Life is as tough as being a Liverpool supporter since 1990. The media tells the world you are shit. Just like the way the Straits Times and Mediacorp keep harping how elites are being valued in Singapore and how the rest of us are shit. I felt connected with the club because they value the community.
One example is that they do not clamp down on locals who produce and sell merchandise such as knitted scarves with the Liverpool brand on the streets just outside the stadium on match days. We know very well what some other clubs, authorities and organisations will do instead. We know very well what our Singapore government does to poor folks out there just wanting to make a buck for a living. Sweep them off the streets because they do not have the license to operate a trade. From fixing up somebody's shoes, cutting a key, selling newspaper, ice cream, home-made sng-bao, door-to-door hawking, probably teaching tuition soon. If you do it and never get caught, it doesn't mean it is legal.
I agree that regulation is necessary for any society but to a reasonable extent. We are over-doing it, leaving no space for the less well-to-do folks to roam. We are driving them against the wall, forcing them to undertake the miserably paid jobs that they are only qualified for. The government encourages these group to upgrade themselves but not willing to offer a full grant or loan. If you earn $800 bucks a month, will you be interested to take on a 'upgrading course' that the government is subsiding 50% for? If only the policies makers understand the feeling of living from mouth to mouth?
Self help, my ass.
Liverpool FC has been involved in organising activities to bring joy to the less fortunate such as this one for as far back in history as I have read about them. Kenny Dalglish, the current manager has been known to give a surprise visit to deliver a signed Liverpool jersey to a kid with terminal illness among tons of other true stories.
When Liverpool FC came to Singapore a few years back, among carrying out many promotional activities and playing the exhibition match itself, they did not leave out their community projects by conducting soccer clinics for the disabled. In another country they would have visited an orphanage similar.
Obviously, "Community first, profits second" has taken a toil on Liverpool's performance over the decades. Liverpool lost out by refusing to maximise gate revenue profits by increasing its ticket prices as high as their competitors not because the club is afraid that attendance will fall when locals could not afford it because some foreign fan will gladly pick up the ticket on a higher price. It is that they value their local fans and knew what supporting the club meant to them. Also, by not playing hard-ball maximising sponsorship dough as well as ruthlessly increasing market capacity, Liverpool fails to keep up with their competitors who are more aggressive in this area.
Despite this, Liverpool survives and win trophies now and then, albeit not the coveted league title that eludes them for more than 2 decades. Rival fans taunt us about falling to win the league title and having a shit team all the time. True Liverpool fans understand the underlying meaning of supporting this club. Yes, this club is about winning trophies but it is also about the way it carries itself, it's social responsibility and its willingness not to win at all cost.
If only our Singapore government choose to adopt a more caring and softer stance instead of a hardcore profit maximising mantra. If only our top officials sincerely care about the less fortunate, visit them personally (without some fucking media around to report it to the whole world) to offer comfort and assistance instead of leaving the job to their underpaid cronies to do a half-hearted job with limited manpower and budget. How many of us will worship them with unconditional loyalty, through wind or shine floods and escaped criminals?
I wonder how many Liverpool fans really understand what supporting the club is about. No doubt, there are black sheep who bring the name and reputation of the club down by misbehavior but some things have never changed.
The Liverpool Way is not just about soccer. It is about respect and humility. It is a way of life. That is the reason why I'll Never Walk Alone.
Congratulations Liverpool FC, Winners of 2012 Carling Cup.
That henderson and downing have to go, one just makes crosses and they aren't good ones and the other is all over the place! But hooray at least we finally won something! YNWA!
ReplyDeleteI don't watch football but I can see where you're coming from. Many people don't realise the power of collaboration and how valuable social conscience is in a business. Then again, this is also the same reason why people tell me that I cannot go into business. ~ Joelyn Alexandra
ReplyDeleteyaya never walk alone
ReplyDeleteah pooh