Indulge me for a moment...

liveabiglife · April 12, 2008

I'm, proud of my son. That's my right. And I have never been more proud than Tuesday night when he took the hand of Kolo Toure and marched out on the Anfield turf. I haven''t cried for over 20 years; not because I haven't wanted to, I just can't, but Tuesday night, watching him walk out, nearly broke that hoodoo.

He dictated a diary entry to me to type for him onto his website - he's 7, so typing isn't yet something he's strong in - and you can see it here: http://www.bennybobo.com/diary/article/171/

But we've also been talking about Tuesday, in amongst all of our cooing over Tuesday night, and I saw a thing about Hillsborough remembrance. I am too far removed from it all to even begin to offer to write something worthy of marking an anniversary, but just wanted to share a brief snippet that shows, in some small way, the eternal impact that something like Hillsborough has: here's a snippet...

Ben, my lad, wasn't alive when it happened. He read the kid's edition of Gerrard's autobiography, and literally had almost sleepless nights over the death of John Paul, Gerrard's cousin. I think the idea someone could get killed watching a game of footie, and that it could be someone barely older than him, really affected him. This was a reality that did not exist in a six year old's world.

At that stage we had only been to one match - Portsmouth in 2006. The next match was Wigan, season 2006 - 2007; he made me take him to the memorial. He stood gazing at it for a full 5 minutes. He looked at me and said " I can't see John Paul's name, Dad, can you?" I looked, found it, showed him and he looked at it for a full minute, pretty much, and sighed. He looked at me and said "let's go".

Since them we have been to 8 more games, and every game he asks to go to the memorial and he stands, he looks, he finds John Pauls' name, and then we can go in. It's become almost a ritual - we can't set foot inside the ground until we have paused to remember.

It amazes me every time. He knew nothing of it. All he knows of Hillsborough as a place is that his dad took clients there to see Leicester v Middlesborough in a Carling Cup Final replay. And yet it has left a mark on his soul. And yet for him, Hillsborough has a reality that causes him to stop and, even at 7, reflect on eternity.

I cannot imagine the pain, or the sense of loss that hit those families, and those affected in a wider sense, but I hope that the compassion that still flows towards them in some way soothes that which still brings tears.

April 13, 2008

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