Change is the only constant, right? What is constant for Kerala Blasters fans? Disappointment, unfortunately. Millions of fans have endured multiple heartbreaks, regrets, and dejections. Consider the effort they take to attend each of the matches – traveling hundreds of Kilometres by train and bus, braving the crowd at Kochi to enter the stadium, and suffering subpar basic amenities in the stadium. Yet, the reward for often disenchantment.

Don’t the Kerala Blasters fans deserve better? In this article, we will try to explain the events that happened in the club’s history and the fan’s experiences in detail. The author is a Kerala Blasters fan and he will be narrating this from a personal perspective.

“When the Indian Super League was announced in 2014, I was ecstatic. My state had a team, finally. The excitement soared when Sachin Tendulkar became an owner. As a Brazil fan, I loved the yellow and blue colors”.

The Beginning

“In the year 2014, when the Indian Super League was announced, I was excited—excited because my state finally had a franchise team and I could then come out from the setback of the disbandment of the IPL team Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The excitement soared when I came to know that Sachin was one of the owners of the club. As a Brazil fan, I loved the yellow and blue colors of the team. As the era was before the Jio revolution, from the limited data available per day, I religiously checked the social media pages of the Blasters. Yeah, Puma was our jersey sponsor then”. 

“North East United was our first-ever opponent and we lost the match. Koke scored the solitary goal of the game at the stroke of half time which was a bitter pill to swallow. However, the atmosphere at Indira Gandhi Stadium was electric and I was happy to witness it live on television. Kerala’s own professional team of such a scale has played its first match, what more do I need? Despite the defeat against Chennaiyin FC, I was thrilled to see Iain Hume scoring the first-ever goal in the club’s history. Bernard Mendy’s strike against us that day was pure class. Even Sachin appreciated that overhead kick which won the game for the Marina Machans. I still remember our first home win against Goa, when a Goan Milagres Gonsalves scored the winner for us against FC Goa.” 

“For the first time, a sea of yellow filled the JLN stadium as fans came in numbers wearing yellow. People came from far-flung places like Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi to support their beloved team. Celebrities like Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Taapsee Pannu, and Harbhajan Singh graced the stands wearing our yellow. Around 65,000 fans attended each of the matches, and the world once again witnessed Keralites’ passion for football. We breathe football.” 

“After a bag of mixed results, we miraculously qualified for the semi-finals and we saved our best for the home leg—stunning strikes by Ishfaq and Hume and a curler by Sushant Mathew.  My whole Malayali group of my MBBS batch couldn’t sleep that day. The away leg was even more dramatic and we jumped off the couch when Pearson scored the winner against Chennaiyin FC in their home.” 

“In my opinion, we played the best football in the final, however, we lost. I was disappointed, but that is part and parcel of the life of any sports fan. I eagerly awaited the next season.”

The Beginning of Disappoinments

“The real disenchantment started from the season. The Kerala Blasters media team went silent for months, providing no updates through social media. When the auction for the players was conducted for the top players, we bought none; yes, zero. The writing was clear on the wall that day itself. Kerala Blasters was the only team that conducted their pre-season training in India that season (Greenfield Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram). The management made a blunder by letting Iain Hume, our top scorer in the inaugural season, go. He signed for Atletico de Kolkata and won the title for them in the third season; of course, after defeating us. Despite signing decent foreigners, the second season was a horror as we finished at rock bottom. I could see fighting spirit only in three matches: the home game against FC Pune City, and away games against NorthEast United and Delhi Dynamos. The coach, Peter Taylor, was sacked in between the season: the first-ever sacking of a coach in ISL. “

A Breath Of Fresh Air

“In 2016, before the third season, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Allu Arvind, and Nimmagadda Prasad joined KBFC as new investors. The third season was no different as we didn’t even sign a good CAM. Hosu, who had a decent last season, was used as a left-back by Steve Coppell. Aaron Hughes and Cedric Hengbart anchored our defense; Aaron Hughes is probably the best defender we have ever signed. One of the few things that management did right that season was that they signed some players who had fire in the belly. Kervens Belfort, Duckens Nazon, C K Vineeth, Graham Stack, Kadio, etc. belong to that category.”

“An inspired second half of the season helped us to finish at the second position in the table, the best so far. We staged multiple comebacks and won several matches, finishing undefeated at home. However, once again we lost in the finals. I would have given anything to go back in time and make Jewel Raja miss his penalty for ATK.”

“So, everything changed for the better, right? No, not all. We had no clue about what we had to face in the next 4 seasons.” 

Part 2 – coming soon