Football. It's not a matter of life and death...

Sorry Bill, you know that I agree with you on most things but I'm going to have to draw the line here.

The start of the football season has been overshadowed by tragic events off the field. The death of young Queens Park Rangers forward Ray Jones was tragic, and followed on from the shocking murder of 11-year-old Everton fanatic Rhys Jones in Croxteth, Liverpool.

All the images of Rhys released after his death show him as a smiling, happy boy, always in his Everton shirt and no doubt proud of his club's achievements. He'd have been looking forward to watching David Moyes' men tackle the UEFA Cup this season and in seasons to come. Sadly, he will never see his beloved team again.

Ray Jones was a supremely talented young player. At just eighteen, he had already made a mark on the Championship and in the England under-19 team. QPR have retired his number 31 shirt in his honour, but how their players are supposed to pick themselves up after his terrible car accident only they know. They have the best wishes of all football fans in their attempts to do so.

Last week 16-year-old Anton Reid, a youth team player at Walsall, collapsed and died during a training session while, at the time of writing, reports over in Spain claim that 22-year-old Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta has died after suffering a heart attack in his side's opening match of the La Liga season against Getafe.

These tragic events put football into perspective, and while it is easy for us all to get carried away when supporting our teams, a sense of realism is needed.

I can remember attending a Liverpool vs Manchester City match at Anfield in 2003. Nicolas Anelka struck twice for City, the second a late winner to leave Liverpool's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League in tatters. There were plenty of disgruntled Liverpool fans there that day, all upset that their club had suffered defeat. Just over a month later, and the man who ran the midfield for City that day, Cameroon international Marc-Vivien Foe, was dead.

At Anfield tonight, Liverpool FC will pay tribute to Rhys by playing Everton's Z-Cars anthem before the second leg of the Champions League qualifier with Toulouse. A remarkable, unique gesture and one that will surely bring a mischeivous grin to young Rhys' face. Everton themselves have already paid their own tributes, and the gestures from both clubs have been well received.

So while these tragic events have shown us that Bill Shankly's words may have been wide of the mark, we have seen that the game can provide a very small solace in a family's grief.

Amid all of the hype and glamour surrounding today's game, perhaps that is the one thing we should be truly thankful for.