Our series Long Distance Liverpool Love shines a light on devoted fans who grew up as a Red away from Merseyside. Here, Farhan from Singapore shares his journey with Liverpool FC.
I started supporting Liverpool because…
The 1990 team with the likes of Ian Rush, John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and Sir Kenny Dalglish to mention just a few playing at that time.
The team kitted in red and playing such beautiful football was such a joy to watch. I was 9-years-old and never even knew that they were the most successful club in English football, I only told myself THAT is the team that I was going to support and I have never looked back since!
My fondest memory involving Liverpool is…
There are too many to mention but if I had to choose, I can narrow it down to three.
The first would be owning my very first Liverpool jersey. It was in the summer of 1990 while my family was visiting my Grand Uncle, who was staying in London.
I had walked into a football store and asked my parents to buy me a Liverpool jersey, instead of the home kit, I asked for the grey Candy jersey instead. During that time the conversion rate was one pound to three Singapore dollars and I will always be thankful to my parents for spending quite a bit of money for my very first Liverpool jersey.
The second would be visiting Anfield for the very first time in 2000 and then again in 2011. In 2000, we decided to drive out of London and visited a few football stadiums along the way.
It was the offseason so there were no football matches to catch but the feeling of just standing outside the stadium and taking photos with the famous Paisley Gates and the statue of Bill Shankly was just so surreal.
Then in 2011, I visited Anfield stadium again during my honeymoon. Again, I was not able to watch a match as the Reds were away. However, this time around I was able to do the stadium tour and finally get a chance to touch the famous ‘This is Anfield’ sign.
It really was a dream come true to finally be able to step into Anfield having supported the club since I was 9.
But I would say my fondest memory would be to finally witness Liverpool lifting the Premier League trophy, 30 years was how long I waited as a fan and it was so worth the wait! Seeing Jordan Henderson do the ‘Hendo Shuffle’ and lift trophy was pure happiness that I simply cannot describe.
My typical matchday routine for the Reds is…
My routine definitely depends on the kick-off time as the matches being aired in Singapore is between 7.30pm and the latest 3am (for Champions League matches).
The 3am kickoffs I wake up 30 minutes before the match to freshen up so that I can enjoy the match fully but on days where we will be facing our biggest rivals, I will usually try to gather with my friends at one of their houses or somewhere outside where it’s being shown live.
The Champions League final in 2019, for example, was a 3am kickoff and I met up with my friends from the official Liverpool Supporters Club Singapore East (OLSC SE) to watch at one of our football stadiums called Tampines Hub. A few thousand fans gathered there to watch and that was a night to remember seeing Liverpool lift the trophy for the sixth time!
What does the club mean to you?
In the words of Dominic Toretto from the Fast and Furious, the club is family to me.
The words ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ have such a deep meaning, and when you are a Liverpool supporter rest assured that at any point in life if you are going through a difficult phase you know that your fellow Red will be there for you and not let you walk alone.
Likewise, you will do the same for them. It is not just a football club; it is a community that do good things together, such as organising a charity drive with the proceeds collected from the event going to those less fortunate. So we live the words, ‘We are Liverpool, this means more.’
My Liverpool dream is…
To finally have a chance to watch a match at Anfield together with my family.
Having the chance to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone before the start of a match in a full capacity stadium would be such a surreal experience! Hopefully, my third visit in the future will be “third time lucky” for my Liverpool dream to come true!
The piece of silverware that would mean the most to me to see LFC win next…
I would definitely love to see the team win the Premier League title again for the 20th time so that we can move closer to going past that red team on the other side.
But more importantly, so that we can witness them lift the trophy in a full capacity Anfield and later have an open-top bus parade just like the one we had after winning the Champions League.
And if I could invite three Liverpool figures past or present to my country, they would be…
Ian Rush – He was my first favourite player and is such a great ambassador to the club. I’ve had the chance to see him in person when he previously visited Singapore but did not have a chance to take a photo with him. So it would be nice to take a photo and have a chat over a nice meal.
Steven Gerrard – A Liverpool legend who was not able to come down to Singapore together with the team back in 2009. What more can I say about this guy who has done so much for the club, I would like to be able to thank him personally.
Jurgen Klopp – Where shall I start with this man? The Normal One…The person who has unified the team, the fans and the entire club. The first manager to win the league title after 30 years..what an accomplishment!
I will treat him to every local delight that he wants to eat in Singapore!
* Thanks again to Farhan for sharing his story, you can find him on Instagram @thesarongscouser
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