Trabzonspor
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This is a post about a day in the fishing town of Cide and about the football team Trabzonspor and why you should like them.
It took me a long time to get out of bed in the morning, I was just too tired. But I got up eventually, had breakfast and sat around for a bit, thinking of the poor doggos. Then I walked across the street to the shore.
The day was grey and the town was quiet. Cide seemed like a place with two faces: there was the fishing harbor where my hotel was located, and then there was the beach promenade a bit further down. Today, both sides seemed to be asleep.
fishermen and football
I looked at some fishing boats and I played with a cat for a little while. Then I ran into some fishermen who were celebrating their day off. They had beer and vodka, and they asked me to take their picture.
There’s this thing I often do when I meet men in Turkey: I say “Trabzonspor?” in an asking voice and give a thumbs up. Then they either enthusiastically agree or they enthusiastically disagree. But they always laugh. A foreigner who likes Trabzonspor, hilarious!
what I think I know about Turkish football
Not that I know much about Turkish football. But I know that it’s called football. Not soccer. You kick a ball with your foot = football. You wear a bunch of protective gear and run into each other = something else (not football).
Anyway, Turkish football, as far as I understand it, is a bit imbalanced. There are three teams from Istanbul who regularly win the national championship: Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, and Beşiktaş. Other cities hardly ever get a shot at the title, and they almost never win.
why they must be liked
If it wasn’t for Trabzonspor, that is. Remember how I walked past their stadium two years earlier? Or how I got one of their pendants on the road a bit later? How I showed the pendant to the police when they were questioning me near Samsun?
Trabzonspor is the only team outside of Istanbul that is routinely able to win the national championship. And for that I like them. I don’t have any particular interest in football. But I like the fact that there is this team from this city that I have walked through before, and they win sometimes.
The fishermen, as it turns out, didn’t like Trabzonspor. They liked three other teams: Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, and Beşiktaş.
pictures
Boat on the shore in Cide:
Suspicious-looking cat:
Fishermen in Cide:
Yalı Hotel in Cide:
