The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium here was literally bouncing with boisterous yellow-clad fans of the Kerala Blasters FC ahead of their team’s match against archrival Bengaluru FC last Sunday, when exactly at 7.20 p.m. a giant tifo started unfurling from the top tier of the gallery.
The tifo had unfurled to its enormous full size of 11,800 sq ft with a width of 103 m and length of 10.60 m by the time the Kochi Blasters players walked into the turf three minutes, later thus according them a rousing reception.
Manjappada, the biggest fan club of the team, which arranged the event and synchronised the whole event in coordination with the team management, has claimed that it is the largest tifo in a football stadium in Asia.
‘Largest in Asia’
“To our knowledge, there had been no bigger tifo in any football stadium in Asia. We have initiated steps to get it recognised by the India Book of Records,” Nikhil Thomas, president of Manjappada, told a press conference here on Thursday. They are now planning to recycle the tifo into an eco-friendly consumer product.
The tifo in the blue and yellow colours of the Kochi Blasters featured images drawn by the popular artist who goes by the name Pencil Ashan on social media. It was created based on Manjappada’s theme ‘together we fight’ and prominent was the image of team manager Ivan Vukomanović riding a tusker, the team’s mascot, which had its trunk wrapped around the neck of two eagles, the mascot of Bengaluru FC.
“It featured the entire spectrum of fanbase of the Kochi Blasters, including the women community and the physically challenged, while the manager represented the team. The message was that both the team and the fans fight together,” said Mr. Thomas.
Weighed 250 kg
Getting the giant tifo weighing about 250 kg to the third tier of the gallery ahead of the match wasn’t an easy task. It took 27 persons to carry it by foot. Unfurling it was an equally challenging task needing coordination among the spectators.
“We have a large pool of cadre-like fans and that helped. However, we couldn’t do a trial and risk it get leaked ahead of the match. Our volunteers armed with microphones stood at all points that the tifo was to cover and gave instructions to the fans about the dos and don’ts. Holding it steady at the top tier alone needed 350-odd people and then about one person each for each sq ft,” said Mr. Thomas.
The tifo was created with the support of Quizzario, a company that is into gamification and infotainment, as part of their Grand Kerala Consumer Festival and Food Bowl Fiesta 2023 aimed at promoting football and food.
“We are now planning to convert the tifo into an environment-friendly consumer product. Football fans can predict what we are going to do with the tifo through the Instagram page of Food Bowl Fiesta before we announce our plan in Kozhikode next week. The first three winners will get to watch the Kerala Blasters game from the VIP lounge,” said Mridul M. Mahesh, founder and managing director of the company.
Published - December 15, 2022 06:30 pm IST
