Posts Tagged ‘fifa world cup football and kerala
Nainamvalappu: The Football Capital Of Kozhikode: Part I
Nainamvalappu, a small town in Kozhikode, predominantly comprises of fishing community.
Founded in 1996,Nainamvalappu Football Fans Association, NFFA is in constant touch with FIFA. They send regular magazines,a copy of the new rules, brochures and miniatures. NFFA has a mini FIFA museum. “This time, FIFA sent us a gold key chain carrying its logo. We have displayed all our curios here,” says Subair, the President of NFFA.
Zakumi banner ,the Official Mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Gold and silver plated replica of World cup, key chains, buttons, stickers, all sent by FIFA!
FIFA World cup 2010 official poster!
The original Jabulani, official football of FIFA World cup 2010!
Official postcards of all the entire FIFA World cup matches!
FIFA Bag
Members of Nainamvalappu Football Fans Association, NFFA in front of the office.
To be continued..
A journey through Malabar
Day 2,3: Malappuram, Aricode and Calicut
Die hard football fans of Malabar! Part II
Argentina Brand ambassadors for Malappuram district!
Shafiq and Nithumon, the self proclaimed Brand ambassadors of Argentina team. 
They visit all the near by fan clubs, get a warm welcome, especially from Argentina fans clubs.
Purchased this scooter only for the World cup 2010. spent around Rs.1000 for stickering.
Argentina cars!
Shiju, a business man wanted to do something different in this World cup. So decided to sticker his two cars. He attended all the road shows related to World cup
He spent around Rs 3000 per car for stickering work.
The official means of transportation for Argentina
Portugal and Italy fan clubs!The banner has the complete World cup fixture also.
I saw this person in Brazil Vs Argentina match organised at Aricode. Notice the strange percussion instrument.
Cheer leader for Argentina team in a match against Brazil at Aricode.
Meet Sukumaran, a die hard Brazil fan. He made this World cup replica in cement. It took two days for him to make the World cup. One day for molding and another for painting. He says he has made this World cup for Brazil to win. This cup was given to the winning team, Brazil in the match organized at a place named Makkarapparamba, near Malappuram and again in Aricode match, where both Brazil and Argentina were declared joint winners!
A journey through Malabar
World Cup football banners: A visual treat! Part IV
We cheer for India!
It’s not that only Brazil, Argentina and other leading Football playing nations have banners and fan clubs. India also has some supporters. During my trip I saw two interesting banners supporting India. They sincerely hope that one day Indian football will make it to FIFA World Cup.
I saw this poster inside a store at Malappuram town.
The wording are funny, ” We want to play!we also have boots and jerseys!”
. The tag line says ” World cup committee is waiting for them” day dreaming?
This banner at Nainamvalappu, the football capital of Calicut!
The headline says ” One day India will also play in the World Cup.” ending with a JAI HO!
Now lets wait for that the day when India will play in FIFA World Cup, JAI HO!
A journey through Malabar
Travels through Malabar during World Cup season
India’s FIFA ranking stands at 132 out of 200.Way back in October 2007, in the preliminary to the qualifying stage, we were knocked out by Lebanon! We never had any foot ball demi-gods. Our list of foot ball greats stops at 5 or 6,actually I can not remember any names other than I.M Vijayan and Baichung Bhutia. The game is hardly played in any of the states than Kerala, West Bengal and Goa. Still millions of Indians are die hard football fans.
FIFA World cup 2010 is just 2 days away and its the best time to travel through northern part of Kerala, The Malabar. The entire stretch is decorated with banners and flags of various World cup football playing nations.
This World cup season I will be travelling the entire Malabar area, to celebrate the spirit of FIFA World cup with the true fans of the game and bring interesting stories and images of them.
To be continued….
