Turkish Soccer League Halts Games After Attack on Referee

The punch landed only seconds after the referee Halil Umut Meler blew his whistle to end Monday night’s game in Turkey’s top soccer league. The first kick, and then the second, came after that, as the referee lay on the grass, desperately trying to protect his head with both hands.

Within hours, the referee was in the hospital, the team president who threw the punch was under arrest and all matches in Turkey had been suspended indefinitely.

The chaos erupted at the end of a match in Turkey’s top division, the Super Lig, between Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor in Ankara. The game had been a feisty affair, with two ejections and a dramatic finish: a last-minute goal by the visitors, Rizespor, that denied the home team a much-needed victory. And while the heated scene wasn’t necessarily unusual in a league known for its hothouse stadium atmospheres, the violence — and the reaction to it — definitely was.

Within moments of the final whistle, and as players, fans and others entered the field, Meler was rushed by a group of angry Ankaragucu team officials, led by the club’s president, Faruk Koca. Approaching the referee from the sideline, Koca threw a punch that landed on the left side of Meler’s face, knocking him to the ground. Other men quickly surrounded the fallen referee, aiming kicks to his body and head as he tried to protect himself.

Meler, a respected referee who is part of an elite group of officials who handle big matches, like those in the Champions League, was protected by players and other officials. Helped to his feet, he was led away under police escort with a visibly swollen, blackened left eye.

As Turkish politicians and soccer officials visited him in the hospital on Tuesday morning, news reports said he had sustained a fracture.