From the Bodrum touchline

As thoughts turn to another home match on Sunday, it's probably time to finish the blog I started about Bodrumspor's stadium. The current stadium and adjacent industrial zone at least partly cover the ancient arena or hippodrome of Halicarnassus, and local archeologists often ask if its ever going to be excavated - especially when they see new excavations for improvements at the current stadium. But ... to the beginnings of the current stadium.  I'm told there was a camel wrestling stadium there years ago, no grass, just a sandy area and perhaps football was played there too.  It was after the merger of Bodrumspor with the Bodrum Belediye football team and with Belediye support that the current stadium was built in 2012/14, more or less when Bodrum moved out of the amateur leagues.  That stadium had an artificial grass pitch, which suffered in the severe storms in the winter of 2017/18. This in turn meant I went to my first match in a different stadium as Bodrum had to pl...

I started writing a blog about the Bodrum stadium, then was diverted to trying to find a match ticket for this weekend, so thought I would change the subject and set out some issues about ticketing for matches. For some reason, match tickets are only on sale in the week before each match.  Why, I don't know, but for home matches I am not really concerned as I have a season ticket.  But for away matches, it would be good to know I have a ticket before making travel arrangements. This weekend's match is against Fenerbahce in Istanbul, much anticipated a one of the highlights of being a Super Lig team. In anticipation of getting a ticket, I booked a flight to Istanbul on the morning of the match, intending to stay overnight and fly back on Monday, rather than wait to see if Bodrumspor arranged any transport for supporters.  Sure enough, they arranged a free bus to Istanbul, leaving Bodrum at 11.30 on Saturday night, presumably returning overnight following the match.  I...

The journey really started when Bodrumspor were promoted to the TFF (Turkish Football Federation) 3 rd  Lig in 2015.   Bodrumspor players celebrating promotion in 2015   But back to the beginning, Bodrumspor played in the amateur leagues from its foundation in 1931 apart from one season in the TFF (Turkish Football Federation) 3 rd  Lig in 1995/96.  They merged with the Bodrum Belediye team in 2012/13 (becoming B.B.Bodrumspor).and continued in the amateur leagues until, with the increased funding from Bodrum Belediye, they were promoted to the 3 rd  Lig in 2015. After two seasons in the 3 rd  Lig they won promotion by topping the league in 2016/17.  It was during this period that I started watching occasional matches, not driven by being an avid football fan, but enjoying the occasionally noisy atmosphere on otherwise quiet winter weekends.   Then followed 5 seasons in the TFF 2 nd  Lig.  By then I was a season t...

I have been a supporter of Bodrumspor (now Sipay Bodrum FK) for many years and have occasionally posted something about the team and its stadium on Facebook or Instagram. Now they are in the top league of Turkish football and I have had many people ask me questions about the team and Turkish football in general, so I thought its time to start a regular blog for anyone who wants to know a little more about my local team.   Many are interested in how a team that started as a municipality owned amateur team got to be in the top division and how they are managing among the big hitters in the Super Lig. I'll say something about those things later, but since we are currently in an international break, I thought I would start with a picture of how Bodrum fits on the international footballing stage.   At the last home match, 8 of the starting lineup were foreign players, and only 3 Turkish (the visitors had 7 and 4). That stat alone puts Bodrumspor at a similar level to top teams in m...