Peter Hansen is the house performer of Bamsefabrikken. He’s been the man inside the championship soccer mascot from Football Club Midtjylland – Lupus the Wolf – in three years. And now you can read about the life as a mascot performer.
Read a page of the mascot performers diary, and find out, how a FC Midtjylland player knocked Lupus the Wolf to the ground, when cheering after a match.
Which challenges do you experience inside a mascot costume?
Challenges inside the costume are heat, if the head is heavy and wiggles, when moving, and if my sight is limited. And you have to have a lot of patience, when the children come close to the mascot costume. They want to push you and pull you from time to time.
Which experience do you remember the best as a mascot performer?
I have a lot of experiences, but the best has to seeing the childrens faces, when they meet me and feeling, that it means something to them, when getting a hug or an autograph from me.
Once FC Midtjylland won in the last minut, and the players where all happy and celebrating after the match. And I was walking around giving everyone high fives. Suddenly I se the defender Jim Larsen running towards me, and I was ready to highfive him. But instead he jumps into my arms, knocking the mascot head of me, which lands six feet from me. And he knocks me down, lying on top of me, while the audience cheers.
How is it to win a match as a football mascot?
When you win a match and cheer on the pitch with the rest of the players, it’s like being a part of the victory. You jump around, and dance. Even though you’re sweating after a match, you can get goose bumps, when you stand in front of the fans cheering and yelling.
How important is the quality of the costume to you as a performer?
It means everything. When I started as a football mascot, the old custome had a very heav y head. Så after every match I had a headache in one or two days. I altså limited me in what I could do as a mascot performer. When I got a new costume, I was completely different. The head was lighter and the sight was perfect, so you didn’t have to move the head to much around to see anything. The new costume gave me more opportunities as a performer. I was free to run around and do exactly, what I wanted to. I could run, do push ups and jump around the pitch and among the fans – and most important, I didn’t get a headache after a match.
How do the children react to your performance as a mascot performer?
As a mascot performer you need to master a lot of things towards the children. You have to remember, that someone can get afraid of you, when you put on the big head. So it’s important to reflect their reactions and react to their body language, so they get a nice experience. I get a lot of hugs from children down to two or three years, when I go down to their level. And of course I also get it from the bigger kids, when I react from, what they say and do.. So I experience hugs, push up contests, running contest and much, much more.
