Is Sport (Football) a Unifying Force or a Vehicle to Further Separation? The Case of Cyprus

In recent years studies have shown that sport can serve as a means towards conflict resolution. Since the time of British colonialism in the 1950s, and after its 1960 independence, Cyprus has experienced conflict between its two main communities – the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots. The de facto division of the island in 1974 caused community isolation of the Turkish Cypriots who, for political reasons, have been excluded from participating in international sports competitions. This situation is more visible in football (soccer), the most popular sport on the island. In the last two years the two sides have been trying – so far unsuccessfully – to reinstate the Turkish Cypriots as members of the Official Cyprus Football Federation. This paper gives a background on what has preceded these attempts and discusses whether football is a means of reuniting the two communities, or whether it is used as a vehicle to further separation.     

Women’s Sport as a Symbol of Modernity: A Case Study in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey has a distinctive position with regard to its geography and history among Muslim countries. Particular features are its secular system and far reaching modernization processes particularly with respect to the ‘emancipation’ of women. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze sport and body politics as part of the modernization processes in Turkey and to explore in particular the multiple roles of different groups of women in the reforms initiated by the Turkish Governments. A focus will be on the intersecting influences of gender and social class. The famous archaeologist Halet Çambel will be used as an example of the ‘modern’ woman who embodied reformist ideologies. Çambel was the daughter of an elite family; she was born in Berlin where her father was an attaché at the Turkey embassy. She studied in France and participated in the Olympic Games in 1936. She and another Turkish fencer were the first women from a Muslim country to participate in the Olympic Games. Later she became the most famous archaeologist in Turkey and she stayed physically active all her life. In particular, horse riding became a favourite activity as she travelled to archaeological sites on horseback.     

对中国男篮近两次国际大赛篮板球情况的分析

运用文献资料法、录像法和数理统计法,对土耳其世锦赛和广州亚运会中国男篮在篮板方面的情况进行分析,结果显示：在土耳其世锦赛上中国队与对手在进攻篮板方面差异显著,中国男篮的防守篮板有很大提高;在广州亚运会上中国男篮在篮板上整体好于对手,但在与约旦和伊朗的比赛中,中国男篮与他们有一定的差距。     

The life of a gay student in a university physical education and sports department: a case study in Turkey

While Turkey is mostly a Muslim country, officially it is a secular country; traditional gender roles are still maintained, and homosexuality is a taboo subject. The Turkish sporting world is no exception; it also excludes and ignores the existence of homosexuals and homosexuality. Using a single case study, this study aimed to contribute to fill the gap in the understudied subject of homosexuality in physical education (PE) and sports literature through investigating the experiences of a gay male Turkish PE and sports major. The respondent was aged 25 and a fourth-year undergraduate student at the time. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondent based on his willingness to participate in the study and a semi-structured interview allowed for data to be collected regarding being gay in Turkey, and in particular in the PE and sports environment. The four major themes derived from the analysed interview data were (1) conflicting feelings about coming out of the closet, (2) life in the Turkish community, (3) life in a PE and sports department and (4) perceived roots of homophobia. The findings indicated that the respondent's disclosure of his sexual orientation to friends resulted in positive reactions; however, he still hesitates to acknowledge his homosexuality publicly. Traditional gender roles, misconceptions about homosexuality and homosexuals and religion were perceived as the most influential factors for homophobic attitudes and behaviour in Turkish society. His experiences in Turkey's world of PE and sports were rife with homophobia.     

Powerful Actor and Hesitant Institutionalization: The State in the History of Turkish Football

We examine the validity of the assumptions of the new institutional theory about the state over the history of national football league as an institutional field in Turkey. The state is not out of the field, on the contrary, at the centre of the field, and is not an ordinary actor but the most important one although the intensity of the state’s impact changes from time to time. Sometimes, the state founds the football clubs and administrates them directly, decides who will be the champion; and sometimes, authorizes the regulative agency and gives autonomy. However, despite the state’s coercive power on the ground, the Turkish football field is still far from being fully institutionalized with its fluctuating structure.     

