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Colorful coordinated fan displays are all the rage these days in football. While fans on the continent and in South America have been doing them for years, they have yet to really catch on in England. Even the United States, where MLS is less than 25 years old, have a number of teams with fans that spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to perfect their “tifos” to be shown at the very beginning of a football match.
| With over 32,000 tickets sold for Sunday's game against Middlesbrough, fans are invited to show their support and be part of a visual spectacle
— Leeds United (@LUFC) November 15, 2017
Read more ➡️ https://t.co/8P4WCUbfjm pic.twitter.com/XURxBVBoQt
Leeds United are planning to do something similar Sunday before the match against Middlesbrough, with the club’s official website saying,
To add to that atmosphere we can confirm plans for Leeds fans to show their support for the team with a mosaic in the East Stand and flags being provided to home supporters across the stadium.
Cards will be placed on seats in the East Stand lower section which the club will ask supporters to lift when the teams enter the field of play on Sunday which will combine to reveal the club’s motto- ‘Together’.
Flags will also be placed on seats in the North and South Stand as well as being handed out to supporters across the rest of the stadium.
Now if these kind of displays were fan generated and become part of the traditional, it would be a unique thing to English football, where most of the atmosphere is created with noise and singing, not large visual displays. However, if the club is simply looking to add some “atmosphere” by copying other leagues and other fans, it will feel a bit plastic and artificial. Leeds fans don’t need the club to pipe in music like American NFL teams do, nor do they need clappers or other such devices to create atmosphere.
The Legia Warsaw fans know how to make a good tifo…
— The Sportsman (@TheSportsman) August 20, 2017
( @RafalJadczak) pic.twitter.com/h7li7C8kqN
Green and a Gold. Never gets old. #RCTID #PORvSEA #ACES pic.twitter.com/gjErNzDH6c
— Timbers Army (@timbersarmy) June 26, 2017
Él Primer Tifo En México Hecho Por La Barra..!
— Rаммsεs LеDęzmα (@RamsesDChivas) March 17, 2016
Que la Cuenten como Quieran .! Los de Chivas pic.twitter.com/YNzNjkNuCG
Of course, some of the teams in Eastern Europe and even in MLS have taken these to another level. Will we see things like flares or smoke in English stadiums? Of course not, but maybe some more creative displays wouldn’t be a bad thing.
La @FIFAcom premia al Celtic por un tifo. A los del @RVMOficial ni @Tebasjavier ni Presa nos dejan meter pancartas. https://t.co/8qaOg3VNXt pic.twitter.com/drlH96VIcL
— Tamara Fariñas R. (@TamaraFR_) October 24, 2017
Who knows, maybe the display will look like one of Celtic FC’s displays.