I should hope that you've all heard of this by now, especially given that fresh inquests are currently taking place in Warrington. If you haven't, then I'm frankly surprised, but here's a short explanation of what happened. The FA Cup Semi-Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was due to take place at Hillsborough in Sheffield, home to Sheffield Wednesday, on the 15th of April 1989. (The clubs had met at the same stage the previous year at Hillsborough as well, and crushing had been reported then.) The Liverpool fans were allocated the Leppings Lane End of the stadium as one of their areas, along with the North Stand. Nottingham Forest had the South and East Stands. This was considered to be controversial, as Liverpool had more fans wanting to attend, yet were given less capacity inside the stadium. However, this was apparently to segregate fans upon arrival and reduce the risk of hooliganism, which was problematic in the 1980s. The Leppings Lane End was a terraced area for fans, and had fences between the ground level and the pitch itself in order to prevent pitch invasions. It was also divided into different pens. Shortly before the game began, there were still an estimated 5,000 Liverpool fans outside the stadium trying to get in, and the decision was made to open one of the exit gates in order to speed this up. The fans rushed in, but a catastrophic mistake could have been prevented. The fans were not diverted into any of the other pens - they went down a narrow tunnel into the two central ones, creating a mass crush. The BBC conjectured that if the fans had been diverted into other pens, the disaster could have been prevented.
The game had started at 3pm as planned, but was called off and abandoned just six minutes afterwards following a recommendation to the referee by the police. At this point, fans were trying to spill onto the pitch in order to escape the deadly crush, but the police were trying to stop them from doing so. The fences in front of the Leppings Lane End were torn down, and from then on, the scale of the disaster became clear. People were laid on the pitch to receive medical assistance. Advertising hoardings were torn down to be used as makeshift stretchers. People were pulled to safety by other fans in the West Stand, which was above the Leppings Lane End. Ninety-five people died on that day, with one other fan (Tony Bland) being kept on life support until a landmark ruling from the House of Lords in 1993 that his treatment could be withdrawn, despite the knowledge that he would die as a result of this. Of the fans who died, only fourteen made it to hospital. Forty-four ambulances made it to the ground, but only one was allowed inside. There was a police cordon across the pitch to prevent fans from mixing in the aftermath. Some Liverpool fans tried to break this cordon in order to get the injured to ambulances outside the stadium, but they were forcibly turned back by the cordon. And the whole thing unfolded live on the BBC, who were there filming for Match of the Day, and the events were shown on Grandstand. The majority of the victims were under the age of thirty. The youngest was Jon-Paul Gilhooley, who was just ten years old. He was the cousin of Liverpool's current captain, Steven Gerrard, who was only eight when this disaster happened.
Initial inquests into the disaster came back with the verdict that at 3:15pm that afternoon, those who died could not have been saved. This was hotly disputed by the families of those who died, and an independent panel was set up to investigate what had gone on. The panel published its findings in 2012, and these were that Liverpool's fans were in no way to blame for what had happened. Rather, it was the fault of the police for failing to control matters that led to the two central pens being overcrowded and the deaths of the ninety-six. It was also noted that forty-one of those fans could have been saved if the response from the emergency services had been better. Many witness statements from police officers at the game had been altered, with negative comments about South Yorkshire Police removed. In the High Court, the original inquest verdicts were quashed by Lord Judge, and fresh inquests were ordered, which is where we are now.
The Taylor Report into the disaster recommended that major stadiums be converted to all-seated by August 1994 in order to prevent such a disaster from happening again. It's true that no such disaster has happened since this fateful day in 1989, but I'd argue that it's not just because of this move. Lessons have been learned from Hillsborough when it comes to crowd control at football matches. I understand that there may well have been some issues since then with regard to crowd control, but nowhere near the scale of the problem at Hillsborough. Also, the Taylor Report recommended that each fan admitted to a stadium be given a designated seat.
The one thing which disgusts me most of all about the whole thing is the conduct of the police. It's clear to me that if they'd done their jobs properly, and if they'd diverted fans into alternative pens on the Leppings Lane End Terrace, then these deaths could have been prevented. It's also noteworthy that a couple of years previously, another FA Cup Semi-Final at Hillsborough was delayed in order to allow fans to enter the ground safely. This request was made in 1989 by a police officer, but was denied. It could be argued that if this request had been granted, then deaths and injuries could have been prevented, although the two central pens were allegedly overcrowded before the decision to open the exit gate was made. Another recommendation was the removal of fences to avoid fans being crushed again. It's frankly shocking that such a disaster was allowed to happen, and I sincerely hope that it never happens again.
There's another thing which was appalling. The Sun ran a front cover four days after the disaster with the headline 'The Truth', which alleged that fans had been pickpocketing victims, urinating on police officers, and also that some fans had beaten up a police officer trying to give a victim the kiss of life. These allegations were unfounded, and Kelvin Mackenzie, the editor at the time, has not offered a true apology for this. As a result of this headline, many Liverpool fans refuse to buy The Sun, and numerous newsagents across the city refuse to stock the paper. I'm not a fan of Liverpool, but I fully support the thousands of people who refuse to buy the paper on these grounds.
Liverpool fans have adopted 'You'll Never Walk Alone', a song from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'Carousel', as their anthem, and it has effectively become the club's motto, appearing on their crest. It's also present on the Shankly Gates into the stadium, erected in 1982 in honour of the club's former manager Bill Shankly. This is a message for the fans of Liverpool FC, and particularly the families of those who died and have been fighting for justice ever since.
You'll never walk alone in this. You've got the support of thousands of people in your quest to seek justice. You should not have had to wait this long until the truth started to come out. Even when the Hillsborough Independent Panel was set up in 2009, we didn't know the full story of what happened. Twenty-five years is an awfully long time to fight for the real truth, and I salute your tireless efforts to unravel the truth as to what happened. People you loved died on that day, but it is thanks to your efforts that they will never be forgotten.
I don't know many people who have shared their experiences of what happened on that day, but I just spoke with my Dad. He got married to Mum three weeks before the disaster. They were in a shop looking at TVs in (I'm assuming) the Harrogate area, and it was there when they realised the sheer horror of what was going on. Dad even remembers the exact shop they were in when they discovered what was happening. I can't imagine what they were feeling.
There's one thing I love about football, which is that in moments of tragedy, fans often disregard their loyalty to their clubs and support those affected by the disaster. As a side note to this, I remember seeing a video on YouTube of a Manchester derby close to the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, in which several Manchester United players were killed, along with others. In this particular video, scarves had been laid out on seats at Old Trafford in the appropriate team colours, and they were held up by fans during the minute of silence before the game kicked off. I was stunned by the way in which the City fans respected this silence - it was almost haunting. I know that this particular incident isn't directly linked to Hillsborough, but the same principle applies. I know so many fans of football who are recognising the Hillsborough disaster today, and who are also wanting justice for the families of the ninety-six fans who died.
I'm going to end this blog post with a song. It was recorded in 2012 by a collaboration of singers and footballers, with the aim of gaining the coveted Christmas Number 1 slot. It achieved this, and it was fully deserved. It's a cover of 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' by The Hollies, originally released in 1969. This song is dedicated to those who died, and the families of those who died in their fight for justice. You'll never walk alone.
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