City of Firsts in Sports

The First Golf Club
Following the golf club founded in Maslak, Istanbul, in 1895, the first golf club in Anatolia during the Ottoman period was established in Bornova in 1905 (Hasan Mert, Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1, July 2008).
However, a photograph from the archives of the Giraud family — residents of Bornova — reveals that golf was already being played in 1900 in the garden of the mansion belonging to the Paterson family of Bornova.

The First Tennis Match
In Prof. Dr Funda Koçak's study entitled "The Historical Development of Tennis," it is noted that during the Ottoman era Turkey was introduced to the sport of tennis in the 1900s through British diplomats, with the observation that "in 1905, tennis was played among the Levantines of İzmir, Bornova and Karşıyaka," thus establishing Bornova as among the first localities in Turkey to take up tennis.
It is known from the accounts of Bornova resident James Giraud (Jim Giraud) (from an interview in the 11th issue of the Ege Spor magazine, dated 8 September 1941) that tennis had been a known and played sport since the late 1880s. It was played on the court in the garden of a Mrs Keyser — at the site now occupied by the blocks of flats opposite the Suphi Koyuncuoğlu Secondary School — referred to by Bornova residents as the "German Garden."

In conclusion, from the last quarter of the 19th century onwards, the Levantines of İzmir — and of Bornova in particular — made a significant contribution to the rise and development in Turkey of football, athletics, cycling, golf and tennis, as well as water sports such as cricket, basketball, volleyball, swimming, sailing and rowing.