Have you ever wondered how the CPL Hero Fan of the Match came about? It started with two friends painting their faces to show support for the franchise teams they supported and without expecting anything earning themselves some cash prizes.
Indeed, it had its origins in the inaugural match which started in 2013 when Guyanese Roxanne Adrian and Trinbagonian Gwendolene Roberts-Hartog decided to buy the package for eight matches of the first ever T-20 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament that were being held at the Queen’s Park Oval (Oval) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (TT) in August 2013.
Adrian had moved to Trinidad from Guyana earlier that year and was staying at her friend Roberts’ place in Champ Fleurs when one day in mid-2013 Roberts-Hartog brought home some flyers that were distributed in the TT daily newspapers.
These two friends met while doing their master’s degrees in international relations at the University of the West Indies. Roberts-Hartog was based at the UWI St Augustine Campus while Adrian was in the satellite class being conducted in Guyana.
Roberts-Hartog was excited about the promotions of the CPL matches that were also being given radio and television coverage, Adrian told Stabroek News from Trinidad.
She told Adrian that they should go to the games and have some fun to which Adrian replied, “Yes, let’s go. We will buy the entire package.”
The package of eight games included a combination of the knock-out games, two semi-final matches and the finals.
“We bought the whole package and we went,” Adrian related.
At the time Adrian was working in Frederick Street, Port of Spain doing retail in Bang Boutique and Roberts-Hartog was also working with the Ministry of National Security also in the same city.
Before going to the matches, Roberts-Hartog would go home and return to the city to meet Adrian in Frederick Street.
They arrived late to the first game because Adrian worked late that day. “We had seats at the back of the stand and we told ourselves, ‘Nah. Next time we (are) going early.”
On August 9th Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel were playing in one of the knock out games. Roberts-Hartog was supporting Red Steel as it was called before Shah Rukh Khan took over the franchise and it became Trinidad and Tobago Knight Riders and Adrian, of course, was supporting Amazon Warriors.
“On the day of that match, I was on the road for lunch when I was passing a Chinese store. I ducked in and I bought some cheap paste paint, nuh. We got into the ground early and we were up front this time. I painted the TT flag on Gwen’s face and she painted the Golden Arrowhead on mine. There we were upfront and side by side.”
The two were having fun and not thinking about television coverage when Adrian started getting messages from relatives and friends in Guyana telling her they were seeing her on television in the stands at the Oval.
“That was when I realized the cameras were roving, picked up on us and began to focus on the two of us. It was unique at the time. Here were two fans, two friends and two different supporters for two different countries having fun together. I think that was what captured their attention. That night we were featured so many times on the big screen in the Oval.” Amazon Warriors lost that match to Red Steel by three runs.
Before the next match Adrian went to a Carnival store and bought better paint. “They were nice and bright.”
On Sunday, August 11th two matches were held. The first, between Amazon Warriors and Barbados Tridents, was at 1.00 pm and the second at 5.00 pm, was between Red Steel and the Antigua Hawksbills.
“For the early game I told Gwen at home that I have paint. She said, ‘Hear what. We did the flags. Let us do something different. You draw the steel man on me and I will draw Amazon logo on you. She started painting my face first and that was when I realized the cameras were focusing on us again. I drew the Red Steel logo on her face and I think I did a pretty good job. It featured a pan with a cricketer batting. Amazon always had the same logo and she drew it on my face.”
That day they travelled to Port of Spain via a maxi-taxi (mini bus). “Walking down Port of Spain to get a taxi to the Oval, people said, ‘Like all yuh going and play mas. Or they asked ‘Whey all yuh going?’ I also sported a medium sized Guyana flag I had borrowed and Gwen had a similar size Trini flag.”
The two got the stadium early and the cameras picked them up. Adrian said, “We used to go early to get really good seats. When the cameras started picking us up, the photographers from the media houses and CPL came looking for us. There was actually a camera man stationed in front of us. It was so much fun. There was a still photo of me leaning over the rails that ended up in some of Guyana’s newspapers. That was an official CPL photo. There was another that they took of Gwen. She was standing at attention yet beaming with fun.
“There was an elderly man who looked out for us from the third game right to the end. He ensured we got good seats. He gave us drinks. He was real fun. It was nice, decent, clean fun. He just knew we were two girls and he was going to entertain us and be a good host.”
At one time a CPL camera was taking a picture of Gwen. I saw the camera man and I went over to her, rest my chin on her shoulder and the picture came out so beautiful. It was contrasting but it was not a rival picture. It was a friendly, happy and fun picture. CPL kept using that picture over and over.”
One day Adrian was going through Trinidad Express Business pages. “And I said ‘but I know this girl in this picture’. It was Gwen. The headline was The Carnival of Cricket. It is safe to say, we started the evolution of the fan of the match competition.”
A lot of people realized Adrian and Roberts-Hartog were getting much screen time and they tried to get into the frame. “We made friends from that activity. It was really, really fun.”
As the matches progressed people asked the two of them to paint their faces which they did free of cost. Then people started painting themselves.
“What happened after that was CPL giving a prize for the CPL super fan at every game. You had to be outstanding in the crowd so the cameras could pick you out. The same day we did all those beautiful pictures we won US$100 each.”
Adrian won the super fan for the first game when Amazon Warriors beat the Tridents and Gwen won for the second game when Red Steel beat Hawksbill on August 11th.
Towards the end of the tournament, Amazon Warriors and the Tallawahs were in the finals. Jamaica won the inaugural tournament. “Gwen and I never supported the same team. Red Steel had lost in the semi-finals. She went to the game supporting the Tallawahs. I painted myself that day. I did a Mohawk with my hair and spray-painted it green. I looked like a lizard. The last picture ended up on the back page of an Antiguan newspaper in the sports section and a friend sent it to me.”
For the next two years the two bought the CPL package again and continued with their creativity. “For the last of those tournaments I supported Red Steel when Amazon Warriors were knocked out. I won Super Fan for two years in a row. After that a lot of people got on to what was happening. There was money to win and they started going to extremes to win. It was good. One year I made a headpiece and I gave it away at the Oval.”
For the second year of the CPL, Adrian said they received tickets and rum from Demerara Distillers Limited because the company had used their image in El Dorado posters for advertisement.
“Over the years, CPL has always used Gwen or me or both of us. Knight Riders recently used a picture of me to announce the finals would be in Guyana. CPL has always used the one with the two of us together. For us, what we did was spontaneous. That was what was so attractive about it. So even though years come and go, they are still appealing.”
