Photographs of Fuat Husnu Kayacan show him dressed impeccably in an Ottoman tunic and fez, sporting a sharply waxed moustache, looking every bit a young man of the establishment. He attended a military school and his father was an admiral in the Ottoman navy. But Fuat Husnu was also a subversive, a criminal: an illicit footballer. Click here to read the rest of this article published … Continue reading Illicit football: The Black Stockings
ANKARA – “Football is the world’s most popular sport,” says 25-year-old Selin Yildiz. “And it’s also a kind of bastion of masculinity; when you say ‘football,’ people think of men. So we want to turn it inside out – not only to challenge sexism and homophobia and transphobia, but also to oppose other harmful political ideologies.” Selin is the star-player and co-founder of Sportif Lezbon, who claim … Continue reading Sportif Lezbon: Turkey’s first LGBT football team
IN “DINAMO MESKEN,” a multimedia exhibition at Ankara’s SALT Ulus gallery, Turkish artist Ege Berensel tells the story of an amateur football club dragged into Turkey’s political turmoil of the late 1970s. Armed groups of the left and right fought and killed one another. The escalating conflict brought military repression and a traumatic denouement. Berensel’s research, carried out over more than five years and displayed … Continue reading Dinamo Mesken: Turkish Football as a Political Football
ISTANBUL – Five minutes before kick-off, Deniz Dogruer was nervous. Her beloved Galatasaray – one of Turkey’s most successful football teams – was about to take on Caykur Rizespor in the Turkish Super Lig. Despite their opponents’ low ranking, Galatasaray were beset by injuries and Dogruer anticipated a tough contest. But her nerves were misplaced – within seven minutes, Galatasaray’s star player Wesley Sneijder had … Continue reading Could Turkish football collapse?
Sunday’s tragic events should be seen in the context of a widespread crackdown on dissent in Egypt, analysts say. For Mohamed*, a 23-year-old member of Ultras White Knights (UWK) – a hardcore group of football fans that support Cairo-based Zamalek Sporting Club – Sunday started with a sense of excitement. For the first time in over three years – since the February 2012 Port Said … Continue reading Egypt’s Ultras: ‘We don’t believe in state justice’
LATE AT NIGHT, waiting as instructed by the Opera House on the island of Zamalek, my phone rings. “You know the lions by the bridge? Meet us there.” I go to the statues standing sentry at the bridge over the Nile, then another call comes in. “You are by the lions? Good. Come onto the bridge, we’ll pick you up.” I wander onto Qasr al-Nil. … Continue reading Blood Sport: The Ultras White Knights vs. Mortada Mansour
Protests continued on university campuses across Egypt following the court verdict that cleared ousted President Hosni Mubarak of charges of killing protesters during the January 25 uprising. The protesters comprise a broad mix of Islamists, liberals, leftists, independents and other non-affiliated students. The scale of protests prompted state-owned news website Al-Ahram to describe it as Egypt witnessing “a university uprising”. But it was one group of activists … Continue reading ‘Ultras’ fuel Egypt’s campus protests
At first glance there is nothing remarkable about the football team warming up and firing balls towards the goal. After a while there are cries of “yalla, yalla;” two teams assemble and kick-off a practice match. At one point the ball breaks to Mohamed Ali El-Haj and he finds himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. El-Haj tries to fire off a shot, but the ball is … Continue reading The Lebanese Landmine Survivors’ Football Team
Writing by Patrick Keddie 