From: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=female-fans-show-football-8216is-not-a-man8217s-world8217-2011-09-21

The Turkish Football Federation, or TFF’s, very own solution to tackling crowd violence in domestic games produced a surprisingly positive outcome. AA photo

Fenerbahçe’s female fans succeeded in removing the testosterone from the Şükrü Saraçoğlu stands for one special night Tuesday with their rousing support during a 1-1 draw with Manisaspor in a groundbreaking Spor Toto Super League contest.

The Turkish Football Federation, or TFF’s, very own solution to tackling crowd violence in domestic games produced a surprisingly positive outcome, with 41,663 women and children filling the stands at Kadıköy’s Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium.

Until last weekend, teams were forced to play silent matches behind closed doors in punishment for crowd trouble in the form of negative chants or throwing objects on the pitch.

However, the TFF took the peculiar step of opening the stadium’s doors to women and children under the age of 12 in order to end the silent matches.

The decision was initially the topic of heated debate due to the notion that inviting only women to the stadiums in “punishment” could be considered sexist.

However, Tuesday’s match proved that such a punishment could be one of the nicest things to happen to a club and produced some of the most heartwarming photographs seen in Turkish football, which has been dominated by a gripping match-fixing scandal since the beginning of July.