YASSER- THE FA CUP
Yasser drove the ice-cream van to the end of the derelict terrace in which he lived. He stopped and opened the driver door and an Iranian man, called Ali waited for him to exit the van before climbing into the driver`s seat himself. Ali nodded to Yasser and grasped his hand tightly. He didn’t speak as he drove the vehicle away.
Ali had been at home in Bandar Abbas, Iran on Sunday 3rd July 1988. His father had taken Iranian Air flight 655 to Dubai, which was shot down by a missile launched from the US Navy, Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser, USS Vincennes. All two hundred and ninety passengers and crew were killed including sixty six children. According to the American government they had mistakenly identified the Iranian Airbus as an attacking F14 fighter plane. The Reagan administration at the time, represented by the then Vice-President George H Bush, defended his country`s actions at a news conference held on the 2nd August 1988 said,
“I will never apologise for the United States of America, I don’t care what the facts are.”
Ali promised his mother that one day he would avenge his father`s murder, and today he would fulfil that promise. As Ali the back of the old Victorian terrace, which had been Yasser`s refuge, four more ice-cream vans pulled in line behind him. The strange procession turned right and headed for Anfield stadium. Two more were already in the city centre.
The city of Liverpool had a double celebration going on. Liverpool Football Club was playing their old local rivals from across the city, Everton FC. The game was to be played at Anfield and the winners would be rewarded with a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world, beginning in 1871. It involves clubs from every division of British football right down to the grass roots amateurs. Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other there is always the possibility for `giant killers` from the unpaid lower divisions defeating one of the top clubs. The romance of an underdog victory enhanced the importance and credibility attached to winning the trophy.
Football fans from all over Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside area were packing the streets from early in the morning. Some were looking for the opportunity to purchase a late seat from a ticket tout outside the ground; others were just soaking up the carnival atmosphere. The pubs and bars across the city were packed with armchair supporters who weren`t lucky enough to purchase a ticket at the ground itself. The red shirts of Liverpool and the blue shirts of Everton mingled in the busy streets of the city.
Ali slowed down and waved into the rear view mirror to the driver of the ice-cream van that was behind him, and the driver pulled his van onto the kerb as instructed. The process was repeated until all four vans were positioned strategically around the Anfield Stadium. It was eleven thirty in the morning and the kick off was scheduled for three o`clock that afternoon. By twelve noon, the streets would be packed with excited fans enjoying a few beers before the much anticipated game began.
A man dressed in a red Liverpool shirt banged on Ali`s window making him jump. The fan`s friend banged the on other side of the ice-cream van frightening Ali even more. It was mad Adie and dodgy Si fooling around on their way to compost corner in the Sandon.
Yasser stood at the north end of Hope Street and looked up at the giant towers of the Anglican Cathedral. He had already been into the sandstone monolith that morning and he planted four kilos of Semtex explosives around the massive Bartlett Bells. The cathedral bells, the highest and heaviest in the world would peel out at 3pm that day for the last time. The huge central bell, called Great George, the Bourbon Bell, and it weighed over fourteen tons on its own.
As Yasser watched, two ice-cream vans entered the cathedral grounds, and they parked either side of the monstrous cathedral. They would stay there, where they were parked until Yasser`s bomb exploded in the bell tower. Panicked tourists that survived the bomb would try to exit the huge front doors and then the secondary charges in the ice-cream vans would be detonated.
Yasser wished that he could be close by when Great George, the Bourbon Bell came crashing down but he had to be somewhere else. The logistics of his plan were already in motion. Yasser felt that the net was closing in. Today he had a plane to catch. It was time to move on.