Why do Liverpool fans boo the national anthem?

Liverpool supporters boo the national anthem for a complex mix of historical, cultural, socio-economical and political reasons.

It is a high-profile repudiation of the British state and an example of the city’s opposition to an establishment that has betrayed, mocked, abandoned and vilified it for decades.

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Exacerbating that groundswell of rebellion is justified anger at the lies and subsequent cover-up by police and successive British governments of the Hillsborough disaster in April 1989, in which 97 supporters were unlawfully killed.

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As the anthem is the most prominent symbol of the state it is therefore the most logical target for protests.

Prince William was on the receiving end of Liverpool boos during his appearance ahead of the 2022 FA Cup final. And King Charles III’s coronation in 2023 coincided with a Liverpool home fixture against Brentford.

As the Liverpool players lined up around the centre circle to hear God Save The King before kickoff, a torrent of boos and chanting was unleashed from around the ground.

The club decided to go ahead and play the anthem - despite opposition from supporters - and claimed it was a “personal choice” on the part of those inside the ground as to how they would react.

“It wasn’t any kind of chants or anything. People just showed … they were not always happy in the past with how the people of Liverpool, the city or the club, were dealt with,” said Jurgen Klopp.

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The feeling within the city is that it is not English or British, that it has no allegiance to its flag, its anthem or its monarch. Historically, Liverpool has been treated with contempt by governments and that is reflected back in fan sentiment.

Liverpool as a city suffered extensively during the rapid deindustrialisation of the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. And in parts of the city, unemployment ran at between 30 and 50 percent.

The booing of the anthem became prevalent throughout the '80s with Liverpool featuring in several cup finals at Wembley during that decade.

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1981 also brought the nine-day Toxteth Riots, when tensions among the local black community and the police spilled over into violent clashes.

It followed the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister, when her Conservative government ministers urged the “managed decline” of the city.

That meant effectively starving Liverpool of resources with those plans revealed in papers released in 2011, exposing the contempt the establishment held Liverpool in.

The betrayals and injustices over Hillsborough in the years that followed only solidified the anger towards a state which attempted to shift culpability to Liverpool fans themselves.

It was revealed in 2012 that a Conservative MP - Irvine Patnick - was a source for The S*n’s “The Truth” story which attempted to pin the blame for Hillsborough on innocent Liverpool supporters.

The 2014-2016 inquests concluded there was NO blame to be apportioned to Liverpool fans but in 2019 David Duckenfield - the officer in charge on the day - was cleared of gross negligence manslaughter, denying families and survivors justice yet again.

Scouse not English

Liverpool’s fanbase within the city is left-leaning and the booing has continued under the Conservative governments elected since 2010. It expresses anger and dissatisfaction at the ongoing social and economic inequality in Liverpool and beyond.

High inflation, wage stagnation and worsening economic conditions have all contributed to a sense of injustice.

Some Liverpool fans in the city feel a lack of British or English identity - best exemplified through the sight of “Scouse Not English” signs on the Kop.

There exists a sense of the city being “othered” by the rest of the country, which stretches all the way back to the 1840s. Where once Liverpool was a “Tory Town” and the second city of the British Empire, it began to be seen as an Irish city on the island of Great Britain.

That was due to the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s, which brought an influx of Irish immigrants to the city. The city rapidly changed and its people were seen as outsiders.

That status was seen in football as far back as the 1950s and 1960s. Liverpool fans are reported to have sung “God Save Our Team” rather than the anthem at FA Cup finals in 1950 and 1965 - the latter taking place in front of Queen Elizabeth II.

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And so the booing goes well beyond recent protests. It stretches back not decades but centuries, being intensified following the appalling treatment of the city by the British state during the 1980s and beyond.

It is a rallying cry against economic hardship, political marginalisation and a profound betrayal of the establishment. Liverpool is a city that’s proud to protest.

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