Shaking & Baking a Tifo for DeRo
As a group of supporters our core objective is to show support for our team at all times. During matches our passion manifests itself audibly through our voices in the stands and visually, showing the team we’re behind them, in the form of displays like banners, signs and the most elaborate efforts affectionately known as ‘tifos’. Expressing love for your team in a creative way is a tradition shared across football supporter culture – but it hinges on one thing: inspiration.
Inspiration to get creative juices flowing and put energy into producing a display can come from all around: the team, the local city, a desire to send an intimidating message to an opponent, the spirit of supporters coming together, popular players or significant player milestones and achievements. A milestone like a player retirement is something we definitely take note of. So when it was announced in June that Dwayne De Rosario (“DeRo”) was officially calling it a career and a special testimonial match was to be played in his honour, we were inspired.
Anyone who has followed the team over the years would get the feeling that this was a bigger deal than usual. DeRo had a long, successful career in MLS, had a strong role in the early years of TFC, played for Canada’s Men’s National Team for many campaigns and being a homegrown talent has been a source of local pride. Whether he was a favourite of yours over the years or not, a player with that level of involvement, record and impact doesn’t come around that often. Along with other fellow supporter groups we had the notion that rising to the occasion was in order. Inspired, the word went out to start organizing a collaboration for DeRo’s big day.
Here are some making-of pics as we met the challenge before us: bringing creative minds, experience and hands together on short notice for a tribute to DeRo. The design phase rapidly went thru a number of iterations of ideas but something more started to bubble up to the surface. DeRo has a goal celebration move – why not implement some sort of animated moving part to our banner/tifo display? Nothing short of next level, with this new vision, we set out to bring fabric, paint, pipes and puppet-like movement to the realization of a DeRo signature: The Shake & Bake. It took multiple evenings in a space secured with help of team front office and also taking the work-in-progress to various parts of the city by vehicle to bring it all together. With people getting involved at all stages, an hour or two one session, a day or two later, or finishing touches in the hours before the match, supporters came together to make their mark on the project. After seeing the project’s complexity go up and up, and design and ‘engineering’ debates raging late into the night, the final product rose right on schedule in the South Stands as DeRo and a whole squad of past teammates & footy friends took to the pitch. While endless rounds of DeRo chants (“There was a boy from Scarborough….“) echoed across the field and the man of the afternoon showed appreciation, we said goodbye to a legend in our own way. Well done to all that contributed!
Members! Visit the lounge on the RPB forums for more pics.
If you want to read more about banner activities, check our recent post about this year’s home opener tifo.
If you want to get involved with supporting TFC on a project like this, seeing hard work come to life and making new friends as we come together for the Reds – be sure to check the RPB forum and get connected for our next project! (All welcome but easiest way is join up to be a member!)