A Victory For Football

It truly was the start of autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. An afternoon when we had the Fields of Anfield Road and Stevie Heighway on the wing and dreams and songs to sing. And a huge banner of the Liverpool badge moving slowly across the Kop bearing the motto ‘Our club, our crest, our life’.

They had come from all around to honour the 96 who died at Hillsborough on April 15, 1989 in the first home game since the independent panel’s report exonerated every Liverpool fan and roundly condemned the behaviour of the South Yorkshire police. They returned home with Liverpool still in the bottom three, as they continued their worst start to a season since 1911 with a contentious home defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Manchester United.That made it five games, no wins and just two points.

As for 1911, it was the year before the Titanic struck an iceberg. Like Liverpool, it was supposed to be unsinkable. But it still went down. The key moment before yesterday’s kick-off came and went with everyone breathing a sigh of relief as Luis Suarez effected a boxer’s touching of gloves with Patrice Evra in the pre-match handshake. So far so good, though it seems strange to find ourselves in a situation where we are applauding footballers for merely acting like human beings.

Bobby Charlton then presented Ian Rush with an enormous bouquet of dark red roses, while rival skippers Steven Gerrard and Ryan Giggs released 96 red balloons. A stirring proclamation over the Tannoy spoke of the exoneration of the fans and the further uniting of a club that has endured its fair share of tragedy. This was applauded by the 2,500 United fans at the Anfield Road End and, by that, they helped ensure it would be a good day for football. Implicit in that very same proclamation — but not mentioned — is how the fight will go on for a new inquest for both compensation and to nail the real culprits behind the scandal of Hillsborough.

Then came the unveiling of huge mosaics on three sides of the ground - ‘96, ‘Justice’ and, on the Kop, ‘The Truth’. After that, we had ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, with the Anfield crowd rarely in finer voice. United boss Alex Ferguson had asked his club’s supporters for an afternoon of respect and restraint, above all to refrain from the sort of chants that for so long have tarnished our national game. Yes, they interrupted the Liverpool anthem with loud shouts of support for their own team. Yes, every time Gerrard went over to take a corner in front of them he got a mouthful. And, yes, there was one particular low point when the same fans chanted ‘Where’s your famous Munich songs?’ But a chorus of boos from all corners of the ground seemed to remind them this was probably not the day for things like that. Then again, no one really expected it to be all sweetness and light between supporters of the two old foes from different ends of the East Lancs Road.

No one expected hostilities to be abandoned for 90 minutes and replaced by a Manc-Scouse love-in. There’s never much civility in this Lancashire Civil War — and that’s the way they like it. And the way they wanted it yesterday. So, after remembering and respecting the dead, we had what we had come to see — a football match. Yes, there may be some high and mighty columnising elsewhere of how the sanctity of the day was ruined by events out on the pitch. But is anyone surprised?

And so we had Jonjo Shelvey sent off in the 39th minute, after clattering into Jonny Evans with an off-the-ground tackle that saw his right foot hit first the ball and then Evans’ leg. Yes, Evans didn’t exactly hold back but, unlike Shelvey, there didn’t seem the same intent. And so we had United players surrounding referee Mark Halsey, who, under the most severe provocation from players and fans alike, stuck solidly to his task, refusing to be bullied. And so we also had Shelvey shouting and jabbing his finger at Ferguson as he headed for the tunnel. And finally we had Ferguson bringing on Paul Scholes (no doubt to calm everything down).

Needless to say, the United veteran was booked after 13 minutes, when he produced one of the finer tackles from his vast repertoire in attempting to cut young Raheem Sterling in half. As for the football, Gerrard gave Liverpool the lead just after the break with a left-foot volley, Rafael Da Silva equalised six minutes later and the match was finally settled in the only way possible. From the penalty spot, as Robin van Persie scored after Glen Johnson had brought down Antonio Valencia and United sealed a first Anfield win since December 2007.

We had come for a memorial service to honour those who died 23 years ago and to celebrate the righting of wrongs and the most famous victory in the history of Liverpool Football Club. Then a football match broke out, with all the intense rivalry, passion and bloody-minded determination that makes this clash one of the stand-out fixtures of every season. It was a fitting tribute to all those unable to attend.