Liverpool have said they did not provide permission for a Northern Irish loyalist flute band to parade through the premises of Anfield.
Glendermott Valley Flute Band — from the predominantly unionist Tullyally estate on the southern outskirts of Derry, a mainly nationalist city — were filmed playing an instrumental version of the ‘Billy Boys’ within the stadium’s grounds in video footage circulated on social media.
Liverpool have apologised to the club’s official Derry supporters club and said that no permission had been given to the band after an official complaint was lodged. The club have said they will investigate the incident.
“We are aware that a group that (normally) marches around the Anfield area in July, but we were not aware and have not approved this march on Saturday,” Liverpool told the supporters club, as cited by the Irish News.
“We have been informed that this march changes its route each year. Liverpool Football Club did not provide permission for this march to be held on the private property area in Anfield stadium.
“We will investigate this matter from a safety and security perspective and take any further appropriate actions.”
The Billy Boys’ tune — sung to the melody of an American civil war song called Marching Through Georgia — includes the line ‘up to our knees in Fenian blood’; a reference to Irish Catholics.
The Billy Boys were a gang who originated from the Bridgeton area to the east of Glasgow city centre in the 1930s, and were infamous for terrifying the Catholic population, primarily comprised of Irish immigrants. They were led by Billy Fullerton.
The name was inspired by King William of Orange (King Billy), whose army defeated that of English King James II in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, which remains annually celebrated in July 12 parades by the Orange Order, a protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland.
The Billy Boys chant has been banned at matches in Scotland and Northern Ireland for breaching anti-discrimination initiatives.
(Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
