Antalyaspor v Bursaspor

Mardy Bum

Antalyaspor 2-2 Bursaspor (06:11:10)

Ulas Gürsat continues his new weekly column for EFW. Ulas is a football reporter for the Turkish daily Haberturk Newspaper:

The Mardan Stadium isn't the best place in Turkey to watch football. It's an ugly, modern 'shopping mall' in the middle of nowhere. Its been nicknamed 'Mardy Bum' by some lazy English bloggers looking to crowbar an Arctic Monkeys song title into any article about Antalyaspor (hi ya - Ed.).

Antalyaspor started to play in Mardy Bum this season as their old Atatürk Stadium - a name so common for stadiums in Turkey - was shut down, deemed to be both old and dangerous.

Mardan itself is a complex which opened in 2008 and run by Mardan Palace Hotel. Antalya is regularly used by teams from Turkey and beyond for pre-season training camps. So, the Mardan Palace Hotel saw this potential and built the 10,000 capacity stadium - so different to what fans are used to in Turkey.

The move has changed the profile of the fans of Antalyaspor. They now have to travel out of town to watch their football in a stadium devoid of any history. The passion has gone and the noise the Akrepler (Scorpions) were famous for has become a distant memory. It goes against all good feelings about watching football and being a supporter, and nobody expects them to be playing at Mardan for much longer.

If you come to Antalya for a game you can go to coincide it with a visit to the beach as it's hot all year round. The game kicked off in November, but the temperature was still in the mid-twenties. Before the match, fans relaxed in swimming pools and down by the sea. If you're reading this back in England, and you're feeling the chill, you might want to consider supporting Antalya!

Pre-match Antayla style.

Just in case....

I'm hearing you liked the Turkish food recommendations in the last article? Well, there are a couple of places to eat Pideli Köfte (Meatballs on pita) around the stadium. It's not as good as the Iskender which I mentioned before, but still It's good to eat. You should have it with tahinli piyaz - a kind of bean salad with a sweet sauce.

As expected, we saw Coşkun the Raper in the stands. He lives in Antalya, is a big fan of Antalyaspor, and is well respected by the fans. His real name is Coşkun Göğen and he was an actor - always playing the bad guy in the movies. He became famous for playing the role of a rapist in nearly all his movies, which made him a bit of a cult character. He doesn't act in movies any more, but he is still ugly.

Coşkun arrives to the ground.

Pideli Köfte anyone?

Bursa had played Manchester United a few days before this match in the Champions League, and the tiredness showed early on. Antalyaspor were two up at half time and in cruise control. But, Bursaspor's manager Ertuğrul Sağlam is making quite a name for himself and his half time team talk worked wonders. They pulled two goals back in the second half to draw the match 2-2. Not a bad result for last years champions Bursaspor, because Antalyaspor are a good side, and it's still not really easy to play two games in a week for Turkish teams.

The match ended on a sour note for Bursaspor's experienced right back Ali Tandoğan - who'd scored the first goal. But, in doing so, he clashed head with a defender. Tandoğan's skull is broken and that could mean the end to his playing career. This was of course the biggest loss of Bursaspor in Antalya and turned us all into Mardy Bums for the day.

Mind your heads.

The obligatory netting over the away fans.

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The Spakenburg Derby

Take That and Party

SV Spakenburg 2-3 IJsselmeervogels (06:11:10)

The Spakenburg derby, derby of derbies, where have you been all my life? You can now lay claim to being the greatest match on earth, and the reason European Football Weekends were invented. Ticketmaster went into meltdown in the Netherlands last week, and not just because Take That were playing at the local EnormoDome. Everybody wanted to lay their mitts on a ticket for the 33rd village derby between the blues of SV Spakenburg, and the reds of IJsselmeervogels.

This was the first time the match had taken place in the newly formed Topklasse Division, the third tier of Dutch football. Previously, these two had been the most successful amateur clubs in the country. IJsselmeervogels Chairman Arian van de Vuurst had been a dissenting voice amongst those who wanted change, "professional football does not fit in with our culture" he harrumphed before the start of the season.

