Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy has spoken of the emotions surrounding tributes to the Aberfan disaster of 1966 that played a part in inspiring his side to victory over Birmingham. Cardiff's squad and management had visited the memorial garden in the valleys village that, 60 years ago, saw 116 children and 28 adults die when a coal tip collapsed and engulfed Pantglas junior school. Irishman Barry-Murphy said he had not fully appreciated the suffering and significance of the disaster in the area just 20 miles away from the Welsh capital.
And he had stressed to his players the importance of delivering a performance that "understood what we were playing for". Salech ends Birmingham's unbeaten run on Cardiff return The hero dinner lady who died saving five children in the Aberfan disaster The portraits that helped bring the lost Aberfan children home Latest Cardiff City news, analysis and fan views "I had an awareness of what happened there, but I never knew the depth of what went on or what people experienced," Barry-Murphy said following the 1-0 victory. "It was very important for the players to watch the footage to understand what the people there have been through.
"We organised to go there and it was very, very important. "While you're there, it's naturally emotionally very difficult because you start to see the gravestones of the people who passed there. "But also the stories of the different people there that day.
It's very difficult to comprehend what they went through. "Football is football and we couldn't guarantee that we were going to win today, but we had to produce a performance that looked as if we understood what we were playing for. "On such a poignant day, it's very important that we played the way we did." Barry-Murphy had written in the matchday programme - including a front cover displaying the clock found in the rubble that stopped at the time of the disaster - that the people of the community had shown what coming together means "in the most unimaginable of circumstances" and wanted his side to display the same qualities.
The game also saw a minute's silence held before kick-off, respected impeccably by Cardiff and Birmingham fans. Barry-Murphy revealed that academy coach, Dennis Moss, also made the visit to Aberfan 24 hours before the 60th anniversary commemorations having been among the rescuers. "He was one of the first responders as an 18-year-old from Cardiff who shot up there to start pulling bodies from the rubble," he said.
"He was there with us and you see the effect it had on him to be back there."
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