On my bucket list since I came to Turkey a year and a half ago was to go to a football game. The reputation of the sports fans always made my opportunities a bit non existence. I would not go without the accompaniment of a turkish male. Which as my biggest struggle here is getting away from turkish men i always thought this wouldnt be so difficult. Wrong. Luckily, since extreme behavior at football matches is common, the teams are punished by making the next match a "free woman and children"only match. Every time i heard about this happening i pictured in my head a youth sports game with mom's trying to entertain and keep handle of children. I was wrong. As we walked down the large hill to the stadium (late of course due to class) we heard the overwhelming chant of female voices. That was our first little dose of shock. We managed to use our persuasive smiles to get some of the last tickets.
Now i've been to my share of sporting activities, and this by far tops them. One they did not let the chants die down for a single minute in the entire game. That was cool. Secondly. there was no alcohol. So when i picture loud energetic fans in America (or even the British games i went to) I picture the fans drunkenly falling over. Perhaps some had drunk before the match but there was obviously an overwhelming amount of sober enthusiasm. Also, there was maybe one stand for food. Why do our sports revolve around drinking and eating unhealthy food. I think our fans cant properly cheer on their teams when one hand has a cold beer and the other is holding a brat.
Through most of my experiences in this country, i have a certain image of women. None of which were sports loving energetic women. This was awesome. Finally a perk to being a woman in this country.
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