The majority of Crystal Palace supporters did not boo during the minute’s silence at Wembley Stadium yesterday in respect of the Liverpool striker Diogo Jota who, along with his brother André Silva, was killed in a tragic car accident last month, but the ones who did shamed themselves and their club. That the referee Chris Kavanagh felt obliged to end the minute’s silence after just 20 seconds because of the booing and subsequent angry response by some Liverpool fans went to remind me of one of the reasons I no longer wish to attend professional football matches. The match that followed, the Community Shield, which is basically another pre-season friendly match with a trophy at the end, slipped into irrelevance, at least for me. Two young men, aged 28 and 25 had died, yet there were people, a minority to be sure but a very vocal minority, who thought it perfectly fine to disrespect their memory.
Many a long year has passed since the very much younger me joined in the chants of “let him die” when an opposition player was injured. I am fairly confident I have not crossed the line further by joining other hateful chants and songs, but I was present, if not involved, when others did join in. And what did I do about it? Beyond getting angry? Nothing. Did I call out racism, homophobia or even the lunatic at Bristol Rovers Memorial Stadium who launched into a tirade of abuse against the Millwall player Neil Harris who had lost a testicle because of cancer? (“You fucking eunuch, Harris.”) Occasionally, I think, but mainly to my eternal shame I did nothing, apart from writing about it for various publications and websites. Not so brave, was I? But back to Wembley yesterday. What makes someone boo a minute’s silence in respect of two young men who had lost their lives?
It is important to point out that before the minute’s silence was proceeded by the National Anthem which was loudly booed by a large number of Liverpool fans. It always is. Liverpudlians have never forgotten how Margaret Thatcher actively sought to bring about a managed decline of the city and then there is Hillsborough where successive governments mishandled and misreported on what happened at Hillsborough in 1989. The passing of the years and the change of generations has done nothing to eradicate the raw emotions that hang over Liverpool in general and Liverpool Football Club in particular. Is it possible that some Palace supporters thought it fair game to boo during the minute’s silence for Diogo Jota and André Silva after the Liverpool fans booed the national anthem? Obviously, I wasn’t there but I wouldn’t be surprised.
For the hard of thinking, I suppose there could be some level of equivalence. “Those scousers booed ‘our’ national anthem, so we will return the favour by booing a tribute to two young men who were killed in a car accident”. It’s complete nonsense, a false equivalence. You might have an issue with Liverpool fans booing the national anthem – and given how governments have treated Liverpool + added Hillsborough, I don’t – but it is clearly not the same thing, not even vaguely the same thing. The idiots who booed during the tribute to Jota and Silva should hang their heads in shame but for them it was probably little more than a bit of a laugh.
Should the actions of a moronic minority ruin an occasion like that? Well, they did for me. It’s probably the lily-livered snowflake I have become. For some reason, I didn’t think wrecking a minute’s silence was in any way acceptable, but perhaps I am wallowing in nostalgia, imagining I am living in the past when this sort of thing would never have happened. But that era never happened, either, the sepia-lined pictures of a time when everyone was far kinder and gentler, where no one ever locked their doors because crime didn’t exist and bigotry had yet to be invented.
It was at best unthinking idiots and at worst bad people who trashed the good name of Crystal Palace yesterday afternoon. I felt like switching off the TV there and then because now the game didn’t really matter. Hate and loathing had won. It probably hadn’t because most fans, most people, aren’t like that and have at the very least some sense of decency and kindness.
Well done Crystal Palace for winning the Community Shield. I felt they deserved their victory over 90 minutes and they certainly deserved it as Liverpool demonstrated a complete inability to take penalties. I moved on immediately after the game due to the fact that I like Liverpool but I am not an active supporter. However, it’s hard to get the feelings of disgust out of my head. The booing simply reminded us that there are still some proper wrong ‘uns in the country, not just those who chant Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s adopted name outside hotels where asylum seekers are temporarily staying.
Most people are good people. It’s just that a significant minority try to ruin things for everyone else. New football season, same old shit. Roll on next summer.
