What Is A Liverpool?
What does Liverpool mean to you? A football club, The Beatles, or maybe you’ll ask, “What is a Liverpool?” But to myself and countless others, it means family, passion, anger, and love.
READ MORE: Liverpool vs. City by J.D. Smith
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As an American Scouser, nothing beats waking up at 7 AM on a Sunday to watch twenty-two people kick a ball around a pitch. Most of the time I’m with my Scouse family, sometimes I am alone. Nowadays, you can find me at Fado’s Buckhead cheering on the Reds with the Atlanta Reds. But no matter what though, I never walk alone. This is because at the same time as me thousands across the globe at the same second experience the same joy, anger, or disappointment I feel.
To be a Scouser doesn’t mean you were born in Liverpool, or your family is from there. To be Scouse you need to be resilient, prideful, and supportive of all people. This is what Liverpool represents to me! A club soaked in the pages of history, with some of the greatest footballers to ever grace the pitch. Said list includes the likes of Billy Liddell, Ian St. John, Roger Hunt, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Steven Gerrard, and of course star boy Mohamed Salah. The list is endless.
Anfield – A Home For All
Something unique to Liverpool that most big clubs can’t say is that every one of these players has played on the same pitch. They’ve traversed the same stadium. The greatest stadium on this planet is Anfield. If you were to ask me what Liverpool is besides the emotions I listed, I would say Anfield. The atmosphere is indescribable from the Kop to the Anfield Road end.
Every supporter is singing, chanting, and cheering on the team to win, lose, or draw. The same grass, the same fans, the same stands have seen some of the greatest moments in sports history. Terry McDermott hit, as the great Bob Paisley said, “the best goal Anfield has ever seen”. Let’s not forget my personal favorite, “Corner taken quickly…” Now we are witnessing one of the best managers of all time in the final few matches in front of the Kop.
Our Departing Manager – Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp is the greatest manager I’ve seen in my lifetime, the one who made us dare to dream again. After seasons of failures and Steven Gerrard’s famous slip, we won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Club World Cup, two League Cups, and a Community Shield. Now in Klopp’s final season with an injury-stricken side, with major players being replaced by backups or players so young they’ve never played a first-team game before, we are pushing for something that’s never been done before- THE QUADRUPLE.
This isn’t the first time we’ve pushed for it either. Just two years ago we were in the same boat. Will we win it this year? Probably not, but that doesn’t change the fight that these players and staff have put up. Against all the odds pundits have doubted us all season long. Referees have screwed us all numerous times over. But we still fight. Why are we still fighting? The players and the fans will tell you just one word: Klopp. Jurgen Klopp is Liverpool.
You’ll Never Walk Alone
When you think of football traditions, I bet the first thing that comes into your head is 61,000 people singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. If you haven’t heard it before just Google it. If you have any human emotions, it’ll bring tears to your eyes. The song has been with us since the 1960s, but after Heysel and Hillsborough this song took on a whole new meaning. Survivors, families of victims, supporters from our club, and even others, rally around this song as a tribute to such horrible disasters.
And to the select few who chose to mock and disrespect those who suffer, screw you. Every time I hear “You’ll Never Walk Alone’’ I take it almost as a prayer time. I think about my dreams, failures, depression, the 97, the hungry, the suffering. Every time I sing or hear it, I know, I’ll never walk alone. Thousands of reds have my back and I have their back as well.
Liverpool Across The World
If you were to ask Google, “How many square miles is the city of Liverpool?” you would be misinformed. The answer they give you is “about 43 square miles.” The correct answer is 196 million. I am fortunate enough to travel a lot. Every place I go, especially when I’m wearing red gear, I get people saying hello and we stop and chat about the club.
Also, there are over 300 official supporter clubs across the globe. That means there could be almost 21½ supporter clubs every square mile inside what Google would lead you to believe is the limits of the city of Liverpool. Also, there are probably hundreds more unofficial supporter clubs. These clubs also just don’t sit around and drink and scream at a team, they put their money where their mouth is and they represent the club with pride.
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The Atlanta Supporters Club, for example, welcomes every new member or non-member who crosses the doorway of Fado’s on a match day. Maryanne will stop and share a word and smile with every person who’s there, she also passes out little candies if you need a sweet treat. She’s funny and kind, and bleeds blood red, and represents the club with pride! She’s not the only one who does that as well. Every single person in Fado’s will cheer, laugh, and cry with you.
Don’t think that the party’s over when the match is over. Nope! Sometimes they’ll stay around all day and watch the matches throughout the day. New York, Seattle, London, Seychelles, Japan, Maldives. No matter where you are in the world; New York, Seattle, London, Seychelles, Japan, Maldives, odds are there’s a supporters club near you, ready to welcome you with a big ole Maryanne-style hug and smile. If there’s not a club near your home odds are also good that there’s a red near you who wants a friend to watch the match with. So put yourself out there, because football (like everything else) is better when you have somebody to share it with. Liverpool is love.
