Definitely a good move.

[Paul]

With all the talk about potential trouble, particularly in Turin, these gestures are timely and appropriate. Beyond that, however, it'll be good to show the world once again that our club is about more than football.

MEMORIA E AMICIZIA - LFC HONOUR THE HEYSEL 39
Mark Platt 01 April 2005
Liverpool Football Club will honour the memory of the 39 victims of Heysel with a number of commemorative gestures in the lead-up to Tuesday night's Champions League tie with Juventus.
This first meeting of the Reds and Juve since that tragic night in Brussels 20 years ago is sure to be an emotive one for all concerned and Liverpoolfc.tv can reveal that after consultation with supporters the following has been arranged with the spirit of friendship and understanding in mind...


A Friendship match between the Liverpool and Juventus fans that will take place at the Academy on Tuesday kicking off at 1.30pm.


A Kop Mosaic featuring the word Amicizia (friendship) alongside a Liver Bird and the respective club colours. This will be displayed in conjunction with a one minute silence prior to kick-off on Tuesday.


Every visiting fan will receive a free four-page brochure in Italian aimed at promoting friendship and understanding between the supporters. The front cover will carry the club crests and words of welcome. Inside there'll be a personal message to the Juve fans from Ian Rush and the split image picture showing him in Liverpool and Juventus kits. On the back will be the words for: We Are Sorry. You'll Never Walk Alone.


Every visiting fan will also receive special wristband in red, white and black with the inscription friendship in both Italian/English.


Commemorative Juve/Liverpool FC scarves and t-shirts are being produced.


The matchday programme is also to be completely re-designed to pick up on the friendship theme. The cover will carry the hand of friendship logo used on the scarf. The teams will be removed from the back page and replaced by an image of the Memoria e Amacizia banner (see below).


A banner carrying the themed In Memoria e Amicizia (In Memory and
Friendship) message will be carried by fans from the Kop to the Juve end prior to kick-off. Phil Neal, Liverpool captain at Heysel in 1985, will help perform this ceremony. The banner will carry the Christian names of the 39 Heysel victims and the symbolic union of the Liverpool Liver Bird and the Juve Zebra.

The Memoria e Amacizia banner was first was first seen at Anfield prior to the Liverpool v Blackburn match in May 1995 (on the 10th anniversary of Heysel) and more recently paraded in front of the Kop during half-time at the derby to a warm round of applause.

The original inspiration for the banner was two Liverpool youth workers, the late Janet Murphy from The Marybone centre, and the late Alf Langley, a founder member of the Football Arts Initiative, who took a youth group to Turin in a non-football related exchange of friendship in the summer of 1989.

It was created to commemorate the tenth anniversary by Peter Carney and fellow members of the FAI, a Merseyside organisation that came together with the Sport Against Racism group in the wake of Hillsborough, and had already been on their own bridge building mission to Turin with the blessing of Liverpool Football Club in 1990.

At the time a lot of people in this city just wanted to reach out and genuinely do what they could to renew friendships, said Peter, an Anfield season-ticket holder and founder member of the Hillsborough Justice campaign.

It's the same sentiment now. Liverpool Football Club just want to extend a warm welcome to Juventus fans, offer their hand in friendship and recognise the hurt.

[EVO]

Originally Posted by Paul

With all the talk about potential trouble, particularly in Turin, these gestures are timely and appropriate. Beyond that, however, it'll be good to show the world once again that our club is about more than football.

MEMORIA E AMICIZIA - LFC HONOUR THE HEYSEL 39
Mark Platt 01 April 2005
Liverpool Football Club will honour the memory of the 39 victims of Heysel with a number of commemorative gestures in the lead-up to Tuesday night's Champions League tie with Juventus.
This first meeting of the Reds and Juve since that tragic night in Brussels 20 years ago is sure to be an emotive one for all concerned and Liverpoolfc.tv can reveal that after consultation with supporters the following has been arranged with the spirit of friendship and understanding in mind...


