No one intended to kill football fans at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest 27 years ago. In 1989 British football stadiums were inherently unsafe, many of us felt in danger at the regular crushing entering and leaving grounds.
Crowd management was considered a control issue, not a safety one. In England, fences penned spectators in to prevent pitch invasions.
Hillsborough had staged many FA Cup semi-finals, including one the previous year between the same two clubs, so no proper thought or planning went into the game. During the 80s measures to control the crowd increased, while Sheffield Wednesday, who played home games at the ground, seldom came near the stadium’s capacity. The mean the stadium was unprepared for anything out of the ordinary, and the police were completely unprepared.
Access gates were open to relieve pressure on turnstiles which were inadequate to deal with a crowd of that size – a common, but dangerous, occurrence at the time.
Control measures were such that what was once a terrace area open from one side to another had been sectioned off. Once you were in one pen the only route out was to leave the terrace via the long tunnel underneath the Leppings Lane stand that fans used to enter the terrace. The two pens at the wide end of the terrace were under-filled, while the central two were crushed.
No one entering a tunnel knew if there was crushing ahead and there was no way to segregate fans off into available pens. Anyone attempting to exit through the tunnel would have been met by a large crowd of people trying to go the opposite way.
The system was stupidly crazy by design. Any Health and Safety attention would have deemed the terrace unsafe the moment the tall fences went up to prevent overspill onto the pitch area. It was a fatal incident waiting to happen.
Once the incident was underway South Yorkshire Police failed the victims spectacularly. Officers were watching the fatal crush from yards away but were unwilling to raise the alarm. They ignored terrified pleas from fans. After evidence of fatalities first arose, they turned ambulances away, delaying treatment to casualties for a crucial period.
When the incident was over the police invoked a smear campaign against the victims. Lies were told. Newspapers bought into the conspiracy, among others. The bereaved were left on their own to defend the memory of their lost ones as inquiries bathed all in whitewash.
There will be an understandable demand for prosecutions now, but for those who died 27 years ago, and many of their loved ones, it’s all too late. I hope the survivors gain some small comfort from today’s inquest verdict of unlawful killing. The torture they went through listening to the official lies must have been unbearable.
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Man City v Real is one of these ‘cancel each other out’ kinda bores.
Not a great game to watch, considering one of Europe’s best sides are playing. Hope it improves in the 2nd half, but Livi desrevedly ahead.
Thanks TET
Neither of these clubs are Champions so much for the Champions League………..farcical. All about money.
SHUGGY
-:))
Big Shuggie-VG ;)
Tony Donnelly67 on 26th April 2016 8:36 pm
Pep Warburton will make a tactical genius move, and all will be well
——–
He doesn’t even need to make it.
He just needs to think it…..
shows how bad we are that we let that mob beat us
How come a Champions League game is allowed to be played when the magnificent Warbiola’s Sevco are playing?
he gave them permission
DANSO_1888 on 26TH APRIL 2016 8:56 PM
We were mentally weak .We beat ourselves.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL on 26TH APRIL 2016 8:54 PM
Shuperrrrrb! :-)
GLENDALYSTONSILS, dunno about mentaly but we are certainly weak
As summarised on the Celtic blog, Warburtons league record, in what is obviously an inferior division, is worse than Ronny Deila’s
Says it all really
What we do next season, is the all important.
I am still of the thinking however Warburton is a manger creeping ever nearer to being found out.
One dimensional in tactics and style.
Tried to play football the right way for 45mins against us, and we proceeded to let them. They then subsequently faded, as the type of tempo and football they looked to play in the first half was never going to be sustained, given how average their players actually are.
What that says about the current Celtic team however speaks volumes.
Sevco if nothing else did demonstrate team unity, motivation, and a will to win.
Talking of books……………..
Looks to me as if Zidane (under his pseudonym) is getting away with it once again – with subliminal advertising for his latest book?
Nail on a Banister by R.S.Tornaway!
This CL game would rip your knitting – never mind your drawers!
Bada@8.18
Genuine lol moment on a day when they are few and far between. HH
Jft96
I’ve bet both teams to score I’ll be lucky to stay awake for the remainder of the game
BLANTYRETIM
I’ve bet Blantyretim to fall asleep before 90 minutes.
Glendalystonsils
The book is closed on that one ;-)
Madrid upping the anti.
BT
Get yourself an early night…………..
you’ll be able to catch the highlights on borefest.com tomorrow!
:-)
Blantyretim,
That tweet from John Nicolson; are you putting that on facebook?
Dharma Bam
It took me all my time to get it on here never mind FB
Feel free to get it on there
The Wee Turkish ref looks like Pee Wee (the pervasive) Herman :)
I doubt I’ve seen a better athlete on a football pitch than Gareth Bale.
The best player on the park in the Man c. game is the ref.
78mins gone………… and that’s the second shot on target!
GEAROID1998-The Hillsborough stuff is something you can’t watch without getting emotional,as Andy Burnham said, it’s time for charges now HH
MARRAKESH EXPRESS on 26TH APRIL 2016 9:21 PM
I doubt I’ve seen a better athlete on a football pitch than Gareth Bale.
You havin a laugh? You on it? Lol.
Modric running the show in the 2nd half, tremendous player! Like watching him and Marcelo.
Pepe and Ramos looking like good defenders tonight, not always the case. Casmeiro doing a good job putting out fires in front of them and the team shape is good. Even good players can be made to look like mugs if the team shape and tactics expose them.
MARRAKESH EXPRESS on 26TH APRIL 2016 9:21 PM
I doubt I’ve seen a better athlete on a football pitch than Gareth Bale.
——–
Stevie Fulton?
Marrakesh
Yer obviously too young to have watched DIxie Deans-:))
What a miss by Pepe, what a save by Hart? You decide, I have been startled at how dull this all is. If you want to get excitement, make the semi finals of this financial borefest, a one off game at a neutral venue.
All the teams are just seeing the first legs out and will maybe have a go in the second leg. Tomorrow will be more of the same, it’s just not a great watch any more, the competition has sold its soul.
All the teams are just seeing the first legs out and will maybe have a go in the second leg. Tomorrow will be more of the same, it’s just not a great watch any more, the competition has sold its soul
That I have to agree with.
and yet we cry out for it to qualify
Rotten game tonight, the only excitement tonight, was when the ice cream van came.
Like their big CB Pepe.
No nonsense – cemented his opponent and took the yellow card. No argument with the ref – shook his hand and got on with it.