CHARLOTTE (Steve Goldberg’s Wheel World) – Rivalries are as vital to sports as competition itself. It heightens the drama. A hero is only as good as the villain he faces, the challenge that has to be overcome. You have to remember though, that in sport, one man’s villain is also another man’s hero.

During a wheelchair basketball game on Sunday between Turkish league rivals Galatasaray and Beşiktaş, a number of those who would claim to be fans brought shame and dishonor to themselves and the teams they profess to love as they decided that hate for each other was more important than love of the game.

It could be quite possible that the hate isn’t real either, that this was instigated by a minority of thugs who simply feed on the opportunity to fight, to disrupt, to act without regard for others.

With visiting team supporters of these two capitol city teams as well as Fenerbahçe already banned from the professional football and basketball matches, they brought their fight to the arena where the real fans of these two proud and storied clubs were there just to see a wheelchair basketball game.

According to a report on Euronews.com:
"Supporter violence in Turkey sank to an all-time low this weekend when police were forced to use tear gas to disperse brawling fans during a wheelchair basketball game between bitter rivals Galatasary and Besiktas. The match at the Ahmet Comert Sports Hall in Istanbul had already been delayed for half an hour before the start following a court invasion.

But the main bout of violence happened six minutes from the end of the second quarter when Galatasaray were leading 31-26. Players and staff tried to calm their fans down but their pleas went unheard as both sets of supporters continued to throw missiles at each other and then took the row to the sidelines where wheelchairs were wrecked and other equipment destroyed.

As some players made a sharp exit from the court others could only watch in disbelief. Police managed to disperse the brawling fans but the hooliganism then spread to the hallways of the arena."

Video available online shows idiots on either side throwing items at each other across the court or in the hallways spraying fire extinguishers while the players are still sitting courtside – some had left to the safety of their locker rooms – watched in astonishment, most holding their shirts over their faces in an attempt to ward off the tear gas which had been used by police to settle down the instigators. Tear gas does not discriminate; it cannot differentiate between the guilty and the innocent.

Players from Galatasaray have been instructed not to speak on the matter as team management wants to put this episode quickly behind them. But you can’t unring a bell. The thoughtless violence that has plagued bigger team sports around the world has now shown its underbelly at a wheelchair basketball match and that has to be dealt with. It’s not about the game of wheelchair basketball for sure. It’s a bigger societal issue that has infected the overall genre of spectator sports.

“If hooligans are now seen in wheelchair basketball stands, then we have nothing else to say,” Galatasaray coach Sedat Incesu told the media. “It is over…sports are now officially dead in this country." Perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but he is dead-on accurate in the sense that the craziness has now spread into areas once thought immune.

I understand rivalry. But rivalry in sport has to be tempered with respect. I hate losing, especially to some teams more than others. There are still teams that I can’t stand from seeds planted during my earliest days as a sports fan. I don’t “hate” these teams anymore; I’ve lived too many years and seen too many things to waste that focus on them. I hate that people go hungry; I hate that good people get cancer. I cannot hate another team who plays the same game that I care about. I can hate that misguided thugs in self-delusion pretend that it’s team spirit that drives their actions. There is no place for that in sports. There should be no place for that in religion or politics or anywhere else.

I called the participants in the violence and destruction 'idiots' and I stand by that. Perhaps some of them are true fans and just got caught up in the mob mentality. But that is no excuse. And I hope that they learn from this.

The sage Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

While I love that quote, I know better. Rivalries in sport are good. What happened in Istanbul was not that.

Steve Goldberg

FIBA

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.