım all the success in his new team.

Galatasaray vs Ankaragücü 4 – 0

Galatasaray defeated Ankaragücü with 4 against one in the twenty- second week of the Spor Toto Super League at the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex TT Arena on Wednesday night January 25.

The first goal of the Yellow-Reds was registered by Gökhan Zan in minute 4 when he hit the ball kicked by Reira with a goal attempt previously.

In minute 8 Emre Çolak scored the second goal after Reira crossed the ball towards him at the penalty spot.

When Engin cut the ball towards Sercan at the goal box, defenders of the visitors tried to stop the attempt but Albert Reira was there to turn it into a goal and scored the third goal in minute 53. 

In minute 76 Yiğit Gökoğlan scored the fourth and the final goal of Galatasaray in the game with the assist coming from Sabri.

Galatasaray increased its points to 50 in the league and remained atop the standings.

In the twenty- third week of the Spor Toto Super League on Saturday, January 28, Galatasaray will be visiting Bursaspor. 

Eskişehirspor vs Galatasaray 0 – 0

The tie between Galatasaray and Eskişehirspor in the twenty-first week of the Spor Toto Super League ended in a draw at the Eskişehir Ataturk Stadium on Sunday night January 22.

With this score Galatasaray increased its points to 47 in the league and remained atop the standings.

Galatasaray will be playing against Ankaragücü in the twenty-second week of the Spor Toto Super League next Wednesday on January 25 in ASY Sports Complex TT Arena.

Galatasaray vs KDÇ Karabükspor 5 – 1

Galatasaray defeated KDÇ Karabükspor with 5 goals against one in the twentieth week of the Spor Toto Super League at the ASY Sports Complex TT Arena Saturday night on January 14.

The initial goal was scored by Milan Baroš in minute 2. After Selçuk took the corner kick Johan Elmander registered the second goal before the halftime break in minute 41. 

In minute 48 Felipo Melo scored the second goal taking the penalty kick from the penalty mark.

Mustafa Sarp registered the only goal of the visitors in minute 65. 

It was Elmander again who scored the fourth goal in the game with the assist coming from Baroš in minute 68. 

Engin Baytar scored the final and the fifth goal of Galatasaray in minute 87.

This is the ninth consecutive win of the Yellow-Reds in this football season. Increasing its points to 46 Galatasaray has maintained its leading position in the league standings.

Galatasaray will be visiting Eskişehirspor in the twentieth week of the Spor Toto Super League, next Sunday on January 22 in Eskişehir Ataturk Stadium.

Yiğit Gökoğlan Joins Galatasaray

Galatasaray signed midfielder Yiğit Gökoğlan transferred from Manisaspor with a four-and-half-year contract starting from the second half of the 2011-12 football season.

Gökoğlan began his football career at Göztepe football academy in 1999 at the age of ten. In 2006, he was transferred to Manisapor U19 where he became professional in 2008.

Galatasaray vs Adana Demirspor 4 – 1

Galatasaray crushed Adana Demirspor 4 against one in the third round of the 2012 Ziraat Turkey Cup Tuesday night at the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex TT Arena and made it to the Roound 4 in the tournament.

Ayhan scored the first goal in minute 16 after an attack initiated by Engin during which Sercan led the ball towards the goal box.

In minute 36 Engin Baytar registered the second goal of the Yellow-Reds.

Sercan scored the third goal in minute 40.

In the second-half of the game after the throw-in by Sabri, when Ceyhun passed the ball to Sercan, his shot hit the goal net in minute 66.

The only goal of the visitors was registered in minute 70 by Erçağ.

Galatasaray will be hosting KDÇ Karabükspor on Saturday in the twentieth week of the Spor Toto Super League.

Samsunspor versus Galatasaray 2 – 4

Galatasaray defeated Samsunspor with 4 goals against two in the nineteenth week of the Spor Toto Super League at the 19 Mayıs Stadium Saturday night on January 7.

The home club scored the first goal in minute 21 by Ekigho. The second goal in the game was also registered by Ekigho in minute 32 for Samsunspor. 

In minute 50, Semih Kaya scored the first goal for Galatasaray with the assist coming from Tomáš Ujfaluši. 

When Reira took control of the ball passed by Emre and turned it over to Selçuk İnan, he hit hard to score the tying goal of the Yellow-Reds in minute 69. 

Milan Baroš scored the winning goal in minute 77 with a header.

In minute 83 of the game Sercan Yıldırım registered the fourth goal with the assist from Selçuk. 

With this win Galatasaray has maintained its leading position in the league standings with 43 points after the eighth consecutive win during this football season.

Next Tuesday on January 10, Galatasaray will be playing against Adana Demirspor in the third round of the 2012 Ziraat Turkey Cup at the Ali Sami Yen Complex Turk Telekom Arena. The kick-off is at 20:30. The tickets for this game are already on sale for the GS Bonus card holders. They will be on sale for the general public starting on Monday, January 9.

