Aug 21 2008 by Richard Partington,
Liverpool Daily Post
A TEAM of New York firefighters will be
guests of honour at Anfield for the return leg
of Liverpool’s Champions League clash against
Standard Liege.
The firefighters are in Liverpool for the
World Firefighters Games 08 (WFG), which starts
on Monday.
By the time they watch Liverpool on
Wednesday, they could have their own trophy for
the football event of the games.
The arrival of the firefighters will be
particularly poignant due to Liverpool’s age-old
ties with New York.
Liverpool was one of the first to offer
condolences to the city following the world
trade centre attacks.
And at a Champions League home game against
Portuguese side Boavista, at Anfield, on the
evening of September 11, 2001, the crowd
observed a minute’s silence.
The New York Fire Department, who lost one of
their star players in the World Trade Center
attacks, has since grown close ties with
Liverpool, having had donations from the
Merseyside Fire Department and football training
from Liverpool FC in 2003.
The WFG will last just over a week and see
over 3,000 competitors from more than 30
countries taking part.
Around 70 events make up the games; including
football, snowboarding, athletics and the unique
Toughest Firefighter Alive competition, where
firefighters will go head to head in scaling St
George’s Hall, and climbing the steps of the
150-metre high Radio City Tower.
The World Firefighters Games 08 was
established in New Zealand in 1990, and runs
every two years. Now in its 10th year, the games
is to come to Liverpool for the first time and
is expected to be one of the biggest and most
entertaining yet.
The event will begin with a spectacular
Olympic-style parade towards the Liverpool Echo
Arena on Monday, where an opening ceremony will
involve sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe, as well
as video messages from Gordon Brown and Prince
Charles.
Tony McGuirk, Merseyside chief fire officer,
said: “We’ve arranged a sporting and social
calendar at some terrific venues.
“The Echo Arena will act as a games village,
and we hope the public will get involved and
come and watch some of the bigger events.
“The games will promote sport as well as fire
safety, and will have a lasting legacy for the
region.”
