What a game! Luton fans left Wembley proudly orange on Saturday night. And as Lutonians woke up on Sunday, it was a new sunrise for the town.
It was One Town, One Family & One Dream at Wembley on Saturday. Over 36,500 Luton Town fans walked to the Wembley Stadium, passionately singing, and chanting to watch the historic, thrilling, exciting, and nail-biting match in which Hatters were eventually promoted to the Premier League.
Never ever a town deserved this more!
“Tensions had turned into elation as the Hatters were victorious in a penalty shoot-out win”, stated Laura Hutchinson, a news reporter for Luton Today. Another reporter Mike Simmonds reported “Hatters fans are smiling again after coming through the 'dark times' to reach the Premier League. The town will play top-flight football next season.”
But we shouldn’t pretend it’s all about football alone. It is also about people from diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds coming together – hugging, cheering, dancing, singing, and exchanging those amazingly alive smiles and acknowledging looks with one another in the stadium, in the trains, in the buses, and in the streets of Wembley and Luton Town. We are Luton!
“This is a dialogue in action. It promotes stronger ties amongst people from diverse backgrounds. It challenges the fear & hostility fostered in the present global political climate,” stated GRASSROOTS Chair Revd Canon David Lawson.
Luton Council of Faiths (LCoF) Chair Prof Zafar Khan said, “It communicates a message of hope and the prospect of living side by side as friends, despite our prejudices and misunderstandings, which are also part of life in an ever-evolving multi-cultural multi-ethnic Britain and Luton.”
He added, “Luton can pride itself as a super diverse town. It is one big community of several diverse communities. Despite media’s relentless efforts to denigrate and ridicule Luton, this football match & Luton fans have once again proved what Luton has to offer in terms of community cohesion and good community relations.”
Luton Council held a celebration event in St George's Square on Monday, in which Lutonians gathered in thousands to give our victorious football team the reception of their lives, as they arrived in an open-top bus in St George’s Square, following a short ride from Kenilworth Road.
Watching Luton’s celebrations, a member of the public named Angela Giblin tweeted saying;
“I don’t think I have ever seen so many people wearing different religious headgear at a football celebration as there was in St Georges’ Square today.”
And THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE that even DAILY MAIL should choose the kind of words to talk about Luton in such a positive way.
"They have overcome adversity with small budgets, core values and integrity. They are a club who refuse to compromise their values and decided not to take the low-hanging fruit of commercial endorsements from betting companies because they didn't agree with it. Without wishing to be overly saccharine, this is what dreams should be made of, what football should represent".
"These principles and traits are, in part, what football clubs should embody and what the game should represent".
"There is something pure, clean and uplifting about their journey from non-League, where they were residing just nine years ago, to joining the world's biggest and best league".
"The overcoming of every single obstacle, the uniting of people, the validity of a football club and the achievements of individual merit alongside collective spirit — that's what Luton are. That's what should be celebrated, what we should be talking about, rather than how you access the away end at Kenilworth Road".
"Luton should be something we hope for and champion, not because they're the smaller relation to these big monolithic football clubs, but because they are English football".
"The Premier League needs clubs like Luton. They certainly shouldn't apologise for anything or develop an inferiority complex. They should just be absolutely, undeniably Luton Town FC".
Also, view the following links:
https://thelutonian.com/dont-change-over-life-changing-premier-league-boost-sweet-urges-luton/
https://www.facebook.com/LutonIrish/videos/1615546938960313/
Luton’s different faith leaders gathered to congratulate the Luton Town Football Club for their remarkable victory on Saturday 27th May at Wembley Stadium. You have done it – Premier League: Here We Come!
