The overwhelmingly positive response in the wake of the Liverpool FC parade crash

CNN

a day ago

The most decorated soccer team in England was marred by tragedy once again earlier this week, this time at the end of its 10-mile trophy parade celebrating its 20th league title.
It's the second league title Liverpool has won in five years. The last was in 2020, when the Premier League trophy was lifted in front of an empty Anfield and the players and fans didn't get to celebrate their first top-flight triumph in 30 years with a parade. The celebration for the Reds' 2025 Premier League title was meant to be a day of pure joy and celebration – making up for what was missing in the Covid-affected win.
The red smoke from flares permeated the air, red dust covered the soles of shoes, and crowds were still in full celebration mode around the Strand when word quickly spread that a van had plowed into the crowd on Water Street.
The crash left 79 people injured, including four children, with four individuals trapped under the car needing rescuing. As of Thursday, seven of the injured remain in hospital.
The police quickly released the information that the suspect was a 53-year-old White British man from the Liverpool area, and they were not treating the incident as terrorism.
For a club that has had glory and heartbreak walk hand-in-hand through the last several decades, Liverpool Football Club was once again enduring a dark moment that marred one of its brightest days. But those who know the club, its history and its fans say that's where the similarities end. The lessons they're taking from the incident on May 26 is one of strength, solidarity and community – a mood befitting a club whose supporters promise each other that they'll never walk alone.
Two disasters over the span of four years in the 1980s profoundly impacted Liverpool as a city and club – and popped up quickly in many minds on May 26.
It's now been 40 years since the Heysel Disaster on May 29, 1985, in Brussels, Belgium, when Liverpool faced Italian side Juventus in the European Cup final. A stampede of Liverpool fans into a stand containing mostly Juventus supporters and the collapse of a retaining wall led to the death of 39 fans and left 600 injured.
The mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, was at that European Cup final. He stressed the importance of remembering the Heysel Stadium Disaster on the 40th anniversary this week, telling the BBC, 'Remember how the event that caused the loss of life was allowed to develop by really poor policing, and a terrible stadium, and lots of problems with organization.
'But also the part that Liverpool fans played in that, and the fact that some of those people were later jailed for the part they played in that,' Rotheram added.
Only four years later, on April 15, 1989, Liverpool was playing Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semifinal at Hillsborough Stadium when overcrowded standing room only sections, or 'pens', of the stands led to the death of 97 Liverpool supporters.
It's the worst ever sports disaster in British history, according to the BBC.
And in 2022 there were fears of history repeating itself at the Champions League final in Paris at the Stade de France. Chaos, tear gas, and disorganization led to the kickoff between Liverpool and Real Madrid being delayed by more than 35 minutes. And it could have been so much worse.
After that incident in 2022, the blame was put on ticketless and misbehaving fans, with UEFA originally saying in a statement: 'the turnstiles at the Liverpool end became blocked by thousands of fans who had purchased fake tickets which did not work in the turnstiles.'
It's a narrative Liverpool fans had been fed before.
Surviving family and friends suffered the injustice of the blame being put on Liverpool fans. The Hillsborough Family Support Group spent decades demanding further investigations take place.
The 2016 Hillsborough Inquest cleared Liverpool supporters of wrongdoing, finding 'fan behavior did not cause or contribute to the tragedy' and those who lost their lives were 'unlawfully killed.'
Additionally, 'match commander Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield's actions amounted to 'gross negligence' due to breach of his duty of care to fans.'
The truth about the incident at the Stade de France came out quicker compared to Hillsborough, but the Reds' reputation had once again been questioned and stained.
In July 2022, the French Senate cleared Liverpool fans of any responsibility and blamed French decision-making. Additionally, an independent review panel commissioned by UEFA to investigate the final released a report in 2023 that found UEFA 'bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster.' Further, there was 'no evidence of an abnormally large number of 'ticketless supporters' or supporters with invalid tickets.'
Though 1985, 1989, 2022 and now the crash at the open-top bus parade are connected by tragedy, the causes and immediate aftermath on Monday could not have been more different from the previous events.
'When we think of those other instances of things that have happened to Liverpool, city or club, so many of them stem from huge glaring institutional failure that's followed by a cover-up,' Neil Atkinson of The Anfield Wrap told CNN Sports. 'In this instance, there's an example of a lone, single person acting in a certain way, followed by institutional transparency.
'I don't think any line should be drawn from the other events in Liverpool's past into this because it's so distinct from anything like that.
'The one thing that you can sort of say is 'bad thing happens in the vicinity of Liverpool supporters.' But apart from that, there's no other aspects of commonality in any way, shape or form,' Atkinson emphasized.
Liverpool is a city with a strong sense of self and community; Scousers protect each other.
'Within Liverpool, that sort of sense of solidarity … has manifested and does manifest in a slightly different and, arguably, slightly more active way,' Atkinson told CNN.
Amid the fear and chaos, medical staff and emergency services responded quickly. Restaurants opened their doors to become makeshift medical centers. Bystanders offered help.
That bond goes beyond being Scouse or a Liverpool supporter, Atkinson said.
While Atkinson loves Liverpool and believes it is 'an exceptional place,' he also firmly believes that those at the parade – rumored to have been upwards of 1.5 million – did what most would do in a similar situation.
'It's worth pointing out Liverpool does not have 1.5 million people. A large number of the people who were there are also not from Liverpool. So, are we meant to believe that those people, when they leave the Liverpool City region, they become less compassionate? I don't think that's the case.
'I think that those people who did look after each other and were compassionate in those moments, wherever they're from, did it because they're ordinary people who have a certain set of values.' The podcaster and writer added, 'And maybe that set of values chime with the city. But on the whole, you know, I'm a big believer in the ordinary people of the world.'
This included Mowgli Restaurant, which opened its Water Street doors and later posted its thanks to staff: 'Thank you to my wonderful teams in Water Street who were incredible in their calm maturity, resourcefulness and quick kindness when Mowgli became a medical event centre yesterday – in the face of trauma their love for our beloved city and our Liverpool people was immediate and immense.'
A therapist even commented on Mowgli's post offering free services to any staff who might be struggling after the event.
'The response from so many to such a shocking incident has shown the very best of our region at a very difficult time. Scousers reacted as I knew that they would, offering food and drink, warmth, somewhere to rest,' Mayor Rotheram said in a video posted on X.
As departing Liverpool born-and-bred defender Trent Alexander-Arnold said on his Instagram Story after the parade, 'Hopefully those who were injured will make a full recovery. And the city will continue to pull together as it always does.'
Bitter local rival Everton posted a plea for bystanders to send information to the Merseyside Police and ended the post with sentiments similar to those from the mayor saying: 'As a city we stand together.'
For some, the joy felt most of the day is easier to focus on given that, as of writing, updates on those who were hospitalized have been positive.
'The most important thing about processing it is that everyone's on the mend. That makes it easier to work through and process and be able to sort of reconcile that event of the day in and amongst a lot of the pageantry of the day,' Atkinson said about processing the extreme emotions of the day.
There's always the concern that a highly publicized tragedy would only feed the false narrative that tragedy chanters and those holding onto old stereotypes continue to spread, but the reaction online and in the media was largely positive.
'Liverpool as a distinct and unique place in the English firmament is definitely true. But Liverpool as something which the English or British firmament sees as oppositional to it I just don't think it stands up to scrutiny anymore,' Atkinson said.
'Those old tropes I actually think are becoming more and more outdated and more and more rejected precisely because of events like Monday where one and a half million people come to Liverpool. I think you end up in a situation where there is warmth and compassion towards the city.'