The Mail Bag
Religious affiliation
Comments (9)
I'm trying to figure out the "most Catholic team in the Premiership". I know I'm just a Yank, and have honestly no clue on what I'm talking about. And I thought this Everton-Liverpool thing was a Catholic vs Protestant thing also. I need my facts to be straight and I was hoping you would help me.
Mike Normoyle, Posted 23/07/2007 at 18:27:51
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
Lyndon
We're not sure there's a definitive answer to that old chestnut but here's our take from a few years back.
Peter Pridgeon
1 Posted 24/07/2007 at 00:34:56
1 Posted 24/07/2007 at 00:34:56
Dear Mike
Sectarianism has hardly ever raised its ugly head in the Merseyside divide despite some misguided soles who believe such. I have attended Everton from the 1960s and do not recall any bias by either club towards any religious cult Catholicism or the multitudinous versions protestantism. My father an Everton supporter from the 1930s onward and a devout catholic attended both Goodison and Anfield as did a lot of people prior to the 1970s. When I have asked him this question he has assured me that no sectarian rivalry had ever existed to his knowledge.
I attended catholic schools through the sixties and seventies and remember clearly the even split between the misguided red and the enlightened blue causes.
The only determinable difference between the two sets of supporters was the clear split between levels of intelligence.
Sectarianism has hardly ever raised its ugly head in the Merseyside divide despite some misguided soles who believe such. I have attended Everton from the 1960s and do not recall any bias by either club towards any religious cult Catholicism or the multitudinous versions protestantism. My father an Everton supporter from the 1930s onward and a devout catholic attended both Goodison and Anfield as did a lot of people prior to the 1970s. When I have asked him this question he has assured me that no sectarian rivalry had ever existed to his knowledge.
I attended catholic schools through the sixties and seventies and remember clearly the even split between the misguided red and the enlightened blue causes.
The only determinable difference between the two sets of supporters was the clear split between levels of intelligence.
Tom Hughes
2 Posted 24/07/2007 at 01:06:09
2 Posted 24/07/2007 at 01:06:09
Thats funny I noticed that while at school too. All the blues got their o-levels. By the time we got to A-levels most of the reds were already on the bins! Then at Nautical college, all the officer cadets were blues, and the trainee ratings reds..... weird but true?!
Seem to remember years ago there were lots of priests at GP, and there seemed to be quite an Irish conection too, which is probably were some of this misaprehension comes from, can’t imagine a "man of the cloth" going to their place though.
Seem to remember years ago there were lots of priests at GP, and there seemed to be quite an Irish conection too, which is probably were some of this misaprehension comes from, can’t imagine a "man of the cloth" going to their place though.
Lee
3 Posted 24/07/2007 at 02:06:46
3 Posted 24/07/2007 at 02:06:46
From my distant childhood I seem to remember being told I shouldn’t really support Rangers when watching the Old Firm derby as, although they played in blue (my only reason for cheering them on!), it wasn’t the "correct" team. Can’t remember who told me or why, but i’m sure it wasn’t anyone pious or devout who said it to me! But other than that, i’ve not encountered any religious involvement whatsoever between the two teams in Merseyside.
Jon Walton
4 Posted 24/07/2007 at 02:53:16
4 Posted 24/07/2007 at 02:53:16
I had a wooly hat in the 80s that was 2 sides Everton and 1 side celtic. Some lads had the liverpool/rangers ones. We were all catholic and no one ever mentioned it, I guess no-one ever told us what it meant (in Scotland).
Still i’m not sure why it was Everton and celtic? I always wondered whether they sold the same hats in Glasgow?
Still i’m not sure why it was Everton and celtic? I always wondered whether they sold the same hats in Glasgow?
Thommo
5 Posted 24/07/2007 at 06:17:32
5 Posted 24/07/2007 at 06:17:32
"Ah to hell with Liverpool and Rangers too"-could be seen as having some sort of religious preference but as far as I am aware the only religious connection is that St Domingo’s was a Methodist organisation. However, as Liverpool is our illegitamate offspring they would be tarred with that same brush. The split between the two clubs was merely an arguement over the rent being asked for the ground. So the answer would be that there is no religious divide other than the luck they’ve had knows no earthly origin!
Steve Flanagan
6 Posted 24/07/2007 at 08:38:48
6 Posted 24/07/2007 at 08:38:48
Mike, this supposedly catholic-protestant split between Everton and Liverpool is actually incorrect.
There appears to be no affiliation between the clubs and religion from my research into this a while back.
This does, however, seem to stem from the fifties when, according to my match going relatives at the time, the general consensus (or old wives tale) was that if you were born a cathloic you were a blue, and vice versa if you were born a protestant. However, it appears that this stems from the fact that in the fifties, Everton had a large number of Irish players in their sqaud (Tommy Eglington, Peter Farrell, Alex Stevenson, Peter Corr, Jimmy O’Neil, Tommy Clinton, Dan Donovan with Billy Bingham, Mick Meagan and Jimmy Hill - no not that one! - in the early sixties).
There appears to be no affiliation between the clubs and religion from my research into this a while back.
This does, however, seem to stem from the fifties when, according to my match going relatives at the time, the general consensus (or old wives tale) was that if you were born a cathloic you were a blue, and vice versa if you were born a protestant. However, it appears that this stems from the fact that in the fifties, Everton had a large number of Irish players in their sqaud (Tommy Eglington, Peter Farrell, Alex Stevenson, Peter Corr, Jimmy O’Neil, Tommy Clinton, Dan Donovan with Billy Bingham, Mick Meagan and Jimmy Hill - no not that one! - in the early sixties).
Steve L
7 Posted 24/07/2007 at 09:11:47
7 Posted 24/07/2007 at 09:11:47
Everyone knows Liverpool are the spawn of the devil. Not sure if that helps!
Mike Oates
8 Posted 24/07/2007 at 11:03:22
8 Posted 24/07/2007 at 11:03:22
I’m into late fifties now (lived first 20 years in Goodison Rd), and was first taken to Goodison by my father in 1956/7 . We were a strong Catholic family (Irish Grandparents) and like a few of the comments above we were told by all elders to support Everton and Celtic.As many contributors have stated above, I have never seen or heard any sectarianism .
Funny thing though - because of where I lived I used to mind cars for people going to the match in mid 50’s - mid 60’s and we used to hate getting a priest parking as we weren’t allowed to take money from them - and there used to be a hell a lot of priests going to the games.
Funny thing though - because of where I lived I used to mind cars for people going to the match in mid 50’s - mid 60’s and we used to hate getting a priest parking as we weren’t allowed to take money from them - and there used to be a hell a lot of priests going to the games.
J
9 Posted 24/07/2007 at 16:05:45
9 Posted 24/07/2007 at 16:05:45
There was a time when Everton was considered ’more’ Catholic than Liverpool, at least within my peer group. Likewise, Liverpool was seen as the protestant club. This even manifested itself in the 1980s in Everton fans wearing a mixed Celtc/Everton booble hat and Liverpool fans adopting a similar Rangers/Liverpool one. I realise, though, that history shows neither club to be attached to catholicism. I’m merely pointing out that there has been a time when some supporters from both clubs seemed to adopt a different sectarian standpoint.
© ToffeeWeb
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
