Liverpool Echo: LFC fans fly 6,000 miles for Wembley trip

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.

Fanatical Liverpool FC fans will travel from the country where the Kop's name hails to watch the Reds play in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley.

Pals Gareth Kemp, Mark Meikle- Braes, Devon Macgregor, Ryan Killoran and Adam Shapiro will fly 6,000 miles from South Africa for Liverpool's match against Cardiff in London on February 26.

The members of the LFC Supporters' Club South Africa, who regularly visit the Spioenkop hill which the club's world famous terrace stand was named after, said they can't wait for the match.

Telecommunications commercial manager Adam, who is originally from Zimbabwe and now lives in Johannesburg, said: "The final is all I've been talking about since we beat Manchester City in the semis.

"I can't wait to see the game at the new Wembley. I'm sure it really will be one to remember.

"My dad has supported Liverpool FC since he was little, back when we lived in Zimbabwe and my oldest memory is the video cassette that formed part of our library - it was the official review of 1989/90 season."

Johannesburg property development project manager Gareth's Reds passion began after watching the club's former goalie Bruce Grobbelaar.

Gareth, 32, said: "Bruce got me watching Liverpool as I could relate as he was essentially South African - he was born in Durban.

"I can't wait for the final. We were flying over for the Everton game (which was to take place on the weekend of the final) and for that to be upgraded to a final is unbelievable."

The supporters club organise an annual memorial service on the Spioenkop to remember victims of the Hillsborough disaster.

The location is steeped in Reds history and the club's world famous Kop terrace was named after the notorious hill, near Ladysmith.

The Liverpool ECHO's sports editor Ernest Edwards christened the newly-built terrace stand the Spion Kop after the club won the 1906 league championship.

Ernest wrote how the structure mirrored the Spioenkop, which was the scene of a British massacre during the Second Boer War six years earlier.

The stand's name was partly seen as a fitting memorial to the 300 local casualties that served in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

The group recently unveiled its own permanent memorial to Hillsborough victims with a special tribute bench.

Source: Liverpool Echo

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.