FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Last weekend’s tifo display, pictured above, was as good as it gets.
The design itself was masterful, substituting Jermaine Jones for Harrison Ford in a play on the classic scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Last Ark. Jermaine, clad in Indy’s iconic garb, is poised to snatch MLS Cup from its perch and deceptively replace it with a weighted bag of sand.
And the title: Jermaine Jones and the Revs Crusade.
It’s clever, artistic and unquestionably relevant with the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs looming; a winning design on its own merit. But there’s even more to Saturday night’s tifo than meets the eye, and the backstory will melt your heart.
A small portion of the tifo display, clearly visible at the bottom (center) of the banner, was designed and painted by childhood cancer patients – with the help of some Revolution players – during a recent visit to Boston Children’s Hospital, as a nod to Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
You can watch Revs’ players and childhood cancer patients paint the banner HERE.
The base color of the tifo display, gold, was also purposeful, as it’s the designated color for Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Saturday night’s meeting with the Philadelphia Union was the Revolution’s annual Childhood Cancer Awareness match, and you can bid on the players’ game-worn jerseys and other items HERE, with proceeds going to benefit Binkeez for Comfort.
With this most recent tifo display being so wonderful, both in design and backstory, we thought it would be fun to look back at all seven of the designs which have been raised at Gillette Stadium in the past year, in recognition of the great work both the Midnight Riders and Rebellion have done.
Date: October 25, 2014
Theme: Toto’s song “Africa”
Revolution supporters raised their first large-scale tifo display before last year’s regular-season finale, a Lee Nguyen-inspired 1-0 win over Toronto FC.
It was a simple, but effective, design. Using slightly-altered lyrics from Toto’s 1983 hit “Africa,” which has become an unofficial anthem of sorts for New England’s supporters, the players were urged to go seize their opportunity and claim MLS Cup, which was pictured below the lyrics.
As the tifo read: “Hurry Boys, It’s Waiting There For You.”
Date: November 9, 2014
Theme: JAWS
Revolution supporters upped the ante once the playoffs rolled around and created the first of many movie-inspired tifo displays for the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against Columbus.
A play on the classic JAWS poster – a movie based and largely filmed in New England – it featured the iconic shark rising from the depths, poised to devour a boat of yellow crew members. Get it?
And instead of JAWS, of course, the poster read REVS.
Date: November 29, 2014
Theme: Nguyen-ter is Coming
The first player-specific tifo display honored Lee Nguyen – a league MVP finalist last year – and was raised before the second leg of the Eastern Conference Championship against the New York Red Bulls, on a night when the Revs booked their spot in MLS Cup.
The design cleverly incorporated Nguyen’s name into the phrase “Winter is Coming,” an oft-repeated line on the immensely popular television show Game of Thrones.
It was such a hit, in fact, that the Rebellion began selling the design as a t-shirt.
Date: May 2, 2015
Theme: Olé
The first tifo display of the 2015 season went back to the tried and true formula of poking a bit of fun at a specific opponent, with the New York Red Bulls in the crosshairs on this occasion.
The message “Olé” tied together the bullfighter theme, with a Revolutionary War minuteman serving as matador in reference to the Red Bulls name.
As a bonus, Charlie Davies teamed up with Juan Agudelo and Teal Bunbury for a matador-inspired celebration after opening the scoring in the Revolution’s 2-1 win.
Side story: those with a keen eye will notice a drum hanging from the side of the net which raised the tifo. That wasn’t planned, but simply the humorous result of a stray musical instrument getting entangled in the netting as it was pulled into the air.
Date: May 31, 2015
Theme: Revengers
Another movie-inspired banner was rolled out for New England’s MLS Cup rematch with the LA Galaxy in late May, but unfortunately high winds prevented it from being raised. It was instead unfurled over the fans prior to the rain-soaked 2-2 draw.
Instead of Avengers, the tifo featured Revolution players as Revengers – referencing both the team name and the fact that the Revs were out for revenge following their defeat in last year’s championship game. Seriously, this stuff is far more clever than anything I could ever imagine.
Date: September 5, 2015
Theme: The Lion King
Children of the ‘90s were particularly excited about the tifo unveiled for the Revolution’s first-ever home meeting with Orlando City SC in early September.
When a team is nicknamed the Lions and features Walt Disney World as a primary sponsor, there are going to be Lion King references. And Revolution supporters hit all the right notes in drawing upon the 1994 Disney animated classic.
A recreation of one of the movie’s most iconic scenes, this tifo featured Revolution mascot Slyde in place of evil uncle Scar, throwing Mufasa – representing Orlando City – off a cliff. It’s a bit dark, for sure, and it brought back some painful childhood memories, but the idea and execution were top notch.
Scar’s message in the movie, “Long live the King,” was altered slightly to top the tifo.
Love live the Revs.
