IT’S 21 years since Everton and Liverpool fans defied death to gain access to the first all-Mersey FA Cup Final. Twenty-one years . . . but still we haven’t come of age. We gazed in awe, and secretly smiled in admiration back in 1986, at TV footage of fans leaping like Spider-Man, minus the web-shooters, across a hundred foot high divide to get into Wembley. Fans prepared to go to such lengths to watch their beloved teams were seen as lovable rogues. Scousers were praised for their passion and devotion for their teams – not to mention their behaviour at that and the previous Milk Cup Final. But times have changed. Ticketless fans who try to gain access to football matches may be rogues. But loveable they are not. Just ask the unfortunate Liverpool supporters who returned home from a wretched experience in Athens still clutching complete tickets for the European Cup Final. Just listen to the words of this desperate eye-witness. “My heart sank as I stood and watched what was happening. After what happened in Sheffield in 1989 I couldn’t believe Liverpool fans, of all people, could do such dangerous things. “I honestly feared people were going to get crushed and we were going to have another Hillsborough. It was disgusting. The people who stormed into the stadium are scum of the earth. “They put at risk hundreds of lives and should be ashamed of themselves. The vast majority of Liverpool fans are impeccably behaved, but there has always been a hard core of mindless thugs that ruin it for the rest. It hurts me to say this, but I won’t be following Liverpool on their travels in future.” No, not more scapegoat seeking nonsense from William Gaillard, but the words of Phil Hammond, the chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group who lost his son in the tragedy. When he utters such words we are forced to ask have any lessons really been learned? Some fans, and we must stress this is very much a minority, see ‘bunking in’ as some kind of badge of honour – the more difficult the circumstances the greater the ‘honour.’ Rubbish, of course. These low-life are scumbags who bring shame on Liverpool and tarnish the celebrated reputation the law-abiding fans have created with the vibrant, passionate and rightly famous European nights at Anfield. And it is why, outside this city, some will nod their heads in agreement when William Gaillard describes Liverpool fans as the “worst in Europe.” Is it a culture peculiar to our city? In May 2003 an estimated 80,000 fans from Glasgow – a city often compared to our own – travelled to Seville for the UEFA Cup Final. Less than a quarter had tickets for the 53,000 capacity stadium. Four months later UEFA awarded a special plaque to the club for the impeccable behaviour of their supporters. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. And those handful of idiots who caused mayhem in Athens have made it more difficult for us to challenge the other villains of the Athens piece, UEFA. European football’s governing body would genuinely struggle to stage the proverbial you know what in the Cain’s Brewery on Stanhope Street – too much Cain’s branding around, you see. That’s why Istanbul was chosen two years ago, Athens this year, Moscow next year for their showpiece final. They want arenas without evidence of corporate partners, so they can plaster their own advertisers all over the place. Liverpool fans actually saved UEFA’s skins in Istanbul, by helping snap up so many tickets which the ‘European family’ clearly didn’t fancy for a final in such a remote outpost. Sadly Athens proved more popular with the prawn sandwich brigade. The Olympic Stadium in Athens was not an appropriate venue for a major football match, but only because some of our supporters refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions. The ticket allocation was a joke. UEFA is a shambolically run institution – and the overwhelming majority of Liverpool supporters are decent, passionate, law-abiding citizens. But until we get to grips with the minority, we can’t take on UEFA from the moral high ground. Until then, nothing will change. | 
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