FeatureWe Love You Liverpool: Meet Official LFC Supporters Club… Maldives

The Reds’ fan base is famous for its passion and loyalty, cheering on both the men’s and women’s squads whether on Merseyside or watching from afar.

Our We Love You Liverpool feature aims to bring supporters closer together to learn more about each other wherever they are based around the globe.

Whether in the UK and Republic of Ireland, on Merseyside itself, in North or South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia or elsewhere, fans provide the very foundations that the club is built on.

Here, we meet OLSC Maldives, based in Male…

Tell us about the OLSC..

Maldives is a football crazy small island nation surrounded by countries that are known for their love of other sports such as cricket. The love for football, combined with cable TV, started around the early 2000s saw a sudden spike of love for European football and especially the Premier League.

As social media became more popular in 2010s, a Facebook community of local Liverpool supporters started to interact. This was later changed to a Viber group. The activeness of this community led a group of young people to initiate a more organised manner in supporting the club through the formation of an OLSC, which was registered officially in 2018.

It must give you a sense of community and connection to Liverpool and the club itself?

We are a small island nation of roughly 1,200 islands. Two hundred of these islands are inhabited, around 75 per cent of the 500k population live in the main capital area. The rest resides in the other islands, with most having a population of 500 people or less.

It is safe to say all these islands will have at least a few Liverpool supporters. The presence of an OLSC connects all these fans mainly through social media and also through their travels. Every time a fan meets another a special bond is created which lasts a lifetime. It connects the fans to each other and also the club itself.

What is so special about supporting Liverpool for your members?

The spirit of the club and its motto – You’ll Never Walk Alone. Most of the supporters started supporting the club when we were not winning many major trophies, it was a connection based on passion and the identity the club stands for. This has been translated to a supporters club level with our fan club being the first of its kind in actually being active. We hold activities including match viewings, competitions and other special events.

Do you hold meet-ups for games, or any special events throughout the year?

We were gaining momentum until Covid hit, which disrupted our meet-ups and activities due to loss of income of fans and also loss of our matchday venues with businesses struggling to adapt. However, we have started regular meet-ups, which are getting bigger throughout the season. We also had our first annual fans hangout, which is more like a retreat where fans visit a local island away from the city for some team building activities and ends with a match screening (this year it was for our title-winning match against Tottenham Hotspur). We aim to make this an annual event.

What is your favourite memory together as an OLSC?

Hosting a our first grand matchday meet-up for the Champions League final against Real Madrid in 2018. The passion and atmosphere was huge even when we lost. Local fans were quite new to showing up in jerseys with scarves and banners. Then we went on to repeat the event which ended in actually winning the tournament a year later in 2019.

Lastly, if anyone else is interested in joining your OLSC, how would they go about doing so?

You can send us a direct message via any of our social media accounts or contact us via email at ynwa@olscmaldives.com.

OLSC info

Name: OLSC Maldives

Location: Male, Maldives

Home: Majeedhee Magu Road, Male, Maldives

X: olscmaldives

Facebook: olscmaldives

Instagram: olscmaldives