Top gesture by Fiorentina Fans

[Sunny]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N166026091011-0900.htm


A group of Liverpool fans known as 'The Irregulars' would like to pay a special thanks to their Fiorentina counterparts who made a touching tribute to the 96 prior to kick-off at our recent Champions League encounter in Italy.
With both sides all-set for the clash at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, a handful of La Viola followers made their way to the visiting section of the ground to present the travelling Kop with a flag that read: 'In loving memory of 96 heroes. Don't forget Hillsborough.' It was signed friends of Florence.





The gesture was met by shouts of gratitude from the Reds fans and 'The Irregulars' were delighted to accept the flag on behalf of all the club's supporters.

"As the teams were lining up for kick off, we noticed to our right that Fiorentina fans were trying to attract our attention by waving a banner in our direction," explained Mally, a die-hard member of 'The Irregulars' who rarely misses a game.

"We beckoned across to them, and the stewards allowed them to bring the flag to the dividing perspex partition. The Fiorentina fans threw the flag over to us. They then threw across white roses for what we took as an act of friendship.

"Both myself (Mally) and Bekky unfurled the flag and lay it on the seats closest to the pitch. It was quite an emotional gesture of goodwill and friendship, which all the Liverpool Fans appreciated. A quite wonderful gesture from wonderful fans."

The Irregulars now hope to present the flag to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

 

[Squiggles]

It's amazing to get that from away fans, especially in Europe.

My respect for their fans and the club has gone up enormously since we played.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Lovely stuff. There were some great scenes with the atletico fans last year too, swapping scarves and the guard of honour on the streets.
I still have a betis scarf one of them gave me a few years ago.

That's what its all about.

 

[Loch Ness Monster]

20 years on, I am so glad the rest of Europe still remember. Moving.

 

[Judge Jules]

Great stuff from the La Viola fans. Didn't we also get something similar from Borussia Dortmund fans when we played them one time?

 

[Mistadobalina]

On the wednesday after Hillsborough, AC milan play Real Madrid in the san siro in the semi final of the european cup.

Throughout the game, my dad said 'listen! the home fans are singing 'You'll never walk alone' as loud as anything', in english, and i thought that was tremendous show, from across the continent, and i never forget this.

I think they went on to win 5-0 on agg.

The Rossineri will always deserve a special place in our hearts for this.

 

[franklyfrank]

Nice one.

 

[Frogfish]

Moving stuff.

It is wonderful to see such acts of compassion & friendship from opposing fans. Great respect to them.

YNWA.

 

[Buddha]

A wonderfully compassionate gesture. If only this was the norm eh?

 

[Stulikesdrums]

[quote author=SaintGeorge67 link=topic=36402.msg961415#msg961415 date=1255375611]
Lovely stuff. There were some great scenes with the atletico fans last year too, swapping scarves and the guard of honour on the streets.
I still have a betis scarf one of them gave me a few years ago.

That's what its all about.
[/quote]

I thought the Betis fans were different class that night.
We got talking with some of them outside, sound lads.
I swapped a scarf for a huge Betis flag, still have it at home somewhere.

After the match as the stadium was emptying out the Betis fans were still going strong and they started chanting 'Liverpool, Liverpool' and then all the punters just stopped for a second and applauded them, then the Kop started singing 'Betis, Betis' back to them. It was a great moment, only lasted for maybe 30 or 40 seconds but very memorable.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Yeah, I remember the chanting. Also before the game they were in the Albert trying to sing Liverpool songs louder than the Liverpool fans! Excellent stuff.

 

[Stulikesdrums]

I went to Celtic v Barca in the Champions League last year and beforehand in the boozer a huge number of Barca fans came in and started chanting. The Celtic lads were up for the challenge and the next half hour was fucking amazing, the noise produced took me aback. The passion from both sets was admirable. Then they both sang Henrik Larsson songs together for a few minutes. It is such a shame the Henk went to play for United.

 

[irishred]

There a little bit in World Soccer about how security at the Sporting Lisbon match was handled exclusively by the club's stewards with no police presence required.

It'd be nice if we could do something for them like raising a a few quid for one of their former players Stefano Borgonovo who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or raise cash so that they can keep Mutu. 😛