East of Anfieldstory by rick olivares pics by adit mahendra
(Sung to the tune of the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”)
“We all live in a red and white Kop,
A red and white Kop,
A red and white Kop.”
The Tiger Airways jet out of Jakarta seated about 164 passengers. Incredibly, 160 of the passenger manifest were Indonesian fans of the Liverpool Football Club. And the one hour and twenty minute flight to neighboring Singapore had the air of a football match. If the plane was bouncing around then it wasn’t due to the turbulence. They were singing proud and loud.
Valentino Simanjuntak is an Indonesian sportswriter and that weekend of July 25 and 26 was the start of the basketball finals of their country’s pro league. Simanjuntak begged off not only from covering the championship but also attending a retreat by his church. “I have some things to do,” he lamely explained to organizers of both.
While walking the streets of Singapore decked in Liverpool colors, he bumped into a member of his church who earlier invited him to attend the retreat. Simanjuntak was red in the face as he meekly mumbled his excuse: “I’m sorry. I am going to watch Liverpool. God would understand.”
Along with the entire Indonesian contingent, Simanjuntak lined up as early as noon of the Sunday match between Liverpool and the Singaporean National Team at the Kallang National Stadium to be able to get good seats. Game time was at 7pm but the gates were opened at 2pm and the Indonesians were front and center at the eastern side of the venue or “the Kop” as the most famous expression of the fans’ passion for Liverpool is called. Singapore being close to the equator, they were grilled under the angry afternoon sun. “Oh, man,” exclaimed Simanjuntak who shuddered at the memory of being barbecued. “But it was worth it.”
Nicky Banaga works in a call center in Manila and she claims that she was turned onto football only two years ago. But she embraced the sport like a religion to the point of getting a tattoo of the Liver Bird, the city and club’s mascot, on her wrist. “I’m going to carry this to my grave,” she said of her devotion to the team.
Leo Benedicto who works for his family’s business in Manila immediately booked a flight and hotel to Singapore the day it was announced that LFC was going on an Asian tour. “I became a fan when I first saw Michael Owen play (he’s now with that team from Manchester). I was awed by the aura and mystique and that is how I became a fan. But my dream is to watch them in Anfield.”
Joseph Salim, a 16-year old lad from Malaysia cannot dream because he couldn’t sleep a wink for a week now. “All week long, I wore my Liverpool jerseys. From the malls to when I go to sleep – if I can sleep at all. This will be the closest that I will get to see them since I cannot afford to watch them in England,” he said with wholesome expectation an hour before kick-off. Salim was accompanied by his two older brothers and father who though Arsenal fans came to be afflicted with the same red fever that Joseph is down with. “They cannot fight it. It is what it is.”
What inspires such devotion to a team that most have no direct relation to aside from the fact that they see LFC play on cable television once a week?
Tony Hedges, who is from Perth, Australia summed it up: “Liverpool has a rich history and tradition of excellence yet at the same time, they’ve also seen their share of tragedy. And there’s this nostalgic feel for them since they have not won the domestic league in two decades as – dare I utter their name – Manchester United has become the toast of English football. Fans of the Boston Red Sox will be able to empathize with Liverpool fans.”
Added Carl Nicholas Ng who like Banaga became a fan two years ago, was so taken by the passion others had for the club that he did his research on the team and liked what he discovered. He stays up until the wee hours of the morning just to catch LFC when they are televised on cable yet still manages to make it to work the following day although his mind is kind of soupy. His girlfriend, Catherine Diaz, has learned to live around his football-mad lifestyle. “If you can’t beat them, join them,” she is supposed to say.
“All round the Fields of Anfield Road
Where we once watch the King Kenny play,
We had Heighway on the wing,
We had dreams and songs to sing
Of the glory round the Fields of Anfield Road.”
A massive number of people from dozens of countries all across Asia booked flights to the Lion City that weekend to watch their favorite football team in the world. The match coincided with the end of the Summer Sale and the Food Festival providing Singapore with an extra boon of tourists with some cash to spare.
Julie Chun, who works for a design company in Hong Kong said she spent some US $400 on various LFC merchandise. “My boyfriend (who is a basketball fan) would not approve if I buy it in Hong Kong. Since he’s not here, there’s nothing he can do,” she said somewhat mischievously. When informed that players and coaches of Liverpool themselves spent Singapore $28,000 at an adidas store at trendy VivoCity her chinky eyes bulged in shock. “Oh, my! My boyfriend would kill me if I did such a thing!”
These football fans were a part of the more than 45,000 people who filled up the National Stadium. The English team wore black as home team wore red. But the red, the color of the week, was Liverpool’s and the venue not to mention the island city was decked in full regalia much to the consternation of a few.
Daniel Bennett is from Liverpool but became a naturalized Singaporean seven years ago. He currently serves in the military and plays central defense for the national team. He roots for LFC’s intra-city rivals Everton. And like his Singaporean teammates Noh Alam Shah and Indra Sahdan Daud, expressed dismay that their countrymen showed up to cheer a foreign team. “It looks like a full house at Kallang, but wouldn’t it be great if all the fans cheered for Singapore? Instead the National Stadium will look like Anfield on game day.”
Added Alam Shah, “When I heard the emcee (ESPN Star Sports’ Jamie Yeo) say, ‘This is Anfield,’ I felt disappointed. This is the home ground of the national team where the Lions play. I felt it was an insult to Singapore.”
“Outside the Paisley Gates
I heard a Kopite calling,
Paisley they have taken you away,
You led the great 11,
Back in Rome in ’77,
And the Redmen they are still playing the same way.”
The Liverpool anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, was sung at least six times during the game. That’s at least five more times than Majulah Singapura, the national anthem. The stadium oohhed and ahhed with every missed scoring strike by either team, but the chants were reserved for the LFC players like Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres. The wave went around the stadium several times with fans stomping their feet in gleeful anticipation.
And Liverpool, flashing fine form, crushed the home side 5-0 with a superb display of defense and playmaking.
A couple of Singaporean fans when asked if they were torn between rooting for one team minced no words, “It’s a win-win situation for us but we want Liverpool to win.”
Daniel Agger, LFC’s Danish defender, was pleasantly surprised by the reception they got in the Lion City: “I’ve never seen anything like this outside a home game.”
Joked team manager Rafael Benitez, “If the (English) league decides to push through with the 39th game outside England, we won’t mind playing it here in Singapore.”
Said Simanjuntak who a week after the match is still in cloud nine, “Now we pray and wait for that to happen."
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Here is the link to my column in the Monday August 3, 2009 edition of the Business Mirror.
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/sports/14034-east-of-anfield.html
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