American dream of Turks: New York Cosmos

Historical resources show that various games that are known as “Pasuckuakohowog” in America and is similar to football are played by local tribes of Algonquian and Powhatan. Meaning literally “kicking ball sport”; pasuckuakohowog is played with teams of 100 people in fields of half mile in diameter and it is believed to be also played in holy fields during thanksgiving festivals.

It is known that football, which is known as soccer in the modern sense, has a history of 200 years in America. Even though football is rumored to have been brought to America by English colonists in the 1870s; recent studies have suggested that soccer had been brought to America by Scottish, Irish and German migrants. It is stated that the first organized football games using modern English rules had been brought to America over New Orleans in the 1850s. For instance, it is known that the sports club of Philadelphia Kensington Blue Bells had been established by Scottish migrants in early 1900s.

Local and regional leagues started to increase in football with migration flows to America in the nineteenth century. Being established with 22 clubs from different ethnic groups in 1902; The San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL) has passed into history as one of the oldest and the most cosmopolitan half-professional and amateur leagues.

Migration waves that extended over America in those years carried their own cultures including football. First of all, factory teams and local amateur teams related with ethnic clubs in cities developed until the 1930s.

Being a national cultural phenomenon in the United States of America; the idea of football advanced with reflection of the spirit of a collective life culture. Football was the game of some preparatory schools and urban high schools and colleges that attached importance to local talents, as well as ethnic groups until the beginning of the 1970s. Football attracted attention from whites and the middle class especially in the suburbs and small towns and cities in America.

Starting to rise after the industrial revolution; football became professional in America which was called as the new world and the New York Cosmos Club made the most important contribution to its commercialization. The greatest contribution to the establishment of the New York Cosmos Club and the development of football in America came from the Turks; in other words, Ertegün Brothers.

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Ertegün Brothers were the children of Münir Ertegün, who was Turkey’s Ambassador to the United States. Ahmet Ertegün (31 July 1923, İstanbul – 14 December 2006, New York) and Nesuhi Ertegün (26 November 1917, İstanbul-15 April 1989, New York) were among the founders of the Atlantic Records recording company.

On his trip to America with Beşiktaş; “Father Hakkı” had impressed not only the Turks watching him, but also the entire media with his talent in the field. He was also watched by another person. Nasuhi Ertegün. It is rumored that on that very day, Nasuhi Ertegün had decided to establish a new football club with the impression of Father Hakkı over people.

The Turkish businessmen Ertegün Brothers, who started off with the intent of making Americans love and develop soccer and realizing an American Dream and were owners of the Atlantic Records, established the Cosmos Club (1970) in cooperation with Steve Ross, the boss of Warner Brothers. The team that started the business with five million dollars undertook the mission of making Americans love soccer in the course of time.

Ertegün Brothers suggested the name “New York Blues” for the club; however, the English manager of the club, Clive Toye organized a contest for finding a name for the team and two New Yorker physical education teachers, Meyer Diller and Queens Martin Al Capelli who were working at Van Buren High School in Queens suggested the name “Cosmos” as the abbreviation of Cosmopolitan to the contest and the club was officially named as “Cosmos” on 25 March 1971.

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After establishing Cosmos; Nasuhi and Ahmet Ertegün brothers transferred Pele who was believed to never leave Santos and then Beckenbauer who was considered among the best football players of Germany, as well as Italian Chinaglia, Turkish Yasin from Galatasaray, Carlos Alberto, Cruyff, Neeskens and were able to attract the attention of Americans to football in a short time. New York Cosmos became a phenomenon after the transfer of Pele. The number of spectators exceeded 15 thousand even on the very first match. The team that used the New York Giants Stadium between 1970 and 1985 cracked the top with 77 thousand 631 ticketed spectators during the match between New York Cosmos and Fort Lauderdale on 14 August 1977.

Two years after its establishment, New York Cosmos became the champion in the NASL (North American Soccer League) in 1972 as well as in the American soccer leagues in 1977, 1978, and 1980.

