Turks Love Their Football

My aim last Friday was to watch the England match at 10pm Turkish time and then stroll down Bar Street in Gumbet, dancing the night away in celebration of an England thrashing of Montenegro. I readied myself to venture down Bar Street until I located a suitable Irish theme pub to view the match. There must be an Irish theme pub in every street in every part of the globe. If there was a nuclear holocaust the only thing that would survive would be cockroaches and Irish theme pubs. However, what curtailed my plans was the hotel’s animation team. All were fervent supporters of the Turkish team. They persuaded me that the England match was a forgone conclusion with England easily routing the opposition. The more pulsating affair would be the Turkish match between Estonia. Convinced, I stayed at the hotel hoping they were right. It was not just the animation team, managers, bar staff, front desk receptionists, cooks, waiters, anybody that wasn’t working in those two hours were crammed into the hotel conference suite to watch Turkey’s crucial world cup qualifier. The problem I had was the commentary which was not surprisingly in Turkish. In reality the pictures along with the facial and body contortions, the screams of delight and anguish from the hotel’s employees was enough to give you a good gage if Turkey was doing well or not. The place erupted when the second goal went in to secure a two nil victory for Turkey. A beautiful woman who vaguely resembled actress Sophia Loren was unable to contain her emotions and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. That was the best result of the night for me! The animation team and I celebrated the win feasting on Turkish Delight and Efes (the local beer). I was delighted for my Turkish brethren, which was made even sweeter when I knew that England swept away Montenegro as rightly predicted. Looking forward to watching both teams at next year’s World Cup.