{"id":302059,"date":"2023-12-12T16:39:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T16:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=302059"},"modified":"2023-12-12T16:39:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T16:39:04","slug":"newspapers-react-to-the-darkest-night-in-turkish-football-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/newspapers-react-to-the-darkest-night-in-turkish-football-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Newspapers react to &apos;the darkest night&apos; in Turkish football history"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Turkey&#8217;s Night of Shame! Newspapers react to &#8216;the darkest night&#8217; in league history after a referee was BATTERED on the floor by home team&#8217;s president in &#8216;barbaric&#8217; attack<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ: Referee in Turkey is punched and kicked at final whistle in the top flight<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>ront pages were aghast following the &#8216;darkest night&#8217; in Turkish football history\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Have you witnessed abuse of referees? Contact IAKO@dailymail.co.uk\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The &#8216;barbaric&#8217; attack on a top flight referee has been slammed as the &#8216;darkest night in Turkish football history&#8217; on its country&#8217;s front pages.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The president of a top-flight Turkish football club sparked fury on Monday night after running onto the pitch following a draw and punching a referee in the face.<\/p>\n<p>With Turkey as a country stunned at the attack, the Super Lig has been suspended indefinitely.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The front page of Milliyet ran the headline &#8216;Night of Shame&#8217;, accompanied by a picture of the attack on referee Halil Umut Meler.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Follow up words added: &#8216;Turkish football had the darkest night in its history yesterday.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78857767-12853835-image-m-4_1702369906330.jpg\" height=\"503\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78857765-12853835-image-a-5_1702369912748.jpg\" height=\"503\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Turkey&#8217;s front pages reacted to &#8216;night of shame&#8217; as a football referee was punched in the face<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78843713-12853835-The_moment_that_the_fist_of_Faruk_Koca_president_of_top_flight_f-a-6_1702369933043.jpg\" height=\"627\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The moment that the fist of Faruk Koca, president of top-flight football club, connects with the face of referee Halil Umut Meler after a Turkish Super Lig match on Monday evening<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78837847-12853835-Abhorrent_scenes_started_when_the_president_of_Ankaragucu_punche-a-7_1702369946022.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Abhorrent scenes started when the president of Ankaragucu punched the referee in the face<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78843715-12853835-Meler_collapsed_to_the_ground_after_he_was_struck_by_Koca_after_-a-8_1702369950759.jpg\" height=\"430\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Meler collapsed to the ground after he was struck by Koca after the conclusion of the 1-1 draw<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Turkiye ran the headline: &#8216;The Big Disgrace&#8217;, accompanied by a picture of one of the punches.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Abhorrent images showed president Faruk Koca&#8217;s fist connecting with the referee&#8217;s cheek just beneath his left eye, sending the official falling to the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Others then laid into him with a series of kicks as he curled up on the ground covering his face.<\/p>\n<p>A large crowd of players, coaching staff and security were quick to race to the scene and stop the attack, with the shaken Meler eventually helped to his feet. After being led away, he was seen sporting a swollen eye.<\/p>\n<p>The shocking scenes, which have been condemned by the country&#8217;s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, began at the end of a match that finished 1-1.<\/p>\n<p>Fans, as well as club officials, invaded the pitch after Rizespor scored a 97th-minute equaliser, prompting police to escort the referee to safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But despite being on the receiving end of the attack, Turkish media reported\u00a0Meler as saying &#8216;Thank you, it&#8217;s my fault&#8217; as he exited.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78837851-12853835-Koca_stormed_onto_the_pitch_after_his_side_s_draw_against_Rizesp-a-10_1702370345234.jpg\" height=\"411\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Koca stormed onto the pitch after his side&#8217;s draw against Rizespor and assaulted the official<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78839645-12853835-Meler_looked_to_protect_his_face_after_the_punch_while_other_ind-a-11_1702370349117.jpg\" height=\"470\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Meler looked to protect his face after the punch while other individuals kicked him on the floor<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78844715-12853835-Koca_could_be_seen_walking_away_after_the_confrontation_as_other-a-9_1702370337922.jpg\" height=\"426\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Koca could be seen walking away after the confrontation as others tried to speak to him<\/p>\n<p>It is understood that the referee was left with a cheek fracture, while\u00a0Koca &#8211; who is reported to have heart problems &#8211; was hospitalised as a precaution, but would later be taken into custody following treatment,\u00a0Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.<\/p>\n<h3>GET IN TOUCH\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>We want to hear from refs who have been abused &#8211; or parents who have witnessed atrocious behaviour on the touchline<\/p>\n<p>Email us at:\u00a0IAKO@dailymail.co.uk<\/p>\n<p>Later, it was reported that\u00a0Koca &#8211; who registered a blood pressure of 190 &#8211; had been sent to an Ankara courthouse along with six others involved in the incident. Turkey&#8217;s Spor Arena news outlet said\u00a0Koca and three others were officially arrested.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This attack is unfortunate and shameful in the name of football,&#8217; federation chief Mehmet Buyukeksi said after the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We say enough is enough,&#8217; he added, insisting that all involved in the violence would be punished.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Buyukeksi also blamed the attack on a culture of contempt toward referees in Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Everyone who has targeted referees and encouraged them to commit crimes is complicit in this despicable attack,&#8217; he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The irresponsible statements of club presidents, managers, coaches and television commentators targeting referees have opened the way for this attack.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/08\/78080051-12853835-Mail_Sport_has_launched_a_campaign_to_stop_the_abuse_of_referees-a-12_1702370354077.jpg\" height=\"289\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mail Sport has launched a campaign to stop the abuse of referees at all levels of the game<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12853835\/Turkey-Newspapers-react-referee-punched.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Turkey&#8217;s Night of Shame! Newspapers react to &#8216;the darkest night&#8217; in league history after a referee was BATTERED on the <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Newspapers react to &amp;apos;the darkest night&amp;apos; in Turkish football history - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/newspapers-react-to-the-darkest-night-in-turkish-football-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Newspapers react to &amp;apos;the darkest night&amp;apos; in Turkish football history - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Turkey&#8217;s Night of Shame! 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