Traditionally, these two clubs have always tried to outdo each other on and off the pitch. When one team builds a new stand, the other will build one slightly bigger. Last season the reds let loose a pig on the pitch as a little dig at their rivals who they consider to be farmers. They themselves are proud to be known as the fishermen of the village. The blues responded by flying a light aircraft over the ground which dispensed inflatable toilet brushes onto the reds terrace. SV Spakenburg also unveiled their new mascot at the derby last year, a giant viking standing over 20 feet tall, brilliant.

Getting the horn at football - tick.

The Pope delivers his pre-match speech sermon.

Come on you Blues...

....and Reds.

Due to some previous problems between the two sets of fans - home made bombs and a bit of violence - the mayor insists that no alcohol can be served anywhere in the village until 5pm on derby day. Between 1995-2002 they were placed in separate divisions to calm things down, and that appears to have done the trick. Since they started playing each other again, there has been no problems at all. A tremendous amount of banter has replaced the need to fight. Police turn away anyone looking to make trouble and the match now takes place in a carnival atmosphere.

Fans of beer needn't have worried. EFW has contacts in pretty much every port these days, and Spakenburg is no exception. We'd been invited to a pre-derby party by the blues. A party that consisted of a tremendous amount of beer and food in the garden of our good friend Wim Muijs just around the corner from the stadium. There was around 80 other fans in there for company including, bizarrely, a coach load of Ajax supporters.

We marched en mass to the ground before the kick off, passing the stadium of the reds on the way - it is in the same street after all. Aside from being invited to their party, we'd plumped for the blues initially, because SV Spakenburg was easier to pronounce. I didn't much fancy trying to slip IJsselmeervogels into a little terrace ditty. This match has been referred to in some quarters as the 'spell check derby' - nod to Kevin Day for that one.

It was heaving mass of humanity both outside and in the Sportpark de Westmaat. Every nook and cranny had already been taken. This match now attracts fans from all over the Netherlands, and today, the whole of the country appeared to be here. Brilliantly, SV Spakenburg had produced thousands of blue and white viking helmets with flashing horns for the occasion. For their part, IJsselmeervogels had dished out red flags and humongous red balloons to their fans.

The terrace holding the vocal element of the home fans had been decorated with flashing blue disco lights. Flame fire cannons went off at regular intervals during the match as well as blue streamers. Of course, the giant viking was back. He's the size of a two buses, and then there was the Pope. Ah, the Pope....

The blues manager is called Andre Pope. Two weeks before the derby he was allegedly done for driving under the influence of a few beers. This was all the excuse the reds needed. To mock him, they had a man dressed as the pope who appeared to have a special licence to invade the playing surface as he wished. He was Vogels 12th man and spent as much time on the pitch - which is artificial by the way - as the players.

You'll notice I slipped the word 'Vogels' into that last paragraph. Vogels will do apparently, and we needn't mention the IJsselmeer bit. As such - and in the interests of fairness - we crossed the divide and spent half of the match with the blues and the other half in with the reds.

As the two teams emerged general carnage ensued, but in a nice way. Huge plumes of blue smoke rolled across the ground, those fire cannons went off, flags, balloons, the arms of the Pope, ticker-tape and anything anyone could get hold of was thrust into the air. What a welcome. And then it went silent as fans bit their nails and had their nerve ends shredded by the on the pitch antics.

The two teams emerge, somewhere in there...

....everything goes a bit mad...

....calm descends....

...until IJsselmeervogels start to turn the screw.

It was so busy in the stadium that it was a job to see the whole pitch. At one point, I went into the sports hall behind one of the stands to see if they were serving beer yet - they weren't - and found around 1000 fans in their watching the match on giant screens. There were people everywhere. Officially, the crowd was given as being 8500. Blink blink.

