Thursday, June 01, 2006

Liverpool sport

There's only one: football. The city is football-mad, and is the home of the two greatest football teams in the world: Everton and Everton Reserves*. Everton is a founder-member of the Football Association. There is another team called Liverpool, a mere 114-year-old Johnny-come-lately which has had some success. Everton wear blue, Liverpool red, and the first question a scouser asks when he encounters another is which team he supports. This determines their future relationship.

Unlike many large European cities, the rivalry, although deep-rooted and tribal, is friendly and untinged by race or religion: there is no geographic allegiance because the clubs' grounds are only a few hundred yards apart. Everton's (Goodison Park), and Liverpool's (Anfield) are on opposite sides of Stanley Park.

Everton's nickname is the 'Toffeemen', after Everton Mint Toffees, the manufacturers of which, for publicity purposes, used to throw their jaw-breaking product into the crowd at Everton home games. Liverpool are called, unimaginatively, 'The Reds'.

* I jest of course, having grudgingly to admit that Liverpool have been the more successful in recent years, and have won five FA Cups and 18 league titles to Everton's five FA Cups and only nine league titles.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

SO the dentists used to like Everton. And Cincinnati likes Liverpool.
It's tough to guess which club the author likes;)

Tuscan Traveller said...

Glad my impartiality showed.