Hillsborough: Twenty Year Remembrance

[luciusmagister]

I saw this on the BBC.

Stars launch Hillsborough single
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7964159.stm

I can't believe it has been 20 yrs. May truth and justice prevail. R.I.P. to the 96.
YNWA

[UncleMike]

I was 19 years old, and I have a vague memory of the U.S. national network news broadcasts mentioning the disaster very briefly. If there had been even one American killed, they would have flogged the story for weeks on end, but as it didn't involve "us," they moved on.

Six months later came the World Series earthquake in San Francisco. Despite being one of the most maligned stadiums in North America, Candlestick Park held up, and 60,000 people didn't die. But around 80 or so did, in fires and collapsed double-deck roadways. That story was on the news day after day after day.

I wonder how many of those 60,000 knew about what happened to the 96. Probably very few.

Nothing like this has ever happened in U.S. sports, and most Americans aren't even aware of it happening at Hillsborough.

Some fans of U.S. sports teams talk about how such-and-such event is part of their team not having won a championship in decades, and call it a "tragedy." Some of them have seen their teams moved out of town, and call that a "tragedy." They have no idea.

Which of those 96 could have become the doctor that cured AIDS? Which could have become a diplomat who was part of the Northern Ireland peace process? Which could have become the scientist who found a viable alternative to gasoline? Which could have become the soldier who saved 20 of his country's men in Iraq? Which could have become the author or singer or painter whose art touched a million hearts? Which could have become the player now wrapping up his career who could have made the difference for Liverpool -- or another club -- winning a league title? Which could have become the "brave cop" who caught a serial killer or stopped the 2005 London train bombings... Has Rupert Murdoch ever given a thought to that?

We'll never know, and that kind of sadness and pain should never have had any journalistic piling-on. The tragedy should not have been followed by the moral equivalent of a crime. And that is "THE TRUTH."

On April 15 at 10:06 AM -- 3:06 PM UK time -- I'll be a few minutes' walk away from my office. But I'll give a moment to those I didn't know about 20 years ago -- but should have.

[liverbird]

I was 19 years old, and I have a vague memory of the U.S. national network news broadcasts mentioning the disaster very briefly. If there had been even one American killed, they would have flogged the story for weeks on end, but as it didn't involve "us," they moved on.

Six months later came the World Series earthquake in San Francisco. Despite being one of the most maligned stadiums in North America, Candlestick Park held up, and 60,000 people didn't die. But around 80 or so did, in fires and collapsed double-deck roadways. That story was on the news day after day after day.

I wonder how many of those 60,000 knew about what happened to the 96. Probably very few.

Nothing like this has ever happened in U.S. sports, and most Americans aren't even aware of it happening at Hillsborough.

Some fans of U.S. sports teams talk about how such-and-such event is part of their team not having won a championship in decades, and call it a "tragedy." Some of them have seen their teams moved out of town, and call that a "tragedy." They have no idea.

Which of those 96 could have become the doctor that cured AIDS? Which could have become a diplomat who was part of the Northern Ireland peace process? Which could have become the scientist who found a viable alternative to gasoline? Which could have become the soldier who saved 20 of his country's men in Iraq? Which could have become the author or singer or painter whose art touched a million hearts? Which could have become the player now wrapping up his career who could have made the difference for Liverpool -- or another club -- winning a league title? Which could have become the "brave cop" who caught a serial killer or stopped the 2005 London train bombings... Has Rupert Murdoch ever given a thought to that?

We'll never know, and that kind of sadness and pain should never have had any journalistic piling-on. The tragedy should not have been followed by the moral equivalent of a crime. And that is "THE TRUTH."

On April 15 at 10:06 AM -- 3:06 PM UK time -- I'll be a few minutes' walk away from my office. But I'll give a moment to those I didn't know about 20 years ago -- but should have.

Repping this post would not be enough. Uncle Mike, we support one club togther and are supporters of rival clubs as well but this is a magnificent post. May you never walk alone!

[liverbird]

Got to this url on the official site and click on the video.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N163779090327-0805.htm

[kopiteinkc]

Got to this url on the official site and click on the video.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N163779090327-0805.htm

Gulp! Thanks for posting.

[liverbird]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hjAVi06-npGPIYqRE29YaU4Q-dkg

The prime minister of Ivory Coast is convening an emergency Cabinet meeting after 22 people were killed and 132 injured during a stadium stampede at a World Cup qualifying match in Abidjan.

Thousands of fans at the capital's Felix Houphouet-Boigny arena pushed against each other shortly before Sunday's game between Ivory Coast and Malawi, setting off a panic that led to the stampede, interior minister Desire Tagro said.

The melee prompted security forces to fire tear gas, which witnesses say forced fans to hurl themselves toward the field, causing a wall to come down and setting off a stampede.