Enriching their squad; the team Cosmos participated in various organizations with the legendary squad consisting of Messing (Yasin), Nelsi (Hunter), Roth, Carlos Alberto (Bob Smith), Rildo (Formoso), Garbett (Vitor), Beckenbauer, Tony Field (Ord), Chinaglia, Pele (Ramon Miflin) and Hunt (Oliveira) for making Americans love soccer and became the center of attention. The team Cosmos that also participated in tournaments organized outside of America played a match with Galatasaray at İnönü Stadium in Turkey.

yasin özdenak & pele jubile2 Önemli Pele Jubile Yasinin omuzlarında

A great jubilee was played between Cosmos and Santos at Giants Stadium with participation of 77 thousand spectators on 1 October 1977 and the match was won by Cosmos scoring 2-1 with a goal from Pele. The most memorable moment of the jubilee was that Pele was carried on shoulders throughout the field. Pele finished his active football career and left the green fields on the shoulders of a Turk, Yasin Özdenak. Besides, Ceyhan Yazar who had started football at Göztepe went to the USA to do a master’s degree on economics with the permission of Göztepe Club in 1969. Yazar kept dealing with football there as well and played in teams of New York Hota and Lancaster. And then he started playing at Cosmos Club in 1971 when the team was established and was involved in introductory brochures of the team. Ceyhan Yazar wanted to wear the number 10 shirt in the team; however, the president Nasuhi Ertegün told him that the number 10 belonged to Pele and this shirt waited for Pele for three years. The story of the number 10 was told to Pele by Ahmet Ertegün afterwards. Hearing the story; Pele had sent a stamp printed in his name to Ceyhan Yazar.

After Pele’s jubilee from Cosmos, NASL (North American Soccer League) fell into a rapid decline in terms of spectator average (below 10 thousands), which caused a crisis in American soccer and the shutdown of clubs.

Ertegün Brothers sold the royalty, logo and all rights of Cosmos Club to the former Lazio player and new NY Cosmos player Giuseppe Peppe Pinton for two million dollars. Pinton managed the club for approximately 25 years with the intent of training young football players. A group led by Pele stepped in for bringing the legendary team back to green fields in 2002. However, the interventions failed and another works were started for the purpose of struggling of NY Cosmos, which passed in other hands and started to be managed by the honorary president Pele in 2009, in the MLS in a short time. Interviews were made for involving Cosmos in the Major League Soccer (MLS) of America and legendary Eric Cantona was brought to the management of New York Cosmos in the season of 2011 and preparations were started for the struggle in the MLS in 2013. New York Cosmos Club has started a new structuring with Pele as the honorary president, David Beckham’s former manager Terry Byrne as the manager, Liverpool’s former manager and the former Premier League President Rick Parry as another manager.

Royalty rights and operation management of Cosmos are currently possessed by Paul Kemsley, the former vice president of Tottenham Hotspur and the recent president of Cosmos.

Being established by Turks for the purpose of realizing an American Dream; New York Cosmos Club has become the most famous soccer club in the history of the United States of America. Today, new strategies of New York Cosmos Club are based on handing the passion of soccer down the next generations. New York Cosmos Club, which won five national championships between 1971 and 1985, today continues to develop the youth via academies as a part of rebirth with the honorary president, a soccer legend and the former star Pelé.

New York Cosmos participates in NYC tournaments every year and thus tries to extend their activities in both New York and in the international area. The club also makes an important effort as part of an institutional social responsibility strategy for encouraging various communities in America to participate in a ‘global game’ on a basis. New York Cosmos Club provides equipments and facilities so as to contribute school children in New York to play soccer more easily and more frequently.

In addition to its purposes such as including football players and talented youth from all corners of the world for the purpose of contributing to the soccer movement in America among foundation purposes of the club; New York Cosmos Club having the vision of struggle for championship as an important part of the American professional league “Major League Soccer” continues to be the American Dream of football players in the world.

References:
1- Gökhan İlker, Efsane Yeniden – New York Cosmos; http://www.esquire.com.tr
2- ABD’de Futbol Bir Türk’ün Eseri, http://www.tribundergi.com
3- The New York Cosmos: A Brief History, http://www.thefootballhistoryboys.com
4- Legendary Pelé And The World-Renowned New York Cosmos Score A Comeback, http://www.manhattankickersfc.com
5- Van Rheenen, Derek(2009) ‘The promise of soccer in America: the open play of ethnic subcultures’, Soccer & Society, 10: 6, 781-794
6- Biliyor muydunuz? New York’ta bir Göztepeli, http://fourfourtwo.com.tr