Despite SV Spakenburg topping the league and having played the better football all season, they froze on the big occasion. Vogels ran out 3-2 winners and thoroughly deserved the win. Their supporters poured onto the pitch at the end and celebrated in the centre circle why the home fans shed tears of remorse into their viking helmets. SV Spakenburg will be back though. This Wednesday they travel to PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch FA Cup and will have the backing of 1500 fans who are travelling up in a convoy of over 25 coaches.

I'll take your word for it.

I've got a colour accent feature on my camera, and I'm jolly well going to use it.

Now, it was time for the fun bit. They love to party in this village, any excuse. There was a party on the Thursday before the match when the women's teams played against each other - SV Spakenburg won that game 7 (seven) nil - and now it was time for us to join the fun and games. Behind each of the two stadiums is a sports hall, both were staging parties, and by now the beer was flowing - gallons of it.

We kicked off with the blues. The DJ was trying to get things going, but with their teams defeat the fans weren't really in the mood. It was still brilliant in there, but we had to move on. Two hours later - and without anyone looking - we sneaked out, walked across the pitch of the reds stadium and into their party. My word. The IJsselmeervogels team were on the stage, fans were standing on tables and chairs singing. It was as if they'd won the world cup.

The night ended with the inevitable swinging of a shoe on the dance-floor. We danced to a traditional mix of euro techno pop, football party tapes and, ahem, Coldplay. The Pope was there of course. We danced with him to. It sounds silly now, but the most popular dance of the night was some sort of Hokey Cokey number. I say silly, but when you've had a skin full of beer and you're on your holidays, it's is tremendous fun.

If you've ever wondered what happened to the dry ice machines that were made redundant after Top of the Pops stopped filming, don't. They've all been brought up by the folk of Spakenburg. Dry ice filled both sports halls all night. This was, and is, the party of the year and everyone was out and dressed to impress. I haven't been to a party for around five years and now I was on my third of the day.

That was the Spakenburg derby. I've tried to convey at least some of the magic, and I hope some of it has come across. Of course the fans themselves take it very seriously indeed, but that never once threatened to spill over into violence. Many of them partied together afterwards. This is why I think this is the derby of derbies, and one of the best matches going. The return fixture is on April 16, European Football Weekends will be there, will you?

It's 5pm and the beer ban is lifted. I'll have 8 to celebrate please bartender.

And Stoffers will have a further twenty.

Meanwhile, over at the reds party, this is what every table looked like.

Bragging rights in the bag, until April.

For lots more photos of the day CLICK ME.

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The following day we went to see FC Utrecht v PSV: READ ALL ABOUT IT.

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The Cascadia Rivalry

Football is nothing without fans

EFW covered the incredible rise of Seattle Sounders last season with interviews and their attendance figures are indeed impressive. When we did so, we were also inundated by Portland Timbers fans who left us in no doubt as to the intensity of the football rivalry, showing us that the Americans at least get that bit.

Then, the clubs were in different leagues, but Portland and another side from the Pacific Northwest, Vancouver Whitecaps, are set to join MLS in 2011, giving the fans the chance to resurrect the rivalries and better still travel to away fans and experience that awayday feeling that is the core of football culture.

You would think that this is something eagerly anticipated by all. Sadly not. Sounders FC's majority owner, Hollywood director Joe Roth, has threatened to restrict away fans to just 150, the minimum under MLS requirements despite Seattle's Qwest Field having 28,000 empty seats for every home game.

We asked Steve Clare, the editor of Prost Amerika the only site that covers all three clubs, what the hell was going on:

Can you sum up what the battle is about? Next year three sides from the Pacific Northwest, an area we refer to as Cascadia after the mountain range, will play in Major League Soccer. They are about a 3 hour drive apart and all three cities have a long (for America) history of football and of rivalry. All three were members of the old NASL in the 1970s. With Vancouver and Portland about to join, these rivalries will be resumed.

Sounds great, what's the problem? Your readers will know that the publication of the fixture calendar is a moment awaited with high anticipation to see when the derby days are, especially those away from home. That anticipation stands threatened by a policy of restricting away fans to just 150.

