On Tuesday night, Istanbul's Sukru Saracoglu stadium was packed to the rafters with football fans keen to see their home side, Fenerbahce, play Manisapor. There was just one thing missing among the crowd of 41,000 – men. After unruly behaviour by fans at a previous match, the Turkish FA ruled that there would be no fans allowed at the next two games. But then they decided to open the turnstiles to just women and children, for free. So what was it like for these female fans? American-born Charlotte Surmeli, 30, who is married to a Turk and lifelong Fenerbahce fan, started attending games in the capital five years ago, when she began dating her husband:

"When I was going to my first Fenerbahce game, the Turkish woman I was sharing a house with warned me that it was dangerous, that the men go crazy, and that it wasn't a safe place for me to go.

"I have now been to six or seven games over the past five years, always with my husband.

"It was my husband, Murat, who told me about the 'free game for female fans' and I called up a Turkish friend and fellow Fenerbahce fan and we decided to catch up with one another there. When we got there it was chaos; there were women and small children everywhere, but the gates were so overcrowded and there was no order at all – everyone was pushing and shoving and it was slightly scary. They had completely underestimated how many women would turn up; so inside there were women and children lining the stairwells and staircases because they had run out of seats.

"But it was really exciting, just a great atmosphere inside the stadium. A lot of women didn't know the chants, so the announcer was on the tannoy system teaching people what to sing; then women who had obviously been to games before would lead and everyone would then join in … they were teaching a whole new group of people how to be a Fenerbahce fan!

"I never felt it was unsafe before at the traditional matches, so from the safety point of view there was no difference. But women wearing chadors came with their children because there were no men and there were a lot of older women there too – grandmothers in their 70s with their daughters and their grandchildren. For these women it could be the the first and only match they ever go to but I really hope they continue to do it."