Centuries-old tradition of çevgan kept alive in Sivas

SİVAS

Çevgan, a traditional equestrian sport played on horseback by Turks and dating back centuries, is being sustained by an equestrian club established in Sivas.

A group of volunteers, initially interested in equestrian archery, came together about eight years ago to revive çevgan, a sport in which players on horseback throw a ball into the opposing team’s goal using a stick. The group, which is formed by lecturers and tradesmen, has been playing the sport they began as a hobby for about six years in an area they created near the Paşabahçe Recreation Area.

The volunteers founded the Elit Polo Çevgan Equestrian Sports Club, the only çevgan team in Türkiye, and have participated in the 1st Çevgan World Championship in Azerbaijan.

Fatih Köse, a lecturer in the Turkish Folk Literature Department of the Turkish Language and Literature Department at Sivas Cumhuriyet University’s Faculty of Literature and president of the Elit Polo Çevgan Equestrian Sports Club, told state-run Anadolu Agency that çevgan, whose origins date back to the third century B.C., is an ancient equestrian sport that emerged in Central Asia, in the Turkestan region, among Turks.

Noting that the game was originally played as military training, Köse said, “It passed from the Parthians to Iran through the Turks and then spread to all elements of Eastern civilization, including Byzantium. It was played as the king of games, the game of kings.”

Köse said the British encountered the game in the 19th century, transforming it into a more systematic and modern sport called polo and spreading it to the Western world.

“After that date, its modern form, polo, became accepted and played worldwide. It is an ancient game with roots in our culture, dating back 2,400 years. In 2003, it was registered with UNESCO on behalf of Azerbaijan as the Karabakh equestrian sport game,” he said.

Köse added that the game was played in Anatolia until the Seljuk period, but was interrupted during the Ottoman era.

“There was an attempt to create a political divide between Iran and the Ottoman geography because it was widely adopted in Iran. Cultural areas like this were also affected, and that is why the Ottomans stopped playing polo and introduced javelin instead. We see this as a cultural heritage. The game is also played across the Turkic world and is a shared heritage. To protect this heritage, we began playing it again with our own resources five to six years ago. We are doing our best to promote it,” he said.

“As a team, we have represented our country internationally. We participated in two world championships, one European championship and one Commonwealth of Independent States Games. We hope the game will be adopted in other provinces and regions and that new teams will emerge. In doing so, we will have protected this heritage in Türkiye and Anatolia and achieved success in this sport. We are the first and only team in Türkiye and are waiting for competitors.”

‘Our goal is to develop this sport in Türkiye’

Team captain Bilal Demir said he began equestrian sports as a hobby about eight years ago.

“We previously practiced equestrian archery as a club. We developed çevgan, which we started as amateurs five to six years ago. We participated in the 1st Çevgan World Championship in Azerbaijan and later took part in the European Championship. Our goal is to develop this sport in Sivas and across Türkiye,” he said.

Stating that they are the first club practicing the sport in Türkiye, Demir said, “We have a team of eight people, including academics and tradesmen. We started it as a hobby out of love for the sport, but we aim to professionalize it. We have made investments and our goal is to spread this sport in Sivas and throughout Türkiye.”