Why for one Liverpool fan, the ‘You'll Never Walk Alone' team anthem means a little more

South China Morning Post

5 days ago

Ang has never travelled to Anfield for a live match, but spent about 6,000 Malaysian ringgit (US$1,423) on a ticket, hotel and airfare to come to Hong Kong.
'I felt as though whenever I was watching a Liverpool match, my boyfriend was there with me, and that was what 'You'll Never Walk Alone' meant to me.'
'My first match with him was the 7-0 win over Manchester United [in March] … but he passed away due to heart failure later in the year – there were no symptoms,' she said. 'Since then, I have become a more devoted and dedicated Reds fan.
Ang, 26, actually started following football by watching Italy's Serie A and supporting AC Milan in 2022. However, the teacher in her native country began to read more about the Merseyside team because of her boyfriend, who had been supporting the Reds for more than 20 years.
Vinie Ang Weng-nee, a Reds fan since early 2023, flew in from Malaysia to pursue her first overseas tour to watch the club.
Among the thousands of Liverpool fans who flocked to Kai Tak Stadium to watch Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Dominik Szoboszlai and other favourites train on Thursday was one for whom the words 'You'll Never Walk Alone' resonate especially strongly.
'It's easier coming here than to visit the United Kingdom, but I will go to Anfield eventually this year or next,' she said. 'I decided to come when the trip was announced earlier in the year.'
But there was another reason Ang had decided to come to Hong Kong.
'The reason for my trip was really [Diogo] Jota,' she said, speaking about the Portuguese star who died in a car crash a few weeks ago. 'He's the first Liverpool player [other than Salah] I knew, and I really liked him.
'I was so looking forward to seeing him, he's an intelligent and down-to-earth player … I was devastated to hear about his passing away, and I am still emotional [speaking to you now].'
Ang was just one of thousands of Liverpool fans of all ages seen making their way to Kai Tak Stadium from the nearby Sung Wong Toi and Kai Tak Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations hours before the open training session.
Fans donning Reds' jerseys – home, away or even their third – with more recent players' names made up most of the bigger numbers, with names such as the undisputed king, Salah, to recent additions such as Darwin Nunez. Some female fans also showed love to Wataru Endo, only the second Japanese player in the club's 133-year history.
Some players – Roberto Firmino or Trent Alexander-Arnold – might have left the team, but they remained in the fans' hearts, or on their jerseys at the very least.
Some chose to honour and remember the late Jota.
Thousands of Liverpool fans attended the training session at Kai Tak Stadium on Thursday. Photo: AFP
For Liverpool fans, supporting the 20-time league champions could be described as a 'religious' thing.
Mino Cheng Chan-kwong, chairman of the Official Liverpool Supporters Club Hong Kong, said the club was all about 'the human touch' for him.
Having first watched the Reds in the early 1990s, Cheng said he was moved by the club's decision to honour the 97 fans who died in the Hillsborough disaster by updating the club's emblem.
'And then there was Jota, and immortalising his No 20 jersey … supporting Liverpool gives me a very strong feeling that we're all in one big family,' said the 43-year-old, who picked the 4-3 Premier League win over Newcastle in 1996 as his all-time favourite moment in three decades as a fan.
'It's almost like a religion. I also like AC Milan and I still do today, but the other teams are not comparable when it comes to the club motto, YNWA – that's how I feel.'
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