Lets pray for their peace as well. YNWA!

[CCSC_STRIKER20]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hjAVi06-npGPIYqRE29YaU4Q-dkg



Lets pray for their peace as well. YNWA!

:(

A sad situation indeed.

[Aztattooedsean777]

I definitely will be downloading it.:cool:

[luciusmagister]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hjAVi06-npGPIYqRE29YaU4Q-dkg



Lets pray for their peace as well. YNWA!
Yes, lets reach out to the people of the Ivory Coast. Our prayers are with those who lost their lives and their grieving families. YNWA

[CCSC_STRIKER20]

Yes, lets reach out to the people of the Ivory Coast. Our prayers are with those who lost their lives and their grieving families. YNWA

It's sad, and I can't remember but it was posted elsewhere, but this isn't making as much news as it should. Just as the Hillsborough disaster didn't make as much news as it should have.

[kopiteinkc]

It's sad, and I can't remember but it was posted elsewhere, but this isn't making as much news as it should. Just as the Hillsborough disaster didn't make as much news as it should have.

and in the reports I have read fans are being blamed when the police unleashed tear gas on them.

I realize I don't have the full story, but the immediate headlines blaming the fans just irked me anyway -- knee jerk reaction I know.

[CCSC_STRIKER20]

and in the reports I have read fans are being blamed when the police unleashed tear gas on them.

I realize I don't have the full story, but the immediate headlines blaming the fans just irked me anyway -- knee jerk reaction I know.

Yes. Police are blaming the fans for causing the accident. I don't know, but the last time I checked, releasing tear gas into an already panicked, trapped crowd is probably something that shouldn't be done.

So I put the blame on the police. And those in charge. Hopefully the right people get their due.

[PaisleyPrint]

Twenty years on and still no resolution. Anne Williams case is apparently 'out of time' - who knew justice had a time limit?

It is sickening to think of the total ineptitude of the authorities in charge - all starting from a stadium that didn't have a safety certificate and hadnt for some time.

YNWA

[UncleMike]

Yes. Police are blaming the fans for causing the accident. I don't know, but the last time I checked, releasing tear gas into an already panicked, trapped crowd is probably something that shouldn't be done.

So I put the blame on the police. And those in charge. Hopefully the right people get their due.
Giulianism at its "finest." Just once, when a police department screws up, I'd like the man in charge to say, "We screwed up." It is possible to be angry with someone and still have them earn your respect, which would happen if these police departments would admit their errors.

[sammolad]

I wasn't born when Hillsborough happened, but my dad and uncle were. My mum has told me stories of her and my nan in tears not knowing whether anything had happened to them. Luckily nothing did, but 20 years on my dad told me how he sat in his seat seeing corpses being taken past him. Even though i wasn't alive the very thought of it brings a tear to my eye. My heart goes out to those who lost family and friends. It must be hard losing someone so tragically. But i believe its a tragedy like this that has made Liverpool what it is today. Every fan of the club has united together and no other club in the world has a fan and player relationship like we do. Everytime i walk round the corner and see anfield I am in shock. The thousands of people I see, from all over the world all there to support one team. I am so glad I found Liverpool to be my club, as I think having a season ticket and watching matches like we do at Anfield is the best thing in the world and no other team could top it. Thanks Liverpool ! YNWA X

[Grinners89]

I wasn't born when Hillsborough happened, but my dad and uncle were. My mum has told me stories of her and my nan in tears not knowing whether anything had happened to them. Luckily nothing did, but 20 years on my dad told me how he sat in his seat seeing corpses being taken past him. Even though i wasn't alive the very thought of it brings a tear to my eye. My heart goes out to those who lost family and friends. It must be hard losing someone so tragically. But i believe its a tragedy like this that has made Liverpool what it is today. Every fan of the club has united together and no other club in the world has a fan and player relationship like we do. Everytime i walk round the corner and see anfield I am in shock. The thousands of people I see, from all over the world all there to support one team. I am so glad I found Liverpool to be my club, as I think having a season ticket and watching matches like we do at Anfield is the best thing in the world and no other team could top it. Thanks Liverpool ! YNWA X

Possibly the best first post by anyone, ever.

Great post, you're right about the relationship between all people involved and supporting the club, its quite amazing.

