Rhys' parents praise amazing night

[Shaggy]

Rhys Jones' parents praise amazing Anfield night
Aug 30 2007 by Ben Rossington, Liverpool Echo

RHYS JONES’S parents said Liverpool had done the city proud after rival football fans put their differences behind them in memory of the 11-year-old.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard today joined the appeal to catch the schoolboy’s killer, after an emotional European night at Anfield on Tuesday.

Stephen and Melanie Jones, along with son Owen, stood at the side of the pitch before the Champions League qualifier against Toulouse.

Dressed in the blue kit of Everton, Stephen and Owen supported Melanie as she shed tears in front of the applauding crowd..

Right up until they left the house, Mrs Jones said she was hesitant about stepping out before 40,000 Reds.

“I was really taken aback once we were there, but up until then, I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

“It was only when Owen said he had been talking to people from both the Blues and the Reds over the internet and that they all wanted us to go that I was convinced.

“And Liverpool were really amazing with us. They were fantastic from start to finish.”

Mr Jones said: “We were picked up by our police family liaison officer and, as we were driving to the ground, we were given a few looks.

“But when we got out of the car, we were given a massive round of applause by everyone. It knocked us back. It was just the most amazing thing.

“When we got to pitchside, the noise was deafening. We couldn’t even hear Z Cars being played but my brother assured me it was.

“Then afterwards we met David Moores and Rick Parry and I just told them their fans had done Liverpool - the city and the club - proud. It really was so moving for us.

“Both Rafa and his wife, as well as Steven Gerrard, came and gave us their condolences.

“These people didn’t have to go out of their way to talk to us, but they did. They were just as fantastic as the fans.”

Today club captain Gerrard said: “The reception that Rhys’s family got at Anfield was fantastic and showed that everyone in the city has been affected.

“I would appeal to anyone who has any information to please contact the police and help find those who were responsible for this terrible crime.”

Rick Parry said “It was a tremendous response from the fans.

“Clearly it was a very, very moving occasion and I am very pleased that the family felt able to come and spend the evening with us.

“The fans showed it was a time to put local rivalries to one side to mourn a fellow football fan.”

[Shaggy]

John Thompson: A gesture which restores faith in human nature
Aug 30 2007 by John Thompson, Liverpool Echo

Sports View

IT WAS a gesture which will go down in Merseyside football history. But let’s also hope it is a landmark moment with a lasting local legacy.

Because when football restores your faith in human nature, you know something pretty special has happened.

Special because it was, in fact, quite ordinary.

Everyone has been instinctively horrified by the murder of Rhys Jones. Everyone naturally wants to send a message to his family and help support them amid their deep shock and grief.

This city’s football stadiums were always likely to be the congregational points for that to happen en masse. But when one of those locations was the sacred ground of an opposing faith, it was never going to be quite that simple in practice.

Hence the look on the faces of the Jones family as, clad in their Everton colours, they stood nervously on the touchline at Anfield on Tuesday clearly wondering just what was about to happen.

The spontaneous, loud applause which then somehow brought a smile to the face of brave Melanie Jones was a moment too touching for words.

But it spoke volumes in itself.

Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs are two halves of the same city, a city united in a common shock this past eight days.

Of course the ultimate gesture must be for politicians and people in Liverpool - and beyond - to actually start tackling the source of the dreadful social breakdown which saw a little boy gunned down in the street.

But for now, the city’s football clubs and their supporters are speaking for us all. And making everyone immensely proud of them for doing so.

All traces of the enmity which has surfaced at too many derby matches for the past decade or so have suddenly been hurled to the sidelines where they belong. Let’s all hope they now stay there for good.

Because those who mock the old derby spirit which once almost defined the city of Liverpool are both cynical and wrong.

The burning passion has always been there with Merseyside’s two great Premiership clubs, on and off the pitch.

But during the sixties, seventies and eighties it was generally accompanied by a real sense of decency and perspective - and sharp humour too.

They actually were days when reds and blues mingled in the same sections of each other’s grounds, when they travelled together to games and shared the same pubs afterwards.

The chants and the banter would flow as freely as the beer. But it was nearly always more fun, win or lose. And simply just better behaved.

This week’s gesture from Liverpool Football Club and its supporters now mirrors that sent by Evertonians in the aftermath of the Hillsborough Disaster - a time when Manchester United fans too travelled into Liverpool to show their support and empathy.

No one wants the game we all love to go soft, or for the fiery nature of the competition ever to be diluted.

But we must all demand that decency and respect prevail amid the vagaries of derby day fortune.

When you hear the Blues signature tune Z Cars being played at Anfield, when you see the Kop clearly aiming its famous anthem towards a family of Evertonians in their darkest hour, with its sentiments obviously appreciated, you can’t help but hope everyone has now stepped well back over a line that should never have been crossed by some in the first place.

