Beating Non-Turkish Teams: Who Founded Galatasaray Sports Club?

Galatasaray Sports Club undoubtedly draws its pioneering character in Turkish sports history from Galatasaray High School (Mekteb-i Sultani), the pioneering institution from which it was born. The unbreakable bond between the school and the club is an undeniable reality and a source of pride.

Sporting Origins and the “Lamb with Rice” Tradition

The school, established by Bayezid II in 1481 to train statesmen, takes its name from the region where it was founded and began to be known as “Galata Sarayı” (Galata Palace). The school attained its modern position on September 1, 1868, during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz. With the restructuring of the school, the first sporting activities in the true sense began in Turkey, and Physical Education classes were added to the curriculum by the gymnast Monsieur Curel. These breakthroughs were revolutionary. While Curel developed the students sportingly through training with modern equipment, he organized a “Gymnastics Festival” for them in Kağıthane in 1870. At the end of the competitions, successful athletes were served “lamb with rice” (kuzulu pilav). This formed the beginning of one of the club’s most deep-rooted traditions in the following years.

The foreign sports instructors who took over after Curel initiated another first by focusing on branches such as swimming, rowing, and apparatus gymnastics, in addition to gymnastics and athletics. As a result of these efforts, names like Faik Üstünidman, Major Mazhar Kazancı, and the brothers Abdurrahman and Ahmet Robenson ensured the spread of scouting, tennis, and hockey. Particularly with Üstünidman taking the lead, students were introduced to football. What initially seemed like a rule-free scramble soon turned into an epidemic.

The Birth of Colors and “Gül Baba” Symbolism

Galatasaray’s search for colors was quite active during the club’s early years. Initially, the flag colors Red-White were chosen, but due to the political pressures of the period, these colors were deemed “objectionable” and changed to Yellow-Black. The final decision was made by Ali Sami Yen in 1908. Yen described two fabrics he saw in Fat Yanko’s shop in Eminönü—one a deep red leaning towards cherry, and the other a rich yellow containing traces of orange—as “looking very good together, as if a light was descending upon us,” and thus Yellow-Red was born. This color choice is also a tribute to Gül Baba, the spiritual founder of the high school, who presented two roses—one yellow and one red—to Bayezid II.

Task Distribution and Sacrifices of the Founding Core

The founder of Galatasaray Sports Club, Ali Sami Yen, describes the founding story and the difficult conditions of that period as follows: “On October 1, 1905, during the lesson of our late literature teacher Mehmet Ata Bey in the fifth grade of the school, a few friends put our heads together and decided to found a football club in Galatasaray. The first entrepreneurs were youths such as Asım Tevfik Sonumut, Reşat Şirvani, Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu, Abidin Daver, Kamil…”

At that time, the distribution of duties was determined not by ambition for office, but by the sacrifices made:

• Ali Sami Yen (President): Because he looked after the ball “like his own child,” greasing it with lard and inflating it, and even cutting patches for it from his own new shoes, he was deemed worthy of the highest rank by his friends and elected President (Reis).
• Asım Tevfik Sonumut (Accountant): He was assigned this role because he was skilled at collecting one penny from each friend every week.
• Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu (Vice President): He received this title because he undertook the task of washing and preserving the team’s jerseys.

This core group had a single purpose: “To play together like the English, to possess a color and a name, and to beat non-Turkish teams.”

The Club’s First Emblem: “Ghayn-Sin”

The club’s emblem, known worldwide today, was drawn in 1923 by member number 333, Ayetullah Emin. The first emblem was created by elegantly intertwining the letters Ghayn (غ) and Sin (س) from the Ottoman alphabet used at the time. With the declaration of the Republic and the alphabet revolution, this design evolved into today’s modern Latin-lettered version (G-S).

Legal Process and Detailed List of Founders

Since there was no law of associations in the Ottoman Empire in 1905, the club could not be legally registered. The club’s first “headquarters” was Locker Number 1 inside the high school. After the Law of Associations was enacted in 1912, the club gained legal identity and completed its official registration on August 14, 1913.

Founders List (1905): The 13 founding members in the statistics book kept by Ali Sami Yen are:

1. Ali Sami Yen
2. Asım Sonumut
3. Emin Bülend Serdaroğlu
4. Celal İbrahim
5. B. Nikolof
6. Milo Bakiş
7. Pol Bakiş
8. Bekir Sıtkı Bircan
9. Tahsin Nahit
10. Reşat Şirvanizade
11. Hüseyin Hüsnü
12. Refik Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu
13. Abidin Daver

Although new names took the place of foreign members who returned to their countries after the Balkan Wars and graduation in the 1913 list, these names are accepted as the club’s “honor list.”

Details of the First Victory

The name of the club was registered through success achieved on the field even before it became official. Galatasaray played its first match against a Greek team. When the team won this match 2-0, the spectators, who were not accustomed to Turkish youths playing football at that time, spoke of the team with admiration as the “Galata Sarayı Efendileri” (Gentlemen of Galata Palace). Upon this remark, “Galatasaray” was adopted as the club’s name instead of proposed names like “Gloria” (Victory) or “Audace” (Courage).

The “Number 2” Matter and the Galatasaray Spirit

The most emotional example of the Galatasaray spirit is the event that took place between Ali Sami Yen and Emin Bülent Serdaroğlu. Because Ali Sami Yen and Asım Tevfik carried out the work during the founding stage, registration number 1 was given to Ali Sami Yen, number 2 to Asım Tevfik, and number 3 to Emin Bülent, who was not at the school at that time.

Years later, while Emin Bülent was on his deathbed, he spoke the following words to Ali Sami Yen as a testament: “You took what was rightfully mine; I am the Number 2 Galatasaray member. Tell the friends, if you do not give me my due, my soul will seek justice from all of you.”

Upon this testament, the Galatasaray congress took a decision rarely seen: Both Emin Bülent Serdaroğlu and Asım Tevfik Sonumut were considered the Number 2 founding members of Galatasaray; out of respect for Emin Bülent’s noble soul, Number 3 was not given to anyone. This event proved that the bond of being a Galatasaray member is not just a membership number, but a legal bond of loyalty and brotherhood that lasts a lifetime.