Beyoğlu S.K.

Beyoğluspor Kulübü, also known as the Beyoğlu Sports Club, or by its historic Greek name of Pera Sports Club (Greek: ΑΣΠ; Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Πέραν), or simply Pera Club, is an amateur sports club based in Istanbul, Turkey. It fields teams in volleyball, basketball and football.[2]

Beyoğluspor
Full name
  • Beyoğluspor Kulübü
    Athlitikós Sýllogos Péran
    (Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Πέραν)[1]
Sports
Founded
  • 1914 (1914) (as Greek football team)
  • 1923 (as Pera Club and later Beyoğlu SK)
Based inIstanbul
ColoursYellow and Black
ChairmanDimitri Kocias
Websitewww.perabeyoglusporkulubu.com

History
Pera Club, 1922.

Since the second half of the 19th century the Greek community of Constantinople founded several sports clubs and organized sports activities such as the Pan-Constantinopolitan Games.[3]

The club claims it was founded in Beyoğlu in 1884 under the name Pera. The football department of Beyoğluspor was founded in 1914 [4] under the name Greek Football Team. With the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 it was briefly renamed "Pera Sports Club" and, later that year, was formally registered as "Beyoğlu Spor Kulübü". [1][3]

Until 1926, the club's activities were housed in the deserted gym of Hermes SC. However, after 1926 the club moved to the building of the "Ladies Charity Fraternity of Pera", also located in the region of Beyoğlu. Initially, Beyoğluspor maintained two departments, football and gymnastics. Later, there were established departments of wrestling and boxing and in 1926 of basketball and volleyball.[3]

During its history, many of the club's departments had been awarded in a variety of competitions. The Volleyball department of Beyoğluspor was one of the most distinguished teams in Turkey during the 1940s and 1950s, while it also won the Turkish championship for some years that period.[3] The football team managed to capture the fifth place at the Istanbul Football League in 1945,[5] while in the early 1960s it competed in the First League.[3] The efforts of the club managers and presidents, such as G. Chalkousis, S. Kanakis, G. Mouzakis, A. Tripos, played a determining part in these successes. On the other hand, several athletes were distinguished both in Greek but also in international level, like the World Champion in weightlifting and latter coach of the Greek weightlifting team, Christos Iakovou.[3] Beyoğluspor didn't field senior team from late 90s to 2014 due to money shortage. Finally Beyoğluspor joined 6th Group of Istanbul 2nd Amateur League, lowest amateur level for İstanbul teams[6] in 2014–15 season. They finished this group as sixth.[7]

Popularity

The majority of the fans were among the Greek community of the city. However, Beyoğluspor witnessed a dramatic decrease of its supporters for a period when Lefter Küçükandonyadis, a Turkish national football team player of Greek descent and one of the best players in Turkey in 1950s and 1960s, played for Fenerbahçe, turning most of the local Greeks to change temporarily their support to Fenerbahçe.[8]

Present situation

Today, Beyoğluspor is one of the few surviving Greek foundations of the city and fields teams in volleyball, basketball and football at the amateur level.[2]

League participation for football branch
  • First League: 1962–1964
  • Second League: 1964–1967
  • Third League: 1967–1973, 1984–1987
  • Amateur League: 1973–1984, 1987–

Notable athletes
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See also
  • Kurtuluş SK, another still existing sports club in Istanbul founded by local Greeks.

References
  1. http://www.beyogluspor.org/
  2. Νίκος, Γιαννόπουλος. "Το Contra.gr παρουσιάζει τον ΑΣ Πέρα [Contra.gr presents Peran SC]" (in Greek). contra.gr. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  3. Choumerianos, Manolis. "Sports and sports clubs of the Greek Orthodox in Constantinople". Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  4. Tekeli, Sahibi İlhan (1994). Akbayar, Nuri (ed.). Dünden bugüne İstanbul ansiklopedisi (8 Cilt (Takım). ed.). İstanbul: Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı. p. 223. ISBN 978-975-7306-00-9.
  5. "Αθλητική Ένωσις Πέραν [Peran Sports Club]". istanbulcityguidegreek. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-08-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "İstanbul 2A 6.Grup". amatorfutbol.org (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  8. Κουκουλας, Γιαννης. "Η Γκαλατάσαραϊ του Αλί Σαμί Γιεν και του UEFA". kathimerini. Archived from the original on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
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