Teleroentgenologic Investigations of Champion Turkish Wrestlers

Abstract

Cardiac transverse diameter, heart rate, and arterial blood pressure were studied in 17 champion Turkish wrestlers. The wrestlers' cardiac transverse diameters were compared with eight normal untrained Turkish people, the Ungerleider-Gubner nomogram, and other reported values. Bradycardia and low arterial blood pressure were found in wrestlers. The mean transverse diameter of wrestlers was significantly larger than that of controls, but the same as the values found in normal people by others. The mean transverse diameter of controls was slightly smaller than the predicted values. It was concluded that wrestlers' cardiac transverse diameters are at the upper limits of normal values.     

Validity and reliability of the Very Short form of the Physical Self-Inventory among Turkish adolescents

The study aimed to test the validity and reliability of the Very Short form of the Physical Self-Inventory (PSI-VS) among a sample of 635 Turkish adolescents. These adolescents have completed the 12 original items of the PSI-VS, plus a positively worded reformulation of the single reverse-keyed item of the physical attractiveness subscale. A series of confirmatory factor analyses was used to examine the psychometric properties of the original and modified versions of the PSI-VS. Findings revealed superior psychometric properties with the modified version than with the original set of items. The modified version was thus subsequently used to examine its factor structure invariance across sexes, age groups and sport practice involvement. Results not only report that this version was fully invariant across, but also that latent means were significantly different across sexes and sport practice involvement. In sum, the Turkish modified version of the PSI-VS presents acceptable psychometric properties and may be used to repeatedly and/or intensively assess participants’ physical self-perceptions in the context of sport and exercise interventions.     

United in Protest: From ‘Living and Dying with Our Colours’ to ‘Let All the Colours of the World Unite’

Istanbul's ‘Big Three’ football clubs, Be?ikta?, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, dominate the Turkish Super League. The matches between these fiercely rival teams, also known as ‘derbies’, are often intense and culminate in the eruption of violence, which has even been fatal on occasion. To many people's surprise, the anti-government protests which were sparked by outrage over police action against environmental protestors in May 2013 brought these eternal rivals together. Thousands of Be?ikta?, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray supporters marched arm-in-arm to Taksim Square and demanded justice and freedom. Out of this solidarity is born Istanbul United, a seemingly new fan group with a new logo that combines the three rival logos. Çar??, the legendary fan group of Be?ikta?, also played an important role in the protests and received the support of all football fans as well. This paper will focus on the politicisation of football in Turkey during the second half of 2013. By looking at both the political role of football fans of the ‘Big Three’ during and after the Gezi protests, and the ways in which mutual respect and solidarity is born among diverse protesters, this paper discusses the possibilities of translating this positive genre to a peaceful spectatorship in Turkish football.     

Fight ‘acceptable’ with ‘acceptable:’ football,cultural battle in Turkey and the story of two ‘doxas’ over an old military song

Abstract

Football, as other cultural products, has become a major part of the political field, since there has been an ongoing cultural battle between the President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his dissidents. The country is divided into two, not only between social and cultural capital owners; two sets of ideological elements, namely ‘doxas’ in reference to Bourdieusian sociology, also define the political faultlines in Turkey. Football, imported in the final years of the Ottoman Empire by the modern elite, has been intertwined with Turkish modernism and its core elements, such as nationalism. The Erdo?an regime, while dismantling the old rule, has also tried to create cultural hegemony, which has been met with dissidence. This paper analyses the role of an old military song called the ‘Izmir March’, sung in the football stands against the Erdo?an regime, discussing the elements of the two doxas in Turkey, old and new.     

