INTRODUCTION
During my work trip to Istanbul, some colleagues had the idea of going to see the nearest big team, Fenerbahçe, play. Having watched many times on TV the trouble that seems to occur between English and Turkish fans, I was somewhat worried what would happen if I went along to a ... Read review
Advantages: Amazing experience, much safer than expected Disadvantages: Expensive tickets and have to be careful which stand you buy them for
.../> '''FENERBAHÇE'''
Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü (Fenerbahçe Sports Club) is one of three big football clubs in Istanbul playing in the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League), along with Galatasaray and Besiktas. Fenerbahçe is located on the Asia side of the city, near to the port of Kadiköy. Galatasaray and Besiktas on the Europe side, though from what Ive seen so far each team has fans from all parts of the city. The club was founded in 1907 ... ...shops selling all kinds of Fenerbahçe merchandise, from replica shirts to scarves all the way to slippers and after shave. We went into the one on Baghdad Street and were directed towards a Migros supermarket on Caddebostan, the road near to the sea parallel to Baghdad Street. We couldnt work it out at first; perhaps we had to buy some milk to invoke a secret code, but we then saw just inside the entrance to the left a little Bilet Ix booth, which ... more
INTRODUCTION
During my work trip to Istanbul, some colleagues had the idea of going to see the nearest big team, Fenerbahçe, play. Having watched many times on TV the trouble that seems to occur between English and Turkish fans, I was somewhat worried what would happen if I went along to a game. With some trepidation, I agreed to go along to the next home game.
FENERBAHÇE
Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü (Fenerbahçe Sports Club) is one of three big football clubs in Istanbul playing in the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League), along with Galatasaray and Besiktas. Fenerbahçe is located on the Asia side of the city, near to the port of Kadiköy. Galatasaray and Besiktas on the Europe side, though from what Ive seen so far each team has fans from all parts of the city. The club was founded in 1907 in secrecy, as the Ottoman Empire forbade Turks playing football, with English families able to do so watched in envy. The club have been hugely successful, winners of many titles in their history. Other sports that are part of the club include basketball, boxing, volleyball, athletics, boxing, rowing and sailing.
Their long roll of honour includes 17 Turkish Super League titles, 16 runner up spots, 4 Turkish Cups and 7 Turkish Super Cups.
Their coach at the moment is Brazilian legend Zico. He has brought in several players including Brazilian World Cup winning left back Roberto Carlos, Spanish international striker Dani Güiza and Newcastle reject (what a moniker) midfielder Emre Belözoglu.
ESKISEHIRSPOR
Eskisehirspor are a club from Antolia, a region in Turkey. Eskisehirspor were founded by merging the regional teams of Idman Yurdu, Akademi Gençlik and Yildiztepe and this team was admitted to the Turkish Second Division in the 1965-1966 season, promoted to the top flight that season. Their history seems to be up and down, with promotions and relegations. The latest promotion was in the 2005-2006 season.
Their roll of honour includes 3 runners up Turkish Super League spots and one Turkish Super Cup.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE CROUCH KIND
What made the experience all the more interesting was that Eskisehirspor were staying in our hotel! We had spotted some of the players a day before the game in the lobby, as they seemed to be having breakfast in a special room which we saw signs for. We thought they might actually be basketball players, but the Eskisehirspor team bus parked outside the hotel gave it away. In particular the Croatian goalkeeper Vanja Ivea looked like a basketball player; a quick check on the web reveals him to be tallest active goalkeeper in the world at 205 cm (6 feet, 8.7 inches), and joint tallest player with Chinese striker Yang Changpeng. He makes Peter Crouch look like Sean Wright-Phillips.
On the morning of the game, some of the coaches were at the hotel breakfast, and seemed to look round a couple of times as we talked about the game. I might well have commented how Id never heard of Eskisehirspor and if it was possible to ask them for a lift to the stadium. Of course we didnt realise at the time they were coaches, even if they had training kit on; they looked more like Russian tourists in Adidas to me. The thought did cross my mind so I was having a little fun with my comments. It was when I saw one of them in the lift with who I think was the striker Souleymane Youla that confirmed it. He actually had a room on my floor, so clearly being one of the top scorers in the league doesnt get him anything more than me. They seemed to be having a discussion in Turkish with the trainer asking how he felt. I asked if they were with the team and Youla said yes. He looked very nervous and when I wished him good luck he seemed pleased with that and smiled. I dont think the coach was too impressed but he should have been thankful someone in Istanbul was on their side.
