Kerala Blasters practicing before the ISL finals in Kochi on SaturdayKochi: Number 13 is normally associated with bad luck. In a state where even atheists believe 13 brings bad luck, the football aficionados here are looking at this number with hope.
Kerala Blasters’ striker C.K. Vineeth has been wearing this unlucky number on his jersey for quite some time. His arrival to the Kerala Blasters ranks has brought a sea change in the fortunes of the side which was languishing at the bottom of the table at the start of the third season of the ISL.
Vineeth’s goal scoring prowess was behind Blasters’ revival this season and the side has climbed from the bottom of the table to reach the final.
There is another strong lover of number 13 in Kerala Blasters team. Vineeth’s team-mate Rino Anto's favourite number is 13 and he wears this on his jersey for Bengaluru FC.
Vineeth, who also plays for Bengaluru FC, wore 31 number jersery which is reverse of his favorite number 13.
Vineeth, who has been with Kerala Blasters since last season, specifically asked for number 13 and Rino Anto who joined the team this season had to reluctantly accept 31 as his jersey number.
What is the secret behind Vineeth’s love for number 13? “I always liked number 13. I chose this number not because it was my lucky number, but nobody wanted this number as it was associated with the devil. Everyone discarded the number. Maybe it was because of it, I took a liking for the number. When I got freedom to choose the jersey number I chose13. When I played for Viva Kerala I wore number 13 jersey and while playing for Prayag United, I got the number in the second year.
But at Bengaluru FC, Rino Anto took the number before me,’’ he said.
Vineeth said another reason for him to love the number was that 13th happened to be birthday of his closest friend whose name he dosen’t want to reveal. Rino Anto doesn’t have any reason to offer for his love for number 13. Rino says he specifically asks for this jersey number and for India he played with this number. Even his twitter account (rinoanto13) carries the number.
