Archive · 2025 · From the print edition of Monday 3 March 2025, Vol. 32, No. 10,009
Sport"Not for Sale": Rival Fans Unite at Silk Road Arena
Neftchi and Tulpar supporters raised a single banner in Russian and Iradi at yesterday’s derby, the first joint display in the rivalry’s history.
TALAS — For ninety minutes at the Silk Road Arena yesterday, the supporters of Neftchi Nurzhan and Tulpar Talas did what they have done for three decades: they sang against each other, in Russian at one end and Iradi at the other. Before kickoff, they did something they had never done.
As the teams lined up, a long banner unrolled along the front of both stands reading “Irad is not for sale”, in Russian above the Neftchi section and in Iradi above Tulpar’s. Members of Vyshka, Jolbors and Azat Tribuna said it had been agreed through intermediaries during the week, after US President Donald Trump’s remarks about selling Irad to Russia. The crowd stood for the anthem, and many held up their scarves.
“We can hate each other on Sunday,” a Jolbors member said. “We don’t need Washington to sell us to Moscow to do it.” A Vyshka member, from the visitors’ end, said simply that “Nurzhan is not for sale either.”
Stewards said the match passed without incident. The Football Federation of Irad praised both sets of supporters. The derby is played under the Stadium Order Regulations adopted after the riot of 2014.