YNWA Meaning | OneFootball

Any time that opposition supporters turn up at Anfield in order to watch their team take on Liverpool Football Club, they will be treated to a rendition of the club’s anthem prior to kick-off. The home fans know it well enough to refer to it simply as ‘YNWA’, often doing so in the likes of graffiti and tattoos.

The acronym is an easier way of talking about that anthem, which is You’ll Never Walk Alone. Of course, there is a big difference between what something means in a literal sense and what it means in what you might refer to as a spiritual way, which is how many Reds think of the song.

What YNWA Means to Liverpool Supporters

For fans of Liverpool FC, the club anthem is so much more than just a song. The club has endured more tragedies than most over the years, from the involvement of some in the deaths of 39 Juventus supporters at Heysel, through to the unlawful killing of 97 Liverpool fans at Hillsborough. For the family and friends of those that died at Hillsborough, for example, You’ll Never Walk Alone is something that offers a real sense of hope, faith and togetherness. When Diogo Jota and his brother, André Silva, died in a car accident in 2025, the song became something to live by as far as their families were concerned.

The lyrics of the song, which was originally included in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, are such that they offer a message of hope and inclusion. The idea of walking through the storm with your head held high is something that Liverpool supporters have had to do countless times over the years. It has also felt as though there is indeed a golden sky at the end of the storm, thanks to success in the likes of the Premier League and the Champions League. For fans of the club, it isn’t just a glib tune to sing along to before the game gets underway, but is instead a way of life to live by.

What it Means to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Estates

Press photo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the things that a lot of Liverpool supporters might not think about is the fact that You’ll Never Walk Alone was written for a musical that was first performed in 1945. The music was composed by Richard Rodgers, whilst the lyrics were written by Oscar Hammerstein II. This means that the song is copyrighted and that performances of it will need to be paid to the estates of the pair responsible for its creation. In England, such payments are handled by the Performing Rights Society, which will take payment from organisations that see the song performed publicly and pay them to the rights holders.

As Liverpool fans have been singing You’ll Never Walk Alone since the 1960s, that is how long the club has been having to pay for the song’s usage. It is also worth bearing in mind that the song is often played once officially over the tannoy, as well as sung by supporters towards the end of the match, both of which are liable to be paid for by the club on account of the fact that they are public performances of the tune.

Rather than pay for each individual performance, however, the club is likely to simply pay a flat fee to the PRS as blanket coverage for the use of the song in accordance with the club’s needs.

What it Means to Gerry & the Pacemakers

Photographer: Paul Schumach, Metropolitan Photo Service, New York City., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Whilst Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote the song, the version that gets played before kick-off at Anfield is the one that was made famous by the Merseyside band Gerry & the Pacemakers. The English beat group was formed in Liverpool and came to prominence in the 1960s, swept along by the popularity of The Beatles at that time. Whilst the Performing Rights Society is responsible for ensuring that songwriters and composers of a song get what they’re owed from a public performance, the job of making sure that performers and record companies get what they’re owed falls to Phonographic Performance Limited.

Better known by the acronym PPL, the organisation will grant licences for music to be played in public, as well as broadcast on television, radio or online. In other words, if a Liverpool match is being shown live or commented on on the radio, the performance of You’ll Never Walk Alone before kick-off and at the end of games will have to be paid for. This is again covered by the club in a blanket payment, ensuring that they don’t get on the wrong side of Gerry Marsden’s agent or family. The club takes on the burden of having to make the payments, rather than each individual supporter having to pay for singing it.