Hillsborough: 15 years on

[kopiteinkc]

April 15, 1989 was surely the worst day of my life.

The night before I'd received a phone call from a mate of mine who I played in an amateur footy league with.

The night before an FA Cup semi final and there came the words I'd been waiting to hear. "I have a spare ticket. Do you wanna go the match tomorrow?"

Within an hour I was at Childwall Fiveways pub exchanging god knows how much money for a ticket from my mate. He was going on the coach and had had his own ticket for a while.

So I said I'd meet him at the ground and went to Lime Street the next morning to get the train to Sheffield.

I had got there bright and early to make sure I could get a ticket on the train.

At this time in my life I was teaching and I ran into one of the 6th formers (18 year olds for the uninitiated) from one of my history classes.

He was with his Dad and uncle and I sat with them on the train.

The chatter on the train was innocent enough. We were on the first train to leave and after reading the morning papers talk got around to where our tickets were for.

I was thrilled to have tickets for behind the goal. Even though they were cheaper I always preferred that to the side. That's were all the singing and atmosphere would be at its best.

As it turned out, Jamie (the student in my class) and his Dad and uncle had tickets for the side. Real seats not terraces like me.

Well they had a spare as well for someone who couldn't make it. As we got closer to Sheffield they convinced me to go in with them and we'd sell my ticket instead. That way they could sit with someone they knew and I could sell my ticket for behind the goal.

I felt a bit bad cos I'd arranged to meet a few of my mates there. But went along with their plan.

Eventually the train pulled into the station and we made our way towards Hillsboro.

Before long we saw throngs of Liverpool fans already crowded around the turnstiles and hundreds of people asking for spare tickets. Being an FA Cup semi final and the low allocation for tickets meant they were like goal dust.

A little kid came up to me asking for a spare and I said quietly, yeh I have one and we did our deal surrounded by a few people so there was no funny business.

We went on our way towards the turnstiles with our only outstanding business done. Now we were ready for the match itself ... or so we thought.

We got closer and closer to the turnstiles and it was incredibly crowded

Now I had seen scenes similar to this many a time outside the Kop, but usually the police on horseback sort it out and everyone (more or less) gets in an orderly queue.

This was a nightmare, the copper on horseback didn't have a clue and was trying push us back with the nose of his horse. Causing mayhem as the massive horse was coming close to stepping on people.

We managed to edge our way through and about 45 minutes later had squeezed our way through to the front and got through the turnstiles. I had never taken so long to get into a match, especially one that was all ticket and sold out.

We made our way to our seats and immediatley I noticed how crowded the Leppings Lane end was. I couldn't believe it. It was heaving with fans who were already in full voice and swaying and rolling like the old days.

The outside edges looked much thinner crowd wise and seemed like everyone was trying to get a good view behind the goal.

I had been in there for the Sheff Wed leage match the season before and it was the same then. We had my little nephew with me and we moved to the side closer to the corner flag to escape the crush. But to do this we had to go over the front of the terracing and actually go behind the goal and back in the terracing again because of the fatal divides in their terraces which didn't allow for natural sideways movement.

Eventually the teams came out and the match got underway. I have vivid memories of Peter Beardsley starting really well and maybe even hitting the bar. We won a corner I know that much and I noticed the Leppings Lane end just heaving with bodies and a few spilling out on to the narrow path behind the goal.

The police though were not allowing fans to come out of what was obvioulsy an overcrowded area and they were pushing the fans back in again.

Suddenly a fan broke loose and was on the pitch telling Liverpool players what was going on.

Notts Forest fans started booing and thought this was some sort of pitch invasion or hooligan activity. IT WAS NOT.

From there chaos broke out nad fans spilled onto the pitch, the police doing nothing to help and still not seeing the seriousness of the situation lined up on the halfway line expecting a fight.

As this was going on of course the players were led off the pitch and total confusion reigned amongst the fans.

I stood helpless at the side of the pitch trying to understand what was going on.

