Some football supporters throw coins, others the odd bottle. In the old days it used to be toilet rolls. But at Goodison Park on Wednesday night, Liverpool fans targeted the Everton players with rolled-up socks.
Socks? Why socks? Was it a goodwill gesture from the richer half of Merseyside to their hard-up neighbours? Or an easy way of getting rid of unwanted Christmas presents?
None of the above - in reality it was a dig at Everton’s proposed move to a new stadium in Kirkby on the outskirts of Liverpool.
Residents of Kirkby, a mainly working class area whose famous sons include boxer John Conteh, former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson and playwright Alan Bleasdale, are sometimes derided as “sock-robbers.” This is a rather cruel reference to the way that burglars from the area allegedly put socks over their hands to avoid leaving behind finger-prints.
What started as a joke on a Liverpool supporters’ internet forum mushroomed into Wednesday night’s carefully-organised stunt, which was embellished with a raucous chant of “sock-robbers.”
It is not the first such dig. In last season’s league derby at Goodison, Liverpool fans released onto the pitch Tesco carrier bags filled with balloons - a jibe at Everton’s reliance on the supermarket chain to part fund the new stadium project. They also used Tesco’s slogan on a banner to taunt their blue rivals: “Every Little Helps.”
And older fans will remember the time in the 1960s when a Kopite ran onto the Anfield pitch to present Everton goalkeeper Gordon West with a handbag.
Socks? Why socks? Was it a goodwill gesture from the richer half of Merseyside to their hard-up neighbours? Or an easy way of getting rid of unwanted Christmas presents?
None of the above - in reality it was a dig at Everton’s proposed move to a new stadium in Kirkby on the outskirts of Liverpool.
Residents of Kirkby, a mainly working class area whose famous sons include boxer John Conteh, former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson and playwright Alan Bleasdale, are sometimes derided as “sock-robbers.” This is a rather cruel reference to the way that burglars from the area allegedly put socks over their hands to avoid leaving behind finger-prints.
What started as a joke on a Liverpool supporters’ internet forum mushroomed into Wednesday night’s carefully-organised stunt, which was embellished with a raucous chant of “sock-robbers.”
It is not the first such dig. In last season’s league derby at Goodison, Liverpool fans released onto the pitch Tesco carrier bags filled with balloons - a jibe at Everton’s reliance on the supermarket chain to part fund the new stadium project. They also used Tesco’s slogan on a banner to taunt their blue rivals: “Every Little Helps.”
And older fans will remember the time in the 1960s when a Kopite ran onto the Anfield pitch to present Everton goalkeeper Gordon West with a handbag.
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