October 28: Turkey’s Beşiktaş have issued a furious statement condemning what they call an unprecedented double standard by both Turkish Super League broadcaster beIN SPORTS Turkey and the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).
The club’s protest contrasts the on-air treatment of an incident involving Beşiktaş striker Dusan Vlahović against a mass fight on the pitch at the end of the Galatasaray-Fenerbahçe derby.
Beşiktaş says the action of its player, Vlahović, was repeatedly broadcast from various angles by beIN SPORTS, saying that the footage was practically compiled into a dossier to draw public attention and disciplinary action from the TFF, which ultimately resulted in a match ban for the player.
In stark contrast, Beşiktaş highlights the massive brawl that broke out immediately after the final whistle of the Galatasaray-Fenerbahçe derby, involving dozens of players punched and people assaulted. Instead of close scrutiny of this incident, the broadcaster opted for wide-angle shots, a stance that Besiktas described as “a double standard that will go down in the history of Turkish sport.
Beşiktaş drew attention to an incident during the broadcaster’s analysis program “Trio”, where former referee and commentator Bülent Yıldırım was cut off mid-sentence just as he was about to share his views on the events. The club argued that this is concrete evidence of management interference in broadcasts.
In its statement, Beşiktaş questioned both institutions regarding their actions and impartiality. The club asked beIN SPORTS why the close-up tracking reflex applied when Beşiktaş is involved turns into wide-angle camouflage during mass fights involving other teams, and whether all unedited footage from the side of the pitch, behind the goal and in the tunnel that was shielded during the live broadcast will be fully handed over to the relevant authorities.
Regarding the Turkish Football Federation, Beşiktaş questioned whether the TFF will exercise its ex officio evidence-gathering authority under Article 75 of the Football Disciplinary Regulations with the same determination as before, and whether it will request raw managers’ feeds to identify all missed physical contact and refer all players involved in the fight to the disciplinary board as quickly and rigorously as shown on the record.
Beşiktaş reminded the public that it has already filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor’s office regarding the station’s double standard broadcasting policy.
Concluding the statement, the black and white club stressed that they will closely follow the decisions and references of the TFF on derby night, declaring: “We will not take a step back from our fight until the color of justice in this league is black and white and the standards on the pitch are equal for all clubs.”
Contact the writer of this story, Alexander Krassimirov, at (email protected).