Football

On Saturday night I had my first Turkish football experience. 

Although football only came to Turkey in the early 19th century it is pretty much considered the national sport.  It's played by everyone here.  Allegiences are familial - ie.  if the father supports Galatasaray, then so does the rest of the family.  Generally, allegiences are also hereditary - ie.  my father's father supported Galatasaray so I also support them.  And Turkish people are passionate about their sport as I found out that night.

Coming from Canada, I am used to friendly rivalry's between Leafs fans and Sens or Habs fans, etc...but here, if you support the "wrong" club you can literally be blacklisted!  Fights between rival club fans break out on the streets here regularly when there is a big match on.  Think Vancouver during the last Stanley Cup...that's every Saturday night here in Turkey (minus the looting).

Every city in Turkey has a football club.  The Süper Lig (league) has 66 clubs.  The top clubs are Fenerbahçe (18 Süper Lig wins), Galatasaray (18 Süper Lig wins), Beşiktaş (13 Süper Lig wins), Trabzonspor (6 wins) and Bursaspor (1 win).  Needless to say, the biggest rivalry is Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray. 

Anyways, my boyfriend U and I went to his friend's house where our hosts had prepared a traditional Turkish mangal (barbeque) and set up a projection on the wall of their roof top terrace.  There were seven of us watching the Super League Championship match between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe.  Of the seven of us, 5 were supporters of Galatasaray.  My boyfriend included.  Only 1 woman was supporting Fenerbahçe.  Me knowing nothing about these familial allegiences and such, decided to support the underdog of the match, Fenerbahçe, with this other woman.  I should tell you that Galatasaray led Fenerbahçe by 1 point in the standings before this match.  So, whenever Fener was close to scoring I would cheer.  When U heard me, he was a little surprised and scolded me for not supporting him and his team.  Turns out that whoever your boyfriend supports is who you are also supposed to support.  So, needless to say, he had a bit of a shock when I refused to support his team!  In the end, it was us Fener fans who had a shock...Fener played a good game (by my limited estimation) with only 1 player red-carded.  The final score was a zero-zero draw.  Galatasaray were crowned as champions.  Now it was my turn to be shocked.  Where was the over time?  Where were the free kicks?  Does the game just end like that?  What was the point of the whole thing if there was no score??  I just didn't get it and I still really don't get it.  Turns out that even in championship situations there is no extra time or any way to get a score.  Whoever has the most points in the standings after a draw is the winner...period...

The match ended at 9pm.  We finished up our mangal and fruits and tea and then decided to hit the road at about 10:30pm.  It took us about 15 minutes to reach U's friend's house from our end of town.  But going home took about 1 and half hours.  Why you ask?  Well, almost all the main roads were clogged with celebrating Galatasaray fans!  It was insane!  And unlike anything I have ever seen before!  People were just parked in the middle of the road, sitting on their cars, waving flags and setting off fire works.  Music was turned up high and singing could be heard from all corners.  Fans were dancing traditional Turkish dances on the streets and stopping any traffic that tried to break through with whistles, flag waving and general rowdiness.  It was quite the spectacle!  It reminded me of after the Stanley Cup in Vancouver but with a much more friendly, celebratory air.  Even the Fener fans were grudgingly celebrating their loss at the hands (or feet I guess) of the winning club.  This was just in our neighborhood in Tunali in Ankara.  In İstanbul the crowds were much bigger and I'm sure fighting was rampant.  Fener fans felt the game wasn't refereed fairly (shocking I know) and stormed the field after the game.  I can only imagine what the streets were like!

So I suppose for those of you contemplating a move here, research football clubs and make sure you chose your allegience wisely...

*** May 16th - Okay, so I spoke too soon!  Turns out in İstanbul there was some major rioting by Fener fans and Galata fans alike!  Police cars flipped over, fires started, riot police out in full force!  There goes my idealism again...thinking only the good in people!  Here's another video of what went down there!  Glad I wasn't a part of that!!!!

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