Even in light of a Champions League win over Ajax, Liverpool must be frustrated after the ‘nervous’ referee ‘abandoned’ the moment’s silence.
Silence treatment
After Tuesday’s wildly irresponsible promise regarding the behaviour of 50,000 football supporters, Martin Samuel is back in the Daily Mail on match reporting duties at Anfield.
It just so happens that Liverpool pretty much held up their end of the bargain and so presumably Samuel can briefly mention it and move on. After all, what more can really be said about a moment of silence during which the vast majority were momentarily silent?
Well you know it’s going to be good when Samuel breaks off from his article for ‘a brief digression’. One which, it should be noted, lasts for nine paragraphs. Like all good asides.
‘Those of us who felt that Liverpool’s supporters would rise to the occasion of the minute devoted to the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will feel largely vindicated because the overwhelming majority of the 54,000 present did exactly that,’ he writes.
‘There was no mass chorus of boos, no wide demonstration of dissent.’
So why are we still on the subject?
That would be because ‘the odd voice’ could be heard, then ‘more noise’ was generated by those attempting to quieten the dissenters, and so referee Artur Dias ‘grew nervous and blew his whistle early, just 24 seconds in’.
‘For Liverpool, the club, that would have been disappointing. For the majority of supporters, too.’
Except no such thing happened. It wasn’t a minute’s silence. It was very specifically referred to as “a moment’s silence” over the Anfield PA system and the referee treated it precisely as such. To suggest he ‘grew nervous and blew his whistle early’ is utter nonsense and paints him in a bad light, never mind the fans.
Samuel was in the stadium. He heard the message describing it as “a moment’s silence”. He ignored that. He then made a well-observed period of reflection an ultimately negative focus of his match report and it really does feel like that was the hope and aim all along.
‘For Liverpool, the club, that would have been disappointing’ more than anything else.
One moment, please
It turns out that all chief sports writers suffer from selective hearing because this was Oliver Brown’s take in the Daily Telegraph:
At Anfield. Minute’s silence for the Queen abandoned after 30-40 seconds. Smattering of loud boos and jeers, despite…
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