TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk - Make Your Banner In The Razcal Manner.

Make Your Banner In The Razcal Manner.

By Razcal
May 14 2002
The owners of the Millenium Stadium have forbidden the entry of flags larger than knee high , whatever that means into the Heineken Cup final.

Rumour has it that all flag sticks or poles even if made of softish plastic will face the same interdiction. How they plan to enforce this is not clear. However, this means that there are likely to be more home made banners at the final. Having been an avid viewer of Blue Peter as far back as 1965 when we first got a “telly” I feel it my duty to pass on some useful tips.

The best banner I ever saw was in the early 80s. The French had a second row called Condom. No , I am not making this up. I saw him play at Twickenham. In the crowd some wag held up a huge banner, which read “Hi Condom. I’ve got a letter for you.” To me this smacked of B list humour. It was an attempt at humour but pointless.

When the same player trotted out at Landsdowne Road later that season Willie John Mcbride was still a local hero. One banner read, “Our Willie is bigger than your Condom.” Now that was funny. The moral of this is not only do you have to see an opportunity for a joke but also you have to hit the nail on the head.

I’ve seen several atrocious banners in my time. Anything with swear words on is just offensive I’m afraid at an event where children are present. (Llanelli please take note.)

But the all time egg on your face banner award goes to several I saw at France versus Ireland in Paris in 1982. Last game of the season and Ireland up for the grand slam having won three from three. So what do you think is going to happen if you write in huge green letters on a white background “Ireland Grand Slam 1982”.

Yep that’s right. You throw said banner over the second tier in disgust after 60 minutes as France eventually run away with the game. Don’t want anyone to laugh at you on your way out do you? The moral of this is do not take hostages to fortune with your banner.

To my mind the best banners are few on words and big on impact. We were quite pleased with “Trigers” for Paris but “Hear those Tigers Roar” which I saw at the Trocadero the morning before the game was also good as it emphasised the need for us to take on the French crowd noise wise.

Anything longer is going to lose impact. During last years row about whether the league winners or playoff winners would be the champion club of England someone held up a banner at Welford road that read something like “No ERP to playoffs. First are Champions.” Great sentiments but too long. “ERP. First is First” would have been better.

Now for some practical tips

1) Don’t use an old sheet if you are going to paint your banner. The paint soaks through and sticks to whatever is underneath. If using an old sheet stick letters cut out of different coloured material onto the sheet.

2) Velcro can help you adapt your banner as the game progresses. At Nottingham the supporter in front of me had a banner which was beautifully painted with a dragon and the slogan “Tigers eat scarlet dragons.” At full time they hurriedly scrounged a black biro from another supporter and added a b in front of eat. A bit of Velcro and a ready-made b, which matched, the other letters would have had more impact.

3) Paint the middle of your banner before the outside. Then you won’t smudge the outside reaching to the middle.

4) If you want to beat the knee high restriction then get material which is two times bigger than knee high. Fold in half so the banner looks knee high. Enter stadium , take seat and unroll rest of banner. Feel smug. For example walk in showing TIGERS in huge red and green letters . Unfold bottom half inside ground to read:

TIGERS
SAY SACK ERC.

5) Make sure your cat or any beloved pet is nowhere near the banner while it is drying.

6) If you want your banner to be viewed as your coach proceeds down the motorway blue tack will hold it straight and flush with the window. A crumpled banner can’t be admired.

7) And finally discretely insert the corporate logo for this site. A small ship in the process of sinking with a pig jumping off. Very very small in a corner will do. After all , it is the closest our nearest and dearest rivals will get to this event for many years yet.

8) And please do remember the people sitting behind and in front of you. If you hold your banner in their faces they might get agitated!

I would like to think that we could turn up with some decent banners at Cardiff. If you have ever seen the away supporters club official banner you will know the standard we have to live up to. If we can’t out sing Munster at least we can out banner them!

Here is the attempt of Razcal son and Razcal daughter aged 8 and 11. We had to wait until mummy Razcal was out because she had banned banner production after the cat incident last year.