Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Prince’s touch as football on mind of fans
LIVERPOOL FC remembered the 39 football fans who lost their lives at Heysel Stadium in Belgium yesterday.
The disaster happened before the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus on May 29, 1985, when events in Block Z of the stadium led to the deaths of 39 people – mostly Juventus supporters – and left hundreds more injured.
As a mark of respect to those who died, a floral tribute was placed beside the Heysel memorial plaque on the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand at Anfield yesterday morning. Flags across all club sites are also being flown at half-mast throughout the day.
In other news, it was found that football has played its part for years in promoting the message that mental health must not be stigmatised.
Few stories cut through quite like that of the former Leyton Orient manager Martin Ling, whose mental disintegration was so devastating that he had five rounds of electroconvulsive therapy.
But for every story of a high-profile individual making it through the forest, there is an individual like Jordan or Jamo — still staggering on, anonymous, often alone, always looking for the light.
Jamo thinks his mental illness dates
to when he was made redundant but these things are complicated and he cannot be sure.
Both are in a new BBC documentary Football, Prince William and Our
Mental Health, featuring the royal’s work on football and mental health.
Football creates one of the very few spaces where men will gather regularly and give full rein to their emotions.
The documentary, is aided by the Prince’s common touch.
William reveals an ambition to rename the world’s oldest club competition the Mental Health FA Cup. When that happens, we’ll know the game really is listening. |