Liverpool FC winning their first league title in three decades, and first of the Premier League era, is a big deal; a really big deal! After 30 years of hurt, LFC supporters are celebrating, but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is urging them to celebrate safely.
With the ending of the drought coming in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a double whammy of danger here. First you have all the perils that typically come when a city celebrates a sports championship and people in the city let loose; many using it as an excuse to get really wild and unruly.
Like just after the #UCL title last summer, @LastWeekTonight with @iamjohnoliver opens the show with tribute to @LFC ? pic.twitter.com/XMawNA8bKS
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) June 29, 2020
Secondly, you have the fact that such celebrations involve little to no mask wearing and/or social distancing. Coronavirus is spread person to person, and any time you have large numbers of people right on top of one another, the contagion can easily spread.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has hit the United Kingdom much harder than the rest of Europe. Since the Reds clinched the title, we saw fans doing…well, you’ve seen the videos and photos. Liverpool FC themselves released a statement condemning the celebrations.
Behind this backdrop, Jurgen Klopp made his plea to the fans, to celebrate safely, via the Liverpool Echo.
“I am a human being and your passion is also my passion but right now the most important thing is that we do not have these kind of public gatherings. We owe it to the most vulnerable in our community, to the health workers who have given so much and whom we have applauded and to the police and local authorities who help us as a club not to do this,” Klopp said.
“Please – celebrate – but celebrate in a safe way and in private settings, whereby we do not risk spreading this awful disease further in our community.
“We owe it to ourselves and each other to do what is right and at this moment that means being together and being there for one another by being apart.”
:When the time is right we will celebrate.”
“We will enjoy this moment and we will paint the city red. But for now, please stay at home as much as possible.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.