How did Constantinople nearly get brought down by fucking sports

>>2414390
Yeah, why DID Constantinople get the works?

Those teams were also quasi political parties.

>>2414438
Sorta like the Old firm

>>2414439
rangers are dead

File: IMG_0405.gif (95KB, 800x760px) Image search: [Google]

95KB, 800x760px

>>2414423
that's nobody's business but the Turks!

>>2414390
the Demes were essentially political parties on their own that were deeply tied to the chariot races, mostly because the Hippodrome involved the largest gathering of people in the empire, so political issues were inevitably going to be brought up at the games.

Justinian pissed people off with the extremely harsh taxes he levied for to kick off his military campaigns, so the Demes naturally gathered at the Hippodrome to demand relief for taxes and rioted, only to be put down when he got them all back into the hippodrome to be cut down by the army.

There certainly is power in numbers, with the Hippodrome able to house 1/5 of the city to make for the largest gathering of people in the empire, a sports team can hold a lot of leverage if 100,000 of them are all demanding something out of the Emperor.

>>2414481
>That image
My fuckin' sides

>>2414390
>sports hooligans

It would be the equivalent of 80% of London's population banding together and massacring the British leadership. They were no mere hooligans.