Feel Football History

If you are unable to attend the next Liverpool home match and you’re safe and warm with some beer, coffee, meat snacks, and online slots, you might take some time to contemplate the hallowed grounds our club plays on.

Original Stadium before Many Renovations

Anfield was built in 1884 and was the home of the Everton FC at its inception.  Everton played in Anfield for seven years and left their home field in 1891 over a dispute about rent.  They wanted to pay less, no doubt.

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LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Friday, January 5, 2018: Liverpool supporters on the Spion Kop before the FA Cup 3rd Round match between Liverpool FC and Everton FC, the 230th Merseyside Derby, at Anfield. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

A Century and a Quarter of Liverpudlian Football

Liverpool FC started out in 1891, in part spurred on by the presence of an empty stadium.   The club of the Beatle’s home town won its first club match 7-0 and the first game at Anfield 4-0!  Superstars all!

Anfield has been host to all 18 Premier League Champion Liverpool FC.

Instant Popularity Overwhelms Anfield

Demand for tickets was so high that a new grandstand seating 3000 rabid fans was built a mere three years after Liverpool FC was formed.  Eight years later, another grandstand was constructed on the other end of Anfield Stadium.

A stadium annex was built in 1906.  It is named after the battle of Spion Kop, a battle from the Second Boer War in which British soldiers fought valiantly on the steep hillside called Spion Kop.  The stadium Spion Kop is built to mimic the steepness of the hill the two sides fought over in the woe begotten war.

At first the Kop held a small contingent of fans; it was redesigned and reconstructed 20 some years later to seat 30,000.  The Kop also was covered to shield fans from the “hot” sun.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Wednesday, September 13, 2017: Liverpool’s supporters on the Spion Kop before the UEFA Champions League Group E match between Liverpool and Sevilla at Anfield. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Under the Stars

Games were all daytime events until 1957 when lights sufficient for night-time football were raised above the pitch.

The stadium has undergone numerous renovations in the past 50 years.  Stands were rebuilt and poles were installed to strengthen the stadium.

Teaching the World How to Cheer on One’s Club

No one really knows for sure where the robust singing and constant screaming began that personifies the bets of English football from the vantage point of the fan in the stands.

American football, as violent as it is, is tepid in the level of fans’ immersion in the game.  In American football, play stops more often than it starts and the fans are as quiet as the game appears to be.  When a team scores, a great roar goes up and then dies down just as quickly as the fans attend to other matters.

As A Match Approaches

Fans enter the stadium from all sides.  Parking is at a premium near Anfield so many fans walk a distance to the stadium either from their homes or from where they were lucky enough to park their vehicle.  The interaction amongst fans begins here, outside the stadium.

Anfield is literally a neighborhood stadium as homes abut the stadium on three sides.  People live across the street!

Cheers go up and the level of noise and excitement rises.  If the game is an important one in the Premier League or in any of the other competitions Liverpool FC participates in during the year, the noise level never abates.

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LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Sunday, February 4, 2018: A general view of Anfield during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC at Anfield. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Tour Anfield

Stadium tours are available for visitors.  Most Liverpudlians have been to Anfield so many times they don’t need a guided tour but visitors who may not be in Liverpool for a match or who unfortunately can’t get a ticket, can enjoy a tour of the hallowed grounds.

Either before or after your tour be sure to have your picture taken in front of the famed Bill Shankly statue.

Bill Shankly

He was a Scotsman, one of five brothers, who made his name as the most famed of all Liverpool FC managers.  When he took over as manager, Liverpool FC was in the doldrums, a second division club year after year.

He transformed the club, leading it to numerous championships in the Premier League, UEFA Cup, and FA Cup.  As a transplanted Scotsman, he became possibly the more revered Liverpudlian of all, surpassing even Paul.

Once he was registering at a hotel and wrote his profession as “football” and his address as “Anfield”.  The receptionist said, “But Sir, where do you live?”  his reply has become the calling card of all of the people of Liverpool: “Lady, in Liverpool there is only one address that matters and that is where I live.”

Another of his most famous comments: “Some people say that football is a matter of life and death.  I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

Shankly showed his disdain for refs in this great quote: “The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they don’t know the game.”

Football Forever

This last quite expresses succinctly what we all love about football, English football, and Liverpool FC football: as much as we think we know about the game, and as many matches as we’ve seen or played in, the game has layers that we haven’t plumbed yet and will ever be so.

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