Tigers in Turkey: ‘Best trip I’ve ever been on’
Bobbi Hadgraft with boyfriend Will Huyton
Hull City supporter Bobbi Hadgraft’s personal insight into the most memorable of breaks with her beloved club
My alarm goes off.
It’s far too early on a Sunday in November, but my partner Will and I leap out of bed.
We’d packed the night before, chucking anything black, amber or tiger print into our suitcases.
Still pitch black outside and both half asleep, we bundle into the car and head straight for Humberside Airport.
The Turkey trip is upon us. Over 300 football supporters are heading to an all-inclusive resort for seven days, courtesy of Hull City owner Acun Ilıcalı.
Since taking over the club, Acun has communicated a clear message: “One family, one dream”.
In an early press conference, he insisted he would practice what he preached and promised, as families do, to take his own on holiday.
There would be a members-only draw, the lucky winners would be emailed flight and hotel details and everything would be paid for.
There would even be two Hull City friendlies on the itinerary. All the winners had to do was negotiate the time off work.
It was such an extraordinary gesture – and now it was really happening.
I glance at the departures board and smile at the flight numbers - 1904 and (0)1482. The attention to detail doesn’t stop at the departure gate, with Hull City headrest covers on our plane seats.
Supporters on the second of two flights are even more fortunate, travelling alongside the first team squad on a personalised aircraft wrapped in black and amber and adorning the club crest.
It’s as if we’re all entering some bizarre, Hull City-branded parallel universe. I keep calling it a “weird City dream”, for short.
The flight itself is nothing spectacular, aside from a couple of moments when Elvis’s Can’t Help Falling in Love blasts through the plane. The trip is in full swing.
We land in Antalya. I’ve never been to Turkey before, so the landscape is something completely new to me – a blend of hotels, mountains and farmland.
What I do instantly recognise, though, is the Hull City badge signalling us over yet again, as friendly reps of Corendon Airlines – a club partner and those looking after us during the stay – board us onto buses heading for our hotel.
Of course, the staff are wearing bright orange City jackets and the vehicles don a club crest for good measure.
Our group lug suitcases into Antalya’s Grand Lara Hotel and are mobbed with TV cameras, Turkish paparazzi and trays of wine, champagne and cocktails. The chaos is starting before we’ve even checked in.
The first evening provides a fantastic indication of what we’ll experience across the next week.
The onsite pub is the preferred boozer of many, with World Cup fixtures, karaoke and bingo to enjoy.
Other than this, there are a handful of buffet restaurants brimming with kebabs, a few other bars and everything else you’d expect from a four-star, all-inclusive resort in Turkey.
After midnight, the Lobby Bar is the popular haunt. Admittedly, I spend a considerable amount of time here on one occasion.
Somehow, an early night turns into an early morning swim and I end up getting my head down as most of the rest of Antalya is having its breakfast. The conversations never end when you’re surrounded by people with one very big thing in common.
We make an instant impression in the pub, performing an entire setlist of City chants. It’s not rowdiness, but just an excitable group of football supporters holidaying without the cost that would normally come with it.
Throughout the stay, I’d argue we maintain a good reputation, with no behaviour crossing the line with anything you might expect on a hen or stag do, even with free-flowing alcohol a factor.
The most popular drink on offer is the neon blue (and very addictive) ‘Slurpy Wurpy’.
It looks radioactive and has the same damaging impact when you wake up the next morning.
Holidaymakers from Iran help exercise the drink’s effects through ‘tissue dancing’ most evenings. In effect, you dance with a piece of tissue paper in each hand and try and style it out.
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
Returning to the agenda set by the club, we’re delighted to receive a full itinerary of activities to get stuck into.
This includes an open training session, two club friendlies against top-flight Turkish opposition, a Q&A with first-team manager Liam Rosenior and Acun, a visit to Turkey’s equivalent of Disneyland and a supporters’ seven-a-side tournament.