A model linking sources of stress to approach and avoidance coping styles of Turkish basketball referees

Abstract

Purpose of this study was to externally validate and test a conceptual transient model involving six paths that linked sources of acute stress to avoidance and approach coping styles among Turkish basketball referees. The sample consisted of 125 Turkish basketball referees ranging in age from 18 to 36 years (mean = 25.58. σ = 3.69). The path analysis tested the relationships simultaneously from stressors, in consecutive order, distractions, subpar performance and verbal abuse, to coping styles, first both avoidance-cognitive and approach-cognitive, and then approach-behaviour. Results indicated that the model achieved a good fit and that all paths tested simultaneously were significant. The distractions stressor was positively related to subpar performance, which, in turn, was positively related to verbal abuse. Verbal abuse was negatively associated with an avoidance-cognitive coping style and positively related to the approach-cognitive coping style. The results also supported a crossover effect of both avoidance-cognitive and approach-cognitive on approach-behaviour. One implication of this study is that coping should be studied in naturally occurring stages, a process-oriented approach. Another implication is that approach and avoidance coping styles, each sub-divided into cognitive and behavioural categories, provide a meaningful framework which provides sports officials a coherent structure for learning and improving ways to cope with acute stress experienced during the contest.     

2010年女排世锦赛中国女排失利原因浅析

文章运用文献资料法、录像观察法、数据统计法等研究方法,对2010年世界女子排球锦标赛中国女排与俄罗斯、韩国、土耳其、塞尔维亚、波兰队的比赛进行数据统计分析。通过比较得出,中国女排应该坚持以快攻为主;加强配合拦网的能力;增强发球的进攻性;强化心理素质。     

Patronage and industrial football: explaining the de-politicization of Turkish soccer fandom

Turkey has arguably one of the most passionate fan bases in the world. Yet, the political silence that permeates through the ranks of the fan bases of Istanbul’s ‘big’ clubs is puzzling as the country slowly decays into authoritarianism. What explains this silence and the surprising apolitical disposition of fans? I argue that a multi-layered de-politicization process hangs over Turkish soccer, nested within a web of clientelistic relations that stretches from the state to the clubs and fan groups. The military’s heavy-handed approach to suppressing political expressions of all sorts for several years following the 1980 coup helped ensure the de-politicization of soccer stadiums. Likewise, as major beneficiaries of state funds and sponsorships, soccer clubs sought to avoid political trouble and were actively involved in discouraging fan groups from political activism. Empirically, the article focuses primarily on the post-1980 period and the ‘big three’ of Istanbul, i.e. Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas.     

土耳其世锦赛美国男篮获胜因素分析

运用文献资料、数理统计和对比分析等方法,对美国男篮在土耳其世锦赛上的获胜因素进行分析,结果表明,美国男篮获胜的因素是：谦卑踏实的对待态度、合理的战术运用、超强的攻防能力、坚定的信心与精湛技术的结合。     

How Qatar is Its Own Worst Enemy

Qatar is proving to be its own worst enemy in achieving its soft power goals by embedding itself in the international community as a good citizen despite having put crucial blocks in place. Its failure to convincingly follow through on promises to reform its controversial migrant labour system could lead to world soccer body FIFA depriving it of the right to host the 2022 World Cup. Meanwhile, Qatar has been unable to convince even its allies that it is serious about its pledges to stop a flow of funds to jihadist organizations. Among Qatari nationals whom the US Treasury has categorized as specially designated terrorist is a historian religion and former head of the Qatar Football Association (QFA), who was awarded for his contribution to Qatari sports. Those allegations have allowed Qatar's detractors to further question the Gulf state's suitability as a World Cup host.

Qatar's problems are compounded by its lack of a robust communications strategy that would enable it to respond to legitimate criticism and counter attacks by its detractors, some of whom have invested significant amounts in causing Qatar significant reputational damage and diplomatic and political capital. That lack dates back to Qatar's initial response to massive criticism and attacks almost immediately after it was awarded the World Cup in late 2010. Qatari officials argued at the time that they could not win the public relations battle and therefore would wait until the storm blew over (Multiple interviews with Qatari officials in the period from 2011 to 2014). They rejected the notion that failure to engage amounted to surrender of the battlefield, losing an opportunity to conquer the moral high ground, and allowing a wound to fester (Multiple interviews by the author with Qatari officials between 2011 and 2014).

