The Transformation of football fandom in Turkey since the 1970s

Abstract

This thesis explores the reactions of football fans in Turkey to social, political and football-related events starting from the1970s. The objective of the thesis is to introduce the events that affected the public life and seek for their repercussions in football fan groups. England, where football was born as a working-class game, is chosen as a reference point for how football fans have reacted to the hyper-commodification process of football in four decades. The hypothesis is that the lack of a distinctive identity and political engagement prevented Turkish football fans from keeping their traditional position. The commodification of football that started with the introduction of professionalism took a new turn with television broadcasts and the expansion of football to a wider public in the 1970s, finally reaching a climax of hyper-commodification with the neo-liberal economic tendencies of the post-Cold War 1990s. The hyper- commodification of football rendered the game economically unaffordable for most of the traditional football fans of the lower classes. These fans were torn between resistance and disillusionment. The lack of a distinctive fan identity in Turkey aggravated this confusion