{"id":300327,"date":"2023-12-12T18:28:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T18:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=300327"},"modified":"2023-12-12T18:28:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T18:28:34","slug":"turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>&#039;Attack on referee was inhumane&#039; &#8211; Turkish Football Federation president<\/h3>\n<p>Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca has announced his resignation after punching referee Halil Umut Meler following his side&#8217;s 1-1 draw with Rizespor in the Turkish Super Lig on Monday. Koca was caught on camera throwing a punch at Umut Meler on the pitch, which sent the official to the floor and sparked a mass brawl.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Koca and two others were formally arrested for &#8220;injuring a public official&#8221; as Umut Meler was sent to the hospital after being struck. He could be seen sporting a black eye once security had calmed the situation down.<\/p>\n<p>Turkish league football has since been suspended as there has been widespread condemnation of the attack, with Koca confirming his resignation from the club on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would like to announce to the public that I have resigned from the MKE Ankaragucu Presidency in order to prevent any further harm to the Ankaragucu club, Ankaragucu fans, the community I am in and my family,&#8221; Koca wrote in a statement on the club&#8217;s website.<\/p>\n<p> <strong> MUST READ: <\/strong> <strong>Barton hits back at &#8216;clueless&#8217; Alex Scott after Lionesses icon&#8217;s BBC message<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/67\/590x\/secondary\/Turkey-referee-football-punch-Ankaragucu-5111936.jpg?r=1702402842836\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I hope that this incident, which I, more than anyone else, cannot accept, will be a reason for our sports life, especially our football community, to be purified from mistakes, shortcomings and the culture of violence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the same time, I hope that the structural problems of Turkish football will be discussed more realistically due to this grave incident that I caused. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize again to everyone I have upset, especially Ankaragucu fans.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> <svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"> <g clip-path=\"url(#clip0_1078_5986)\"> <\/g> <defs> <clipPath> <rect width=\"23.4329\" height=\"23.4329\" fill=\"white\" transform=\"translate(0 0.134262)\"\/> <\/clipPath> <\/defs> <\/svg> Support fearless journalism<\/li>\n<li> <svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"> <g clip-path=\"url(#clip0_1078_5986)\"> <\/g> <defs> <clipPath> <rect width=\"23.4329\" height=\"23.4329\" fill=\"white\" transform=\"translate(0 0.134262)\"\/> <\/clipPath> <\/defs> <\/svg> Read The Daily Express online, advert free<\/li>\n<li> <svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"> <g clip-path=\"url(#clip0_1078_5986)\"> <\/g> <defs> <clipPath> <rect width=\"23.4329\" height=\"23.4329\" fill=\"white\" transform=\"translate(0 0.134262)\"\/> <\/clipPath> <\/defs> <\/svg> Get super-fast page loading<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/logo\/logo-premium-subscription.png\"><\/p>\n<p> <strong> Don&#8217;t miss&#8230; <\/strong> <br \/> <strong>Alisha Lehmann&#8217;s &#8216;wet-look&#8217; kit changed as Aston Villa receive new shirts[LATEST] <\/strong> <br \/> <strong>Leeds&#8217; 49ers owners gearing up for transfer battle with Bournemouth&#8217;s Bill Foley[TRANSFERS] <\/strong> <br \/> <strong>Man Utd &#8216;put five players up for sale&#8217; as ruthless Erik ten Hag starts clear-out[GOSSIP] <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/67\/590x\/secondary\/Faruk-Koca-resign-Turkey-ref-punch-5111952.jpg?r=1702402842896\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would like it to be known that I am deeply saddened that both the club I manage, the football community, and our country are remembered with such an event and image.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ankaragucu had been frustrated with the referee after initially sending off their player shortly after half-time, before conceding a 97th-minute equaliser to spark furious scenes inside the stadium &#8211; leading to Umut Meler being struck by Koca after the president ran onto the pitch at full-time.<\/p>\n<p>Umut Meler laid on the floor in an attempt to protect himself from more injuries, before being taken to hospital when he was informed that he had suffered a small facial fracture, but had no brain damage and is likely to be discharged on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/1844833\/Turkey-football-referee-punch-Ankaragucu-resign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#039;Attack on referee was inhumane&#039; &#8211; Turkish Football Federation president Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca has announced his resignation after punching [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns - All My Sports News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns - All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#039;Attack on referee was inhumane&#039; &#8211; Turkish Football Federation president Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca has announced his resignation after punching [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-12T18:28:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/\",\"name\":\"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns - All My Sports News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-12T18:28:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-12T18:28:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\",\"name\":\"All My Sports News\",\"description\":\"allmysportsnews.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns - All My Sports News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns - All My Sports News","og_description":"&#039;Attack on referee was inhumane&#039; &#8211; Turkish Football Federation president Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca has announced his resignation after punching [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/","og_site_name":"All My Sports News","article_published_time":"2023-12-12T18:28:34+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/","name":"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns - All My Sports News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-12T18:28:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-12T18:28:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/turkish-football-chief-that-punched-ref-and-sent-official-to-hospital-resigns\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Turkish football chief that punched ref and sent official to hospital resigns"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/","name":"All My Sports News","description":"allmysportsnews.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}