Prof. Dr. Hasan Yazıcı: The Fenerbahçe Board's decision is neither good nor right!

Perhaps the most important distinction the famous thinker E. Kant taught humanity is the difference between good and right. Good is anything that brings happiness to an individual or society, or an adjective describing it. Right, however, is that which an individual or society must unconditionally adhere to in order to be moral, or an adjective describing it.

For example, getting a good grade on an exam and finishing first in the class, or working, earning, and becoming wealthy is good; however, cheating or violating the rights of others to achieve these is not right. Perhaps the most common form of immorality is deviating from what is right in order to attain what is good. Yet, among our behaviors, there are also those that are neither good nor right. Indeed, I observe with great sadness that the method chosen by the Fenerbahçe Board of Directors to protest the injustices that have been committed against Fenerbahçe for years—and which reached a peak with the recent Trabzonspor match—is exactly this: it is neither good nor right.

I learn from the newspapers that a method, in some ways filled with dark humor, has been devised as a way to react to the negative events I mentioned, the reality of which I have no doubt. Fenerbahçe will take the field for the Super Cup match against Galatasaray with 9 young players from the U19 team, and after the match begins, 3 more players will declare injury and leave the game.

In this situation, the match will be forced to stop, and Fenerbahçe will be declared a 3-0 loser. As I understand from what I have read and heard, the club's board of directors intends to achieve the following two "goods" with this scenario:

a. The planned initiative will create a great echo both at home and abroad; as a result, the injustices done to the Fenerbahçe club will either decrease or end, and even if these do not happen, Fenerbahçe fans will say a loud and unified "Enough is enough" and be happy.

b. The other "good" of the plan, according to newspaper reports, is that such a scenario would save Fenerbahçe from heavy penalties such as point deductions or lifetime bans for administrators, which could result from initiatives like not showing up for the match or pulling the team off the field.

Another "good" related to the subject is the good of a sports match itself. This is when an individual or a team combines their physical abilities with intellect and acquired experience, enters a competition against an opponent who claims to possess the same, defeats them, and gains happiness from this victory in every aspect, often including financial gain. Sports competition also brings happiness to the spectators watching this rivalry. The same happiness can sometimes come from simply watching the competition of physical skill combined with pure intellect and experience, without taking sides, and feeling excitement from it.

Alongside all these "goods," there is only one "right" in sports competition. And that is not to involve any kind of cheating in this competition. You either show up for the match, or you don't. You cannot pretend to show up and then, as planned in the current example, have a few players fake an injury; that is absolutely unacceptable. Especially involving young people in such a ruse is completely out of the question. Do you want to field the U19 team to protest what has happened? Fine, field them, but let them play for 90 minutes.

How can those who haven't even had their backs sweat for an hour in that Fenerbahçe jersey predict what the result of the match will be? Let's look at it from another angle. Let's say the young Fenerbahçe players lost 10-0 to Galatasaray. Can't you grasp that this honorable defeat would be much better than that planned, dishonorable 3-0 defeat? Besides all this, where do you find the right to involve young Fenerbahçe players in this bad scenario of yours?

My late father, Bedi Yazıcı, became the goalkeeper for the Fenerbahçe first team in 1933, when he was only 16 years old. It is said that he was a very good goalkeeper, and that he even trained the most famous goalkeeper, Cihat Arman. He also served as club president in the 1953–54 seasons. I never forget. Years ago, when I was still an assistant at Cerrahpaşa, I met the famous Beşiktaş player Baba Hakkı. I still see before my eyes how he hugged me as soon as he learned who I was, saying, "My child!" It turned out they had good memories together—one as a goalkeeper and the other as a forward—memories that brought happiness to both themselves and the spectators. You know, I sometimes think, it is a good thing they didn't live to see these days of Turkish football.

Dear Fenerbahçe administrators, I hear you have thoughts that the decision you have made will also create an echo abroad. Do you know, I am very afraid of this, especially because of the Olympiakos match we will soon play in Athens. Please, at the very least, do not be the cause of internal ill-wishers joining forces with external ill-wishers.