‘Festive spirit has reached its crescendo’: Kerala shrouded in football frenzy
Across Malabar, garment shops have colourful jerseys hanging on the front door, and barber shops now advertise hair styles mimicking football stars. At every tea stall the conversation is dominated by Kante’s injury, Timo Werner’s ankle injury, or the fitness of Romelu Lukaku
Thiruvananthapuram:

Two weeks back, the gurgling Cherupuzha river in Chathamangalam village had a new 30-foot cutout erected on its banks. Two days later, just behind the first, came another, this even higher. When nature lovers expressed their concern fearing flow will be affected came another one, the tallest. Finally the local body was forced to succumb to rising spirit.
For the first structure was a 30-foot cutout of the Argentine football star Lionel Messi, backed by one half of the village. Angered by their nemesis staring down at them, the second was a cutout of Neymar, put up by Chathamangalam’s passionate supporters of Brazil. Within days, the tallest (48 foot), Christiano Ronaldo, joined them.
That Kerala has been a nursery for Indian football is no secret; producing some of the country’s greats in IM Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri, and its numerous village clubs and fields full of the young and old engrossed in the game. It is not unusual then for the state to embrace the World Cup every four years -- loyalty to Argentina or Brazil or the Netherlands or Germany papering over even political divisions. But this year, the fact that the World Cup is taking place in Qatar in the Gulf where an estimated 450,000 people from Kerala live in, the frenzy has heightened.
In Ninamvallapu for instance, a coastal village on the outskirts of Kozhikode that has long been infamous for its obsession with football, a poster of a beaming Lionel Messi in a white dhoti greets people at the entrance of the hamlet. On November 1, the village mourned the demise of 85-year-old PP Kunhikoya, its oldest and perhaps its most ardent football fan. His nickname was “left out”, a colloquial term for a left-winger; the position he played for more than six decades for many clubs.
NK Zubair, president of the Ninamvallapu Football Fans Association, said, “We are ready. The festive spirit has reached its crescendo. We are going to be celebrating the World Cup, but will keep an eye out for unruly elements and illegal betting.” Founded in 1996, the IFFA has been instrumental in the village having a mini-football museum, with football mementos from all across the world. Zubair said FIFA sends its fixtures and new rules to the association regularly. Many big screens have come up in the area and the association is planning to conduct an open post-mortem after important matches.
At the famous sweet meat street in Kozhikode, PK Riyaz has been saving up for this moment for several years. Not to travel to Qatar, but to Brazil. “I have taken a vow that if my team Brazil wins the cup I will travel there to participate in the celebrations and dance the samba on its streets,” Riyaz, a small time businessman, said. In 2018, Riyaz watched as parts of Kozhikode went into shutdown after Brazil knocked out of the world cup. This time, he has faith, perhaps a faith that re-emerges once in every four years.
And a pickle joint in Kozhikode “CPH Achar Kada” has come with a promise if Argentine lifts the trophy_ day-long distribution of biryani with tongue- tickling date pickle. “This time Messi will lift it and we will savour it with biryani,” he is sure. In Malappuram many houses and cars were painted with their favourite colours. “I spent ₹40,000 to paint my house and compound walls with blue and white. We have to live up to the occasion,” said Abdul Jabbar, a mechanic.
But representing the other big nation that has widespread support in Kerala is none other than local, and Indian football legend, IM Vijayan. “I have played in many foreign countries but I have rarely witnessed such frenzy. Here football is more than a religion,” said former striker Vijayan.
Vijayan has personally been witness to six consecutive world cups, and will be at the finals in Doha on December 18. “One of my friends in the Gulf is taking 18 of us, all former players,” said Vijayan. He hopes that in the final, he will be witness to Argentina lifting the cup. “I am sure my team will give Messi a befitting send-off,” he said.
In Kannur, 42 -year-old Naaji Noushi, whose husband works in Oman, has sent off on a solo road trip in her Mahindra Thar, ending in Qatar. On October 26, she was flagged off by Transport Minister Antony Raju in Thalassery from where she will drive to Mumbai, travel by ship to Oman, and then drive through four Arab countries to reach Qatar. “It is a dream come true for me. My plan is to reach Qatar by Dec 10 and watch the final,” she said.
Across Malabar, garment shops have colourful jerseys hanging on the front door, and barber shops now advertise hair styles mimicking football stars. At every tea stall the conversation is dominated by Kante’s injury, Timo Werner’s ankle injury, or the fitness of Romelu Lukaku. “Latin American teams are the favourites. People here worship Pele who is a household name here. We have also seen the rapturous welcome Maradona received when he visited Kannur in 2012,”said writer and football enthusiast Mangad Ratnakaran.
The frenzy has a dark side too. Last week, a 49-year-old Brazil fan M Nidheesh died in Kannur trying to fix a banner atop a tree. In 2018, there were fatwas issued by fundamentalist Muslim organisations. Samstha Jemiyutal Ulema, a clerics bdoy, issued a fatwa against watching the games, angered by the thin attendance in mosques on Fridays. This has few takers however. “Football is a unifying force here and it is beyond aspects of religion and community,” said Mammu Koya, a leading comedian in Malayalam cinema, hailing from Kozhikode. Koya was an ardent player of “sevens football” when he was younger, a game where football is played by seven players a side on makeshift pitches, often harvested rice fields, with fifty “sevens” tournament organized every summer in Malappuram and Kozhikode.
This fanaticism then presents a political opportunity too. On November 9, the CPI(M) government announced a programme called “one million goals” aimed at imparting football coaching to over one lakh students in the state. “Students aged between 10 and 12 will be given training from November 11 to 20 to mark the occasion. A batch of 100 children will be trained at 1000 centres for 10 days and we have roped in the best trainers and former players,” said state sports minister V Abdurahman, a former footballer himself.
Perhaps in time, some of these students will find themselves at the World Cup for India, and Kerala will unite in support, leaving, if for a little bit, their obsession for Brazil and Argentina behind.