By Adrian Mole
January 30 2003
In an idle moment sometime after Juniors training on a Sunday morning shortly before the Heineken Cup Final in Paris I mused that as there were six of us in the party it might be a good idea to wear T-shirts each with a letter on it to spell out TIGERS.
Great idea they said - do it. So that's how Pandora and I, our son "Little Moley" and our friends Cec, Ali and Rich ended up in a bar outside Parc des Princes posing for this photo.
Fast forward 12 Months and to a different capital city. "What ever you do this year", they said. "it's got to be one up from last year - Well 7 up actually, there's going to be 13 of us!!".
The end result graced the Millenium stadium, and we featured in the centre page spread of the Leicester Mercury on the Monday after the final, right underneath the team photo.
Not only did the shirts spell out COME ON YOU TIGERS on the front, they also said SIMPLY THE BEST on the back. This posed many problems and required formation dance like changes as we paraded around crocodile fashion to keep the spelling right
We even had our victory banner ready for the unveiling at the end. We heeded the warnings about banner height but figured there was nothing about length and so came up with this.
Somehow it all seemed to get lost in the lower reaches of the stadium. In fact we've often thought that the photographs look as if they were taken in a clubhouse somewhere instead of one of the UK's top sporting venues, however to prove we were there you can also see us on the right hand side of the commemorative "limited edition as sold in the Tigers Shop" photograph as a distant line of white in the ground level seats.
So that's how I became appointed the Mr. T of the Tigers In Transit Squad (our travelling band of friends and relations known affectionately by the acronym - they know who they are!!!) .
This year I'll be facing up to an even greater challenge - our numbers have swelled to 15. Our accommodation and transport is already booked and despite failing on the first 6,000 ticket allocation we are ever hopeful, particularly if some unfashionable French side makes it to the final as well as Tigers and only takes a small number of tickets. Even if we don't get in we'll know we were there .
ADRIAN MOLE'S TOP TRANSFER T-SHIRT TIPS
1. Buy more shirts than you need - you're bound to make some cock-ups.
2. Think of an original design/slogan to spell out (1 letter per person works best). Add some cheerful witty element to your design. Our hosts in Cardiff were racked with mirth when they spotted this little addition I made to the shirts. Particularly after what we did to Llanelli.
3. Sort out your seating order and buy T-shirts to fit - you might not be able to swap on the day. (note our junior members)
4. Remember to print your design backwards so that it transfers to the correct way.
5. Be prepared to walk round in sequence all day. Every joker out there thinks that if he asks "Are you dyslexic?" it'll be the first time you'll have heard it.
And finally, for what its worth, I shall always remember the final for one particular incident regarding a hand - Some bloke in front of me stopped me getting a wonderful picture of Austin's try.
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon