Why are the Symbols of the Big Three ‘Eagle, Canary, Lion’?

Football in Turkey is not only a sport, but also a passion and lifestyle If we say that, maybe we’re saying a little. The fans’ love for their team is so intense that it even affected the team’s icons.

Icons, which have an important place in the history of the teams, are also characteristics of teams also reflects. These symbols are used almost everywhere, from the flags of the three biggest clubs of Turkish football to their websites, from fan products to their slogans. Here are those icons and their stories:

Besiktas fans all in unison ‘don’t be like bragging, we are black eagles!’ The starting point of the ‘black eagle’ in the cheer, in which he made İnönü howl, is based on the cheers of a supporter.

Beşiktaş has been rejuvenated for the 1940-41 season and with new transfers. it came like a storm. The black eagles continued on their way undefeated under the management of Refik Osman Top, the coach nicknamed “Poetry”. 5 weeks before the end of the league, Beşiktaş played a match against Süleymaniye at the Şeref Stadium on January 19, 1941, and was playing a very oppressive and beautiful game against its opponent.

Who makes the flock of his team look like an eagle fisherman Mehmet Galin‘Come on, black eagles, attack, black eagles’ starts shouting and thousands of fans begin to accompany this supporter. After the 6-0 win that day, the newspapers started to talk about Beşiktaş as a black eagle and it became the symbol of the club.

In Şükrü Saraçoğlu, the ‘canary’, in which those who love yellow and dark blue colors shout in unison, ‘We are in love with death, canary to death’, takes its name from a football player.

Cihat Arman, who guarded the Fenerbahce castle from 1939 to 1952, usually wore a canary yellow shirt during matches. nickname ‘flying goalie’ Arman was one of the best goalkeepers of the time. Arman, one of the legends of the yellow and navy blue, once again gets the ball to 90 in a game he plays well.

A fan who sees this will be inspired by Arman’s yellow jersey and the way he can fly the ball. ‘hey baby look at my canary, it flew again’ he shouts. From time to time, this canary analogy was adopted by all Fenerbahce fans and started to be used in chants.

Galatasaray, Turkey’s first football team, gets its nickname ‘lion’ from an athlete just like its arch-rival Fenerbahçe.

Nihat Asım Bekdik, one of the legends of Galatasaray, entered the club at the age of 12. He played in Galatasaray football team from 1914 to 1936. Bekdik’s nickname was lion.

Bekdik, who ended his active sports life in 1936, also served his club in the fields of high jumping, sailing, swimming and horse riding. from childhood dedicating his life to Galatasaray and Bekdik, who died in 1972, left his nickname as a symbol for Galatasaray, for the love of his life.

Note: The order of the teams is alphabetical.