Liverpool and the Hillsborough Anniversary

[Bruce Rioja]

He's wussed out. Davies, the big puff. He's apologised and offered £1,000 to charity

[Burnden Paddock]

This was only pointed out to Liverpool fans as a result of Stan Collymore picking up on Davies podcast 'The Tuesday Club' and spreading the message to the grief mongering tw@ts. Whilst I hate Davies with a passion after his comments about Bolton fans a few years ago (tbf I didn't care much for the curly haired tosser before) he did add that it was the worst disaster in modern history and should have a full public enquiry, but they conveniently ignore that part.

Do we refuse to play on 6th March or United on 6th Feb? Do we feck. Surely the best way to honour and pay tribute to the dead is to all come together with their bessie Everton mates, who they sit side by side with at the derby.

Why they need to hold a memorial EVERY year is beyond me. I could understand if they held it after 1/5/10/15/20 years etc, but every single one? Where does it end? Will they refuse to play on that date forever? It's just an excuse to try to out grieve one another to show who is the best supporter.

The FA aren't blameless in this. If the Spanish FA can bring forward El Classico to help Barcelona, why couldn't our FA agree to play the Chelsea v Tottenham semi on Friday night to accommodate the stubborn Scousers?

Anyway, i'm off now to lay some flowers by the fresh chickens in Tesco.

[CrazyHorse]

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign has refused a donation of £1,000 from comedian Alan Davies. The Arsenal fan had criticised Liverpool's refusal to play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Classless.

[bobo the clown]

Why they need to hold a memorial EVERY year is beyond me. I could understand if they held it after 1/5/10/15/20 years etc, but every single one? Where does it end? Will they refuse to play on that date forever? It's just an excuse to try to out grieve one another to show who is the best supporter.


Anyway, i'm off now to lay some flowers by the fresh chickens in Tesco.

This is the 23rd.

Very significant is a 23rd anniversary.

Do you know nothing ?!?!

(I may have to go abroad for a couple of weeks in 2 years time ... can you just imagine it ??)

[Annoyed Grunt]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... marks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also included is a poll as to whether they should be forced to play on the 15th April.

[blurred]

Bradford refuse to play on the anniversary of the fire, too - do we slag them off for it as well?

Personally (unsurprisingly) I don't see anything wrong with it. Once every 4-5 years it crops up, and clubs are usually amenable to moving the dates to accommodate the memorial service that's been held at Anfield every year on the anniversary since 1990 (Chelsea did for a CL game, Blackburn moved a league game in about 2006, and I think Wimbledon moved a game a few years before that). It's only Alan Davies' fairly crass comments that've brought this to most people's attention this time around (though he's entitled to his opinion).

I'd imagine that at some point in the future there will come a set of circumstances whereby we are genuinely unable to move a game that's scheduled on the 15th because of however many knock-on effects that might cause, but while there are reasonable alternatives (we'd have a 50-50 chance of having played the semi on the Saturday anyway if it were a random assignment) I can't see that it's an issue.

And if Chelsea fans are bitching about having to play cup games on very few days' rest, they should remember we had a Monday night PL game earlier this season and then had to play them in the League Cup 48 hours later on the Wednesday (while they'd had more time off), while only a couple of years ago they refused to move a fixture that was slated in for 12.45 on a Saturday against Spurs to a Sunday, who'd had an away Europa League match on the Thursday night. I'd be more pissed off about having a 6pm game on a Sunday than the number of days off before the CL match if I were them...

[blurred]

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign has refused a donation of £1,000 from comedian Alan Davies. The Arsenal fan had criticised Liverpool's refusal to play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Classless.

Why do you say that? They don't have to accept his money.

“Whilst we believe his comments were crass and insensitive, he has apologised and we are big enough to accept his apology."

“This is not something you can throw money at, and really if he is sincere about his apology, then we would rather he chose to educate himself as to why it is important to the people of this city that Liverpool does not play on that day.

“He is entitled to his own opinion and we would never try and take that away from anyone, but wish he was a little bit more sensitive about trying to understand why it matters so much to people that Liverpool does not play on the day of the disaster."

A nice enough gesture from him to offer a donation (on the advice of his PR people, perhaps) which the HJC have turned down, while accepting his apology. Seems reasonable enough on both sides to me.

[bobo the clown]

we would .... wish he was a little bit more sensitive about trying to understand why it matters so much to people that Liverpool does not play on the day of the disaster."

Well go on then ... I'm all ears.


We play on a similar anniversary, Stretford on theirs. I'm not aware that Rangers avoid theirs.

There is every reason for the particular families who lost a loved one to feel it very hard, but overall, the whole club, the whole city ? There is a point when you have to let it go. At least the institutionalised mourning. What an individual family does is their own shout.

Last weekend there was a minutes silence before the league game. Not quite on the day of the 23rd anniversary. I don't see it myself.

[Burnden Paddock]

Bradford refuse to play on the anniversary of the fire, too - do we slag them off for it as well?

