A unusual scene It was lived in the Zeytinburnu stadium, Istanbul, Türkiye. There, on February 22, the final of soccer of the 1st Istanbul Amateur League, a championship for neighborhood and semi-professional clubs.
Mevlanakapı Güzelhisar and Istanbul Yurdum Sportsand the game had started very even.
However, midway through the first half, an event occurred that had never been recorded on a court and that momentarily stopped the actions.
An even final, interrupted by an unexpected event
To win the league title, Mevlanakapi Güzelhisar and Istanbul Yurdum Spor faced each other and, as happens in most finals, in the first moments of the match there was no team that clearly made the difference over the other.
But around minute 22the tension of the meeting was going to be briefly cut, due to an episode as unusual as it was moving.
The Istanbul goalkeeperMuhammet Uyanik, received the ball in his area and cleared with a left foot shot, with the aim of reaching the forwards. However, such was the bad luck that he had, before the ball will cross the middle of the field, hit a seagull squarely that flew across the place.
Immediately, the bird fell collapsed to the ground, which caused a cry of astonishment from the fans. When the referee had stopped the game and everything seemed like a sad and rare accident, which would possibly end the animal’s life, an action by one of the players was going to change the fate of events.
As can be seen in the video of the match, seconds after the seagull fell, Istanbul captain Gani Çatan who was meters away from her, approached her and began to do something that few would have thought of: cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) maneuvers.
After almost a minute during which the player tried to revive it, the birdwho had fallen on his back and seemed lifeless, began to show signs of recovery.
Finally, Çatan himself removed it from the field, while being applauded by the public, and handed it to another person, who carried it out of the stadium.
From there, the care of the animal, which suffered injuries to its wings, was left to specialists. As reported by witnesses, he did not regain the ability to fly in the hours that followed, but he remained on his feet and his treatment is ongoing.
The words of the players involved: «We lost, but having helped save a life was more important than the championship»
Before the Anadolu agency, Gani Chatan, who clarified that he had no experience in this type of medical practices, reported that when he detected that the bird had fallen “with its legs raised and unable to breathe,” he immediately ran and decided to perform CPR: “The first thing I thought about was CPR.. He had fainted, so I tried my luck.”
The footballer explained that he carried out the maneuver until the animal He began to slowly move his legs and regained his breathing.
«The seagull’s eyes started moving, so I continued. Then it recovered a little and we gave it water. There was a medical team nearby. I carried it and carried it with my own hands,» he added.
The captain admitted feeling demoralized, since his team finally lost the final on penalties. However, he said he felt comforted by the action taken. “We lost the championship, but it’s wonderful to have helped save a life. “This was more important than the championship.”
For his part, Istanbul’s goalkeeper —Muhammet Uyanik—, who kicked the ball that hit the animal, shared with the same agency that at first he did not understand what happened. «Then I was shocked. I felt bad. I was very affected (the seagull), it moved me deeply. After all, it is also a living being,” he said.
Then, he added that they were happy as a team to see that the bird survived, and expressed his desire to visit it in case he manages to know its whereabouts.
«This made us happy. It was a beautiful example of humanity. After the game, the seagull recovered, but it was said that it had a problem with its wings. I don’t know where it is now. Of course, if I find out where it is, I would consider visiting it,» said the goalkeeper.
The news generated such interest in Türkiye that, according to the comentarista Onur Özsoy, Calls and inquiries about the state of the bird multiplied: “The incident of the seagull being hit by a ball and the subsequent events attracted intense media attention… Many people called to ask,” he explained.
Özsoy, who presented the live broadcast, defined what was experienced as a unique event in local football: “We have seen fights between players, other incidents on the field and incredible goals, «but this event is one of the rare, even unprecedented, events on football fields.»