The problem was the storm did not subside. It got worse with Qatar currently battling public relations battles on numerous fronts: persistent challenges to the integrity of its World Cup bid; accusations of enforcing modern slavery on migrant workers employed on World Cup-related projects; doubts about its ability to host one of the world's foremost mega sporting events; charges of funding and supporting militant Islamist groups; and adopting a foreign policy that puts it at odds with its neighbours and at times with its most important allies.     

Young Muslim women's experiences of Islam and physical education in Greece and Britain: a comparative study

Previous research suggests that Muslim women can experience particular problems when taking physical education (PE) lessons, for example with dress codes, mixed-teaching and exercise during Ramadan; and they can face restrictions in extra-curricular activities for cultural and religious reasons. The area is under-researched and there is little evidence of comparative studies that explore similarities and differences in cross-national experiences, which is the aim of this paper. Two studies conducted in Greece and Britain that explored the views of Muslim women on school experiences of physical education are compared. Both studies focused on diaspora communities, Greek Turkish girls and British Asian women, living in predominantly non-Muslim countries. Growing concerns about global divisions between ‘Muslims and the West’ make this a particularly pertinent study. Qualitative data were collected by interviews with 24 Greek Muslim women, and 20 British Muslim women.

Physical education has national curriculum status and a similar rationale in both countries but with different cultures of formality and tradition, which impacted on pupils’ experiences. Data suggested that Greek and British groups held positive views towards physical education but were restricted on their participation in extra-curricular activities. For the British women religious identity and consciousness of Islamic requirements were more evident than for the Greek women. Differences in stages of acculturation, historical and socio-cultural contexts contributed to less problematic encounters with physical education for Greek Muslims who appeared more closely assimilated into the dominant culture.     

荆楚文化在高校体育教学中的融合与应用探究

作为一种具有鲜明地域特色的文化形态,荆楚文化内容丰富,对荆楚文明的传承与发展起到了十分重要的作用。随着高校教育的创新发展,文化与教学的融合愈加密切。以具体学校的教学为对象,以"筚路蓝缕"的创业精神、以"抚夷属夏"的开放精神、"一鸣惊人"的创新精神、"深固难徙"的爱国精神及"止戈为武"的和合精神为荆楚文化精髓,就荆楚文化在高校体育教学中的融合与应用进行阐述。     

中国体育用品产业研究综述

中国体育用品产业研究主要体现在理论框架和评价方法研究、体育用品业区域性调研研究、体育用品产业集群研究、体育用品产业政策研究、体育用品产业政策影响因素研究。然而,全面系统研讨我国体育用品产业政策的实施、传导和作用机制的研究还处于空白,亟需学者今后从体育用品产业发展运行机制的理论与实践,跨学科、多领域的合作和环境因素等方面进行创新研究。     

Relationship between leader-member exchange and burnout in professional footballers

Numerous variables influence burnout, one of which is leader-member exchange. The present study was conducted to determine whether leader-member exchange quality affects burnout in professional footballers. The study used the Leader-Member Exchange-7 scale developed by Scandura and Graen ( 1984 ) to measure leader (coach)-member (player) exchange and Pines's ( 2005 ) abbreviated version of the burnout scale developed by Pines and Aronson ( 1988 ) to measure burnout. The data were obtained from the professional players (N = 107) of six football clubs in the Turkish Secondary Football League in western Turkey. The results demonstrated that quality of leader-member exchange significantly and inversely influenced burnout of professional footballers. The study also evaluated quality of leader-member exchange in terms of three strengths of relationship (low, fair, and high) between the coach and players. Contrary to expectations, the results revealed significant differences in burnout when comparing low versus fair quality and low versus high quality, while no significant difference in burnout was observed between fair and high quality.     

砂板乒乓与传统乒乓相互关系及未来发展规划构思

运用文献资料法、专家访谈法、对比分析法等研究方法,对砂板乒乓运动的特点及其与传统乒乓运动的相互关系进行了对比分析.发现:砂板乒乓与传统乒乓同宗而异流,两者在运动特点、竞赛规则、场地器材等方面有较为明显的差异,各自也建立了相对独立的赛事体系,确立了不同的发展方向;砂板乒乓发展成为有组织的正式比赛项目的时间较短,其在诸多方...