Turkey will resume league football on Tuesday, ending a brief suspension in domestic competition caused by an attack by a club’s president on a referee who was later arrested by local authorities.

“Night of Shame” of Turkish football has plunged the country’s most popular sport into crisis and raised questions about on-field violence against match officials.

Here is a look at the events that have transpired since the violent incident in Ankara:

What happened during and after the game?

The Turkish Super Lig match between MKA Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor ended in a 1-1 draw on Monday after the visitors equalized in the last minute of stoppage time. After the final whistle, Ankaragucu President Faruk Koca stormed onto the pitch with a group of men and knocked out referee Halil Umut Meler with a blow to the left side of his face.

Meler was kicked several times in the ensuing melee as fans stormed the pitch. The 37-year-old match official was shown standing a few minutes later with a black eye swollen on the left part of his face.

With the help of the police, he finally managed to reach the locker room.

Why was the referee attacked?

Koca appeared outraged that Meler had sent off one of his players and then scored a goal in stoppage time that allowed Rizespor to leave Ankara with a draw.

Meler released a statement on Tuesday saying Koca had threatened his life.

“Faruk Koca hit me under the left eye and I fell to the ground. While I was on the ground, they kicked my face and other parts of my body many times,” Meler said.

“[He] told me and my fellow referees, “I’m going to finish you.” He turned to me in particular and said, ‘I’m going to kill you.'”

Meler was released from hospital in Ankara on Wednesday after undergoing observation and receiving a call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Meler, a respected referee with accreditation to officiate international matches, is expected to recover and join the refereeing team for the 2024 European Championships, which will be played in Germany in June-July.

Who is Faruk Koca?

MKE Ankaragucu’s Koca is a politician, former parliamentarian, aspiring mayor of Ankara and member of Erdogan’s AK Party.

“If I am given the task of being mayor of a municipality, I will do what is necessary,” Koca said this year. However, the ruling party has initiated proceedings to deport Koca.

Since the incident, Koca has resigned as club president – a role he took up in 2021 – but insists his team was betrayed by the referee.

“No matter how great the injustice or how wrong [the officiating] “Nothing can legitimize or explain the violence I committed,” Koca said in a club statement.

“I apologize to the Turkish refereeing community, the sporting public and our nation,” he added.

Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chief Mehmet Buyukeksi said the sports body would announce penalties for the altercation.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Koca and two other people were officially arrested for “injuring a public official” after prosecutors took statements from them.

“The investigation continues meticulously,” he said on the social media platform X.

The Turkish president was also quick to condemn the incident.

“Sport means peace and brotherhood. Sport is incompatible with violence. We will never allow violence to occur in Turkish sports,” Erdogan wrote on X.

What did FIFA say?

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the events after the game were “totally unacceptable and have no place in our sport or our society.”

“Without match officials there is no football,” he added.

The European football association UEFA also condemned the incident.

“We call on the authorities and relevant disciplinary bodies to take decisive and necessary action against anyone involved in acts of abuse and violence against referees,” UEFA said.

Statement from FIFA President Gianni Infantino:

🔗 https://t.co/mBhi38Nf40 pic.twitter.com/YqJ3KqeWqy

— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) December 12, 2023

Games were suspended indefinitely hours after the incident, but on Wednesday the TFF said games would resume next week.

Have there been violent attacks on referees and match officials in the past?

Violence in football is commonplace in Turkey despite efforts to combat it, although direct attacks on top referees are rare. Nevertheless, Buyukeksi blamed the attack on a culture of contempt towards referees.

“Anyone who targeted referees and encouraged them to commit crimes is complicit in this despicable attack,” he said.

“The irresponsible statements made by club presidents, managers, coaches and television commentators towards referees paved the way for this attack.”

Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, said the incident was terrible.

“Neither the referee nor the man deserved to have the experience he had yesterday in Ankara. “He was doing his job when he was attacked on the field at the end of a game he was officiating,” Collina said Tuesday.

Hugh Dallas, head of referee training for the Turkish Super Lig, was at the stadium when the incident occurred and called on governments to take action.

Referees in Turkey are often criticized by club managers and presidents for their decisions.

“I think a lot of club presidents, media and others will take a look at themselves today and realize that this is the result of creating this kind of mass hysteria around refereeing,” he told the BBC.

“There must be laws and penalties for clubs, players, owners or whoever if they behave like this because it definitely cannot continue like this.”