BUYING THE TICKETS
There are several shops on the Asia side of Istanbul called Fenerium which are fan shops selling all kinds of Fenerbahçe merchandise, from replica shirts to scarves all the way to slippers and after shave. We went into the one on Baghdad Street and were directed towards a Migros supermarket on Caddebostan, the road near to the sea parallel to Baghdad Street. We couldnt work it out at first; perhaps we had to buy some milk to invoke a secret code, but we then saw just inside the entrance to the left a little Bilet Ix booth, which belongs to Ticketmaster. The guy here spoke good English and showed us a range of prices we could buy seats for, from 40 TL in the kop to 200 TL for a seating area nobody seemed to be taking up. We went for seats in the top middle section of the side (Stand E East Block) which cost us 132 TL. The guy considered these almost cheap considering the position. We would soon see if he was right or not. One note though was that his credit card terminal wasnt equipped to take foreign credit cards, so we had to pay by cash.
GETTING THERE
The stadium is close to Sögutlucesme suburban rail station, but we chose to walk from Haydarpasa station, following the crowds of yellow and blue shirts to the ground. It didnt take long, walking to Kadiköy and following the throng from there. Its about a 10 minute walk from the Kadiköy ferry terminal. Around the stadium were plenty of hawkers selling scarves, water, nuts and gum. One guy was even selling rubber foam pieces to use as cushions for the seats. Nuts seemed to be a particular favourite for the fans.
THE STADIUM
With a capacity of 52,500, the stadium looks very modern from the outside, not surprising considered that the original stadium from 1908 was renovated between 1999 and 2006. I would place it on a par with modern Premier League grounds, though I must confess I havent visited one of those for several years.
The tickets were indeed almost cheap as the Bilet Ix guy had suggested. We had a perfect view of the entire pitch from quite high up but near enough to see the action, with no pillars blocking and no one blocking our view from below, as it seemed that, as in the UK, people had to sit during the game. The pitch itself seemed quite close to the stands so that helped a lot. We had a great view of Roberto Carloss huge thighs and relatively tiny head.
Entry was pretty easy and trouble free. The big crowd seemed to be pretty calm, but we chose to get there early and arrived just over an hour before kick off, spending some time in the stadium Fenerium fan shop. The police didnt seem to have a visible presence. I suspect there were many of them around but I didnt notice and I certainly didnt feel like I was a criminal, which is how you can feel sometimes in England. Initial entry was just to show the ticket at the gate, and entry to the specific stand was by turnstile, with the a steward checking the ticket against some kind of electronic reader, then letting you through the turnstile, where you were quickly frisked by the security guards. Some stewards were at the entrances to the stands but they didnt seem too interested to check tickets, though they were quite helpful when asked to help locate our seats. And that was it; less that five minutes to get to your seats. Facilities seemed good, with clean and numerous toilets, some seating areas before the stands and a huge first floor standing area which looked like it could be useful to relieve congestion when the fans leave. I could see many stewards around the perimeter of the pitch, much as you would in England. So the whole thing seemed pretty well organised, taking all the good things from crowd organisation that Ive seen at home.
The plastic seats were a little hard but not entirely uncomfortable, and there was lots of people walking on and across chairs to get to their seat, right up until kick off. You wouldnt expect much space for your legs in stadia and that was the case here. One thing I was impressed by was heaters way above the stands. Although they didnt take away too much of the evening chill, they did have some effect. These were illuminated by the bright floodlights which came on around about halftime, bathing the pitch in more light. I didnt have any problems seeing the action at all, nor did I see any off putting shadow, so they were pretty effective.
