U međuvremenu, nogomet je možda i spasio Kucukandonyadisov život 1955. godine, kada se grupa Turaka, ljutita zbog lažne vijesti da je kuća u Grčkoj u kojoj je rođen osnivač Turske Mustafa Kemal Ataturk bombardovana, pobunila protiv grčke manjine u Istambulu, nanijevši njihovoj imovini ogromnu štetu, od koje se ta zajednica nikada nije u potpunosti oporavila.
In the meantime, football may have saved Kucukandonyadis's life in 1955, when Turkish mobs -- angered by the fake news reports that the house where Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was born in Greece, had been bombed -- rioted against the Greek minorities in Istanbul, causing vast damage to their property from which the community never fully recovered.