Liverpool fans tentatively back on the road after the horrors of Paris
As Champions League football returns this week, so too does the worry and anxiety many Liverpool supporters have harboured since those scenes in Paris on May 28.
This lingering trepidation is not helped by the fact Liverpool are facing Napoli for the third time in four years in the competition’s group stages. Naples is not a city renowned for its welcoming attitude towards travelling fans.
“We usually go for about four days and spend a couple of days in the city before the day of the match,” says Ted Morris, chairman of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association. “It’s a nice place and we enjoy it, but something changes when midnight strikes on the day of the game — it just becomes a scary place, you can almost feel it in the air.”
Morris was at the Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris with his wife Lynn and two daughters Nicole and Saffron.
“I got attacked after the game. We got left in the underpass and some locals started attacking us. I’m in a wheelchair so I can’t run, so I said to my wife, ‘If this gets any worse just run and leave me’. It was grim, especially when we got to the station and the police pepper sprayed and tear-gassed us. Being in a wheelchair is always difficult and it does bring an extra level of vulnerability. You just have to hope other human beings wouldn’t target someone in a wheelchair, but that all came home to roost in Paris. It didn’t matter who you were. Man, woman, child, able-bodied or disabled — you were a target. That’s the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like that. That’s how bad Paris was.”
Morris’ two daughters travel everywhere to watch Liverpool but will not be going to Naples after what happened in the French capital.
To ensure the safety of fans, those with a ticket to the game are being instructed by the club to meet at Stazione Marittima, located at Naples Marine terminal, at 4pm local time on Wednesday. From there, they will be taken in coaches under police escort to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. After the game, fans will be held in the ground for one hour before being returned to the port.
This matchday protocol is not too dissimilar to that in place for fans of other visiting clubs and is something Liverpool supporters have experienced twice in recent years.
“We get down to the port and they bus us in and they bus us out,” Morris says. “It is just that fear of foreboding that something might happen. You might get mugged, you might get attacked. The worst thing is when we get brought back to the port after the game and it is pitch black. It’s a terrifying place to go. When we were there in 2019 there were no police waiting for us. That is scary for anyone and especially me as a wheelchair user, so we have asked and been assured that there will be police to meet us this time.”
There will be accessible coaches for fans who require them but Morris says he will be surprised if more than six supporters with accessibility requirements will be in attendance, even though there are 38 wheelchair bays at the ground.
“We have two accessible coaches in the port to cater for everyone but I know a lot of European regulars, wheelchair users, who are not going. That is worrying in itself because we have been everywhere in Europe. So I can only assume that is the impact Paris has had on supporters.
“I remember one of my daughters saying you go to Anfield and for 90 minutes you forgot about whatever else is going on in your life. But because of what happened at the Stade de France, that 90 minutes has been taken away from a lot of people. There are two little lads who sit by me in the wheelchair bays at Anfield, James and Harry, and I just hope they get to look forward to life following the Reds. That’s all we want — to be able to safely follow our team.”
Niki Cornish was at the final in Paris and will be making her third trip to Naples in four years to watch Liverpool.
“When I got back from France, someone who doesn’t support Liverpool said to me, ‘You must be gutted you lost’. I said, ‘Most people couldn’t have cared less and actually, I’m just glad that no one died’ because I think if Liverpool fans hadn’t been so calm, people definitely would have died,” she reflects. “But then after about three weeks, the fact I felt like that made me angry at UEFA. How dare we feel that way after we’ve spent all this money and time travelling around Europe to reach the final and we’re just grateful to be alive.”
Cornish has travelled all over to watch Liverpool and says Naples is not the only problematic place to visit. She has felt uneasy in several European cities and her experiences are not isolated ones. And they are not endured by Liverpool fans alone.
Fans across the continent are growing unhappy year on year with the mistreatment they encounter when following their teams. Football Supporters Europe (FSE) is one of the groups trying to bring about positive change.
“A focus for us is to improve the conditions in the stadiums and put more scrutiny on what clubs are doing to host away fans — to push them to do better and, eventually, when they don’t do what they have to do, they are sanctioned,” explains Ronan Evain, the executive director of FSE. “There are some clubs in different countries who are very good at hosting away fans, but there are still some clubs who act in bad faith and do as little as possible.
“Since the draws were made we’ve been helping supporters groups organise their away games. We tell them what to expect from the club, the country and the local police. Some clubs help their fans prepare for trips but that is not always the case. And then if things go wrong, we can help them to better understand what their rights are.”
There is a feeling among some that this help must start with each club. For Liverpool fans, they will have the heightened support of the club in Naples. On Friday, as is the procedure for high-profile games home and away, there was a meeting with fan groups, club officials and Merseyside Police to talk through what will be in place.
As well as a team of club stewards who will be on hand in Naples, Merseyside Police officers are also being deployed to advise local police. They have no powers in Italy but have been invited for their support and to help share any relevant information with fans.
