April 3 – “I’m (insert club name) until I die” is a chant heard in many British football grounds most weekends. Now it appears more fans are holding the sentiment after their death. Former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly would likely approve.
Undertakers across the UK are reporting a rise in football themed coffins and funerals. The concept that ‘you are born with your football club’ has been taken the next step with more fans choosing to ‘die’ with them.
A family firm of undertakers in Wales, John Edwards Funeral Directors in Morriston, Swansea, is offering a range of bespoke funerals which can be tailored to the specific requests of a family or the deceased.
This includes football-themed coffins supplied by companies such as Colourful Coffins based in Kent, which is often used by the Swansea firm.
Alan James, of John Edwards Funeral Directors, told the Western Mail many families are now choosing to have a coffin made in a football club’s colours. “We’ve been looking at offering more bespoke funerals over the last few years to diversify ourselves,” he said.
“With Swansea now in the Premiership, there has been a heightened interest in soccer. We had talked about having different kinds of coffins and I thought it was a good time to offer this.”
Many funerals often already incorporate football, perhaps by draping a football club’s flag over the coffin or by playing music connected with the club. But James is taking it a step further.
“I’ve just had Southampton FC give their approval for their logo to be used on a coffin for a funeral in the next few weeks,” said James.
And football-themed coffins do not necessarily mean an increase in cost.
The cost of most coffins range between £500 and £600 while plain coffins, on average, can still cost about £500.
And as Bill Shankly once famously said: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”
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