With schools, colleges and
universities closed today, British sport stepped in to host me on Day 145 of my
BRIT 2012 mile walk today in the county of Merseyside.
Merseyside is a metropolitan
county in North West England with a population nearing 1.4 million. Merseyside
encompasses the metropolitan area centered on both banks of the lower reached
of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs; Knowsley, St
Helens, Sefton, Wirral and the city of Liverpool. The Liverpool Urban Area
is the seventh most populated city in the UK and dominates the geographic
centre of the county.
Liverpool proudly boasts two
Football Clubs steeped in history, and with introductions from BRIT Advisor,
Phil Jones, I was honoured to be hosted today by Everton Football Club and
Liverpool Football Club.
Everton Football Club http://www.evertonfc.com/home/ are an English professional
association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the
Premier League, the highest level of English football. They have competed in
the top division for a record 108 seasons, they have played more top-flight
league games than any other English team and have won the League Championship
nine times—the fourth most of any team. Everton have remained in the top
division since 1954, and were founding members of the Premier League in 1992.
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| Day 145 of the BRIT 2012 mile walk at Goodison Park home of Everton Football Club |
Formed in 1878, Everton were founding members of The Football League in
1888. The club's supporters are known as Evertonians. Everton have a large
fan-base and regularly attract high attendances, averaging over 36,000 people
per game: 95% of stadium capacity. Everton have a notable rivalry with
neighbours Liverpool Football Club and the two sides regularly contest the
Merseyside Derby. Liverpool Football Club was formed in 1892 by a breakaway
group consisting of Everton's former president and a few players. The dispute
also resulted in Everton leaving Anfield, their home ground at the time. The club
has been based at their current home ground, Goodison Park, since 1892.
The community support from
Everton Football Club is through their charity, Everton in the Community, which
is led by Denise Barrett-Baxendale, the Chief Executive. Everton in the
Community is a remarkably visionary organisation that provides;
· Everton Giving http://community.evertonfc.com/everton-giving/
which supports over 1500
charities every year
· Social Inclusion http://community.evertonfc.com/social-inclusion/
which works with Kickz
Project and The Prince’s Trust
· Education http://community.evertonfc.com/education/
through Everton Free School, Level 3
BTEC Extended, National Diploma in Sport
and Foundation Learning
· Equality http://community.evertonfc.com/social-inclusion/everton-equality/
through Alder
Hey Children’s Hospital and Everton4All
It was a pleasure to walk at Everton Football Club today and I am sincerely
grateful to Robert Elstone, the Chief Executive, for his support. My
thanks also go to John Howard for looking after me today and to Carena Duffy,
Fundraising Officer, for making me feel so welcome.
From Everton Football Club, I made my way to Anfield, the home of Liverpool
Football Club http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/
Liverpool Football Club is an English professional football club based in
Liverpool, Merseyside, playing in the Premier League. Liverpool has won
eighteen League titles, second most in English Football, seven FA Cups and a
record eight League Cups. Liverpool has won more European titles than any other
English club, having won five European Cups, three UEFA Cups and three UEFA Super
Cups.
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| Day 145 of the BRIT 2012 mile walk at Anfield home of Liverpool Football Club |
Liverpool was founded in 1892 and admitted into the Football League the
following year. The club has played at its home ground, Anfield, since its
formation. The most successful period in Liverpool's history was the 1970s and
'80s, when Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley led the club to eleven league titles
and seven European trophies.
I was 17 years old when The Hillsborough disaster occurred during the
semi-final FA Cup tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest football clubs on
the 15th April 1989 at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. The
crush resulted in the deaths of 95 people on the day and 1 man dying later in
hospital, with a total of 766 others being injured. All of them were fans of
Liverpool Football Club.
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| Honoured to be shown, by Liverpool staff, the Hillsborough Memorial for the 96 Liverpool supporters who died tragically on 15th April 1989 |
I have never been to Liverpool Football Club before and once I had walked
inside the stadium, staff very kindly showed me to the Memorial to the victims
of the disaster. I was very moved by the Memorial, the ages of the Liverpool fans
that lost their lives and the tributes at the foot of the Memorial. It is easy
to think you know a little of a tragic event that has occurred, however
standing in front of the Memorial was a very humbling experience. Looking up
and to the left of the Memorial, the words “YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE” stand out
on the Shankly Gate and it is an extraordinarily emotional experience to read
each of the 96 names and listen to the staff of Liverpool Football Club quietly
tell me some of the remarkable tributes that have been paid since that day to
those that lost their lives and their families.
The Hillsborough disaster touched not only Liverpool themselves, but also
clubs in England and around the world as well. In particular, supporters of
Everton, Liverpool's traditional local rivals, were affected by the tragedy,
many of them having lost friends and family. They laid down flowers and blue
& white scarves to show their respect for the dead and unity with Liverpool
fans soon afterwards.
On the 19th April 1989, the Wednesday after the disaster, a
European Cup semi-final between A.C. Milan and Real Madrid was played. The
referee blew his whistle 3 minutes and 6 seconds into the game to stop play and
hold a minute's silence for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough. Half
way through the minute's silence, the A.C. Milan fans sang Liverpool's “You’ll
Never Walk Alone” as a sign of respect.
As a result of the disaster, Liverpool's game with Arsenal was delayed to
the end of the season. The Arsenal players brought flowers onto the pitch and
presented them to the Liverpool fans around the stadium before the game.
There is a lit flame in the centre of the two panels of names on the Anfield Memorial and I was told today that the two flames on either side of the Liverpool Football Club crest were added as a memorial to those that lost their lives following the disaster.
I am sincerely grateful to Ian Ayre, Managing Director of Liverpool
Football Club, for his support. I felt honoured and privileged to spend time at
Anfield and to be shown the Hillsborough Memorial at Anfield by staff from
Liverpool Football Club. The link to Liverpool Football Club’s community work
is here; http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/community
From Liverpool Football Club I went on to Langtree Park, home of St Helens
Rugby League Football Club http://www.saintsrlfc.com/
St Helens Rugby League Football Club, nicknamed The Saints, is a
professional rugby league club from St Helens, Merseyside who play in the Super
League. They were a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union. They
have been league champions on 12 occasions and runners up 12 times. St Helens are also the second most successful side
in the Challenge, their 12 wins placing them behind only their rivals Wigan,
and have appeared in 21 finals. They moved in to their new home, the new
Langtree Stadium at Peasley Cross Lane, St Helens in January 2012.
In partnership with St Helens
RLFC, the Saints Community Development Foundation (SCDF) addresses such topics
as social inclusion, health promotion, sports coaching, anti-racism,
anti-bullying, player development, local heritage and raising educational
attainment by using rugby league as a tool to improving personal and social
skills. Each year the Foundation formulates the delivery of projects that work
directly with more than 50,000 local young people.
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| Day 145 at Langtree Park home of St Helens 'The Saints' Rugby League Football Club |
Saints Community Development
Foundation's ultimate aim is to make a difference in their community and as a
charitable organisation, now relies on donations, grants and funding from
government, local agencies and organisations as well as subscribed activities.
These funds are vital to enable Community Saints to not only continue, but to
further develop their good work across the town. If you would like to support
the Foundation, their Just Giving link is here; http://www.justgiving.com/teams/community
I am grateful to Mike Appleton at
St Helens for supporting me today.
This has been a day of gaining greater understanding of community
supporting sport and those sports supporting their communities.
I am finishing the 145th day of the BRIT 2012 mile walk with
1025 miles to go and am now overnighting in Skipton, North Yorkshire before
heading to Blackpool tomorrow morning.
Best wishes,
Phil