After a weekend where English soccer stopped to remember the 96 lives that were lost at Hillsborough, 20,000 people gathered at Anfield on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy, with the managers of both Liverpool and Everton football clubs speaking in to honor those that lost their lives in Sheffield.
“You’ve all stood for 25 years together, to honor and fight for the 96 people we lost,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. “Your courage, your fortitude, your resilience, your dignity, and your love for the people you lost, that’s what inspires me every single day of my life as the manager of Liverpool.”
Roberto Martínez, speaking to his family’s reaction in Spain to news of the tragedy, sympathized with the nightmare the victims’ families have been subjected to, both through the disaster itself and the years of turmoil that have followed.
“How can anyone die watching the game you love,” Martínez asked. “That isn’t right. That isn’t fair.
“What happened after wasn’t right or fair, either. To have to fight for the good names of the ones you lost was appalling. But as my chairman said a year ago, the authorities took on the wrong city, if they thought they were going to get away with that.”
Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Earle, and Robbie Mustoe offered their thoughts during today’s broadcast, with both managers’ words at Anfield featured in the coverage, above.
