Source: Liverpool_Echo
Liverpool FC 12 days of Christmas - The Kop, LFC's 12th man
VISITORS to Anfield down the years have often had their work cut out just dealing with the eleven footballers in Red opposing them on the pitch.[LNB]But when you factor in the inspirational support the Kop has traditionally produced to spur their heroes on, it is no surprise that some opponents have been beaten before the game had even got underway.[LNB]The first terrace to be referred to as a 'Kop' was Woolwich Arsenal's Manor Ground in 1904 but it was two years later that Liverpool Echo sports editor Ernest Edwards noted the resemblance between the new open-air embankment at the Walton Breck Road end of the Anfield ground and the hill of Spion Kop in South Africa where many local men had lost their lives in a famous battle during the Boer War towards the end of the previous century.[LNB] It was in the 1960s, after the BBC dedicated a Panorama programme to exploring the cultural phenomenon emerging on Merseyside, that Liverpool's Kop began to become particularly well known.[LNB] Just think how many other club these days refer to the main home end as 'The Kop'.[LNB]Ferocious backing for their heroes has long been expected wherever football is played but it was perhaps the inventive and lyrical creativity that set the Kop at Anfield apart.[LNB]In 1965, European champions Inter Milan were advised to 'Go back to Italy' to the tune of popular Italian song of the time 'Santa Lucia', while a few years later Leeds United goalkeeper Gary Sprake, after accidentally throwing the ball into his own net, was serenaded with Des O'Connor's chart hit 'Careless Hands'.[LNB]St Etienne, Hillsborough and Chelsea >>>>>>>
