Sport
They call it the game they play in heaven, and for the better part of the last ten years it has been played in Istanbul, too.
The legend of the sport has it that halfway through the 19th century on a dreary winter’s day at Rugby College, England, clearly bored with the speed of proceedings, the now venerated William Webb Ellis picked up the ball during a game of football and decided to run with it – and with that the sport of rugby was born.
The exact origins of the game in Istanbul have become a legend in their own right, possibly less clouded by the passing of many years than the passing of several beers the night a group of expats living in Turkey decided to take it upon themselves to mark the occasion of a visiting Royal Navy ship to import the sport to these shores.
For the uninitiated, rugby union – as it is formally known so as to distinguish itself from its sibling of dubious legitimacy, rugby league – is not the dying remnant of British colonialism, only still played in far-flung former outposts by barely civilised savages, that some might think. Rugby is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. The Rugby World Cup is the third largest international sports tournament by participation and spectatorship – after the Olympics and the World Cup for the boys that carried on playing with the round ball. The World Cup features teams from every continent, a feat few other sports can boast.
Since those brave men picked up the torch here in Istanbul in 1999, the flame has continued to burn. Soon after the formation of the Istanbul Ottomans Rugby Football Club, two other Istanbul clubs were formed, Kadıköy RC, Bakırköy RC, and the Pumas from Cyprus.
Since those early days the Ottomans have gone on to have considerable success, both in Turkey and abroad. The newly formed club’s first competitive match was in fact played in Athens against a side called the Spartans, a match in which the Ottomans conquered. This was late 2000. By 2002 the side had also played games in Russia, Romania, the Netherlands and Cyprus. That year, the clubs seven’s team – a faster variation of the sport where the teams are cropped from the usual 15-a side to seven – won the President’s Cup in Bulgaria.
Perhaps the Ottomans proudest moment to date was in 2007, when they battled against the HMAS Anzacs, a team made up of Australian naval officers visiting Gallipoli to mark the 90th anniversary of the ill-conceived First World War-campaign on the Turkish peninsula. In an unintended commemoration to past events the game ended in the rare score for rugby of 0-0. The opposition failed to breach the Ottoman defences for a second time. The historic event was covered in the international press, the BBC and Sky News included, and included the memorable quote of: ‘Gallipoli was not passed once again.’
Season 2007-2008 was another important year for the club, and more particularly for the legacy of rugby in Turkey. This was the year a national tournament was initiated to include clubs from outside Istanbul and to provide more opportunities for competitive matches. It is this growth that is even more encouraging than the on-field success of the club, with clubs being established in places as far afield as Erzurum and Samsun, hopefully with even more exposure the contagious sport will spread further. Already back in Istanbul the signs are promising: where the matches were once dominated by the presence of expats, there has recently been a more than welcome invasion of young Turks taking up the game.
Despite all the successes it hasn’t been completely smooth running for the Ottomans, and for Turkish rugby in general. There remains no Turkish federation, which means any finance from the International Rugby Board is hard to come by. The physical nature of the sport means a grass pitch is a necessity, and finding a permanent ground for rugby in this city has been hard. Although some sponsorship from Peugeot has made a huge difference, the players usually have to cover their own travel and other costs, which continue to be a burden.
But not far from the surface there is something quite special to rugby, something the Ottoman founders wanted to cultivate as much as the sport itself. To the untrained eye the game has all the markers of a violent sport, little more humane than boxing. But while there is plenty of regulation that makes rugby far less violent than it appears, you don’t have to look too far beyond the 80 minutes of body clashes on the pitch to witness a real spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship unique to the game.
In other sports, football in particular, there is an unmistakable sense of gang loyalty that usually pervades among competing clubs or nations. While fan violence is certainly the domain of a minority, it is an inescapable sub-culture of the sport. Never in rugby will you see scenes of opposing fans separated in stands by wire fences, in fact synonymous with the code is legions of supporters sitting together exchanging banter while their respective teams battle on the pitch. Perhaps its in the physical nature of the sport that means all animosity is left on the track after the final whistle, and players and fans of both sides will regularly unite.
There is an old adage that goes a little something like this: ‘football is a game for gentleman played by thugs; rugby is a game for thugs played by gentleman.’ Pay a visit to the Diklitaş sport’s club any Saturday afternoon and you may well be convinced you are seeing little more than thugs slugging it out amid organised chaos. But spend a few minutes around the changing rooms at the end and you’ll soon see the true spirit come to the fore – the spirit we keep playing the game for.
The Istanbul Ottomans RFC warmly welcomes all interested spectators and participants, first-timers and otherwise. For contact information visit the website at www.ottomansrugby.com
The return of the Ottomans
Writer: Ben McIntosh
They call it the game they play in heaven, and for the better part of the last ten years it has been played in Istanbul, too.
