{"id":12196,"date":"2024-06-03T16:20:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T14:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=12196"},"modified":"2024-06-26T17:02:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T15:02:41","slug":"one-city-two-clubs-thousands-of-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/12196\/one-city-two-clubs-thousands-of-fans\/","title":{"rendered":"Red or Blue in Liverpool, this is how you choose"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year marks the 130 year birthday of the \u2018Friendly Derby\u2019, a match between Liverpool FC and Everton FC. In a city with two major clubs, how do you choose between them? And what makes Liverpool such a special football loving place? Looking for answers in the city of Liverpool.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Our former manager put it perfectly. Everton is the people\u2019s club.\u2019 Everton fan Jane, 66 years old, wearing a blue sweater with an Everton FC pin on her chest, is on her way to the Everton stadium Goodison Park. The stadium is situated right in the middle of a residential area, on both sides of the street, small houses are located. When you look at the end of the street, Goodison Park emerges.<\/p>\n

Jane takes a picture with her daughter and granddaughter with Goodison Park in the background. \u2018I have been coming here since I was a little girl. My father supported Arsenal but my uncle was an Everton fan, a real Toffee*, and he took me to my first game. I\u2019ve been a fan ever since and now my daughter and granddaughter are too. That\u2019s why they call it the peoples club, everyone is welcome and feels at home here. Once we are in the stands, we\u2019re all friends.\u2019<\/p>\n\n[aesop_gallery id=”12351″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

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Anfield Road tour guide Andy during the stadium tour<\/p><\/div>\n

Less then a mile away from Goodison Park lies Anfield, the stadium that houses Liverpool FC. \u2018Anfield Road has been my home since I was ten years old and moved here from Glasgow,\u2019 Anfield tour guide Andy explains in a thick Scottish accent, \u2018you hear all those different languages in the stands, but once the game starts we all speak the same language, the love for Liverpool FC\u2019.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Liverpool FC suffered a lot of dramas. For instance the Heysel<\/a> drama or the Hillsborough disaster<\/a>. But for every drama there are multiple success stories. For Andy, this is what makes Liverpool such a beautiful club. \u2018When we fall, we fall hard. But the important thing is to get back on your feet again. You do that together with the other fans next to you in the stadium or in the pub. And when we return at the top, we return as hard as we fell, with beautiful football and great players.\u2019<\/p>\n[aesop_quote type=”pull” background=”#282828″ text=”#ffffff” align=”left” size=”1″ quote=”* Toffee is the nickame for Everton fans, tracing back to Mother Noblett\u2019s Toffee Shop which sold Everton themed Toffees” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]\n

A Friendly Rivalry<\/h2>\n

\u2019When doing the tour of Anfield, you can see Goodison Park from the windows. I always joke about not turning your head too far to the right and burning your eyes. But actually we need to thank Everton, because without them, Liverpool FC wouldn\u2019t even exist,\u2019 Andy explains.<\/p>\n

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Goodison Park seen from the windows of Anfield Road<\/p><\/div>\n

As Andy points out, Liverpool FC and Everton FC share a past. Everton was founded in 1878 and even played some seasons at Anfield, the stadium that now houses the Reds.** In 1892 Liverpool FC saw the light of day as members from Everton FC separated from the club and founded a new one.<\/p>\n

Since then the clubs have played against each other al lot. This match has many nicknames like the Merseyside Derby, but even more famously the Friendly Derby. Jane explains why it\u2019s called like that.<\/p>\n

\u2018Many families in Liverpool have fans of both clubs in them. Mine as well, my husband is a Redfor instance, while the rest of the family supports Everton. With a lot of other clubs this would be a problem, fans would be at each others throats. In Liverpool this is not the case, Reds and Tofee\u2019s coexist in families.\u2019<\/p>\n\n[aesop_quote type=”pull” background=”#282828″ text=”#ffffff” align=”left” size=”1″ quote=”** Red is the nickname for Liverpool FC fans, as they play in a red jersey” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]\n

Andy can agree to this. \u2018My son in law is a Toffee, but he is a lovely fellow. His two daughters are real Everton fans as well. Last week was one of their birthdays, I even bought her an Everton kit. It felt weird in the beginning, but you know family is more important than fandom.\u2019<\/p>\n

Even though fans of either club are friendly with each other, there still is a rivalry between Liverpool and Everton. It\u2019s not all fun and games.<\/p>\n

In the Oxford dictionary rivalry is explained as: \u2018a\u00a0situation\u00a0in which\u00a0people,\u00a0businesses, etc.\u00a0compete\u00a0with each other for the same thing\u2019. Sport rivalry goes even further than that. Cody T. Havard, writer of the book Rivalry in Sport, states among other things that sports fans can experience the same amount of joy when a rival team loses, as when their favourite team wins.<\/p>\n

Andy can confirm: \u2018When Everton got points deducted for financial misconduct, those were the best days of the season.\u2019 Furthermore, Jane adds: \u2018Liverpool started to lose many games at the end of the season, throwing their title chances away. This was met with almost bigger cheers than when Everton scored a goal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Although these two rivalling fans agree on a lot, and the clubs both come from the same city, there a still quite some differences between the two clubs. See the inequality in revenue, prizes, team worth and how the just finished season went for the FC’s in the graphs below.<\/p>\n