Liverpool vs Ajax: Why do some people fear fans might boo a minute’s silence for Queen Elizabeth?

সেপ্টেম্বর 14, 2022
মন্তব্য নেই
Sports


Asked if the club asked for a minute’s silence before the game, Klopp said: “Yes, I think it’s the right thing to do.

“But I don’t think our people need any advice from me to show respect.”

The German referred to his team’s fans who joined forces with Manchester United fans at Anfield last season to support Cristiano Ronaldo and his family following the death of his little boy.

“There have been many examples where our people have shown just the right amount of respect,” added Klopp.

“One moment that surprised me and I was really proud of was last year when we played against Man United around the very sad situation surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s family and I expect that.

“It’s clear to me that we have to do this. That’s it.”

Booing the national anthem

But why was Klopp asked if he hoped the honor demanded by the club itself would be respected by Anfield faithful?

In May, ahead of last season’s FA Cup final at Wembley, some Liverpool fans booed while singing “Abide With Me” and “God Save the Queen”. They also booed Prince William when he appeared on the pitch.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the boos.

After that game, Klopp said booing the England national anthem was “not something I enjoyed”, but also said: “It’s always best to ask the question, ‘Why is this happening?’ They wouldn’t do it without a reason.”

The reaction from fans at the FA Cup Final made headlines in the UK. But it wasn’t the first time it happened.

The same reaction to the national anthem was had by fans at the Carabao Cup final in February – and the 2012 FA Cup final. It’s the way some supporters of the club express their opposition to the establishment, and it is is a chance to do so in front of a worldwide audience.

Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside in May, John Gibbons of Liverpool fan podcast The Anfield Wrap said: “Liverpool fans feel strongly about it. It’s a city that wants to speak out loud about how we think this country should be and how we should live in a fairer society.”
Liverpool was a city particularly affected by the deindustrialisation of the British economy in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1981, appalling economic conditions combined with tensions between the police and the African-Caribbean community led to nine days of unrest in the city.

After the riots, Margaret Thatcher’s government spoke of an “orderly decline” for the city.

During this decade of Conservative rule, Liverpudlians increasingly saw themselves as outsiders, separate from the rest of the country, and the state’s handling of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 further entrenched these anti-establishment sentiments.
READ: 30 years of dreaming – Liverpool’s agonizing wait for English football’s biggest prize

Booing of the national anthem at football matches when the team played at Wembley – a common occurrence given Liverpool’s dominance of English football at the time – became widespread and remains so to this day. The reaction to this in the English media is still shocking.

The UK finds itself once again in an era where millions of people in the UK are either suffering economic hardship or are facing the prospect this winter of what has been dubbed the ‘cost of living crisis’.

Social and economic inequality is something that continues to irk many in the left-leaning city. Significantly, it was Liverpool and Everton fans who launched Fans’ Supporting Foodbanks in 2015, an initiative aimed at tackling food poverty in the UK.

In the same May interview, Gibbons said: “Maybe you come to Liverpool and talk to the people and visit the panels and see how some people in this city are struggling.”

According to journalist Tony Evans, Liverpool fans started chanting ‘God Save Our Team’ at the 1965 FA Cup Final and by the 1970s, ‘the boos got louder’.

“Now it’s a ingrained Wembley tradition,” he wrote earlier this year.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean fans will boo Tuesday night’s minute’s silence in honor of Queen Elizabeth at Anfield.

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