Whether that's now true or not I don't know, but they did play Rotherham on 11th May 1991 on the 6th anniversary. Each time since that the 11th has fallen on a Saturday, the season has ended either on the 4th May or earlier. Yes. I was sad enough to check.

Btw which part of his comments were crass and insensitive?

[blurred]

Btw which part of his comments were crass and insensitive?

How about referring to the loss of 96 fellow football fans and how the club choose to mark it as "that gets on my tits, that shit". Would say that's pretty crass and insensitive (as were his comments about Spurs being run by 'absolute vermin' and the 'scum of the earth', but that's by the by).

Quite why it gets on his tits when it has never affected a Liverpool v Arsenal game, and the moving of it the few times it has happened (see posts above) has never affected an Arsenal game, and how the moving of it this time is in a competition that Arsenal are not even in, and does not affect them again, is puzzling.

[blurred]

Btw which part of his comments were crass and insensitive?

How about referring to the loss of 96 fellow football fans and how the club choose to mark it as "that gets on my tits, that shit". Would say that's pretty crass and insensitive (as were his comments about Spurs being run by 'absolute vermin' and the 'scum of the earth', but that's by the by).

Quite why it gets on his tits when it has never affected a Liverpool v Arsenal game, and the moving of it the few times it has happened (see posts above) has never affected an Arsenal game, and how the moving of it this time is in a competition that Arsenal are not even in, and does not affect them again, is puzzling.

Whether that's now true or not I don't know, but they did play Rotherham on 11th May 1991 on the 6th anniversary. Each time since that the 11th has fallen on a Saturday, the season has ended either on the 4th May or earlier. Yes. I was sad enough to check.

Pretty sure I remember reading that the club's board had voted to never play on the date again - will see if I can dig up the article later.

[Burnden Paddock]

Btw which part of his comments were crass and insensitive?

How about referring to the loss of 96 fellow football fans and how the club choose to mark it as "that gets on my tits, that shit". Would say that's pretty crass and insensitive (as were his comments about Spurs being run by 'absolute vermin' and the 'scum of the earth', but that's by the by).

Quite why it gets on his tits when it has never affected a Liverpool v Arsenal game, and the moving of it the few times it has happened (see posts above) has never affected an Arsenal game, and how the moving of it this time is in a competition that Arsenal are not even in, and does not affect them again, is puzzling.

I presume that you are referring to the sentence below. Which, whilst it could have been worded better, I don't think for one second that he had any intention to disrespect the memories of the 96 people that died, more to make the point of 'where will it all end'. Is there really a need to hold a memorial sevice each and every year? All this does is perpetuate the opinion of many that Scousers are professional mourners.

"Liverpool and the 15th. That gets on my tits that shit. What are you talking about, 'We won't play on the day'. Why can't they?"

As for the comments on Spurs, that is absolute bollocks. I can guarantee that worse is said between United and Liverpool fans every day. Whilst us normal folks abhor the chants of 'Munich' can Liverpool and for that matter Bolton fans say that they are entirely innocent of this? It goes on all the time ffs.

[blurred]

As for the comments on Spurs, that is absolute bollocks. I can guarantee that worse is said between United and Liverpool fans every day. Whilst us normal folks abhor the chants of 'Munich' can Liverpool and for that matter Bolton fans say that they are entirely innocent of this? It goes on all the time ffs.

Yes, but we're not talking about these hypothetical people, and they're not broadcasting their hypothetical thoughts to however many tens of thousands of people on a public platform. With a public profile comes a certain responsibility - a reported comment in a conversation is one thing, but in a podcast that's being put in the public domain you shouldn't say things like that, because they're bound to attract criticism. If it was a one-man-and-his-dog podcast downloaded by 50 people it'd be bad enough, never mind a high-profile celebrity.

[Gooner Girl]

As for the comments on Spurs, that is absolute bollocks. I can guarantee that worse is said between United and Liverpool fans every day. Whilst us normal folks abhor the chants of 'Munich' can Liverpool and for that matter Bolton fans say that they are entirely innocent of this? It goes on all the time ffs.

Yes, but we're not talking about these hypothetical people, and they're not broadcasting their hypothetical thoughts to however many tens of thousands of people on a public platform. With a public profile comes a certain responsibility - a reported comment in a conversation is one thing, but in a podcast that's being put in the public domain you shouldn't say things like that, because they're bound to attract criticism. If it was a one-man-and-his-dog podcast downloaded by 50 people it'd be bad enough, never mind a high-profile celebrity.

I found the comments about spurs funny - but then i would

[Burnden Paddock]

As for the comments on Spurs, that is absolute bollocks. I can guarantee that worse is said between United and Liverpool fans every day. Whilst us normal folks abhor the chants of 'Munich' can Liverpool and for that matter Bolton fans say that they are entirely innocent of this? It goes on all the time ffs.