The club will also have Yonit Sharabi, supporter liaison officer of more than a decade, on hand. There is a dedicated phone number and email address that will be open two hours before kick-off and for three hours after for fans to contact should they need to. Fans are also being advised to check @LFCHelp on Twitter for any updates.
Alongside this, there is still counselling available to anyone struggling after their experience in Paris. The club have also promised this support will continue for the foreseeable.
Fans have widely objected to their obligation to collect tickets from somewhere in Naples on the day of the game or days leading up to the game. It is felt this process is not only unsafe (with a large number of fans being forced to head to one location), but it also eats into the time fans want to be using to enjoy their midweek getaway. This issue was immediately raised by Liverpool supporters union Spirit of Shankly (SOS) and fan group Spion Kop 1906.
This backlash forced the club to re-evaluate their plans and discussions between the newly formed supporters’ board are set to take place soon. It is thought this is the first time the supporters’ board, which was established in response to Liverpool’s involvement in the European Super League, will be on hand to give their input on issues like this.
Napoli’s stadium can operate with e-tickets. This is understood to have relieved pressure on the timescale for discussions, but The Athletic understands a meeting will still take place soon given Liverpool fans will be travelling to Glasgow on October 12 and Amsterdam on October 26 to face Rangers and Ajax.
“We haven’t actually convened as a formal board with the club yet so that’s positive that despite not having sat around a table, we’re in a position to organise high-level discussions,” says Joe Blott, the elected chair of the board as well as chairman of SOS. “One of the reasons the supporters’ board has been put in place is so we can have a longer-term strategy over some of these issues.”
But still, there is a feeling among some that even with an added impetus on the safety of supporters, many problems remain. And for a lot of people, events in Paris have changed the way they feel about football on the whole.
“I can’t see myself doing any European away trips for the foreseeable future and part of it still is the ever-growing anger and resentment at how football fans are treated abroad,” Dan Kay, a Liverpool fan and football writer, tells The Athletic. “It is hard to see police and UEFA attitudes towards fans getting better any time soon given the increasingly authoritarian times we live in. I’ve already decided even if Liverpool did get to the final in Istanbul I won’t be going. I was lucky enough to go in 2005 and 2019 but at this stage of my life, I’m fed up with being treated like a criminal just because I’m a football supporter.”
He is not alone in feeling that way.
In a few weeks, the interim findings of the independent report commissioned by UEFA into what happened at the Champions League final will be revealed. In November, those findings will be published in full. There is hope that the contents of this report will be a catalyst for change.
https://theathletic.com/3563396/2022/09/05/liverpool-fans-paris-napoli/
Liverpool fans tentatively back on the road after the horrors of Paris
As Champions League football returns this week, so too does the worry and anxiety many Liverpool supporters have harboured since those scenes in Paris on May 28.
This lingering trepidation is not helped by the fact Liverpool are facing Napoli for the third time in four years in the competition’s group stages. Naples is not a city renowned for its welcoming attitude towards travelling fans.
“We usually go for about four days and spend a couple of days in the city before the day of the match,” says Ted Morris, chairman of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association. “It’s a nice place and we enjoy it, but something changes when midnight strikes on the day of the game — it just becomes a scary place, you can almost feel it in the air.”
Morris was at the Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris with his wife Lynn and two daughters Nicole and Saffron.
“I got attacked after the game. We got left in the underpass and some locals started attacking us. I’m in a wheelchair so I can’t run, so I said to my wife, ‘If this gets any worse just run and leave me’. It was grim, especially when we got to the station and the police pepper sprayed and tear-gassed us. Being in a wheelchair is always difficult and it does bring an extra level of vulnerability. You just have to hope other human beings wouldn’t target someone in a wheelchair, but that all came home to roost in Paris. It didn’t matter who you were. Man, woman, child, able-bodied or disabled — you were a target. That’s the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like that. That’s how bad Paris was.”
Morris’ two daughters travel everywhere to watch Liverpool but will not be going to Naples after what happened in the French capital.
To ensure the safety of fans, those with a ticket to the game are being instructed by the club to meet at Stazione Marittima, located at Naples Marine terminal, at 4pm local time on Wednesday. From there, they will be taken in coaches under police escort to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. After the game, fans will be held in the ground for one hour before being returned to the port.
This matchday protocol is not too dissimilar to that in place for fans of other visiting clubs and is something Liverpool supporters have experienced twice in recent years.
“We get down to the port and they bus us in and they bus us out,” Morris says. “It is just that fear of foreboding that something might happen. You might get mugged, you might get attacked. The worst thing is when we get brought back to the port after the game and it is pitch black. It’s a terrifying place to go. When we were there in 2019 there were no police waiting for us. That is scary for anyone and especially me as a wheelchair user, so we have asked and been assured that there will be police to meet us this time.”
There will be accessible coaches for fans who require them but Morris says he will be surprised if more than six supporters with accessibility requirements will be in attendance, even though there are 38 wheelchair bays at the ground.
“We have two accessible coaches in the port to cater for everyone but I know a lot of European regulars, wheelchair users, who are not going. That is worrying in itself because we have been everywhere in Europe. So I can only assume that is the impact Paris has had on supporters.
