Fenerbache vs Antalyaspor - 9.9.06

So i left Brian and Mika at the Eminonu docks around 6pm and proceeded to buy a ticket to Kadikoy which is on the asian side of Istanbul. I still can't get over the fact that i went from europe to asia in 20 minutes to watch a football game but there you are. According to the website the game was supposed to start at 8pm so i wanted to get there early and take some pics of the more fanatical fans. I expected the boat to be full of Fenerbache fans in their blue and yellow striped jerseys but surprisingly they wern't...more on that in a bit. I did see a couple of fans and was intending to follow them to the stadium which i was told was about 2 kilometers from the dock. I disembarked just in time for a rather spectacular sunset over the european side of Istanbul so i stopped to take some pics.

Sunset from Kadikoy

Sunset from Kadikoy

Sunset from Kadikoy

This turned out not to be the best idea as i had lost the Fenerbache fans. It was also beginning to worry me that i didn't see any fans out at all. I set out in the general direction of where i thought the stadium was and after a couple of wrong turns and some friendly advice from a kebab vendor i was back on the right course. About half a km away i started hearing chanting so i followed the noise. At about this time i saw a TV inside a restaurant which was showing the game...i looked at my ticket and all of a sudden i saw 7pm...CRAP...website said 8pm...so i started running. That's why there were no fans out...instead of getting their 40 minutes early i was 20 minutes late.

Got to my gate, went through the whole song and dance of explaining what was in my bag etc.. and then the security guys asked me where i was from. They almost fell on the floor when i said San Francisco. They couldn't believe that someone would travel so far to see a game...i didn't have the heart to say that i didn't really care who won and i was just their for the experience and plus they seemed so amused that A) i was 20 minutes late and B) i was from california that i got a special escort to the entrance of my section.

Now i'm not sure if any of you have been to a European soccer game let alone a turkish one but 60,000 plus fans screaming, banging on drums and whistling is a pretty intense situation. These people were nuts. Now i had a ticket for a specific seat but there was no way in hell i was going to get there. i couldn't even get through the tunnel into my section. People were standing on the seats, in between the seats, in the aisles, on top of bars and on the guard rail and the fans and the stadium were bouncing. Remembering my days in the mosh pit, i pogo sticked my way to place where i could see. Its really hard to describe 60, 000 plus people chanting in unison and gesticulating wildly whenever the referee, a Fenerbache player or an opposing player did anything but lets just say it was bedlam. The first half of play was pretty much dominated by Fenerbache but they failed to put away some easy opportunities. There was quite a bit of theatrical diving which is always amusing. At halftime the score was 0-0 and i got myself in a position along the guard rail over looking the lower sections. Great view but i couldn't help thinking that a large push from the fella's behind me would easily send me over the edge.

"Excuse i think you're in my seat" would not fly here!

View after halftime

At half time the crowd, with the action stopped turned their attention to taunting the 50 or so Antalyspor fans who had their own special section which was surrounded my iron fences and what looked like barbed wire. Second half started where the first left off...sloppy play all around. Then in the 65th minute Fenerbache scored...as you can imagine the place irrupted. People screamed and whistled. There was hugging and kissing all around. I barely had time to disengage myself from one of the fans behind me (the sort of guy i might just cross the street if i saw him at night time) when Antalyaspor equalized... dead silence. This was followed by what i can only imagine were the worst sort of insults directed at the referee and the Antalyaspor players. 5 minutes later Fenerbache scored again...more hugging from scary men. This was the second most dubious of goals behind Maradona's hand of god that i ever seen. The forward basically caught the ball and placed it on his foot and shot...though apparently myself, the 50 opposing fans and the Antalyaspor players were the only people who saw it. 3 minutes later they scored for a third time. Another 5 minutes and Antalyaspor scored again making the last 10 minutes of the game very tense. With 3 minutes left Fenerbache scored again making 4-2. The stadium went crazy. i had resorted to high fiving at this point (my body was little achy from the passionate hugging) and slapped everyone's hand around me. The whistle blew to end the game and we all poured out of the stadium and headed toward the docks. The ferry ride back was one large sing song and thumping fest and i was seriously worried that they would sink the boat.

Celebrations after the first goal

Celebrations after the third goal

Well this was an excellent experience and i have to say more intense than any other football game i've been too....i can't wait till the tuesday night champions league game (Galatasaray vs Bordeaux) as the Galatasaray fans are famous for being insane. Also for shits and giggles i might check out the Besikitas game (they are the third out of 4 Istanbul teams) tomorrow and hopefully it will be as much fun as this one.