Before long Liverpool fans being laid out on the pitch as other fans were making makeshift stretchers from the advert boards and carrying bodies across the pitch to the other end were ambulances were waiting. The ambulances didn't arrive right away and never came all the down the pitch.

We stood and watched this scene for as long as I remember and the sight of a Liverpool fan covered up with a blanket or coat over his head sticks in my memory like a hot poker in the eye. An arm lifelessly hanging from a makeshift stretcher and the audible moaning and wailing of injured fans.

Before long there was an announcement that the match was postponed and we were ushed out of the stadium by the police.

We were escorted back to the station and suffered much abuse by Forest fans who really had no clue what was going on.

It was a horribly silent train ride back to Lime Street, with the only noise thato f Police radios which updated the death count as we travelled home. 18, 21, 27, 43, 51, etc.

It was just awful.

I got home and jumped a cab to my older brother's house in Toxteth (my parents were visiting relatives down south at the the time). I collapsed at his house and visited Anfield with them the next day to lay some flowers and say a few words.

I am not a religious person but pray or do whatever your own spiritual beliefs allow you to do on Thursday.

There is not a day goes by that I don't think about the lost 96 and wonder whether the little kid I sold my ticket to was amongst them.

[mbar]

Thank you for writing this. It is important that it be remembered.

[russ]

Thanks for remembering ,mate,as painful as this may be.
For we will pray and weep silently where we are on Thursday.
For the 96 souls lost and the shameful lies told about them.
For our love of this game that meant any of us would have been there if we could,
and the truth that no one should have to pay for the love of this game with their life.
For the 96 and for all who love football....

You'll Never Walk Alone

[Beau Dure]

Sometimes tragic stories need to be retold. That's especially true in this case. All this happened in the dark days of U.S. soccer, when we had little access to what was going on in the world. I think many of us have only vague ideas of what happened, and your account puts it in vivid detail.

Thanks for writing, and I'll be thinking of those lost that day.

[Real Ray]

"The History Of Football" has a very good chapter on Hillsborough.

Here is an audio excerpt from the chapter. 1.6mb; about 3 minutes.

http://www.geocities.com/castmind/hills.html


The men speaking are Phil Scraton, author of "Hillsborough-The Truth," and Eddie Spearitt a survivor who sadly lost his son.

There is another witness-a women called Julie-who tells here story as well. I have often thought about how I would think of football if I had suffered a loss or lived through such a horror. I really don't know how you could be a supporter again-certainly not the same type of supporter.

[Sachin]

Truly a dark day for soccer. The only solace we can, and must take, is that it forced the game to truly look at itself and take measures that may well have saved it in England.

Sachin

[Father Ted]

I remember watching the game live on TV in Ireland. I'm pretty sure the game was not shown live in England but it was truely horrific. We could not believe what was happening before our eyes.
It was a terribly tragic day and could have been avoided.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost family and friends on that day.

[SABuffalo786]

What's even more tragic is how young most of these fans were.


Thanks for sharing, kopite.

[M]

I remember taking my twin daughters to see the memorial at Anfield during the '96 European Championships. They noticed that two of the victims were young sisters that were their age. A very poignant moment that neither they nor I will ever forget.

[LifeOfBrian]

Thank you for writing this, and for having reminded us.

I hope that the lessons learned from such a terrible tragedy mean that such an event is never repeated.

[Helghallen]

Thanks for sharing. Very poignant. I will definitely be thinking about that tomorrow and for some time to come.

[kopiteinkc]

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign represents bereaved families, survivors and supporters campaigning for justice for the 96 people who died at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough football ground on 15th April 1989. The truth about Hillsborough is still denied by the authorities.

The campaign is situated at 178 Walton Breck Road, facing the Albert Pub and behind the Kop. All football fans are more than welcome to call in when you are at Anfield and have a look around our shop and premises, your support would be greatly appreciated, the group meet at 8pm every Monday evening at the premises.

John McCormick
Hillsborough Justice Campaign

http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough

email: info@hillsboroughjustice.org.uk

Hillsborough Justice Campaign
PO Box 1089
178 Walton Breck Road
Liverpool
L69 4WR

[jackrock]

I did not realize that that many people died. How did it happen? were the people in the rear just pushing foward and not realizing that the people in the front were being crushed? Or did stands give way? Sorry if this comes off as crude or ignorant,, the only games I've been to were at RFK.

