Manchester City’s inflatable banana craze
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Manchester City supporters became famous for an unusual sight on the terraces: inflatable bananas. What began as a light-hearted joke soon turned into one of the most memorable fan crazes in English football. Uma Doraiswamy tells the story of football, terrace culture and one of the game’s most unlikely symbols. She speaks to former Manchester City striker Imre Varadi, whose name became intertwined with the phenomenon and also hears from Dr Gary James, a lifelong City supporter who was among the first to embrace the fruity craze. Together they recall how thousands of the inflatable fruits appeared on the terraces, why the trend caught on, and how it became part of Manchester City’s history. They also reflect on the humour, loyalty and sense of community that defined football fandom before the Premier League era. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded. Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created. (Photo: Football fans at Manchester City match with inflatable bananas. Credit: Glenn Copus/ANL/Shutterstock)