One thing I noted and didnt expect was a fair few female supporters at the game. Turkey has someone of a reputation when it comes to equal opportunities and lets leave it at that. But something is definitely happening here. I didnt see many ladies over the age of 20-something but this is the sort of thing youd see 10 years ago at games in England; young fans with the natural assuredness of being able to go to the game and feeling completely at home having been introduced to footy early in life. I even saw a couple of ladies in head dress which to me would close the deal that this was an inclusive kind of place.
We had some thoughts of looking conspicuous when we arrived. Although I could be mistaken for a Turk, and frequently am, due to my mildly dark complexion, my Finnish colleagues stood out a mile. Not, though, compared to the group of Germans in front of us. An older lady sat recording the crowd noise on her phone. A bushy moustachioed middle age fellow with a dark greying perm straight out of the Rudi Völler School of 1980s Teutonic Hairdressing sat puffing on a cigarette. One of them looked Turkish-German and joined in with the chants. I would imagine this was his dream trip come true. There were certainly a lot of people in our stand snap happy, so it would be fair to assume they were fellow football tourists. Compared to the Germanic gaggle, we were invisible.
For those of you too young to get that reference, here is the great perm himself:
I just stopped short of the classic picture of him being spat on by Frank Rijkaard in the 1990 World Cup. It was close though, as thats an old favourite for anyone whos not German.
THE GAME
Ten minutes before kick off at 7pm, Eskisehirspor entered the fray; cue a cacophony of boos from the home support. As the home team strode on, the players names were read out one by one by the PA, with a huge cheer for Roberto Carlos and his monster thighs. He seems to be a particular fans favourite which is no surprise given his reputation and personality.
The game started off very bitty, with both teams losing possession frequently and cheaply with mislaid passes. Eskisehirspor easily had the best of the first half, with the number 11, Guinean Souleymane Youla (my friend from the lift) skipping past his marker a few times. As the half went on Eskisehirspor got stronger and Emre Toraman seemed to be winning a lot in the middle of the park, with the Fenerbahçe midfield not showing too much interest. Their left flank looked particularly exposed, with whoever stationed at left midfield frequently going AWOL, leaving Roberto Carlos, if he could be bothered running back
For me, it was just a matter of time until Eskisehirspor made the breakthrough, as they looked threatening every time they went forward and used the ball well, with Toraman winning it, then spreading it out wide to the right midfielder Serdar Özbayrakta or Koray Arslan who was playing a blinder at overlapping right back, always pushing forward but putting in a good defensive shift, too. His and Toramans workrate made them men of the match for me. But boy did the right side have a lot of room to attack, with Roberto being anywhere but left back most of the time. The away fans were loving this, a little pocket of red and black bouncing around in the corner, with the occasional firecracker going of to make me a bit jumpy. They also had a huge flag which they passed across their numbers before kick off. There were lots of nice short passing interplays but they just couldnt make anything from their chances. Youla would lose the ball or not show for it more often than not, then beat his man on the left wing but not get a good ball in.
By contrast Fenerbahçe were sloppy, with the Brazilian midfielder Deivid being quite guilty of losing the ball regularly. Their centre backs were also a bit dodgy and looked vulnerable to a ball over the top, with Youla close to getting in behind them a couple of times. But in the second half the home crowd seemed to come alive, with lots of booing for Eskisehirspor and some chants, in particular quite a good one going around the four sides of the ground, each side saying one word after the side next to it, with the chant completed by our side. But at 0-0 the fans grew restless, with a lot making some sort of gesture with their rights arm, kind of flicking them out straight, with their hands in an open palm. I assume this isnt good, it certainly didnt look it.
Then Eskisehirspor made some strange decisions, first taking off Emre Toraman in central midfield and then Serdar Özbayrakta on the right wing, their 2 best players. This seemed to encourage Fenerbahçe, who subsequently got a foothold in midfield. Eventually, on 59 minutes, Fenerbahçe got a lucky goal, which was a bit of a blur to me but started with a Roberto Carlos cross which pinged off a couple of players before falling in front of Deivid to score. Cue huge celebrations in the kop corner. The game was effectively finished with Roberto Carlos again nipping in front of his own midfielder and the Eskisehirspor left back to get the ball and send it a beautifully skidding cross curving away from the goalkeeper which again bounced around a bit before it left Güiza one on one with the goalie and a nice sidefoot finish.
