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Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Corona - who cares ? - poses celebrating Liverpool FC fans


The horse's stance, with arched neck and curved-in tail, is particularly characterful.  In the background can be seen one of the two elegant clock-towers of W. Aubrey Thomas's Royal Liver Building, opened in 1911. Its great copper Liver bird can just be glimpsed at the top.  It is the statue of Edward VII (Albert Edward; 1841 – 1910),  King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.

Perhaps Englishmen like Football more than Cricket ! .. .. Liverpool's 30-year wait for a top-flight title is over after Manchester City lost 2-1 at Chelsea to confirm the Reds as Premier League champions. Jurgen Klopp's side needed one victory to seal the league but City's failure to win means they cannot be caught. It is Liverpool's 19th top-flight title and their first since 1989-90.

Many of the supporters who congregated at the club's ground wore face masks and some lit flares ~ and the celebrations have caused widespread condemnation – for not only were the fans unruly, more so, because it comes at a time, when the whole World is grappling Covid 19 and is under lockdown !

The Premier League, often referred to as the English Premier League or the EPL outside England, is the top level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). Seasons run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches (playing all 19 other teams both home and away).  Most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The competition was founded as the FA Premier League in  1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League, founded in 1888, and take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal.  The league is a corporation in which the member clubs act as shareholders, and generates €2.2 billion per year in domestic and international television rights. It is the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people.

Forty-nine clubs have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992: forty-seven English and two Welsh clubs. Seven of them have won the title: Manchester United (13), Chelsea (5), Manchester City (4), Arsenal (3), Blackburn Rovers (1), Leicester City (1) and Liverpool (1).   The current winner - Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club in Liverpool, England, that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club has won six European Cups, more than any other English club, three UEFA Cups, four UEFA Super Cups (both also English records), one FIFA Club World Cup, nineteen League titles, seven FA Cups, a record eight League Cups and fifteen FA Community Shields. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played at Anfield since its formation.  Liverpool was the seventh highest-earning football club in the world in 2019, with an annual revenue of €604 million, and the world's eighth most valuable football club in 2019, valued at $2.183 billion.  The club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Liverpool has long-standing rivalries with Manchester United and Everton. The team changed from red shirts and white shorts to an all-red home strip in 1964 which has been used ever since. The club's anthem is "You'll Never Walk Alone".

The River Mersey, is a river in the North West of England. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon language and translates as "boundary river". The river may have been the border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria  and for centuries it formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.



As king, Edward VII  played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War.  He died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords.  The Royal Liver Building  is a Grade I listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's Three Graces, which line the city's waterfront. It is also part of Liverpool's UNESCO-designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City.

Liverpool fans were urged to celebrate the club’s Premier League triumph at home after crowds gathered in the city for the second night in a row and fireworks were directed at the Liver Building, with the emergency services being called. Fans gathered in the city centre on Friday despite police and politicians warning them that coronavirus was still a “major risk”. It followed supporters packing into the area around Anfield on Thursday night when the club claimed the title as the final whistle blew in the match between Chelsea and Manchester City. Merseyside police said it understood some people were “looking to come together” to mark the team becoming champions of England for the first time since 1990 again on Friday night, but warned fans to wait for official celebrations.

Liverpool FC today condemned thousands of fans who celebrated the club's Premier League title with a massive party in the city centre while ignoring Covid-19 restrictions.  Council workers in Liverpool this morning battled to collect hundreds of tonnes of rubbish strewn across the city after football fans celebrated winning the league for the first time in 30 years. Tens of thousands of fans packed into the city centre despite warnings over the spread of Covid-19 to celebrate for the second night in a row. The city's iconic Liver Building was briefly set alight after it was struck by a firework, while a man was stabbed to death last night during a house party on Merseyside. The club today condemned the behaviour of fans who ignored appeals to stay away from the city centre.
In a joint statement with the city council and Merseyside Police, the club said: 'Several thousand people turned up at the Pier Head on Friday June 26 and some chose to ignore the social distancing guidance and risk public safety. 'Our city is still in a public health crisis and this behaviour is wholly unacceptable. 'The potential danger of a second peak of Covid-19 still exists and we need to work together to make sure we don't undo everything that has been achieved as a region during lockdown. 'When it is safe to do so, we will all work together to arrange a victory parade when everyone can come together to celebrate. 'Until that time, the safety of our city and our people continues to be our number one priority.'

People simply do not understand and behave in manner fitting covidiots !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
27.6.2020.


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