Galatasaray versus Istanbul BB 4 – 1

Galatasaray defeated Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor with 4 goals against one in the eighteenth week of the Spor Toto Super League at the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex TT Arena Tuesday night on January 3.

The first goal was scored by Emre Çolak in minute 6 with the assist coming from Baroš. In minute 11 Visca registered the tying goal of the visitors. And the first half ended with a 1 – 1 tie. 

In minute 51, it was Emre Çolak again who scored the second goal for Galatasaray. Milan Baroš scored the third goal of the game in minute 72 with the assist from Selçuk İnan. And Selçuk scored the final and the fourth goal within the last seconds of the game.

With this win Galatasaray has maintained its leading position in the standings with 40 points after the seventh consecutive win during this football season.

In the nineteenth week of the Spor Toto Super League, Galatasaray will be visiting Samsunspor on Saturday January 7.

The Birth of the Galatasaray Logo

Galatasaray's first emblem was drawn by 333 [School Number] Şevki Ege. This was the figure of a spread-winged eagle with a football in its beak. The eagle was a model emblem that Galatasaray dwelled on in the beginning. But when the name did not attract too much interest, Şevki Ege’s composition was pushed aside. It was later that today’s Galatasaray emblem was born and adopted.

Suat Başar describes how the Galatasaray emblem was born:

The year was 1923… We were in "cinquième" or High School Grade 1. Our friend 74 Ayetullah Emin and his classmate Şinasi Şahingiray used to publish a magazine called “Kara Kedi” (Black Cat) every week. Ninety percent of the magazine was written in Ayet’s very fine handwriting. As he copied over the magazine’s draft, Ayet would also decorate the pages, especially the first page, which doubled as a magazine cover. One day, we all saw that there were very simply drawn but elegant letters “Ghayn-Sin” on the cover. The red “Ghayn” had a gold inset that said “Sin.” This figure, drawn in geometrical and proportional lines was to be not only our club’s emblem, but the emblem of all Galatasaray fans. A proposal had to be made about the emblem, however, at the Club Congress. Who was going to do this? The friend we thought could do it was very shy and the day of the congress was approaching. The day finally came. In 1923, a host of people thronged together for the congress held in the school’s art classroom. What a jubilant, exciting gathering it was! Everyone was there. It was obvious that Galatasaray was getting ready for a new breakthrough, preparing for some reforms on the sports field and opening up a new era in the country. Proposals and decisions kept flying around, one after another. Our friend Şinasi had taken Ayet’s "Ghayn-Sin" drawing to present a proposal about it to the congress but he was so shy, he just sat waiting in the back row. Finally the late Dr. Namık Canko sat down next to Şinasi, asked to be heard and spoke out:

‘My friends, our young friend Şinasi Reşit has brought a figure for a club badge with him to the congress and I propose that this figure be accepted as our club’s new emblem.’ Canko took out the figure of “Ghayn-Sin” that had been drawn in large dimensions on a piece of drawing paper and filled in with our colors. The proposal was accepted amid applause. Ayet had not only drawn the old letters “Ghayn-Sin” on the page but had also created a “GS” in the same style. The originals of the emblem are in the magazine “Kara Kedi” which was published by Ayet assisted by Şinasi. "Ghayn-Sin" was printed for the first time on the stationery prepared for the Galatasaray student’s association in 1925. Again in 1925, the letters were embroidered on the high school cap and later on, attached to the high school jacket. There were some problems with the preparation of the badge but finally, when the time came, the figures were given to Besim Koşalay, who had a store adjacent to the gates of the old İpek movie theater and Nihat Bekdik, who had opened up a haberdasher’s shop in that area. Luck was not with them however, and these first sketches were lost. When the Administrative Council of the times finally printed the figures and had the badges made, Ayet’s original composition had become a little modified. Ayet Emin, the creator of the “GS”, was buried on September 29, 1931. Our big brother Dr. Namık too died in 1933. We pray for the health and longevity of our friend Şinasi Şahingiray. Whenever I see the “GS”, I remember all three and cherish the memory of our friends who passed away.

Ziraat Turkey Cup Third Round

Galatasaray will be playing with Adanademirspor in the third round of the 2012 Ziraat Turkey Cup Tuesday evening on January 10 at the Ali Sami Yen Complex Turk Telekom Arena.

Should the Yellow-Reds defeat the visitors, Galatasaray will take its place among the top 16 teams to compete for the Turkey Cup.

Stadiums

When Galatasaray were formed no Turkish teams had their own home ground, and all games in the Istanbul Football League took place at Papazın Çayırı - now the site of Fenerbahçe's Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. In 1921 the city's first proper football stadium was constructed, Taksim Stadium, which was used as the home ground for all of Istanbul's teams. When historic Taksim Stadium was demolished in 1940, Galatasaray decided to build a large, modern stadium. Due to difficulties stemming from World War II, construction was delayed for over two decades. In this period, they played in Şeref Stadi and Dolmabahçe Stadi

Ali Sami Yen Stadi

On 20 December 1964, Ali Sami Yen Stadium opened. Named after the founder of Galatasaray, Ali Sami Yen, it is in the Mecidiyeköy quarter of the Şişli district at the center of the city. In 1964, the stadium had capacity over 35,000. Today, due to improvements in security and prohibition of non-seater spectators, it has an all-seater capacity of 24,990.