Yes, but we're not talking about these hypothetical people, and they're not broadcasting their hypothetical thoughts to however many tens of thousands of people on a public platform. With a public profile comes a certain responsibility - a reported comment in a conversation is one thing, but in a podcast that's being put in the public domain you shouldn't say things like that, because they're bound to attract criticism. If it was a one-man-and-his-dog podcast downloaded by 50 people it'd be bad enough, never mind a high-profile celebrity.

'Comedian in being controversial shocker'.

None of his comments excuse the comments on his twitter from Liverpool 'fans' threatening amongst other things, death! You can guarantee that 99% of the idiots issuing these threat haven't even heard the podcast or even read the twisted version posted on the 'Rhubarb Grumble' blog. Have these people learnt anything from Liam Stacey? Obviously not.

[Gooner Girl]

Apparently Davies is due a gig in Liverpool later this year! That'll be popular then...

[blurred]

'Comedian in being controversial shocker'.

Who said I found it surprising? It's obviously designed to court publicity/controversy, which it has succeeded in doing.

None of his comments excuse the comments on his twitter from Liverpool 'fans' threatening amongst other things, death! You can guarantee that 99% of the idiots issuing these threat haven't even heard the podcast or even read the twisted version posted on the 'Rhubarb Grumble' blog. Have these people learnt anything from Liam Stacey? Obviously not.

No, they don't, and those people who are sending death threats or over the top abuse are morons, and I hope they get reported and followed up in the same way the various racist and other malicious communications have been in recent months. People need to learn to get a grip - his comments aren't the end of the world and don't need to be met with such vitriol, but they're still pretty stupid.

[Montreal Wanderer]

They're at it again. The Titanic - built in Belfast, set off from Southampton, sunk off of the coast of Canada. There's a whole piece on Northwest Tonight about Scousers mourning its loss and its links with Liverpool simply because it had Liverpool painted on it. The bint on the tele has just claimed, and get this, Liverpool to be its 'spiritual home'. It was a pile of fecking tin, Love, a pile of tin that never went anywhere near the fecking Mersey!!!! Do they want to move any matches for that one too? Astley Bridge has more links with the bloddy thing than Liverpool does.

Sorry, we Canadians deny any connection or responsibility. It sank of the coast of Newfoundland, not then part of Canada. and the iceberg came from Greenland which belonged to Denmark.

There you go, GG - two pedants in this thread now.

As for the main theme, I don't really understand how one team can unilaterally refuse to play on a certain date sine die. I can certainly understand cancellation of a fixture because of some recent compelling circumstance but to allow it to continue indefinitely makes the league seem pretty Mickey Mouse to me - tails should not wag the dog. There is certainly enough time in a day to schedule a game and a memorial service if necessary.

[Lord Kangana]

Anyway, Alan Davies is a big fat f*cking hypocrite, because he berated us for hating Arsenal when we should have been applauding their exquisite football.

Why am I even talking about him ffs, the waste of airtime.

[fatshaft]

Spot on GG.

Of course the Liverpool game should be on the Sunday to help Chelsea have a better chance in the champions league.

Theres always one... Pedant.

No pedantry involved at all, I was 100% genuinely agreeing with you.

Chelsea Spurs should be the Saturday game and the Liverpool game should be on the Sunday irrespective of the date.

Other countries clear weeks for their teams to play champs league games, yet we seem to make it harder for ours......

Absoltue horseshit. How does Chelsea doing well affect other teams? Oh yes, that's right, they get more money with which to further subjugate the lesser clubs.

Will Bolton ever see a CL place? Highly, nay certainly, not, so wtf difference does Chelsea doing well make? Would you be proud if they won the CL? I can't comment becasue I'm not English, but I can assure you if the Tims or huns won it (or the UEFA cup) I would NOT be proud (though any other team I would almost certainly be pleased for them), so gtf with the 'help them' argument.

Chelsea progressing helps our UEFA coefficient which maintains the number of places in Europe we get (champions league and UEFA cup) now yes whether Chelsea proceed or not is not going to make a major difference to that....

And yes I couldn't care less how well Chelsea do.

But this is not about Bolton, or about being a fan. Its about the football authorities fecking up a clubs chance in Europe because they are absolutely clueless and because Liverpool refuse to play on a certain date.

In Portugal they've been known to cancel league games for their champions league teams in that week.

Our FA seem incapable of even coming up with a half satisfactory schedule to let Chelsea compete.

I don't care specifically about Chelsea, but were it us in any competition I would. And if the FA won't help Chelsea at all, then you can imagine what they'd do with us.

I mean not only do they have to play on the Sunday but the game is scheduled for 6 fecking PM. 6PM on a Sunday.

Had we beaten Spurs then we'd be heading down to Wembley for a Sunday evening game? What sort of utter shite is that?

Not only will they make Chelsea play Sunday Wednesday because of their incompetence and Liverpool's desire to mourn something ad infinitum, they'll also put the fixture as late as damn possible. Cos that makes sense!!!!!!!!!

Please explain what benefit this is for any team outwith the top half dozen in England?