[Howard_lfc]

Rhys Jones' parents praise amazing Anfield night
Aug 30 2007 by Ben Rossington, Liverpool Echo

RHYS JONES’S parents said Liverpool had done the city proud after rival football fans put their differences behind them in memory of the 11-year-old.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard today joined the appeal to catch the schoolboy’s killer, after an emotional European night at Anfield on Tuesday.

Stephen and Melanie Jones, along with son Owen, stood at the side of the pitch before the Champions League qualifier against Toulouse.

Dressed in the blue kit of Everton, Stephen and Owen supported Melanie as she shed tears in front of the applauding crowd..

Right up until they left the house, Mrs Jones said she was hesitant about stepping out before 40,000 Reds.

“I was really taken aback once we were there, but up until then, I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

“It was only when Owen said he had been talking to people from both the Blues and the Reds over the internet and that they all wanted us to go that I was convinced.

“And Liverpool were really amazing with us. They were fantastic from start to finish.”

Mr Jones said: “We were picked up by our police family liaison officer and, as we were driving to the ground, we were given a few looks.

“But when we got out of the car, we were given a massive round of applause by everyone. It knocked us back. It was just the most amazing thing.

“When we got to pitchside, the noise was deafening. We couldn’t even hear Z Cars being played but my brother assured me it was.

“Then afterwards we met David Moores and Rick Parry and I just told them their fans had done Liverpool - the city and the club - proud. It really was so moving for us.

“Both Rafa and his wife, as well as Steven Gerrard, came and gave us their condolences.

“These people didn’t have to go out of their way to talk to us, but they did. They were just as fantastic as the fans.”

Today club captain Gerrard said: “The reception that Rhys’s family got at Anfield was fantastic and showed that everyone in the city has been affected.

“I would appeal to anyone who has any information to please contact the police and help find those who were responsible for this terrible crime.”

Rick Parry said “It was a tremendous response from the fans.

“Clearly it was a very, very moving occasion and I am very pleased that the family felt able to come and spend the evening with us.

“The fans showed it was a time to put local rivalries to one side to mourn a fellow football fan.”

Nice article but a shame it takes a tragedy for people to behave properly. though.

[JRG]

Nice article but a shame it takes a tragedy for people to behave properly. though.

Agreed, my sentiments exactly

[cadmium]

Nice article but a shame it takes a tragedy for people to behave properly. though.

[cobain]

Nice article but a shame it takes a tragedy for people to behave properly. though.

Agreed

I've been reading some of the Everton forums yesterday and most of the Evertonians (I'd say around 90&#37, were very moved by the tribute to Rhys Jones at Anfield and some of them even cheered the Reds on the night.

10% however are permanent arseholes and didn't even acknowledge the fantastic tribute - they rather asked questions, why didn't we wore black armbands against Sunderland

All in all, it is great to see the whole city united in times like these and it just showed how great the city of Liverpool really is.

Fantastic stuff

[darkknight]

Good work to those of you who were there - reminds me of the days when nothing could ever budge my pride in being a red.

Those days might be gone, but the essence of humanity is still there.

[Darth Marty]

Good work to those of you who were there - reminds me of the days when nothing could ever budge my pride in being a red.

Those days might be gone, but the essence of humanity is still there.

Nothing budges my pride in being a red, nothing. When the incidents occur a la greece those arent true supporters so they can **** off, Im a red and will always be proud, until the day they carry me out in my box to the theme of Y.N.W.A.

Im glad the parents took some comfort from it though, I really am.

[disco]

Hopefully it will reduce some of the animosity between us which has been creeping (and is indeed a feature) of the local derbies.

[Parm]

Agreed

I've been reading some of the Everton forums yesterday and most of the Evertonians (I'd say around 90%), were very moved by the tribute to Rhys Jones at Anfield and some of them even cheered the Reds on the night.

10% however are permanent arseholes and didn't even acknowledge the fantastic tribute - they rather asked questions, why didn't we wore black armbands against Sunderland

All in all, it is great to see the whole city united in times like these and it just showed how great the city of Liverpool really is.

Fantastic stuff

indeed, was a moving tribute. As for those 10%

[shelly]

Glad they could take some comfort....
The poor family.

[Johnny]

I`m glad that it helped the family through a difficult time.

[paulcooper4]

Thankfully some of the arseholes that were on here and theliverpoolway didnt get their wish.

The family appreciated it and thats all that matters.

[lfcruleus]

I was there and it was impeccably observed, brought a tear to be honest, as much as the Derby atmos has changed it should go a long way with the sensible Blue****e, but it will sadly never be seen by a minority, they have theirs as we have ours.