Mexican side Atlas FC have come up with a fascinating way to keep their fans engaged during half-time intervals in their matches. Normally, these intervals signify a cooling period for supporters. Most tend to take a bathroom break or maybe catch a snack or a drink.
These half-time intervals only last around 15 minutes or so in football, so there is a rush in the food or drink kiosks too. Most teams just blare out some of the popular music on their stadium speakers for fans to listen to. However, Atlas has come up with an alternate option for the fans to engage in during these breaks.
The Liga MX side have created the ‘Lasso Gauntlet’ challenge as of late to improve fan engagement. This is a fun little interactive game that any supporter in the stadium can partake in. When the players are cooling off at half-time, Atlas’ management transforms the field into a bit of a game show for the fans.
They have created this new challenge that forces the participant to go through multiple obstacles before having a shot at scoring a goal. The first obstacle is around the halfway mark where the participant must go up and down a mountain-like cone. After that, the real fun begins.
That is because soon after that, the participant has to go through a part of the pitch that is surrounded by ‘cowboys’. No, these are not real cowboys. However, in prime Wonder Woman fashion, these people have lasso ropes with them. They try to use these ropes to force the participant to slip and fall, doing which ends their go at the challenge.
Now, it is normally extremely tough for one to go through these lasso-wielding people without falling off. That is because the assigned ones are very accurate in using the rope to catch their target. But if someone does manage to go through this area without falling down, they get a shot at goal.
Indeed, the participant then moves on to the final bit of the challenge which involves taking a penalty. The goalkeeper in goal is Atlas’ team mascot, which is a fox named ‘Furia’. It isn’t actually that hard to score past this mascot because the person underneath can’t move that quickly wearing a massive costume.
This is definitely a brilliant move from Atlas to really stand out from the rest in terms of half-time entertainment. Their ‘Lasso Gauntlet’ challenge has now also gone viral on social media and the majority of fans love it. A lot of supporters from England are also revisiting some of their own clubs’ half-time ‘entertainment’ that has been on display in the past.
If your half-time entertainment doesn't include a lasso gauntlet run, is it really entertainment…pic.twitter.com/EUWAB2fdLl
One fan noted how Leeds United took things to the extreme in the 1980s when they allowed police dogs to willingly have a go at volunteers at half-time. QPR had this funny little half-time challenge for the fans, where they’d make the participant do 10 rotations with their head on a pole before trying to beat the mascot for a goal.
Nearly on the level of when Leeds used to get police dog handlers to let the dogs go on wiling volunteers on the pitch at half time in the 80s
#QPR did a good one in the 90s where the contestants had to put their forehead on a pole on the centre spot and do 10 rotations before running to the edge of the 18 yard box and try and score past the mascot. Was quite funny at times.
In the day and age when major football clubs barely put out entertainment activities for fans during the break, Atlas has come up with something genius. Perhaps their challenge can inspire more clubs to get innovative in improving their own fan engagement schemes.