A Friendship match between the Liverpool and Juventus fans that will take place at the Academy on Tuesday kicking off at 1.30pm.


A Kop Mosaic featuring the word Amicizia (friendship) alongside a Liver Bird and the respective club colours. This will be displayed in conjunction with a one minute silence prior to kick-off on Tuesday.


Every visiting fan will receive a free four-page brochure in Italian aimed at promoting friendship and understanding between the supporters. The front cover will carry the club crests and words of welcome. Inside there'll be a personal message to the Juve fans from Ian Rush and the split image picture showing him in Liverpool and Juventus kits. On the back will be the words for: We Are Sorry. You'll Never Walk Alone.


Every visiting fan will also receive special wristband in red, white and black with the inscription friendship in both Italian/English.


Commemorative Juve/Liverpool FC scarves and t-shirts are being produced.


The matchday programme is also to be completely re-designed to pick up on the friendship theme. The cover will carry the hand of friendship logo used on the scarf. The teams will be removed from the back page and replaced by an image of the Memoria e Amacizia banner (see below).


A banner carrying the themed In Memoria e Amicizia (In Memory and
Friendship) message will be carried by fans from the Kop to the Juve end prior to kick-off. Phil Neal, Liverpool captain at Heysel in 1985, will help perform this ceremony. The banner will carry the Christian names of the 39 Heysel victims and the symbolic union of the Liverpool Liver Bird and the Juve Zebra.

The Memoria e Amacizia banner was first was first seen at Anfield prior to the Liverpool v Blackburn match in May 1995 (on the 10th anniversary of Heysel) and more recently paraded in front of the Kop during half-time at the derby to a warm round of applause.

The original inspiration for the banner was two Liverpool youth workers, the late Janet Murphy from The Marybone centre, and the late Alf Langley, a founder member of the Football Arts Initiative, who took a youth group to Turin in a non-football related exchange of friendship in the summer of 1989.

It was created to commemorate the tenth anniversary by Peter Carney and fellow members of the FAI, a Merseyside organisation that came together with the Sport Against Racism group in the wake of Hillsborough, and had already been on their own bridge building mission to Turin with the blessing of Liverpool Football Club in 1990.

At the time a lot of people in this city just wanted to reach out and genuinely do what they could to renew friendships, said Peter, an Anfield season-ticket holder and founder member of the Hillsborough Justice campaign.

It's the same sentiment now. Liverpool Football Club just want to extend a warm welcome to Juventus fans, offer their hand in friendship and recognise the hurt.

Agree Paul, maybe an idea to give all the travveling reds these wristbands on the 13th aswell??

[Stu Monty]

Really looking forward to it. It's going to be a great night.

[Tom R]

"We Are Sorry. You'll Never Walk Alone. "

Sorry for what exactly. Sorry that the game should never have been played in the first place?

I'll get slated for this, but I don't care. Personally I'm pretty fucking sick of all the apologies and "bridge building" over this. Particularly when the bridges only ever seem to have one way traffic on them, and none of it comes from Italy.

They fucking hate us with a serious passion. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves. They sing about wanting to kill us at almost every home game ffs. That's how bitter they are.
I bet most of these wanky four page kiss-arse grovel-mags will be just be used to wipe Italian arses or be rolled up in a ball to be thrown at our fans or players.

I'm all for moving on, but I'm fucking sick of us being portrayed as some evil guilt-ridden club over this who have to constantly be making amends for the rest of our days.
Fuck off!
We were just 10% of the fucking problem at Heysel and yet we've taken 100% of the blame and the fucking grief and seem to be the only one's arsed about all this "relationship building" bollocks.
Don't believe what the likes of Parry says about how we've "come a long way". yeah, HE might have done with their President, but ask your average Juve fan what they think and you'll get a different story. They don't want a shitty mosaic on the kop. tehy don;t want a fucking four page grovel and rubbing their noses in it, they just want to get on with hating us and playing the fucking game.

