Kerala Blasters see lowest-ever attendance amidst poor performance

Kerala Blasters have won just a single match in the entire season - their first fixture against ATK.

Since then, they have drawn six and lost three of the remaining matches.

Kerala manager David James feels that the results were not entirely his team's fault, blaming a number of refereeing errors against his team instead, saying, "It has been a constant theme this season".

Owing to Kerala's run of poor performances, their fans had clouded social media calling for a strike.

Their most prominent fan group, Manjapadda, had completely boycotted the match, thus reducing the number of spectators to a vast extent.

Interestingly, German football legend Lothar Matthaus was present at Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium when Kerala played against Jamshedpur FC in front of a record-low 8,451 spectators

Unlike club football, franchise football cannot have the same die-hard supporters who would live and breathe their clubs.

When an East Bengal or a Mohun Bagan take to the field, no matter how their form is, fans will crowd the venue and support their club vociferously.

Franchise clubs have no history, people have not grown up with them, thus such easy detachment is possible.