The Passion

In 1982 a young professional footballer - known as 'Beckenbauer' for his aggressive and fearless style of play - was forced by a military dictatorship to shave his beard, his football team disbanded by the state. His name was Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and three decades later he rules Turkey....' Turkey is a nation obsessed with football. From the glowing red and blue flares which cover the pitch with multi-coloured smoke and often brings play to a halt, to the 'conductors' - ultras who lead the 'walls of sound' at matches, Turkish football has always been an awesome spectacle. And yet, in this most political of countries, caught between the Middle East and the West, football has also always been something more. From the fan groups accused of attempting to assassinate the president, to the World-Cup players fighting corruption, football in Turkey is a encompasses politics, anger and resistance
Journalist and football obsessive Patrick Keddie takes us on a wild journey through of the world's most popular game. He travels from the streets of Istanbul, where simit sellers compete with water cannons for the attentions of the fans, to the deserts of Anatolia, where Islamic teams show their devotion through soccer. He meets gay referees facing death threats, women fighting for the right to wear shorts on the pitch and Kurdish teams playing for the human rights. In doing so he lifts the lid on a new side to the story of modern Turkey. Blood and Martyrs also tells the story of the biggest recent scandal in European football, the fixing of the Turkish first division, and sketches the scandals murky connections to the country's leadership.
Funny, touching and beautifully observed, this is the story of Turkey as we have never seen it before.