Raftastic
12 May 2009, 08:51 AM
Sent to WSD by Tim Vickery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Vickery)
I have sent the following to Steven Cohen with the request that it be posted on the World Soccer Daily website as an open letter to stimulate debate;
Steven,
You complain of receiving death threats as a consequence of comments you made about the Hillsbrough disaster. Such threats are clearly to be condemned. But I really think - and advise you in the strongest possible terms - to reconsider your position on this issue.
The strength of feeling on this issue is incredibly high even after all these years, and it’s no wonder. You have to bear in mind the poison that the people of Liverpool have had to put up with on this issue - especially the campaign of the Sun newspaper at the time. The low point was reached with the accusation that these sub-human Liverpudlians had been urinating over other fans - when in fact this was an involuntary action of people who were being crushed to death. You have been placed in this camp - the camp of poisonous liars who seek to profit from populist bashing of the people of Liverpool.
I don’t believe you belong in this camp - indeed the spirit of this open letter is to try and win you over, since there is no issue in football more important than fan safety. As a football community we need to come together on this one, and I don’t believe that you are on the side of the villains.
But I do think you need to think about your opinion that Hillsbrough was a case of ‘shared responsibility.’ You will say that you have a right to an opinion - but that opinion has to be in line with the facts as they have been established.
As I understand it, your ’shared responsibility’ idea is based on the existence of ticketless fans. I expect there were some. Every week in the Maracana I see fans jumping over fences to try and get in without tickets. Does that make them killers?
Furthermore, it seems that ticketless fans were not a factor in the tragedy - because the problem was not so much one of over-capacity, but of bad distribution of fans. There was space available at the sides - but the way the fans entered forced too many through the middle.
But even if there were ticketless fans, this does not alter the principal fact. Responsibility goes with power. The more power you have, the more responsibility. The organisers of the event had the responsibility to ensure the safety of those who attended. That means - and this is absolutely basic - cordoning off the area, restricting access to control the flow of fans. The fact that this did not take place properly is to me a damning indictment of organisational incompetence.
To my mind the furthest that anyone can go on the ‘shared responsibility’ idea is as follows - English football, as a whole, had developed a culture whereby he most vital part of fan safety had been forgotten. With all the focus on violence what got overlooked was the fact that the mere presence of so many people in a restricted space is in itself a threat to their safety. But there were people at Hillsbrough being paid to deal with this problem. Their failure to carry out their duties with minimal competence seems to me to be the overwhelming cause of the tragedy
So I urge you to rethink your position on this vital issue. Don’t allow yourself to be associated with the lies of The Sun. Remember, we’re not only fighting battles of the past here - crowds automatically mean danger. While we are blaming fans we are giving the authorities an excuse for bad crowd control - and that can be fatal.
Tim Vickery
As far as I am aware, this has not been put up on the website - you have my authorisation to publish this open letter on any website of other publication that you see fit.
I would like to add that the appearances i make on the programme are unpaid. But also, though I've never met him personaly, he doesn't seem to me to be a bad bloke. He has said some very silly things - in this case it's no real excuse, but it can be easy to let your mouth run away with you on radio. I would like to think that he can be won over - this really was the point of the letter. Not just for the 96, but for all other potential victims of criminally inept crowd control, I think there's more to be gained from dialogue within the community of football fans than any other course of action. Can we win him over with the force of debate?
Cheers,
TimI feel the need to put this out in the open under Tims instruction,please don't turn this into a flaming thread allthough the question has to be asked as to why Steve decided not to publish this letter on the WSD site especially when you take into consideration Tim specifically requested him to and the fact that Tim is one of Steves top contributors and the fact Tim pads out Mr.Cohens show all for the pricely sum of nothing.
I have sent the following to Steven Cohen with the request that it be posted on the World Soccer Daily website as an open letter to stimulate debate;
Steven,
You complain of receiving death threats as a consequence of comments you made about the Hillsbrough disaster. Such threats are clearly to be condemned. But I really think - and advise you in the strongest possible terms - to reconsider your position on this issue.
The strength of feeling on this issue is incredibly high even after all these years, and it’s no wonder. You have to bear in mind the poison that the people of Liverpool have had to put up with on this issue - especially the campaign of the Sun newspaper at the time. The low point was reached with the accusation that these sub-human Liverpudlians had been urinating over other fans - when in fact this was an involuntary action of people who were being crushed to death. You have been placed in this camp - the camp of poisonous liars who seek to profit from populist bashing of the people of Liverpool.
I don’t believe you belong in this camp - indeed the spirit of this open letter is to try and win you over, since there is no issue in football more important than fan safety. As a football community we need to come together on this one, and I don’t believe that you are on the side of the villains.
But I do think you need to think about your opinion that Hillsbrough was a case of ‘shared responsibility.’ You will say that you have a right to an opinion - but that opinion has to be in line with the facts as they have been established.
As I understand it, your ’shared responsibility’ idea is based on the existence of ticketless fans. I expect there were some. Every week in the Maracana I see fans jumping over fences to try and get in without tickets. Does that make them killers?
Furthermore, it seems that ticketless fans were not a factor in the tragedy - because the problem was not so much one of over-capacity, but of bad distribution of fans. There was space available at the sides - but the way the fans entered forced too many through the middle.
But even if there were ticketless fans, this does not alter the principal fact. Responsibility goes with power. The more power you have, the more responsibility. The organisers of the event had the responsibility to ensure the safety of those who attended. That means - and this is absolutely basic - cordoning off the area, restricting access to control the flow of fans. The fact that this did not take place properly is to me a damning indictment of organisational incompetence.
To my mind the furthest that anyone can go on the ‘shared responsibility’ idea is as follows - English football, as a whole, had developed a culture whereby he most vital part of fan safety had been forgotten. With all the focus on violence what got overlooked was the fact that the mere presence of so many people in a restricted space is in itself a threat to their safety. But there were people at Hillsbrough being paid to deal with this problem. Their failure to carry out their duties with minimal competence seems to me to be the overwhelming cause of the tragedy
So I urge you to rethink your position on this vital issue. Don’t allow yourself to be associated with the lies of The Sun. Remember, we’re not only fighting battles of the past here - crowds automatically mean danger. While we are blaming fans we are giving the authorities an excuse for bad crowd control - and that can be fatal.
Tim Vickery
As far as I am aware, this has not been put up on the website - you have my authorisation to publish this open letter on any website of other publication that you see fit.
I would like to add that the appearances i make on the programme are unpaid. But also, though I've never met him personaly, he doesn't seem to me to be a bad bloke. He has said some very silly things - in this case it's no real excuse, but it can be easy to let your mouth run away with you on radio. I would like to think that he can be won over - this really was the point of the letter. Not just for the 96, but for all other potential victims of criminally inept crowd control, I think there's more to be gained from dialogue within the community of football fans than any other course of action. Can we win him over with the force of debate?
Cheers,
TimI feel the need to put this out in the open under Tims instruction,please don't turn this into a flaming thread allthough the question has to be asked as to why Steve decided not to publish this letter on the WSD site especially when you take into consideration Tim specifically requested him to and the fact that Tim is one of Steves top contributors and the fact Tim pads out Mr.Cohens show all for the pricely sum of nothing.