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Besiktas JK

Besiktas JK Information

Address:		Akaretler Spor Caddesi No:92, Besiktas-Istanbul
Telephone:		(212) 3101000
Fax:		(212) 2588194
Founded:		1903
Stadium:		Inönü
Website:		www.besiktasjk.com.tr

Besiktas JK History

Besiktas is a Turkish football club from Istanbul. Its home is the 35 thousand spectator capacity Inönü Stadyumu, located by the Bosphorus, near the Dolmabahçe Palace.

Colors

When Besiktas was founded, the colors of the club were red and white, the same colors used in the Turkish flag. After the Balkan Wars in 1912-1913, the Ottoman Empire lost most of its territories in the Balkans, and casualties included some of the sportsmen of the club.

Besiktas decided to change its red and white colors to black and white, to commemorate the losses in the war (black being the symbol of mourning), until all of the Balkan lands were taken back by the Turks. As this did not happen, the colors of the club have remained black and white since then.

History

Besiktas Gymnastics Club (Besiktas Jimnastik Kulübü) was founded under the name of "Besiktas Bereket Gymnastics Club" in March 1903. Kemal Ataturk's modern Turkey was not yet born. It was the time of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and the sultan was Abdulhamit. Although in those days, all club and sports activities were forbidden, 26 young people managed to found the club nevertheless. In a short time, many other young people also joined Besiktas and the club became larger. Samil Osman Bey was the first president of the club. Although they were working on different branches, they held all of their activities in secret.

The first branches of the club were wrestling, boxing, weight-lifting and a variety of gymnastics branches.

The monarchical rules were relaxed with the declaration of Mesrutiyet (a limited form of democracy) on July 23, 1908. A law allowing the foundation of sport clubs was declared on August 3, 1909.

Finally, the club was officially registered on January 20, 1910 under the name of "Besiktai Ottoman Gymnastics Club", and Sükrü Pasha took over the presidency of Besiktas. In this way, Besiktas became the first officially registered Turkish sports club.

Soccer and Besiktas

Some of the young patriots from the neighborhood Besiktas district in Istanbul formed two soccer clubs called "Valideçesme" and "Basiret", under the leadership of Seref Bey. They were not members of Besiktas Gymnastics Club. One day they came together and Seref Bey said: "Besiktas Ottoman Gymnastics Club is the strongest and biggest club of Besiktas. If we want to think big, we should come together under Besiktas Ottoman Gymnastics Club."

"Valideçesme" and "Basiret" soccer clubs joined Besiktas Ottoman Gymnastics Club in 1911. In a very short time, soccer became the foremost branch in the club.

Nickname

It was the last week of the season of 1932-1933 in the Istanbul Amateur League, and the final match was between Fenerbahçe and Besiktas. Fenerbahçe were the league leaders, and Besiktas had trailed by 2 points. As the teams drew, Fenerbahçe were the league champions.

Seref Bey, who brought soccer to Besiktas, died just one day before the big match, because of his illness. June 16, 1933 was the day the final match was to be played. Either Besiktas or Fenerbahçe were going to be the champions. Before the match, all the players of Besiktas were very sad. Nobody was talking in the team, everyone was silent. Suddenly Hakki Yeten, one of the players, stood up and said to his teammates "If Seref Bey were alive, he would want us to win this match." After that, all the players stood up, and ran onto the field to do their best. It was the first time Besiktas was playing in a black uniform, the symbol of mourning, symbolyzing the sadness of dead of Seref Bey. The match started. Fenerbahçe were mostly defending, on account of the fact that all they needed was to play for a single point. Besiktas were attacking. In the 24th minute, Nazim scored a goal for Besiktas, and the fans of Besiktas started shouting, but the referee cancelled the goal because of offside. Most of the game was played in the Fenerbahçe's half side. Besiktas attacked 66 times in 90 minutes. But the match finished goalless, making Fenerbahçe the champion. After the match, although Besiktas were not the champions, everyone was talking about the great performance:

-What a team it was!

-They attacked 66 times in 90 minutes!

-They attacked like eagles.

-Yes. They were like black eagles...

Despite the fact that on that day Besiktas failed to win the championship, they won something seen to be more important than that, the nickname of "The Black Eagles".

The Emblem

The emblem of Besiktas symbolizes the foundation date. There are two white and three black bars on the emblem. It consists of a total of nine parts. The first white bar represents "one", the three black bars represent "three", the second white bar represents "one", and there are nine parts in total. Thus: 1319, the year of the club's foundation. (The Arabic Calendar was still used in the Ottoman Empire at the time of the club's foundation. 1319 is 1903 in the modern calender.)

The Turkish flag which appears in Besiktas' emblem is the result of a gift from the Turkish Football Federation. Besiktas earned the right to incorporate the flag after it played against the Greek national team as a Turkish national team on May 16, 1952. No other Turkish team has a flag in its emblem, and moreover, Besiktas is the only Turkish club in history which has played as a national team.