After 2002, when Atatürk Olympic Stadium was built for Istanbul's Olympic Games bid, Galatasaray started to play European Cup matches there. The attendance record among Turkish stadiums was broken there, in Galatasaray–Olympiacos match played in front of 79,414 spectators. Yet, Ali Sami Yen Stadium has historic importance for Galatasaray fans although it is smaller and older.

Türk Telekom Arena

The new home ground of Galatasaray is the newly built Türk Telekom Arena in the Aslantepe quarter near Maslak financial district in Şişli. The new stadium, which was opened 15 January 2011, has a capacity of 52,695 seats, making it the largest private stadium owned by a club in Turkey.

Stadium Anthem

Since 1998, after every goal scored by Galatasaray, the last part of the song I Will Survive by the Hermes House Band played. Although the song is in English, the part used has no lyrics except "la la la la". In addition, before every game the Florida State Warchant is played accompanied by what the fans call a "scarf show" where fans display and wave their Galatasaray scarves, banners and flags.A lot of people call stadium 'Cehennem' (hell) because of stadium anthem

Name and Pronunciation

The name Galatasaray itself comes from that of Galatasaray High School, which in turn takes its name from Galata Sarayı Enderûn-u Hümâyûn (Galata Palace Imperial School), the name of the original school founded on the site in 1481, and which in turn took its name from the nearby medieval Genoese colony of Galata. Galatasaray translates directly as 'Galata Palace'.

There is no diminutive form of Galatasaray. Fans refer to the club either by its full name or by its nickname "Cim Bom Bom" (pronounced 'Jim Bom Bom') or the shortened 'Cim Bom'. The shortened form 'Gala' is sometimes used in Europe/Americas.

It is important to keep in mind Galatasaray is a compound word and it is pronounced as such. The most common mistake that is done by non-Turkish speakers is to intonate as Gala-tasaray, while the correct enunciation should be Galata-Saray with a very brief pause between the two words.

Team colors and kit

Galatasaray wore red and white colors when founded, then played in dark yellow and dark blue in 1907-1908 season. For a match against the British Royal Navy cruiser HMS Barham football team played in 8 December 1908, Galatasaray finally settled on playing in red and yellow. Ali Sami Yen, the main founder of Galatasaray wrote the following in his diaries: “Our goalkeeper Asım Tevfik, left-forwarder Emin Bülent and right midfielder Ali Sami Yen are commissioned for the task of determining new team colors. “After we have been in and out of several shops, we saw two different elegant-looking wool materials in Fatty Yanko’s store at Bahçekapısı (between Eminönü and Sirkeci in Istanbul, now called Bahçekapı). One of them was quite dark red, resembling the cherry color, and the other a rich yellow with a touch of orange. When the sales clerk made the two fabrics fly together with a twist of his hand they became so bright that it reminded us the beauty of a goldfinch. We thought we were looking at the colors flickering in burning fire. We were picturing the yellow-red flames shining on our team and dreaming that it would take us to victories. Indeed it did.” The red and yellow were inspired from the colors of the roses which Gül Baba offered to Sultan Bayezid II

Home kit

Galatasaray's classic home kit

The Galatasaray home kit have always been fundamentally the same since 1908. The two team colours, yellow and red, split across the shirt. The part at the logo side is red and the other one yellow. The back is the same as the front, making it looking halved also from the side. So the home kit exists of eight parts. The sleeve next to the red body part is yellow and the other one yellow. The shorts are white and the socks red. This classic combination has been used during Ali Sami Yen era as Galatasaray SK president. From 1925-1950, 1987-1991 and 2009-2012 the club used beside the classic style also a back to front style of the halved kit. The shorts stayed white till 1983. Like many other turkish clubs in the 1980s the club started to wear a colorful (red) short. A black short was mainly used during Fatih Terim's time as Galatasaray SK manager in the late 1990s and from 2002-2004. The colour of the shorts were black in the 1920s-1940s and at the black short periods. Because of lack of money the club used to wear standard kits with standard red and yellow colours, which were more brighter than the original colours. From 1943-1983 the red tone stayed mainly the same, but the yellow was still standard like Göztepe SK or Kayserispor. For the 100th anniversary year former Galatasaray SK president Özhan Canaydın brought back the original colours. In some years the clubs also used striped kits as an alternative for the halved one. Ironically the club won the 2000 UEFA Cup Final and the 2000 UEFA Super Cup with striped kits. Since 2008 the club uses again white shorts and for the first time as first alternative / choice white socks. Because of this and the fact that the club uses the back to front style of the halved kit style since 2009 the fans started a campaign to bring back the real classic Galatasray SK home kit back.