I won't be going as I don't want to be part of this ridiculous collective shame, guilt and just plain utter toss, frankly.
Mosaic my arse.
Just play the fucking game for fucks sake! We all know what happened. It was terrible. But I won't be hanging my fucking head in shame and making "apologies" and "reaching out" via some wanky mosaic on the Kop.

RIP the 39, but Juve on the whole can fuck off and take all our "apologies" and our "shame" with them.

[drewy]

Although I wouldn't of worded quite like you Tom, everything you say is IMHO 100% correct.

[GAYER]

Not sure whether or not you have a big family but imagine if one member of your family did something stupid. Imagine that thing snowballed and went out of control and through a series of circumstances ended up in the death of another family. Would you feel no shame then? No partial responsibility? No wish to let the other family you don't condone the actions of the one member of your family?

There were neglegences but it's still true that if the fans hadn't charged then the wall wouldn't have fell. If a drunk driver killed someone in an accident that a sober driver wouldn't have been able to avoid either you would still blame him for being drunk if it were your family member killed. It's just the same. I don't like the fact the Juve fans blame and hate us but I can understand it and know I'd feel the same in their shoes.

[drewy]

Originally Posted by SKEET

Not sure whether or not you have a big family but imagine if one member of your family did something stupid. Imagine that thing snowballed and went out of control and through a series of circumstances ended up in the death of another family. Would you feel no shame then? No partial responsibility? No wish to let the other family you don't condone the actions of the one member of your family?

There were neglegences but it's still true that if the fans hadn't charged then the wall wouldn't have fell. If a drunk driver killed someone in an accident that a sober driver wouldn't have been able to avoid either you would still blame him for being drunk if it were your family member killed. It's just the same. I don't like the fact the Juve fans blame and hate us but I can understand it and know I'd feel the same in their shoes.

There's a fuck sight more to it than a few poxy analogys skeet and you know it!

[Paul]

Originally Posted by drewy

There's a fuck sight more to it than a few poxy analogys skeet and you know it!

Which is exactly why it's important to be mindful of the fact that there could well be people at the match whose relatives died twenty years ago, simply because they went to see their team in the European Cup final. They weren't all spitting, or throwing things, or shouting abuse, yet 39 of them died.

I think it's wrong to be shouting the odds about other people's grief; particularly when it involves an injustice. Read the other thread for a few different perspectives. They all count.

[drewy]

Originally Posted by Paul

Which is exactly why it's important to be mindful of the fact that there could well be people at the match whose relatives died twenty years ago, simply because they went to see their team in the European Cup final. They weren't all spitting, or throwing things, or shouting abuse, yet 39 of them died.

I think it's wrong to be shouting the odds about other people's grief; particularly when it involves an injustice. Read the other thread for a few different perspectives. They all count.

It does involve an injustice Paul but why are Liverpool fc and it's fans held soley responsible for that terrible night? I don't wish to go over old ground, this has been debated for years and people will always hold differing views on the terrible tragedy.

The only reason there has never been a FULL,OPEN an HONEST inquiry is because the twats at Uefa don't want it plain and simple. It would paint a different story and they fuckin know it!

Like I said I wouldn't of worded it quite like Tom but that's his outlook on the situation and fair play to him for airing his views. I'm quite sure a few other people feel the same but don't wish to say it publicly.

It's good to see the club is doing what it is but then it could hardly be seen to be doing nothing could it? After all it was all our fault, wasn't it?

[Paul]

Originally Posted by drewy

It does involve an injustice Paul but why are Liverpool fc and it's fans held soley responsible for that terrible night? I don't wish to go over old ground, this has been debated for years and people will always hold differing views on the terrible tragedy.

The only reason there has never been a FULL,OPEN an HONEST inquiry is because the twats at Uefa don't want it plain and simple. It would paint a different story and they fuckin know it!

