In school I knew absolutely nothing about Liverpool's sectarian history. Yet, curiously, I knew I didn't like ‘The Lodge’, and I didn't know why. I remember them marching past our primary school, Lander Road, which was just off Linacre Road, Bootle, where the Orange Order still march today. The banging of the drums and bright colours attracted my mates, but the colour orange didn't attract me. My colour was blue. My earliest memory is looking up at the floodlights at Goodison Park and then looking down at the bright green pitch. It was a night game. The next thing the stadium erupted as Z Cars played and the Everton players, who would become my heroes, marched out. I have always been an Evertonian. It was chosen by my dad, with the blessing of my mum. What I am not is a Catholic. So why did I not like ‘The Lodge’?

My mum's a Catholic and so is my nan and much of the family on her side. My dad was Church of England and apparently so was I and so were my siblings. This fact I was only really aware of because St Elizabeth's was the Catholic primary school, over the road from ours. We used to go the Linacre Mission, round the corner, which was Methodist. We all sang hymns in assembly and annually took part in or attended religious functions such as the Nativity. Sometimes the local reverend would come round to the school as well, but all of this was incidental to me. ‘Lizzies’ was not our rival, despite its close proximity, it was just another school. Somewhere down the line though, somebody must have told me that I was ‘not Orange’ or that ‘the Orange didn't like Catholics’. I also remember being told, in school, about the Protestant Partythat had existed in Liverpool, and that Liverpool had the highest proportion of Catholics in England.

It was not until I was in high school, when I was talking about football with my dad, that my interest began to grow. He explained to me about Scotland and the connection between Celtic Football Club and Rangers Football Club and religion.