Kerala Blasters face piracy problem; 7,000 unsold club jerseys destroyed

Say you are one of the fans who bought a yellow jersey or a scarf outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi before a Kerala Blasters home match. Chances are, you contributed to a thriving illegal business at the expense of your favourite football club.

Almost all the 'Blasters products' sold on Indian Super League match days near the stadium are fake merchandise, and the activity has been ongoing for 10 years with the authorities concerned unable to enforce the law. "Even GST-compliant shops are selling the fakes," said Bhagesh Kotak, Director of Reyaur Sports, Blasters' kitting partner. Kotak claims he has suffered losses throughout his association with the Blasters, which stretches to nearly five seasons since 2014.

"Four seasons back, I had to destroy 7,000 pieces (jerseys) because they were rotting away. I'm taking a hit of Rs 40 lakh (annually) because of the fakes, who are thriving right in front of the stadium," Kotak told Onmanorama. The Mumbai-based businessman says that though they set up stalls selling 'official merchandise', there are few takers as the pirated versions are sold for between Rs 100 and Rs 150 per piece. An official fan jersey is priced at Rs 799 on the Kerala Blasters website, with a customised version costing Rs 100 more.

Most of these sales happen on either side of the footpath leading to the stadium and in front of the JLN Stadium Station of Kochi Metro. "We can do nothing about it because the hawkers operate on roadsides and not on KMRL property. We cannot just remove them from the public place," said a spokesperson of KMRL, the public-sector company that operates Kochi Metro.

Chandran Pillai, chairman of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), which owns the stadium and the adjoining road, was more sympathetic but has posed a technical issue. "Yes, it is a problem we need to tackle, but we would need specific norms for it," Pillai said. "The problem is these people do not pitch tents anywhere; they appear out of nowhere and disappear after a few hours. Also, we are yet to get a complaint from those affected by these fake merchandise sellers," said a GCDA official.

Why no complaints?
In July this year, a Delhi court issued a permanent injunction against a shop selling fake merchandise at Connaught Place. The order was issued on the complaint of the global apparel brand Adidas. The court also fined the shop Rs 1 lakh, to be paid to Adidas as damages.

But Kotak thinks it would be futile on his part to go the same route, considering the comparative scale of this organisation. "Even the police don't remove the hawkers. Four seasons back, they (police) wanted money and tickets from me. So I don't think filing a complaint will make a difference," Kotak said.

Blasters CEO Abhik Chatterjee could not specify why the club did not seek legal action to tackle the issue. He said: "Removing the pirated products from around the stadium is difficult to enforce because that would again involve considerable cost on our side to implement it."

Plan B
The Blasters have introduced cost-effective club jerseys to fight the pirates. "In the last two games in particular, with our kitting partner Reyaur, we also sold jerseys priced at Rs 135. The original stalls were placed near Metro stations. It went reasonably well for us," Blasters CEO Chatterjee said.

"We are selling the original product, albeit at a slightly lower quality and price point. But what we want from the fans is to recognise this and buy it from an authentic source rather than buying the pirated products.

"Usually, clubs would not drop it this low. But the idea is, if a person is visiting the stadium for the first time, the urge would be to wear yellow or the team kit and go in, so we wanted to make that an affordable experience.

"And then combat the pirated versions because when you are making it so affordable, and you have both in front of you, hopefully, people will choose what the club offers," Chatterjee said.

The Blasters are not yet ready to go out of their way to widen the sale of the 'subsidised' product. For now, the club is focusing on selling it in the vicinity of the stadium and outside Metro stations. However, Mr Kotak is not happy because he thinks the club can do much more to wipe out the illegal products. According to him, lowering the price has only helped him get rid of the stock. Still, "of the 25,000 pieces I put out at the start of the season, 14,000 still remain unsold," Kotak said.