Like I said I wouldn't of worded it quite like Tom but that's his outlook on the situation and fair play to him for airing his views. I'm quite sure a few other people feel the same but don't wish to say it publicly.

It's good to see the club is doing what it is but then it could hardly be seen to be doing nothing could it? After all it was all our fault, wasn't it?

Drewy, I've got no problem whatsoever with your, or Tom's opinion (although it's not mine). I just think we need to be respectful of the people who lost loved ones there. Also, I don't think what the club is doing in any way implies we were solely responsible; it simply is an attempt to show we're sorry for our part in it.

[drewy]

Originally Posted by Paul

Drewy, I've got no problem whatsoever with your, or Tom's opinion (although it's not mine). I just think we need to be respectful of the people who lost loved ones there. Also, I don't think what the club is doing in any way implies we were solely responsible; it simply is an attempt to show we're sorry for our part in it.

Point taken Paul. My biggest grievance is with Uefa, what have they done to try show that they are sorry for their part?

Meanwhile the international press and football community as a whole continues to balme us soley for that night.

[Tom R]

Originally Posted by Paul

Drewy, I've got no problem whatsoever with your, or Tom's opinion (although it's not mine). I just think we need to be respectful of the people who lost loved ones there. Also, I don't think what the club is doing in any way implies we were solely responsible; it simply is an attempt to show we're sorry for our part in it.

there's showing respect and then there's ridiculous grovelling and almost acceptance of 100% blame when we just simply shouldn't.

Personally I'd like to see our club put a lot more effort in to getting an enquiry in to THE TRUTH about what happened at Heysel, rather than putting all their energy in to some shitty mosaic and four page grovel-mag that just rubs their noses in it and just perpetuates the MYTH that Liverpool fans were solely to blame for what happened.
Juve fans don't want all this shit, so why the hell are we doing it?? To ease our "guilt".
I don't feel guilty. I wasn't even there. I also don't believe that Liverpool fans were to blame.
I'll show my respects, but why should I be forced to endure all this "we're so sorry, please forgive us" shite at Anfield on Tuesday night?
no ta.

Just play the fucking game with a 1 minute silence at the start. The end. that's what the Juve fans want, but fuck them, yeah.
Ask any of them should you get a chance. Visist one of their forums. Most of them are cringing at the idea of this mosaic and the "special four page programme in Italian" just for them.

It'd be like the S*n distributing a four page programme on the Kop about how we shoudl reach out and make friends with them.


Don't expect any "you're forgiven" mosaics in Turin....

[Tom R]

Originally Posted by Paul

Drewy, I've got no problem whatsoever with your, or Tom's opinion (although it's not mine). I just think we need to be respectful of the people who lost loved ones there. Also, I don't think what the club is doing in any way implies we were solely responsible; it simply is an attempt to show we're sorry for our part in it.

What about their part in it??? Where is their mosaic?

Where is Uefa, with blood on their hands and apologising profusely for over 20 years??

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Tom R

I also don't believe that Liverpool fans were to blame.

Do you mean that Tom? I wasn't there either, but it's not in dispute that Liverpool fans charged Juventus fans is it? That charge, whatever the provocation, directly led to thirty nine people dying. There are loads of extenuating issues, but it's my understanding that that much is an undisputed fact.

[Tom R]

Originally Posted by drewy

Point taken Paul. My biggest grievance is with Uefa, what have they done to try show that they are sorry for their part?

Meanwhile the international press and football community as a whole continues to balme us soley for that night.

Excactly, Drewy.

Any mosaic should read "where is the enquiry, UEFA, you shithouse fucks?"

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Tom R

What about their part in it??? Where is their mosaic?

Where is Uefa, with blood on their hands and apologising profusely for over 20 years??

Can't we try and do the right thing without qualifying it by saying "We'll only make a gesture if you do"?