right

so they move it at lpools request
compassionate grounds[and i get all that]

but we are then in a situation that our own fa are absolutely steadfast that they wont give a team the slightest concession on footballl grounds.
this is where i'm with this goonie geezer.

i know it was a desperatly sad thing, but we have to move on, we can't be hostages to the past.
we remember the dead.

but the people who died were football fans.

AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO REMEMBER OUR MATES WHO WERE FOOTBALL FANS THAN AT A FOOTBALL MATCH?

i'm a member of football clubs, a golf club, and a cricket club.

and how do we remember the departed???????????

by playing games, that's how,

Let me out it to you like this.

My Grandad lost his beloved 16 year old sister Doris and many of his close friends in the 1943 Bethnal Green tube disaster. The date was 3rd March 1943.

When my grandad left the navy, he became a milkman. What do you think the Dairy would have said if he refused to work on every anniversary of that date because a family member was killed in this disaster? They would have had told him to get on his bike, or float if you will.

Normal people are made to work on tragic anniversaries in their lives, what's different about football players?

The city of Liverpool is a tight-knit community and I totally understand the feeling around the city and the sensitivity towards it. If you're a from Liverpool there's a high chance you'll have been affected by it either directly or indirectly.

What I don't like is how the Liverpool fans from further afield - they have significant fanbases in Ireland and the South for example - use grief as some kind of badge of honour. A fair chunk of these people weren't even born when it happened and have no connection with those who really were affected by it, but are the first to dish our vicious abuse such as that shown tonight. Respect the dead and the tragic event, but don't hijack genuine grief.

Part of the grieving process is being able to move on. Liverpool don't seem to want to move on.

it dosen't matter whether we think it's unreasonable or not.

but i'll tell you this.
as somebody who's been to football matches with my grandfather,.

my ol' man.

my two boys.

and numerous uncles and cousins.

all i can say7 is that if something tragic ever happened to me at a football match i can think of no way i would rather that little mob celebrate the anniversary of my death than all going to a game together.

and if it was a semi involving "our team" it would be a sort of perfect symmetry.

Liverpool fans from the city and in and around the city are generally a world apart from those who attach themselves to the club but live on the moon.

Those from further afield get more outraged and more worked up in order to try and prove themselves as 'true fans'.

Probably the same for all clubs tbh. The guys who come from 5000 miles away raid the club shop, scream the songs the loudest and make the biggest noise when something goes against them. The guys who go each week and have been there and seen it, tend to be more sane.

I'm not saying all fans who support teams from far off are lunatics, but they tend to be the ones who behave in the most cult like ways.

i doubt fergie would be ower happy to be put in chelseas position because of liverpools anniversary ....

And Pootle too.

it seems to me that the people who were most effected by the tragedy don;t need football matches cancelled.

they have their thoughts

they have their memories,

and whether you8 like it or not [and i know i'll get laods of stick for this]
the majority of people who demand that the anniversary is acknowledged in this way have no personel loss to remember.

UKMallia: Surely the two london clubs would play at Emirates instead of wembley if the two northern clubs played at OT?

It might be VS in some folks minds, but as far as I know there is a service every year on the 15th at Anfield, that the club organises and attends.

Everyone has different opinions on it, I know two Liverpool fans who used to go the game together all the time as they are best mates, both were at Hillsborough in their early 20s, since then, one has been to pretty much every game, and the other has been once and left because he couldnt handle it, its not some kind of misery badge he wears with pride, it just freaked him the **** out and he didnt go back.

I dont know if he could handle it now, perhaps he could but he chooses to handle things in his way, and thats that.

its understandable if the families of those who died never wanted to see another football match in the lives after April 1989

sorry, point being, people have massively different views on it.
some of the families of the victims might not mind a game being played on the date, some certainly would.
Liverpools decisions on it, their stance has to be driven by those.

We can all disagree and say we'd do things different, but its not our choice to make.
Go to any funeral and see how differently folk react.


UKM is right though, the FA could easily sort this out far better
For starters they could move the FA cup semi weekend (in future) to the following weekend, and just allow Liverpool to arrange their league game for the weekend of the 15th accordingly, no one would care then about a game being played on a saturday or monday or whatever, because league games are always moved about.

I do agree there is an argument for moving on, never forgetting but getting on, it is part of the bereavement process and perhaps in part LFC could help with that in different ways to how it currently does, but really thats for them to sort.

it's not unreasonable of liverpool, it's just it shouldn't be allowed to impact on other teams.

anyone know if bradford play on the 11th may, btw?

they should have fixtures scheduled for the date as usual and if they dont turn up, tough luck, forfeit the match.

Agree with Ukmallia about the semis at Wembley, Olf Trafford and The Emirates would be best .Of course could have them both on the Saturday then

That itself has nothing to do with Hillsborough and is indeed all about money grabbing from the FA

Year after, (1990 semis) were played at neutral grounds, amd all went well (actually many would say the best semi finals ever, in every respect)

It was when Arsenal drew  Spurs in 1991 that it was said could not have clubs from London going elsewhere and back .Though this wasn't a problem for the same game in 2001, and logically would have  Everton v Liverpool played at Tranmere.

Maybe Liverpool shouldn't've entered the competition, considering they knew in advance that the semis would be played on the 14/15th.

My grandad died on New Years Day many years ago and we used to have a big family party prior to his death. However, my mum now wants to be on her own and mark the day in her own way. I of course respect that right.

The point bing surely those affected have the right to choose how to mark the day. Alan Davies may not have been trying to be offensive but could have asked his question in a slightly more sensitive manner.

Aside from that he is as funny as a dose of crabs anyhow.

What alarms me is that people are calling for someone to be sacked just because he's expressed an opinion! This is nothing even close to the Gray/Keys thing. Most up in arms about this probably weren't directly affected, in fact quite a lot on twitter probably weren't even alive at the time. It's good to know history but it's not good to wave history about to get people sacked over it. But then I suppose history is all LFC have now. (/Cheap shot!)

The manager at the time was Ron Atkinson, I forgot to mention.