[SABuffalo786]

I did not realize that that many people died. How did it happen? were the people in the rear just pushing foward and not realizing that the people in the front were being crushed? Or did stands give way? Sorry if this comes off as crude or ignorant,, the only games I've been to were at RFK.


Basically, from what I've read. Ticketless fans were rushing into the pen, and pushing those at the front of the already overcrowded central pen against the fence. I guess the cops refused to open the less crowded ends of the stand so some of the people from the central pen could relieve the pressure. Fans were screaming at the cops to let them into the other pens or onto the field, and they basically refused. It got so bad, people began climbing into the upper deck.

[kopiteinkc]

I did not realize that that many people died. How did it happen? were the people in the rear just pushing foward and not realizing that the people in the front were being crushed? Or did stands give way? Sorry if this comes off as crude or ignorant,, the only games I've been to were at RFK.

You are not ignorant. Ignorant people don't ask good questions.

This web site gives an excellent full account:

http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/history/buildup1.shtm

[impact_player]

It's hard to hear as a "fan" that other "fans" can take it to such a dangerous level. But at the same time it's good to hear because maybe if your're one of the overzelious (sorry about the spelling) "fans" it will make you realize the danger you're putting families, husbands, wives, children in.
...that was a great post. thank you.

[Lanky134]

Thank you, kopite.

[Jasonma]

I never realized until reading the HJC site that New England manger Steve Nicol was on the pitch that day.

[ThreeApples]

It's hard to hear as a "fan" that other "fans" can take it to such a dangerous level. But at the same time it's good to hear because maybe if your're one of the overzelious (sorry about the spelling) "fans" it will make you realize the danger you're putting families, husbands, wives, children in.
...that was a great post. thank you.

Hillsborough had nothing to do with overzealous or dangerous fans.

[RichardL]

I remember watching the game live on TV in Ireland. I'm pretty sure the game was not shown live in England but it was truely horrific. We could not believe what was happening before our eyes.
It was a terribly tragic day and could have been avoided.
.
It wasn't scheduled to be shown live, but the moment they realised something was happening, even if they didn't know what, the BBC switched to it immediately. It took a long time to realise the scale of what was happening, similar to how when they showed footage of the Bradford City fire 4 years earlier (in it's one and only unedited showing, before they knew exactly what was on the tape) it didn't seem that serious until a fan burning from head to toe stumbled from the stand.
The shameful thing, quite apart from the shameful sequence of events that allowed this tragedy to happen in the first place, was that the BBC and other news agencies were relying on the police to tell them what happened. The police of course decided to take this chance to lie and tell the world that drunken ticketless fans had smashed down a gate and forced entry onto the terracing. It wasn't until the CCTV tape of the area outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles emerged (having been mysteriously 'lost' by the police control room) that the truth was there for all to see. By then though, the myth that it was caused by crowd violence had gone round the world.

It changed the game in this country, and I don't just mean all-seater stadiums. At that period in time football fans were regarded as sub-human scum. Not a minority, all fans. When one tabloid printed headlines a day or two later saying that other Liverpool fans in that end had picketed the pockets of the dead and urinated on their bodies, many many people believed it. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would realise no human being would ever react that way, but people would believe anything of football fans. The truth, when it emerged, completely changed that view. The nation grieved, genuinely. When the first few fans tied scarves and laid flowers at the Kop back at Anfield, they couldn't have known that within a day or two those flowers and scarves would form a carpet covering the whole kop and over half the pitch. Many may have repeated Shankly's words "Football's not a matter of life or death - it's more important than that" as a sign that he was wrong (which, if taken purely literally he obviously was) but that was the day which the public recognised the importance of football in people's lives, and for the first time in ages, embraced it. That it should take a national tragedy to awaken the national game is perhaps the sickest twist of the whole event, but 15 years on that is part of its legacy.