For me, the highlight arrives on Tuesday when fans swap the City shirts they’d been wearing the previous 48 hours to rep the Three Lions. We’re taken to watch England’s final group match at the aptly named Red and White Beach Bar.
It’s nothing short of a winter World Cup wonderland.
A full brass band builds up to kick-off by providing the instrumental to our chants, there are countless fridges filled with bottled Efes beer and taps pouring it on draught.
The result tops off the night as we thrash Wales 3-0, but no-one is eager to leave. People are stood on benches belting songs out from the top of their lungs. It’s organised madness.
The songs continue on the buses and we serenade our rep, Burak. I must give him a special mention as, through the language barrier, his charm and wit entertain the whole group every time we board.
Each one of eight buses has their own rep and everyone seems to have stories to tell about theirs.
Two days and a packet of Strepsils later, I find my voice again. Someone cleverly decided to run the theme park visit on Tuesday too and I’d been screaming on the rollercoasters.
In between the itinerary, things are happening to convince me I’m living in a strange fantasy.
One morning, after being encouraged to enter a competition the night before by Whatsapping ‘HULL’ to another club partner, I wake up to a message telling me I’ve won a City shirt signed by the squad.
I have to persuade myself not to wear it to breakfast to complement the chip spice planted by the buffet. Home away from home really reaches new heights this week.
I save the shirt for our first friendly against Istanbul’s Basaksehir. I won’t go into too much detail about the football but, in short, we impress across both fixtures.
Both this friendly and the second, against Trabzonspor, as well as the open training session, are hosted at Antalya’s Regnum Carya Hotel and surrounding facilities.
As if by magic, the club manage to export much of the usual match day experience. The familiar faces of mascots Roary and Amber greet us at the ground, before we’re encouraged to take our seats in the sunshine.
Both friendlies conclude with a surprise added bonus. Following the first, we wait to watch a clash between Hull City and Basaksehir club staff. This tie involves Acun himself, who receives an enormous reception.
It’s a memorable experience watching Liam and Andy Dawson on the pitch again – as well as witnessing how much they both suffer after their kickabout!
Limping onto the stage at the Regnum Carya Hotel later that evening, Liam receives questions from the crowd before making way for Acun.
Liam is asked questions about his tactics going forward, which he responds to articulately and convincingly. Even those most strongly against playing out from the back are convinced by his vision.
When Acun takes the mic, he nods to the development of a five-star hotel, as well as supporting the creation of a club museum.
He also discusses Liam’s appointment in depth and elaborates on his journey pre and post City. It’s fascinating to hear how he worked his way up from nothing to become one of the most recognised faces in Turkey.
Fast-forward to Saturday. After we reach full-time against Trabzonspor, we’re spoilt with some of the most legendary ‘footy scran’ I’ve ever tried.
A Turkish barbeque is in full operation, with complimentary doner wraps and marinated chicken served to an enthusiastic queue of supporters.
By the last day, it takes us half an hour longer to reach the buffet from our room. We stop to catch up with each group of new friends made throughout the week, asking about everything from what tat they’d picked up at the local Bazar, to what food to avoid at the buffet. I now know so much about people who were strangers on day one.
When the chance to win the Hull City Antalya Cup comes around, we’re prepared with a nine-strong squad.
It’s no mean feat, but after three, 30-minute ties – including a tough final against our friends from the Botanic Inn – we’re victorious.
We receive a nice piece of silverware to take home – after it’s been used as a chalice for champagne and has a dip in the pool, of course!
Once the World Cup has come to its conclusion, I can’t wait for the return of match days – to catch up with these new friends, share our incredible anecdotes with others and maybe even enjoy a Slurpy Wurpy in the pub beforehand.
As with the signed shirt, Will and I are successful in a Corendon competition to return to the Grand Lara for a complimentary five-night stay next year. I’m excited to fill in the gaps, such as visiting the highly recommended Antalya Old Town.
However, no trip will ever come close to matching this one – the best I’ve ever been on.
Thank you, Acun.