A Wild Wild Card Reaction!

UPDATE: The letter you’re about to read (below) is from a group of Turkish Fans requesting a valid explanation from the FIVB on how the wild card winners were chosen.

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Can someone please get a referee before this whole thing gets serious?

We’re just kidding!

We’re just trying to calm down this Turkish Fan/ Group who appears very upset with the decision of the FIVB to grant the 2 World Cup Wild Cards to Italy and Argentina. All we can is say is that the decision of the FIVB won’t please every volleyball fan out there. We don’t know how they did it but for sure a series of serious discussions together with the Japanese Volleyball Federation and FUJI TV took place.

On the other hand, every fan can freely express his or her thoughts.

Like this one…

Aşağıdaki metni president.office.sec@fivb.org adresine yollayarak FIVB’nin wild card kararına tepkinizi göstereblirsiniz. Metinde istediğiniz değişikliği yapabilirsiniz. Önemli olan sesimizin duyulması.

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To the President of FIVB:

As a Turkish volleyball fan, I am having trouble understanding your recent decision on the wild cards for the upcoming Women’s World Cup. I find your decision pointless and unprofessional. A few days before you announced which countries were going to receive a wild card, in some countries such as Italy and Russia, a declaration of your final decision had already been made. These speculations caused me lose my trust in you. I think this is a huge scandal that can make FIVB lose its credibility in Turkey. I expect you to explain the reason why you did not choose the Turkish women’s team instead of Italian and Argentinian ladies.

As a reminder, I would like to share with you the most recent achievements of Turkish women’s volleyball teams in Europe and in the world. I hope, this way, you can realize that Turkey is a rising star in women’s volleyball.

* Turkey was placed 5th in the 2009 European Championship
* Fenerbahce Istanbul was the runner up in the 2010 European Champions
League
* Turkey was placed 6th in the 2010 World Championship
* Fenerbahce Istanbul won the 2010 Clubs World Championship
* Vakifbank Turk Telekom won the 2011 European Champions League
* Turkey won the 2011 Girls’ Youth European Championship
* Turkey won the 2011 Girls’ Youth World Championship
* Turkey was placed 3rd in the 2011 European Championship
* Vakifbank Turk Telekom will play in the 2011 Clubs World Championship as
the biggest favorite to win this year’s title.

Besides all these, there have been too many well-known volleyball stars who preferred to play in the Turkish league between 2009 and 2012. A list would include Ekaterina Gamova, Maja Ognjenovic, Maria Borodokova, Fabiana Claudino, Lioubov Sokolova, Logan Tom, Malgorzata Glinka, Kasia Skowronska-Dolata, Hélia Rogério de Souza Pinto (Fofao), Christiane Fürst, Maja Poljak, Natasa Osmokrovic, Jelena Nikolic

As a Fenerbahce fan, I will spread the word about FIVB’s unfair decision, and I will not watch one single game in this year’s competition. If the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) wants to broadcast the games, I will protest watching this channel too. I will ignore every FIVB competition/tournament until FIVB and FUJI TV make a clear and honest explanation to all Turkish volleyball fans!

Watching/Playing/Discussing volleyball has always been fun for me. Please do not spoil my joy by letting politics and manipulation attempts be involved in it!

Best regards,

Mesajınızın sonuna adınızı eklemeyi unutmayın (Be sure to include your name to the end of your message.)

SOURCE: Yellow Angels Facebook Page

It appears it’s an ONLINE PETITION asking FANS, ie Turkish Fans, to copy and send this letter to the FIVB about the Wild Card teams and that Turkey should’ve been one of the 2 wild card recipients. It’s also calling for a World Cup Media Boycott.

This sounds SERIOUS!

We admire the dedication of the person or group who wrote this letter but the DECISION IS FINAL. We can only hope that Turkey will play their best at upcoming Olympic Qualification Tourneys like what they showed at the 2011 European Champs to win a spot for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Side Dish: Our  wild card picks were Cuba, Thailand or Turkey.

Any THOUGHTS on the letter?