The legend of the sport has it that halfway through the 19th century on a dreary winter’s day at Rugby College, England, clearly bored with the speed of proceedings, the now venerated William Webb Ellis picked up the ball during a game of football and decided to run with it – and with that the sport of rugby was born.
The exact origins of the game in Istanbul have become a legend in their own right, possibly less clouded by the passing of many years than the passing of several beers the night a group of expats living in Turkey decided to take it upon themselves to mark the occasion of a visiting Royal Navy ship to import the sport to these shores.
For the uninitiated, rugby union – as it is formally known so as to distinguish itself from its sibling of dubious legitimacy, rugby league – is not the dying remnant of British colonialism, only still played in far-flung former outposts by barely civilised savages, that some might think. Rugby is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. The Rugby World Cup is the third largest international sports tournament by participation and spectatorship – after the Olympics and the World Cup for the boys that carried on playing with the round ball. The World Cup features teams from every continent, a feat few other sports can boast.
Since those brave men picked up the torch here in Istanbul in 1999, the flame has continued to burn. Soon after the formation of the Istanbul Ottomans Rugby Football Club, two other Istanbul clubs were formed, Kadıköy RC, Bakırköy RC, and the Pumas from Cyprus.
Since those early days the Ottomans have gone on to have considerable success, both in Turkey and abroad. The newly formed club’s first competitive match was in fact played in Athens against a side called the Spartans, a match in which the Ottomans conquered. This was late 2000. By 2002 the side had also played games in Russia, Romania, the Netherlands and Cyprus. That year, the clubs seven’s team – a faster variation of the sport where the teams are cropped from the usual 15-a side to seven – won the President’s Cup in Bulgaria.
Perhaps the Ottomans proudest moment to date was in 2007, when they battled against the HMAS Anzacs, a team made up of Australian naval officers visiting Gallipoli to mark the 90th anniversary of the ill-conceived First World War-campaign on the Turkish peninsula. In an unintended commemoration to past events the game ended in the rare score for rugby of 0-0. The opposition failed to breach the Ottoman defences for a second time. The historic event was covered in the international press, the BBC and Sky News included, and included the memorable quote of: ‘Gallipoli was not passed once again.’
Season 2007-2008 was another important year for the club, and more particularly for the legacy of rugby in Turkey. This was the year a national tournament was initiated to include clubs from outside Istanbul and to provide more opportunities for competitive matches. It is this growth that is even more encouraging than the on-field success of the club, with clubs being established in places as far afield as Erzurum and Samsun, hopefully with even more exposure the contagious sport will spread further. Already back in Istanbul the signs are promising: where the matches were once dominated by the presence of expats, there has recently been a more than welcome invasion of young Turks taking up the game.
Despite all the successes it hasn’t been completely smooth running for the Ottomans, and for Turkish rugby in general. There remains no Turkish federation, which means any finance from the International Rugby Board is hard to come by. The physical nature of the sport means a grass pitch is a necessity, and finding a permanent ground for rugby in this city has been hard. Although some sponsorship from Peugeot has made a huge difference, the players usually have to cover their own travel and other costs, which continue to be a burden.
But not far from the surface there is something quite special to rugby, something the Ottoman founders wanted to cultivate as much as the sport itself. To the untrained eye the game has all the markers of a violent sport, little more humane than boxing. But while there is plenty of regulation that makes rugby far less violent than it appears, you don’t have to look too far beyond the 80 minutes of body clashes on the pitch to witness a real spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship unique to the game.
In other sports, football in particular, there is an unmistakable sense of gang loyalty that usually pervades among competing clubs or nations. While fan violence is certainly the domain of a minority, it is an inescapable sub-culture of the sport. Never in rugby will you see scenes of opposing fans separated in stands by wire fences, in fact synonymous with the code is legions of supporters sitting together exchanging banter while their respective teams battle on the pitch. Perhaps its in the physical nature of the sport that means all animosity is left on the track after the final whistle, and players and fans of both sides will regularly unite.
There is an old adage that goes a little something like this: ‘football is a game for gentleman played by thugs; rugby is a game for thugs played by gentleman.’ Pay a visit to the Diklitaş sport’s club any Saturday afternoon and you may well be convinced you are seeing little more than thugs slugging it out amid organised chaos. But spend a few minutes around the changing rooms at the end and you’ll soon see the true spirit come to the fore – the spirit we keep playing the game for.
The Istanbul Ottomans RFC warmly welcomes all interested spectators and participants, first-timers and otherwise. For contact information visit the website at www.ottomansrugby.com