Sammy Lee: "This goes beyond football. It's about family"

Legendary Liverpool FC player Sammy Lee reiterated that the documentary 'Two Tribes' is about "more than football" during a post-screening Q&A at Athletic Club's Thinking Football Film Festival on Tuesday night.

Andy Wells, director of 'Two Tribes', said "there was no better place or better audience than Bilbao and the Thinking Football Festival to screen this film" and the repeated ovations heard at the Sala BBK proved him right.

The documentary revisits the 1980s in Merseyside and the importance that Liverpool FC and Everton FC had in lifting the spirits of a population devastated by unemployment and political tensions.

There are clear similarities to what happened in Bilbao and the Basque Country in the same decade. In other words, a context in which regional identity became another character.

In Liverpool, this feeling was immortalised in a legendary photograph taken after the 1984 League Cup final, in which both teams posed together.

As the great Sammy Lee explained after the screening: "This film goes beyond football. It's about family. It makes me feel very emotional, but also very proud of my city.

"I see many similarities between Liverpool and Bilbao. At Athletic you have the saying 'Unique in the World' and at my club we say 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. I think Andy's film proves that. It's more than football.

"At Liverpool we say we're a family and I think Athletic is the same. You can feel that at this club and in this city. I can't think of a better place than here to see that film on the big screen for the first time."

Sid Lowe agreed, fondly recalling Michael Robinson's famous phrase about Liverpool: "It's not a club, it's a cause." An expression, Sid said could easily be applied to Athletic Club as well.

Andy Wells, director of 'Two Tribes', said that "the festival and its audience are unique", repeating that it was "an honour" to have his documentary screened at Thinking Football.

‘Copa 71’, morning session for educational centres, plus ‘Stuck On You’ and ‘Greenland: Venezia’ in the evening

The day began early in the morning with a special screening of the documentary Copa 71 for 400 students from local schools and educational centres.

The film recounts the dark story of how the 1971 Women's World Cup, held in Mexico with extraordinary success, ended up becoming forgotten.

It's a testament to women's struggle to occupy a space that has historically been denied to them.

The evening session started with screenings of Andy Wells' “Stuck On You: The Football Sticker Story” and Martin Fradkin's “Greenland: Venezia”, with Martin also attending the festival.
 

Wednesday: remembering Howard Kendall with Joseba Aguirre, Peio Uralde and Patxi Alonso

On Wednesday at 19:00 CEST, Thinking Football will pay tribute to Howard Kendall at the Sala BBK.

A couple of Howard's former players at Athletic, Joseba Aguirre and Peio Uralde, will take part in a post-screening chat along with director Rob Sloman and local journalist Patxi Alonso, who was also a good friend of Howard.

Howard's Way is a moving documentary that tells the story of Everton and their peak under Howard Kendall in the 1980s.