The Hindu : Kerala News : Football fever on the rise in Kozhikode

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 02, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Football fever on the rise in Kozhikode

WORLD CUP FEVER: Worldcup jerseys on display at a shop in Kozhikode. - Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

More than a month after the neighbouring Malappuram was diagnosed with the World Cup football fever, Kozhikode has now begun to show the symptoms.

Flex boards of the title contenders in Germany, where the World Cup — the biggest sporting event on earth — kicks off on June 9, have come up in various places in the city. And the flags and jerseys of the teams are selling like hot Malabar biryani.

Brazil may be the favourite in Germany and it may be dominating the banners too, but Argentina has a slight edge when it comes to the sales of T-shirts and track suites, according to Mirza Mohammed, one of the shopkeepers in the city who are having a ball with the football extravaganza just a few days away.

"We have already sold more than 200 T-shirts of Argentina, against the 170 of Brazil," he says. "It is indeed these two countries that have attracted more customers, but England, Italy and France are also quite popular. There are takers for Japan and Iran too."

Mirza sells not just the World Cup T-shirts. "We also have track suites and shorts of all the major teams," he adds. "Then there are key-chains, school bags and clocks with flags of the World Cup teams on them. And yes, we sell a lot of flags too."

What is a bit surprising is that the football fans of Kozhikode are willing to pay premium prices to show their allegiance to their favourite teams.

While a World Cup T-shirt would cost you anywhere between Rs. 295 and Rs. 345, the clocks are priced in the Rs. 395-495 range. "And the fact is, we have not been able to meet the demand, as all these goods are imported from Hong Kong and China," says Mirza. "The biggest demand is of course for T-shirts, mostly from youngsters, including college-going girls."

The indications are that the World Cup fever in the entire Malabar region could only get more intense in the days to come. Like the monsoon.

P.K. AJITH KUMAR

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