Sports and the Making of the Modern Middle East

• Published in: International journal of Middle East studies 2019-08, Vol.51 (3), p.468-471
• Main Author: Yildiz, Murat C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 19th century; 20th century; Clubs; Conversation; Football; Investigations; Jewish people; Monopolies; Neighborhoods; New Directions in Sports Studies; Popular culture; Popularity; Roundtable; Soccer; Sports; Sports & recreation clubs; Sports history; Tea
• ISSN: 0020-7438; 1471-6380
• DOI: 10.1017/S0020743819000400

In June 2012, I walked through the back streets of Vefa, a neighborhood in Istanbul's Fatih District, looking for the Vefa Spor Kulübü (Vefa Sports Club). It did not take long for me to find the single-story building with the words “Vefa Spor Kulübü Lokali” conspicuously painted in green on one of its sidewalls. At the club, I struck up a conversation with a devoted older member about its history. According to the gentleman, it was important for me to study less elitist clubs such as Vefa because the organization's history challenged the monopoly of Turkey's “Big Three”—i.e., Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, and Fenerbahçe—over soccer. After drinking multiple cups of tea with this individual, I broached the topic of sources. “What sources did the club have?” I asked. Delighted and proud, he showed me the club's collection of the Vefa Haftalık Spor Gazetesi (Vefa Weekly Sports Newspaper). After carefully flipping through the brittle pages of an edition published in 1953, I asked whether the organization had any sources written in Ottoman Turkish from the early 20th century. Visibly disappointed, he said, “around twenty years ago we came across documents written in Ottoman; we didn't understand what they said so we threw all of them away.” Sensing how shocked and saddened I was, he explained that it was important for me to remember that the club lacked the space and resources to store the documents and that this happened before “Ottomania” engulfed Turkish society. My conversations with colleagues who work on other parts of the Middle East and beyond suggest that this was not an uncommon story.