ON THIS DAY

The world news on Tuesday 11th September 2001 was dominated by the tragedy that was unfolding in New York with the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Football just didn't seem to have any importance when compared to what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic. But of course there was a debate about how football should respond to the horror. On one hand should football matches be postponed out of respect to those who had suffered so much while on the other hand should football continue in defiance to those who wanted to destroy the society we were part of. In England on the night of 9/11 the two scheduled League matches at Wrexham (v Bury) and Plymouth (v Swansea) plus 15 League Cup fixtures went ahead - as did all the other scheduled League and League Cup matches over the following days - although they were preceded by a minute's silence. A minute's silence also preceded matches played in the Champions League and UEFA Cup matches played on that Tuesday evening. Two of those matches involved English clubs in the Champions League - Arsenal lost 0-1 away to Mallorca while Liverpool drew 1-1 at Anfield against Portugal's Boavista. Liverpool were back in Europe's top competition for the first time since suffering a tragedy of their own, at Heysel in 1985. UEFA then postponed the 51 Champions League and UEFA Cup matches scheduled for Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th with the promise of compensation to all the away sides to recoup wasted travelling expenses.