From the Offal
Livvy has put up the links to the tribute but they don't load too well for me (fucked up Broadband); so here's what Youtube has :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzxRigD_VXI
TONY BARRETT: RHYS HAS REUNITED THE CITY
Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo 29 August 2007
The theme from Z Cars – a tune Liverpool fans usually do their best to drown out when they are at Goodison Park.
A song that is as associated with Everton as You'll Never Walk Alone is with Liverpool.
But last night it brought a city together, succeeding in doing something so many of us had forgotten could actually happen – it united Reds and Blues.
Not since 1989 and the aftermath of Hillsborough has such a display of city unity taken place.
The death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones has touched everyone on Merseyside.
In four days we have seen more than 75,000 football fans at Anfield and Goodison put on the most poignant displays of solidarity with the youngster's family it is possible to imagine.
Last night's events, though, were almost unimaginable.
When the idea to play Johnny Todd at Anfield was first put forward there were those who, quite understandably, said it would never happen.
Even when Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry courageously agreed to allow it to go ahead the critics argued it would fall flat or be spoiled by the odd mindless idiot in a crowd of thousands.
But from the moment Rhys's parents Stephen and Melanie and big brother Owen stepped onto the Anfield turf, proudly wearing their Everton colours, to the moment they departed with a hug from Rafa Benitez, they were on the receiving end of a show of love and affection which belied local football rivalries.
The arrival of the Jones family pitchside was poignant in itself.
Here were three people, clad in royal blue and from the "wrong side" of Stanley Park, venturing into the home of the "enemy"
No doubt they were nervous about the reception that awaited them.
But they need not have worried because no place in this country – and maybe even beyond – pulls together like Merseyside does at a time of tragedy and so it proved once again last night.
When former Reds star Brian Hall announced the Z Cars theme would be played over the Anfield tannoy a huge round of applause erupted around the stadium.
At that point any doubts that this was the right thing to do evaporated.
This wasn't a time for division and it certainly wasn' the time for misplaced rivalry – it was the time to show solidarity with a Liverpool family during their darkest and most difficult hour.
As the opening bars of the stirring sea shanty sounded it signalled not the roar that usually greets it at Goodison, but a reverential hush which was only punctuated by the odd gulp or sigh as high emotion kicked in.
The fact that this was Anfield on a European night, occasions when the stadium traditionally turns itself into a cauldron of noise, only served to make it even more poignant.
Johnny Todd was faded out and You'll Never Walk Alone kicked in, another song which divides Merseyside along football lines and which Evertonians enjoy about as much as a derby day defeat.
But here it was a unifying force, sung as much (if not more so) for the three dressed in blue than it was for the 11 men dressed in red.
Voices creaked with emotion on the Kop but the feeling was clearly there.
It was so raw many minds were cast back to 1989 when Everton fans on the Gwladys Street joined in with Gerry Marsden' most famous hit in tribute to the 96 people who went to an FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough and never came home.
The solidarity shown at that time was unforgettable as red and blue came together as one in a show of civic unity which many thought to be a one-off.
Last night proved it was by no means unique, and there was even a nod to those days when a section of the Kop chanted "Merseyside, Merseyside" - just as supporters of both clubs had done on several occasions in the 1980s.
In death little Rhys Jones has achieved something so incredible that it will never, ever be forgotten – he has united Merseyside once again.
As his mother suggested Rhys would last night have been looking down and smiling in the knowledge that he was the reason why Z Cars was being played at Anfield.
Enjoy the moment, little fella.