[liverbird]

I wasn't born when Hillsborough happened, but my dad and uncle were. My mum has told me stories of her and my nan in tears not knowing whether anything had happened to them. Luckily nothing did, but 20 years on my dad told me how he sat in his seat seeing corpses being taken past him. Even though i wasn't alive the very thought of it brings a tear to my eye. My heart goes out to those who lost family and friends. It must be hard losing someone so tragically. But i believe its a tragedy like this that has made Liverpool what it is today. Every fan of the club has united together and no other club in the world has a fan and player relationship like we do. Everytime i walk round the corner and see anfield I am in shock. The thousands of people I see, from all over the world all there to support one team. I am so glad I found Liverpool to be my club, as I think having a season ticket and watching matches like we do at Anfield is the best thing in the world and no other team could top it. Thanks Liverpool ! YNWA X

welcome to our board. Fantastic first post. YNWA

[CCSC_STRIKER20]

Loving Hillsborough Mom Anne Williams A Hero To All Of Liverpool (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/04/04/loving-hillsborough-mum-anne-williams-a-hero-to-all-of-liverpool-100252-23306721/)
ACCORDING to the adage that time is a great healer, the gaping wounds which opened up on Merseyside and beyond on April 15, 1989 should have long since mended.

But in 11 days’ time the 20th anniversary of Hillsborough will arrive and hearts will weigh just as heavy as they did in the hours, days, weeks and months which followed British football’s biggest ever disaster.

Even the passing of two decades – an entire generation – has failed to ease much of the pain caused by the tragic and unnecessary deaths of 96 men, women and children who went to a football match and never came back.

“It’s time to move on” is a phrase which is being uttered with greater monotony with every passing year but this week, the plight of one courageous mother highlighted exactly why moving on is not yet an option and nor should it be.

Anne Williams’ old life ended when her 15-year-old son Kevin became one of the victims of the death trap that was the Leppings Lane end.

From that point on, Anne has devoted almost every waking moment to the ongoing fight for justice, in particular her own personal battle to find out how Kevin was killed and for it to be proven in a court of law.

Her relentless search for the truth eventually led to new evidence being discovered which appeared to prove that Kevin had been alive at least 45 minutes after the 3.15pm cut-off point imposed by the coroner who investigated the Hillsborough tragedy.

It wasn’t just any old evidence either. It came from two serving police officers who had found that Kevin still had a pulse at 4pm.

Furthermore, a doctor by the name of Ed Walker would later tell the British Medical Journal that the 3.15pm cut-off time was clearly bogus because he and other medical professionals had been trying to resuscitate critically injured fans long after that time.

“It is also a matter of public record that some victims who died in hospital did not die until well after 3.15pm,” said Dr Walker.

“I personally, along with many other members of medical staff, was attempting resuscitation on those who subsequently died, but were very much alive, well after 3.15pm. This is quite simply a matter of fact.”

Unfortunately, despite having such powerful evidence at hand Anne’s campaign for her son to be given the inquest she feels he was denied is yet to bear fruit.

Door after door has been slammed in her face as the British justice system has again proved itself unworthy of its name.

Anne had hoped that where her own country had failed her, Europe could unlock the door to justice but this week such aspirations came to nothing when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that her case was inadmissible because too much time had elapsed between the initial incident and evidence being presented to them.

Like packets of crisps and tins of soup, justice, apparently, has a sell-by date. The kick to Anne’s teeth could not have been any harder had a bewigged European judge pulled back his right foot and planted it squarely in her mouth with the ferocity of a Steven Gerrard volley.

Her reaction? “A while ago, I was going to stop fighting but now I’ve decided to carry on.” If ever a few short words summed up a mother’s enduring love for her son it is these.

Because this particular mother is not going to rest until a court of law finally accepts that Kevin Williams died after 3.15pm on Saturday April 15, 1989.

And she is certainly not going to “move on” until there is a full legal recognition that Kevin’s right to life was taken away by the failure of the emergency services on that terrible day.

From somewhere, she has summoned up the courage and the fortitude to continue her fight and for this alone she is exactly the kind of woman that any son would be proud to call “mum”.

Anne Williams is a hero. For what she has gone through and for what she continues to put herself through in the pursuit of justice there can be no other description.

Unfortunately, even heroes cannot always triumph on their own and Anne’s admission on her Hope for Hillsborough page on Facebook that she cannot keep up the fight alone will hopefully result in her being given the kind of support which she so richly deserves.

The Hillsborough disaster did not begin and end on April 15, 1989. It is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago and only when this lone woman’s battle for justice for her son is rewarded will the remaining wounds finally begin to heal.

[CCSC_STRIKER20]

Hope For Hillsborough Facebook Group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19472742528)

Hope For Hillsborough Website (http://www.hopeforhillsborough.org/)

[liverbird]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N163872090406-1408.htm

On April 15, LFC TV, the club’s official channel - normally only available to supporters who subscribe to the Setanta Sports package – will be free to everyone who has either Sky Digital or Virgin Media in their homes.

For those supporters who don’t have either satellite or cable won’t be at home on the day or live abroad, we will be making all of the TV content available to watch live on the official website completely free.

For the first time ever, the Memorial Service at Anfield will be available to watch live and uninterrupted on TV and for the Hillsborough families who no longer live in this country and fellow supporters from all over the world, the entire service will be shown live on the web as part of the day’s LFC TV content.