John Barnes is on island this week and the former Liverpool star can take heart that the Cayman-Anfield connection still has a link today.
Irvin Banks, president of Cayman Athletic Football Club and his two grandsons, Jordan and Brandon O’Connor recently met with former Liverpool great Brian Hall, now in charge of community relations at Liverpool.
The visit came at the end of a successful club trip to Wales in July and August of this year when 38 young Cayman footballers took part in an international youth football competition there.
After the competition was concluded Banks and his grandsons took a trip up north to Liverpool to take a look at the Liverpool/Knowsley International Youth Football Competition, and took the opportunity to call in on Hall at Anfield.
The purpose of the brief but positive visit was to introduce the Cayman Islands to Liverpool FC – complete with Tortuga Rum Cakes – and to start developing relationships with top British clubs hopefully for the long term benefit of youth football in the Cayman Islands, generally.
Irvin remembers Hall (a right midfielder) from the Seventies having watched him play for Liverpool when the legendary Bill Shankly was in charge alongside such great players as Steve Highway, John Toshack, Kevin Keegan and Roger Hunt.
Hall reflected on some of his proudest moments with Liverpool such as arriving back in Liverpool after the team won the 1974 cup final against Newcastle. ‘The whole experience of going to Wembley, preparing yourself, going down Wembley Way and pulling through those famous gates was brilliant,’ he said.
‘After the game we had a big meal, went back to Liverpool and had an open top tour of the city, before arriving at St. Georges Hall in the centre of the city. There were hundreds of thousands of supporters there and it was a breathtaking sight looking out over the vast crowd stretching as far back as the eye could see.
‘Shanks (Shankly) walked out on St. Georges Plateau and simply put his hands up. The multitude of people went quiet.
‘I was only a yard away from him and when you see something like that it’s quite simply mind blowing. It’s then that you realize just how powerful that man was in this football crazy city.’
Banks said: ‘Hall showed the boys the Liverpool dressing room and who knows, Brandon or Jordan may one day look up to see their own jersey hanging up above the benches. They also toured the showroom area where Liverpool’s many trophies are displayed and got pictured with Brian along side the real European Cup which Liverpool got to keep after winning the trophy five times.’
Banks promised to keep in touch with the club and Hall promised to pass on the Cayman club’s regards to the Outreach Director for future communication.
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