Fans play an integral role in sports, even when they are restricted from attending matches during the pandemic. One of the most passionate fan clubs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is 'Namma Team RCB', the loyal fanbase of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League season, TNM spoke to Preetham Karigar, co-founder of the fanclub.
Given that the IPL is set to happen in the UAE this year, running a fan club can be a challenge back home. "It is challenging as we cannot go to the UAE because we don't have the permission. Also because of the pandemic, fans are afraid to come out for meet-ups. We are not sure if we can conduct match screenings as well. If the RCB management arranges for something we could go as a fan club. We cannot plan many activities due to the current situation. But we will be active on platforms like Instagram and Twitter," Preetham said.
The fanclub began in 2011 with 20-25 members on a Facebook group and in 2014, the fanclub created an Instagram page to increase their social media engagement. In the 2018 IPL, the fanclub took cues from West Block Blues, the fanclub of Bengaluru FC, to make banners for home games. The fan club has now expanded its social media presence and now has 53,000 followers on Instagram.
Speaking about what happens in a fan club, Preetham said, " We conduct fanclub activities on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. We also conduct events like fan meet-ups, going to stadiums during the home matches as a fan group, travelling as a fan club to away games, creating banners, match screenings, promos and also conducting blood donation camps during the matches."
One of the questions asked of RCB is the lack of local players in the team. When asked whether this makes the functioning of a fan club harder, Preetham said it is not the case. "When it comes to Bangalore, it is RCB. When it comes to Karnataka it is the Ranji team. We support RCB whether it has local players or even if there is someone like Virat Kohli, we will still support RCB."
However, he added that having local players in the side is important and the fanclub hopes to send the message to the team management. "We would still suggest to the team management, like we did last year, to pick up more Karnataka players. It is important to have local players because they will suggest to the team management as they would have played in the home ground." Taking an example of Indian cricketer KL Rahul, Preetham said," KL Rahul will know more about conditions at the Chinnaswamy stadium. So it is important to have local players."
"We cannot predict what happens at the auction table. However, a smart move would have been to retain KL Rahul in 2018. What happens at the auctions is not in our hands. It is left to the management. But players could have been retained and in the next seasons the team must look to pick local lads like Mayank, Karun, Manish Pandey etc," he added.
He also addressed the slogan 'Ee sala cup namde' (the cup is ours this time) which has become synonymous with the team over the last few years. The same slogan has also turned into a source of derision due to the team's poor performances on the field. "The slogan cannot decide who will win or lose. In 2018 the hype was there. From the past 12 years RCB has not won the cup. So every year fans use the slogan thinking that the team will win this year. But it backfires. Using the slogan, however, is still not wrong. If we think the player's performance has gone down because of the slogan then it is not true," Preetham said.
Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan city and the complex issue of language can cause some problems. Preetham, however, differed with this, saying that it is not a barrier as RCB has a global fanbase. People are fans because of the famous players in the team as well. "The language barrier is not a threat as fan clubs are comfortable with English and Hindi as well," Preetham added.
He said that there are several challenges in running a fan club particularly in finding funds for fan engagement activities "It is very difficult to run a fan club. When we do activities we need funding. Fan clubs have to do their own funding. We buy tickets as well from the management for every match and tickets in Bangalore are costly. Even for making a banner we need a lot of accessories, people and time. We do not get proper spots as well. It is not as easy as it looks like," Preetham said.
However, this year will be markedly different with no matches being held in India. 'Namma Team RCB' is hoping to raise its social media game and support the team from home this season. 2020 has been surreal in many ways and these ardent fans hope that a long overdue IPL title will lift their spirits this year.