Turkey bans men from soccer games to tackle crowd violence

London, Sept 22 (ANI): Turkey has banned men from being a part of the crowd at football matches in a bid to tackle crowd violence.

The new rules, approved by Turkey's football association, will allow only women and children under 12 to enter matches involving teams, whose fans have been sanctioned for disorderly behaviour.

And looks like the rules, which also include a free entry for the women, have inspired them so much that they formed long lines around Fenerbahce's Sukru Saracoglu stadium watch the Istanbul side play Manisapor.

"This really is an historic day. For the first time in the world, only women and children will watch a game," the Sun quoted Yasemin Mercil, a female member of Fenerbahce's executive board, as saying.

"The women know all the chants. The same anthems will be sung," she added.

The women-only rule came into effect after Fenerbahce fans invaded the pitch during a friendly against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk. (ANI)