As is known, Cafe Crown fielded Nalga by making him wear the jersey of injured teammate Tufan Ersöz during two of the team’s warm-up matches in Germany in September. And the Turkish Basketball Federation’s (TBF) disciplinary committee acted mercilessly, imposing heavy penalties on the Galatasaray team after an extraordinary meeting on Sunday.The disciplinary committee ruled that Galatasaray Cafe Crown will lose by default the eight official games it has played this season -- five in the Men’s Beko Turkish Basketball League (TBL) and three Teknosa Turkish Cup matches. Furthermore, Galatasaray Cafe Crown will no longer be awarded the one point given to losers in the TBL. The Galatasaray club has taken the case to the TBF’s arbitration committee and is awaiting the decision.
Nalga himself was banned for two years and fined 4,500 euros. Ersöz, the player who lent out his jersey was suspended for four months and ordered to pay a 2,200 euro fine.
Nalga speaks out
However Nalga told NTV Spor on Tuesday that he did not act of his own accord but, like a soldier, he had to carry out the orders of his superiors -- the team coach and Cafe Crown administrators.
“I was badly provoked by an opponent [during the warm-up match against Croatian side Cibona Zagreb on Sept. 16]. I reacted rather harshly and was sent off,” Nalga told NTV Spor on Tuesday. “Then we went to Germany for a warm-up tournament. While there the TBF announced that I had been banned for five matches. So I got a five-match ban,” he said.
“But let me say how it all happened. They, the [Galatasaray] coach and administrators, came to the dressing and told me that I had to play with Tufan’s jersey [against Deutsche Bank Skyliners Frankfurt on Sept. 24]. At first I was amazed. But they were relaxed, very relaxed as if they were not responsible for this,” he stated.
“In the end I had to wear that jersey and play. After all he is my coach and I am obligated to obey his commands, just as a military chain of command in which the orders of the superior officer are absolute,” he asserted.
“I am a young player, what else could I have done?” he asked. “I do not want to think negatively at the beginning of the season, but in the final analysis I could be kicked out of the Galatasaray team,” he said.
Nalga further stated that he was optimistic his punishment would be reduced. “When they gave me that jersey they were so complacent as if nothing was going to happen. After all, these are men who have been in the basketball business for donkey’s years, these are men who are university graduates, and these are men over 40 and 50 years of age. Think about it, the two-year ban would mean my doing my military service because I am not a university student. Justice will prevail and hopefully the penalties will be lessened,” he added.
The exasperated Nalga also said that he has gotten support from his teammates because they said, “If we were in your shoes we would probably have done likewise.”
New trainer and general manager for Cafe Crown
After the Camal Nalga scandal, which has rocked the Galatasaray Cafe Crown basketball team, the club has appointed Nur Gence as the new general manager, Cem Akdağ as the new trainer, Cihansever Yeşildağ as the assistant coach and Tuğrul Demir the basketball coordinator. This scandal has shaken the entire Galatasaray establishment, and no one associated with the club is happy. But as Shakespeare said in “Macbeth,” “Things without all remedy should be without regard. What’s done is done.”
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