Football not a matter of life or death

This weekend sees two of Europe’s most successful clubs meet in the Premier League. Liverpool and Manchester United have one of the most heated rivalries in the country. Yet some so-called fans decide to take the rivalry too far.

Disgusting chants

Even as hated rivals there should be some sort of line you should not cross. The talk of vile chants and songs being sung at these matches is disgusting.

The people who sing along to these songs shouldn’t be able to look at themselves in the mirror. Liverpool fans singing about the Munich disaster is truly awful.

It makes me feel embarrased to be a Scouser. Thankfully though they are in the minority. Most Liverpool fans are law abiding fans who have morals and basic sense of right and wrong.

The same thing applies to those United fans who think its somehow funny to poke fun at the innocent people who died at Hillsborough in 1989. These were normal fans who went to a football game and never came home. How the death of 96 people is humourous to people really does worry me.

City rivalry

There is a big rivalry between Manchester and Liverpool in the North West but that doesn’t excuse these idiots who decide to use football as a tool to spread vicious bile. I’m a Scouser and proud be a Scouser. I have to admit though I have never slagged off Manchester or anybody from Manchester. Its because I have been brought up to know wrong from right. Maybe its just a sign of the country that we now live in that these comments are acceptable.

Banter

Now banter has always existed in football and its just a bit of fun. In Liverpool there is a fair bit of banter between Blues and Reds but we know where to draw the line. You could sit in any pub in Liverpool on a Friday or Saturday night and hear friends and relatives discuss the various merits of their team or the various defects.

A lot of the time these discussions end in laughter. That’s the beauty of Liverpool as a city when it comes to Everton and Liverpool. Your best friends can be from the other team but you can have banter and still be friends afterwards. Yet some Liverpool and Manchester United find it hard to discuss football without it breaking out in to war.

Shared grief

I was only six when Hillsborough happened, so I don’t remember it. However a few years ago, my grandad who past away earlier this year told me all about the tragedy. He told me it didn’t matter if you were an Everton fan or a Liverpool everybody felt the same grief.

He said you could feel there was something different about the city. It didn’t have the same vibrancy or feel about the place. I have heard so much about it and even as an Everton it still brings a tear to my eye when I hear about what went on.

My grandad went to the final of the FA Cup as did my uncles. He was a Red, they are Blues. This was typical of the uniqueness of Liverpool as a football city. They sat side by side and they told me they had never felt a feeling like being at that match before. It was almost like the game didn’t matter. Gerry Marsden sang You’ll Never Walk Alone before the game and Evertonians joined in. That was probably the first and last time Evertonians have sung that song.

Let respect win on Sunday

It would be nice on Sunday at Anfield to see some of that mutual respect and humanity towards each other. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that all United fans and Liverpool fans should be sitting hugging each other. All I’m asking is for fans to be civil to each other.

Attention should be on the fact that two of the most successful clubs in the history of English football are on the pitch. Let football be the winner on Sunday and not the moronic element amongst fans who don’t deserve the attention they get. I’m sorry to be talking about them but I felt I had to vent my disgust.