I watched this last night live on Sky and I have to say massive thanks to Everton FC and everyone connected to the club in the way this sensitive topic was handled, and for that matter thanks to Newcastle United too for their part in last night aswell.
It's been moving watching football grounds around the country over the weekend from the biggest to the smallest pay thier own tribute to The 96 because most people know that but for the Grace of God it could have been their club, their relatives, thier friends involved in Hillsborough. The only exception has been some of the "fans" of Manchester United, though Alex Fergusons comments before and after the match plus the comments made by the official Man U press room have been noted and respected. In the end those that sang at Old Trafford on Saturday simply made themselves and thier club look small minded people and out of touch with the rest of the world.
After the disaster Everton at Goodison was the first competitive match for Liverpool and we had a nil nil draw. Before the game there was a flag paraded around the ground which read LFC thank EFC. The week after the disaster on the Saturday afternoon there was a mile of scarves mainly LFC & EFC but some other clubs too which physically tied the two grounds together at 3.06pm on 22/04/89.
And ofcourse, LFC won the rematch and played EFC in the 1989 cup final. We tied red, white and black ribbons to our car for the journey south and many LFC & EFC fans wore black armbands that day. It was an erie atmosphere for a cup final, all very respectful and thankful and even after the game kicked off it remained surprisingly quiet even if LFC did score just 3 minutes into the game. The game itself didn't come to life until almost full time when an Evertonian ran onto the pitch remonstrating with his players, and almost instantly EFC equalised, before LFC went onto win 3 goals to 2 in extra time.
In truth EFC are and always will be our brothers (and sisters), we might fall out with them often and not wish them the best of luck in their sporting achievements, but deep down we always respect EFC and everything that is Everton and last night Everton truely showed their class, whether it was the 96 on the training tops, the 96 on the ball boys, the two child mascots one in LFC kit, one in EFC kit sharing the 96 between their shirts, the moving song and video montage timed to ensure that it was covered by Sky and the applause from the whole ground, heck I almost wanted EFC to win last night, but I'm glad they only drew....
Merseyside United, that does it for me. |
