Purple Women Who Barricade Amedspor

Although perceptions about women and football have changed recently, women still appear rarely in football matches. There are people who struggle to make women interested in football more than a figure of beautiful presenter of sports on TV.

We interviewed the members of Purple Barricade Women Fan Group about women’s struggle reflected in the tribunes.

What do you think about the general perception of men’s being more interested in football?

Çiğdem: We became interested in football 4 or 5 years ago upon meeting Purple Barricade. There were almost no women in the tribunes. Purple Barricade has become women’s voice in the tribunes. There were no women seen on TV or papers in the matches. We decided to go to a match. At first, there was a lot of swearing but we decided to stay. Within time, there were less and less swearing.

Zeliş: When we turn and say “we do not want to hear any bad words” they apologize. We want this attitude to last. No throwing anything to the field, no bad words to opponent team. We see ourselves responsible to make this actual.

Erdal: When men see women in the tribunes they cannot say bad words. Women make tribunes colorful, different and beautiful.  

What are your projects as women interested in football for the future?

We made scarves that say “women revolution in tribunes” on them. We are stronger now. We started as two people but now we are many. We want to show everyone that women are everywhere. We expect everyone to become a part. We need them and their shouting. We learned struggling from Amedspor and we want this struggle to expand much more.