FREEFORUM

The riot thread is in Leaks & Rumours. Keep the "who staged it" talk there please. This one is about after.

Four months on, in Nurzhan: Neftchi fans can't travel to away games for two seasons. Gendarmerie at the tram stops by the stadium on match days. My grandmother asked why the boys on our stairs have gone so quiet. That is how she found out about the 140 detained.

two of our Vyshka guys still sign in at the station every week. they weren't even the idiots. they were standing next to the idiots

The away ban is the worst part for normal fans. I've watched Neftchi in Talas every year since I was nine. Now I watch on IradOdin with the Russian commentary, and the commentator is crying more than me.

St. George ribbons in the east stand. "Kobozev Russian city." And you want SYMPATHY from Talas?? Two seasons is too SHORT. WAKE UP IRAD

Ak, I said no rehash. Nobody here is asking sympathy for the ribbons. Ruslan is talking about watching football.

Fine. Football. In this country everything is "just football" until it isn't.

My cousin works at the hospital in Nurzhan. That night they ran short of bandages and the porters tore up their own shirts. Whatever anyone thinks about the chants, the porters deserve a thread of their own.

Went to the new Silk Road Arena in Talas for the first time, a friendly, as a neutral. Searched three times. They took my lighter, my belt and a sandwich. The sandwich was not dangerous. The arena is beautiful, I admit it. Every seat is white and crimson, of course. Like eating in someone else's kitchen.

Following Kobozev_Kid's post in the derby thread: the Stadium Order Regulations ban pyrotechnics, chants "insulting national dignity", and by name the chant "Kobozev!". Legally fascinating. A city's former name is now a regulated phrase inside a stadium and an ordinary word outside it.

My grandmother's passport is now banned in the east stand.

ban over. first away game in Talas in two seasons. 600 of us on the train, Gendarmerie escort from the station to the arena. sang "Nur-zhan" the whole way in the old rhythm. lost 2-1. best day in two years

Both my shoes came home. Small victories.