Where does the 150 limit come from? It's an MLS mandated number but fails to take into account the long history of football rivalry and indeed away day traveling in Cascadia.

Who's making the threat? No-one had said it outright until yesterday but conventional wisdom suggested that the Seattle Sounders are the moving force behind this. Their majority owner Joe Roth advocated such a policy in a meeting with fans, and Vancouver's top guy Paul Barber has indicated to Whitecaps fans that he is more sympathetic to their wish to watch their side in Seattle and Portland. Portland owner Merritt Paulson was articulately coy when I asked him about it in an interview. Yesterday, a unified statement released by Portland’s Timbers Army, Seattle’s Emerald City Supporters, and Vancouver’s Southsiders specifically pointed the blame at Sounders FC.

Joe Roth set to incur the wrath? (Photo: Jane Gershovich/Prost Amerika)

Credit where Merritt's due? Portland owner Merritt Paulson (Photo: Allison Andrews/soccercityusa.com)

How have fan groups managed to stay united given the hostility I observed on EFW when I first interviewed you? Their love of the sport is stronger than their hatred of each other! Seriously though, despite their reservations, all three groups have really risen to the challenge of putting the common good first. I hope that's what your readers take away from this as a better indication of the strength of, and love for, the sport here. Most of them were here for football before MLS arrived and will be here for the sport until they kick the bucket.

Are the three clubs united or is it Seattle v the rest? The evidence seems to suggest so but neither of the other two clubs has said so publicly. So far the three ownership groups are not criticising each other publicly, but internal discussions between the owners of Vancouver and their Southsiders group, and the Timbers and the Timbers Army, certainly suggest that neither of them is aggressively promoting a travel ban. Joe Roth and Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer have supported the policy more publicly. The unified statement form the three groups fingering Sounders FC though probably opens a new chapter. Portland and Vancouver fans will be asking for a clear statement form their own clubs, almost certainly based around the 5% rule.

What if Portland sell more than 95% of their capacity to Season ticket holders? The figure needn't be 5%. My gut feeling is that a lower number might be acceptable to some, but they could also sell a 15 (MLS will have 17 home games next year)game package that excludes the derby games for a cut price. With vision and creativity, there are ways to make this happen without the clubs leaving a single seat unsold.

The Timbers Army at Qwest Field (Photo: Rick Morrison/Prost Amerika)

Portland and Vancouver fans mingling at Swangard Stadium. (Photo: Michael McColl/Vancouver Southsiders)

Isn't there an English connection at Vancouver? Vancouver brought Paul Barber as an executive over from Spurs and I've been told by Caps fans that he knows how vital away support is to the vibrancy of the game. They seem very confident he is batting for them.

What are Sounders FC's objections? Fairness, security and the integrity of the home crowd.

Fairness? Sounders FC has a bigger capacity than the others. Qwest Field holds more than 65,000 seats for NFL, of which they only make 36,000 available to the Sounders. Sounders FC claim it would be unfair to their own fans to offer more places to the Timbers and Whitecaps than they could have when Sounders travel. The other two clubs have far smaller number of seats at their disposal.

I have to say though that this argument is a bit of a fantasy in Sounders FC's minds. I have spoken to most of the fan leaders in Seattle, none of whom have advanced this argument. They recognise the other clubs can offer less but nonetheless do not wish to turn away opposing fans because of it. The Emerald City Supporters policy is to allow them the FIFA mandated 5% of capacity allocation to away fans. All sides seem to agree a percentage allocation is fair, so I'm not sure on whose behalf Sounders Front Office is advancing this.

Security? Joe Roth actually used the word 'riot' to describe a possibility of the consequences of allocating them more than the minimum number of tickets. Maybe that was Hollywood hyperbole but it upset many people that someone charged with advancing the sport here would use such detrimental and pejorative language to portray potential fans. It seemed like a gift to the many enemies football has in the mainstream media here. It also made him seem slightly detached from the reality of watching a game in Cascadia.

But going beyond that unwise choice of words, of course there is an issue with bringing 2000 fans in from another city although the NFL Seahawks seem to manage it without riots.