There was also a trademark Roberto Carlos freekick that sent everyone scurrying for their cameras. Trademark in the sense that it was miles from goal and was completely wasted, a speculative punt at goal bouncing harmlessly off the defensive wall.
It wasnt quite over though, as Eskisehirspor managed to get one back after a bit of confusion at the back from Fenerbahçe. It was another of those goals where the ball bounced around a bit before Karadeniz put it in the back of the net.
The match ended in confusion, with full time being blown and a lot of arguing ensuing on the pitch. There wasnt any big cheer, and in the end the PA put on some loud Fenerbahçe song, which sent people scuttling to the exits.
GETTING BACK
We didnt hang around too long after the final whistle and we had to wait some time to get down the stairs, as you would expect, but I dont think it took us more than 15 minutes to get out on the street, with everyone quite calm and no one really pushing or getting narky, so once again an unexpected and extremely welcome experience. We went to Kadiköy to find a nice place to have a kebab on the way back and we succeeded in this respect. I had a particularly nice lamb number with aubergine, pepper and rice. Thus with hunger sated and enough time passing such that the fans would mostly have gone home, we headed back to Haydarpasa station. This was in fact the hairiest part of the evening. A policeman, his colleague detailing some murky looking guys, asked us to stop but one of us ignored him, having seen the dodgy blokes and wanting to avoid them. We had to call him back and the policeman seemed OK then, realising we were foreigners, and just let us go on our way. Perhaps it was reassuring, as we were a bit dubious about walking back down the dark road to the station, so it was good to see the police doing their job.
SLIGHT ASIDE ABOUT FOOTBALL CULTURE IN THE UK (SCOTS READ ON)
Dare I say it helps that this is a Muslim country and, although people freely drink alcohol , leery drunkenness doesnt seem to be a quintessential part of the football experience that it unfortunately is in England. I say England and this is why; in 1995 I came across a group of Scottish Tartan Army football fans from Shetland when I was living in Helsinki on their way back from an International game in Sweden. They were the friendliest bunch you could ever imagine. When someone asked them what they thought of the English they said we hate them except for him, pointing at me. Lots of drinks and laughs were exchanged that night as I showed them around my regular haunts. I seem to remember them being big Teenage Fanclub fans and telling me their local curry house was voted the best in the UK. Actually I had an email from one of them a little later, wonder how they are now?
On the other side of the coin, I went to an England away game, although I was at the home end, in 1998. It was England v Sweden, the first game after the World Cup, and David Beckham was suspended after being red carded against Argentina for slightly tapping Diego Simeone. It started well with Shearer scoring direct from a free kick, but Hoddles team soon collapsed and I remember Tony Adams walking around shaking his head doubtfully. As I walked home I saw the away fans smashing up the upper tier, with chairs and tables flying through the glass. Nice. But that wasnt the worst thing. I then had to face my Swedish colleagues after such a humbling defeat.
Has it changed in England now? Possibly, but Im not in any hurry to find out. In the mid 90s for one season I was a regular at Queens Park Rangers (witnessing Trevor Sinclairs bicycle kick from outside the box goal of the season) and although only spilling over occasionally, I did feel quite threatened at times, as if an incident was only a chucked bottle away. Anyway, completely unrelated to the review, here is a link to that goal. I remember him shaping up for it and thinking no chance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVcIR6ftJuk
CONCLUSION
It wouldnt be an exaggeration to say that how the evening turned out wasnt anywhere near what I thought would happen. One word would sum that up: trouble. Getting to the game was simple and hassle free, the fans during the game passionate but not scarily so and delaying before getting the train back to avoid the rush worked perfectly. We did get the occasional funny look from the local fans along the lines of what are they doing here but nothing unfriendly. So in summary, go to stand E East block for a great experience you will never forget.
I have to say though, Fenerbahçe were incredibly lucky and Eskisehirspor deserved at least a point for their skilful endeavour. But I guess with Roberto Carlos in the team, anything is possible.
CONTACT DETAILS
Fenerbahçe Sports Club, Fenerbahçe Burnu Fenerbahçe 81030, Istanbul, Turkey.
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