“I remember one of my daughters saying you go to Anfield and for 90 minutes you forgot about whatever else is going on in your life. But because of what happened at the Stade de France, that 90 minutes has been taken away from a lot of people. There are two little lads who sit by me in the wheelchair bays at Anfield, James and Harry, and I just hope they get to look forward to life following the Reds. That’s all we want — to be able to safely follow our team.”
Niki Cornish was at the final in Paris and will be making her third trip to Naples in four years to watch Liverpool.
“When I got back from France, someone who doesn’t support Liverpool said to me, ‘You must be gutted you lost’. I said, ‘Most people couldn’t have cared less and actually, I’m just glad that no one died’ because I think if Liverpool fans hadn’t been so calm, people definitely would have died,” she reflects. “But then after about three weeks, the fact I felt like that made me angry at UEFA. How dare we feel that way after we’ve spent all this money and time travelling around Europe to reach the final and we’re just grateful to be alive.”
Cornish has travelled all over to watch Liverpool and says Naples is not the only problematic place to visit. She has felt uneasy in several European cities and her experiences are not isolated ones. And they are not endured by Liverpool fans alone.
Fans across the continent are growing unhappy year on year with the mistreatment they encounter when following their teams. Football Supporters Europe (FSE) is one of the groups trying to bring about positive change.
“A focus for us is to improve the conditions in the stadiums and put more scrutiny on what clubs are doing to host away fans — to push them to do better and, eventually, when they don’t do what they have to do, they are sanctioned,” explains Ronan Evain, the executive director of FSE. “There are some clubs in different countries who are very good at hosting away fans, but there are still some clubs who act in bad faith and do as little as possible.
“Since the draws were made we’ve been helping supporters groups organise their away games. We tell them what to expect from the club, the country and the local police. Some clubs help their fans prepare for trips but that is not always the case. And then if things go wrong, we can help them to better understand what their rights are.”
There is a feeling among some that this help must start with each club. For Liverpool fans, they will have the heightened support of the club in Naples. On Friday, as is the procedure for high-profile games home and away, there was a meeting with fan groups, club officials and Merseyside Police to talk through what will be in place.
As well as a team of club stewards who will be on hand in Naples, Merseyside Police officers are also being deployed to advise local police. They have no powers in Italy but have been invited for their support and to help share any relevant information with fans.
The club will also have Yonit Sharabi, supporter liaison officer of more than a decade, on hand. There is a dedicated phone number and email address that will be open two hours before kick-off and for three hours after for fans to contact should they need to. Fans are also being advised to check @LFCHelp on Twitter for any updates.
Alongside this, there is still counselling available to anyone struggling after their experience in Paris. The club have also promised this support will continue for the foreseeable.
Fans have widely objected to their obligation to collect tickets from somewhere in Naples on the day of the game or days leading up to the game. It is felt this process is not only unsafe (with a large number of fans being forced to head to one location), but it also eats into the time fans want to be using to enjoy their midweek getaway. This issue was immediately raised by Liverpool supporters union Spirit of Shankly (SOS) and fan group Spion Kop 1906.
This backlash forced the club to re-evaluate their plans and discussions between the newly formed supporters’ board are set to take place soon. It is thought this is the first time the supporters’ board, which was established in response to Liverpool’s involvement in the European Super League, will be on hand to give their input on issues like this.
Napoli’s stadium can operate with e-tickets. This is understood to have relieved pressure on the timescale for discussions, but The Athletic understands a meeting will still take place soon given Liverpool fans will be travelling to Glasgow on October 12 and Amsterdam on October 26 to face Rangers and Ajax.
“We haven’t actually convened as a formal board with the club yet so that’s positive that despite not having sat around a table, we’re in a position to organise high-level discussions,” says Joe Blott, the elected chair of the board as well as chairman of SOS. “One of the reasons the supporters’ board has been put in place is so we can have a longer-term strategy over some of these issues.”
But still, there is a feeling among some that even with an added impetus on the safety of supporters, many problems remain. And for a lot of people, events in Paris have changed the way they feel about football on the whole.
“I can’t see myself doing any European away trips for the foreseeable future and part of it still is the ever-growing anger and resentment at how football fans are treated abroad,” Dan Kay, a Liverpool fan and football writer, tells The Athletic. “It is hard to see police and UEFA attitudes towards fans getting better any time soon given the increasingly authoritarian times we live in. I’ve already decided even if Liverpool did get to the final in Istanbul I won’t be going. I was lucky enough to go in 2005 and 2019 but at this stage of my life, I’m fed up with being treated like a criminal just because I’m a football supporter.”
He is not alone in feeling that way.
In a few weeks, the interim findings of the independent report commissioned by UEFA into what happened at the Champions League final will be revealed. In November, those findings will be published in full. There is hope that the contents of this report will be a catalyst for change.
https://theathletic.com/3563396/2022/09/05/liverpool-fans-paris-napoli/