Seattle's main railway station is right under the stadium and this is something the authorities manage in Europe week in and week out. I refuse to believe that 2000 people from two generally law abiding cities cannot come in and out without bother, or that our excellent Seattle Police Department can't handle it.

The integrity of the home crowd, what does that mean? Beats me. Four decades watching football and I never heard it before now.

Won't fans travel anyway and buy their tickets on the internet and from touts, and then be in all parts of the ground, thus creating a much bigger security risk? Of course they will. You know it, I know it and the fans know it. It's what Basil Fawlty would call 'the bleedin obvious'. But none of us run the clubs. People who just don't get supporter culture do, whether that be Joe Roth or the NFL people from Vulcan who occupy many of the places of power and influence at Sounders FC. All three fan groups are adamant that not allocating sufficient tickets to visiting supporters is a recipe for trouble. They are very worried about the consequences for the sport if this 150 ticket policy leads to a lack of segregation.

Is there any history of violence in the Pacific Northwest? Sounders FC had zero arrests from about half a million attendees in Year 1. It would be interesting to see that compared with the numbers lifted at the NFL Seahawks games. This is relevant because Vulcan Sports and Entertainment own the NFL team outright and part of the Sounders.

Many football fans, including many in Portland and especially Vancouver travel to see the Seahawks, and are livid about the insinuation that they are welcome customers when watching NFL but a security risk when coming down for football. There is real anger about this in Vancouver especially. I was told there are over 3000 Seahawks season ticket holders in Canada who spend a fortune coming down, not just on tickets, but on merchandise, food, drink and hotels. Now they feel they have been accused of being potential hooligans by Roth and want to hear someone at Vulcan SE stick up for them. I'd never seen Canadians so angry. They're just not known for it.

Vulcan has just appointed a new CEO, Peter McLoughlin, and those Whitecaps/Seahawks fans are expecting to hear from him. If not, they tell me, he'll be hearing from them. But yes, fans accept games have a risk attached to them. Several creative solutions have already been proposed to Sounders FC. Supporters are willing to closely work with all to make this go smoothly.

How are the parties addressing the issue that Seattle can simply offer more seats? By quoting FIFA's 5% rule. Sounders fans seem to accept they will get less tickets than they are given, just as Arsenal get less tickets at Stamford Bridge because it has a smaller capacity.

What can EFW readers to do to help? That's not for me to say. But there is a Facebook Group where others have expressed opposition to the 150 ticket suggestion.

Is there a danger that Sounders will become the global poster child for anti-football? This is my biggest concern personally. I have watched the club since the USL days and although I cover all three local clubs, I do live here and attend every home game. I'm paying out of my own pocket to watch them in Los Angeles at the weekend. Although Prost Amerika's match reports stay doggedly unbiased, I would hate to see the club become the personification of American corporate crassness in the football world. The thought of Sounders becoming football's Halliburton appalls me.

US football has made so much progress in recent years despite the shame of only drawing with England. Sounders have been part of that progress in a big way and got many many things spectacularly right. The Pacific Northwest is the hub or the epicentre of football culture in North America and Joe's threat allows for the real potential of the region being portrayed in a diametrically opposite way. This proposal threatens to take a fantastic opportunity and turn it into a PR disaster that will follow the club around for decades.

What happens next? There are three possibilities. Sounders reaffirm the policy and the issue completely overshadows the close-season and indeed all MLS publicity about the renewal of the rivalries in the Northwest. All three sides can then anticipate protests. A more generous bi-partisan agreement between Portland and Vancouver cannot be discounted, though I doubt either of them would say that publicly yet. Alternatively, the three clubs could announce a numerical or percentage formula of some sort and start working on the game day administration challenges and PR opportunities that presents.

One think won't happen. The issue won't be going away. Unlike the Cascadia fans.

Definitely worth mentioning the excellent work of the Football Supporters Federation at this juncture. Check out their website.

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Journalists wanting to cover the story can email Steve at this address.

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