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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Urine.
Td67
I’m waiting on you coming back with Big Yogi or somebody. 0)
Sevco pumped again
MARRAKESH EXPRESS on 26TH APRIL 2016 9:37 PM
Td67
I’m waiting on you coming back with Big Yogi or somebody. 0)
Paddy Turner :))
Glendaly
Wish I was mate, but then no, again I’d have missed the Lisbon game.
Blantyre Tim,
Hahaha! You’re asking ME to do something techy on twitter? We might be at the same level!
I’ll give it a try
Sevco pumped again, and the season tickets up 20% lol,
Bada@9.25
Too true. I think it strikes a chord because (as people. on here have attested to already) many on here have been in similar positions. Heartbreaking for those close to them. Hopefully today’s verdict will bring a sense of relief but closure will only come when those who were culpable for the deaths of the 96 are brought to justice.
HH
Apart from a victory against even lower league Peterhead… sevco haven’t won a match in weeks
The magic hat on a shoogly hatstand?
Jamesie Forrest got new piece up….don’t tell the rest of they Castlemulk weans.
http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/the-storm-before-the-calm/?
GlenD
They are winding down before they wind up for the cup :-)
HH
To those on the outside, who badly want to believe in it, Celtic is deep in crisis at the moment. It’s not true. Appearances can be deceptive, and even as some people conclude that we’re in historical decline they appear convinced that a certain other club is on the rise. What a shock they’re in for.
http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/the-storm-before-the-calm/
VOGUEPUNTER:
You got there just in front of me ya bassa!
JFT96!
Perverting the course of justice is a serious offence .As is conspiring to do so.
JUSTICE FOR THE 96
27 YEARS TOO LATE BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER !!!!!
As for that piece of outside toilet A£&@ wipe paper IF YON RAT MC KENZIE and his shareholders had any remorse for their lies deciet fabrication and filth they would liquidate That rags name and rebrand as a start of an apology . His typical reaction today was disgustingly crass and inappropriate !!
Rebrand yer toxic disease of a Red top !!!!!
JAMES FORREST
Nae probs mucker :O) hh
Thank god that game is over, kept watching in hope with talent on the park it would get better, nope.
JAMES
Your excellent article coincides with my thinking. The Sevco game was horrible on one level but cathartic on another. It effectively lit the blue (or should that be green?) touchpaper. Football is cyclical and hopefully a new cycle is beginning.
City one shot on goal from a team that cost hundreds of millions. Hope Munich win the Cup. The only champions left in it.
Man City v Real Madrid. Football to sleep to. Poor poor fare.
Good stuff as ever James, loved the liking to a long dormant engine :-)
HH
GLENDALYSTONSILS…
MO’N is Spartacus:)))
JAMES
I said after our cup defeat that it could be an ICT moment and Sunday also left everyone in no doubt that there needs to be a big change of direction at Celtic. One thing quickly became apparent though. Sevco fans have been infected by that extremely dangerous football disease. They’ve caught a huge dose of expectation.
Any managerial sackings in Glasgow tonight?…
Never mind being a nominee for the Scottish PFA Manager of the Year award, with 3 defeats and just 2 wins in the last 7 league games it’s amazing that Mark Warburton is still in a job. Ronny Deila has been hounded out of the country for his team having lost 3 out of 34 league games!
Loving the wee momentum loss by Sevco. Just one bloody kick and it would be meltdown sgain for that lot.
Still Hibees playing competitively hopefully right up to the cup final must give them an edge.
Sipsini
Would do for me!
Anyone else hearing the loopy Twitter rumour? Gary Neville in an Edinburgh restaurant with PL & WGS?!?!?!
THE EXILED TIM on 26TH APRIL 2016 9:46 PM
GlenD
They are winding down before they wind up for the cup :-)
HH
Losing can become a dangerous habit. You can wind down so much, it’s hard to wind up again.
Mon the Hibs!
VP…
Me and Tony had read and digested James’s blog before it hit the out backs of Ruggy:))
Uly
Yip, but the tweet said WGS was there as well, then someone else posted that WGS was sitting next to him in La Manga.
The interweb, ye canny whack it :-)
HH
Just wanted to say…..
JFT96.
Hopefully the Ballymurphy relatives get justice too. Also, all others seeking justice.
Bigchipsuk
Ronny Deila has been hounded out of the country for his team having lost 3 out of 34 league games!
Oh no he hasnt….
He hasnt been hounded out of anywhere by anyone
He was appointed to do a job that he wasnt capable of.That was obvious as early as August 2014.
His employers persevered with him for a further 18 months or so before they said,Goodbye and thanks for the fish, as they inevitably would.
So once again,
It wasnt the masons
It wasnt the media
It wasnt fans with a hun like sense of entitlement
It wasnt any excuse you want to come with
Ronny is gone because he wasnt up to the job
But you knew that …didnt you,surely ?
Bigchips
Shhh. Don’t alert any lurkin huns that their genius manager is merely another myth.
JAMES FORREST
I enjoyed reading that, very articulate.
I hope you’re right. On the other hand think it would be foolish to underestimate the enemy.
Glen
I sure as feck hope so.
Still, it will be interesting what the sfa does if they do win it re a licence.
I have read a few different versions, nothing that I am 100% on either yes or no.
HH
Gary Neville?
I’d rather have Gary Tank Commander.(stolen from Mrs Doc)
Neville seems a decent bloke, knows the game, but has how many games experience as a manager?
ULYSSES MCGHEE – A DEMOGRAPHIC OF ONE on 26TH APRIL 2016 10:05 PM
Just for you:
@Celtic_Vines:
Gary Neville and Gordon Strachan spotted having dinner with Peter Lawwell and Celtic new FD tonight.
Apparently photos in paper tomorrow.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!