Reclaim The Kop

Reclaim The Kop, often referred to as RTK, is a campaign among fans of Liverpool Football Club to restore the matchday atmosphere within The Kop specifically, and Anfield more generally. It was established by a group of Liverpool fans in October 2006, and publicly launched in January 2007.

Formation

The Reclaim the Kop campaign attributes its origins to a UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and Bordeaux on October 31, 2006, at which the group's instigators felt disappointed with the formulaic and disrespectful nature of the chants and songs used by Liverpool supporters. [ [http://www.reclaimthekop.co.uk Reclaim the Kop campaign site] ] The campaign was subsequently formed as a means of promoting and disseminating traditional Liverpool fan songs, and generally campaigning for an improved atmosphere at Anfield, with greater levels of fan participation. In particular, the campaign claims that it intends to educate supporters about the uniqueness of Liverpool fan culture, and to offset the influence of sources of generic football fan culture, in particular the Sky Sports show Soccer AM.

Activities

The group and its aims were initially promoted by the official Liverpool F.C. website, [ [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/archivedirs/news/2007/jan/1/N154544070101-0015.htm Reclaim the Kop- Starts here today] , "liverpoolfc.tv", January 1, 2006] which published a series of "Reclaim the Kop" articles highlighting and encouraging the uniqueness of Liverpool's support through features such as photographs of homemade banners, poems, and recordings of fans singing various traditional Liverpool football songs, with karaoke style displays of the words to help visitors to the site to "learn and sing" and join in. This promotion, however, did not run for the 10 weeks that had been originally planned and was dropped by the club's official website. The launch of the campaign briefly attracted the attention of Liverpool's local press, [ [http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_method=full%26objectid=18280487%26siteid=50061-name_page.html Club gives backing to fans' Kop campaign] "Liverpool Daily Post", December 16, 2006] and was reported on and discussed on local radio stations such as Radio City.

On January 6, 2007, Reclaim the Kop organised a protest during the third round FA Cup match between Liverpool and Arsenal, [ [http://www.reclaimthekop.co.uk/cgi-bin/main.pl?action=campaign_news&nid=4 Arsenal FA announcement] "reclaimthekop.co.uk", December 21, 2006] which was broadcast live on the BBC. The intention of the protest, which was dubbed 'Truth Day', was to highlight the anger of Liverpool fans that the BBC had employed Kelvin MacKenzie as a presenter, in spite of his comments during late 2006 that he did not feel any regret that while working as editor of The Sun he had published an article in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster which fabricated claims about the behaviour of Liverpool fans- including that fans had urinated on police and stolen from the bodies of the dying. The claims made in the story were subsequently found to be untrue and dismissed by the Taylor Report. On the day of the protest 12,000 fans in the Kop were given cards to hold up, forming a mosaic spelling out the words "The Truth". The mosaic was visible while Liverpool supporters chanted "Justice for the 96" for six minutes, signifying the length of time that the Hillsborough game played on for before being abandoned. In addition to being visible during the BBC's transmission of the match, the protest was widely reported in national newspapers.

The Reclaim The Kop group were responsible for the demonstration in support of the club manager, Rafa Benitez, in November 2007. The demonstration is widely regarded as being a huge success. Massive tv and newspaper coverage saw images of several thousand fans parading round the streets of Anfield in support of their manager, and in protest against the unpopular regime of then club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The march and demo is featured in the film 'Passport to Liverpool' as an example of how Liverpool people will bond and take to the streets when faced with injustice and adversity.

Reclaim The Kop are currently engaged in expanding the so-called '306 section' at the rear of the Spion Kop at Anfield. Several hundred supporters - the RTK and likeminded fans - relocated their season tickets to this block in the famnous Kop in the summer of 2007. It was so that fans who shared the same ideas and wanted to help promote the Kop's traditions could sit (or stand) together. It resulted in an improvement in both the volume, and the quality, of the vocal support from The Kop. Several old songs have made their reappearance amongst The Kop's repertoire and the RTK were responsible for the Fernando Torres song and its accompanying 'bounce'. Problems till remain however, and most fans still look to Block 306 to provide the lead - and then refuse to participate. The expansion of the section is the first step in creating a core big enough to generate atmosphere on its own.

[ [http://www.reclaimthekop.co.uk/cgi-bin/main.pl?action=campaign_news&nid=8 RTK Truth Day Thanks] , "reclaimthekop.co.uk"] [ [http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=got-the-message-now--mackenzie-&method=full&objectid=18419795&siteid=50061-name_page.html Got the message now, MacKenzie?] , "Liverpool Echo", January 8, 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.reclaimthekop.co.uk/ Reclaim The Kop campaign website]
* [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N154609070105-1909.htm RTK's Official Kop Charter in video on the official Liverpool FC website]