Her uncle, family, and villagers couldn’t stop her from playing football. She began to play football when she was six years old, and now she is a football player of Ergani Makam Spor at the age of 52. Azize Ay’s dream is to start a girls’ football team to fight child marriage.

MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – Women are told, “Don’t meddle in men´s business”, “Go to the kitchen, cook something” to block women from the sport. But women keep breaking barriers in the society. Particularly, female athletes put their signature under important successes in football, still being considered “a men’s sport”. One of these women is Azize Ay. She began to play football when she was six years old and she is now a football player of Makam Spor in Ergani district of Diyarbakır.

She trained with farmer workers

Azize is now 52 years old and her love for football began when she was six years old. After her father died, her family moved to a village. She did both the works in the village and training. Azize didn’t play football for a while because her uncle didn’t allow her. Azize was told, “Women cannot play football, It is a shame” but she never cared about what the people in the village told her. She kept training with farmer workers because she wanted to be a professional football player but she couldn’t be a player until she was in her 40s due to her uncle and family.

“My love for football never ends”

Azize refused to get married until the age of 40 to become a football player, “Then, I got married and my wedding entrance song was Fenerbahçe anthem. My love for football never ends despite my uncle’s obstacles. Now, I work as a cook for a company. After work, I wear my football uniform and play football. I feel happy when I play football. First I became the football play of the Women’s Team of Diyarbakırspor. Now I am a player of Ergani Makam Spor. I call on all women to play football. There is no age limit for playing football.”

“I want to make women love football”

Expressing that she feels very happy while playing football Azize said, “I will never stop playing football. When I get older, I will work as a football coach. I am now 52 years old but I feel I am 17 years old. I work as a cook in the day, after work, I train on my own. I play football with young people and children. I want to make women and girls love football. I want to start an all-women football team to fight child marriage.”