Unless I've missed it, no one has mentioned the report on the Hillsborough incident. We were all misled and most believed the original report, especially bearing in mind the Heysel (sp?) disaster. Find it incredible that the cover up went on so long seeing how many people must have been involved. I know this is not Saints related, but it seems wrong to ignore it and wrong to put it on the O/T thread. This wound has been open for too long, let us hope this is the start of some resolution.
Morning Fran! Outrageous that it took so long and what really made me angry yesterday was the apology from Kelvin Mackenzie claiming he thought he was posting the truth!
Thought about starting a thread on it yesterday evening, after the news broke. At the time I felt there was enough tragedy. I have never formed an opinion as to who and what was to blame. I am aware that the authorities merely pushed the balme onto the football supporters and The Sun newspaper condemned them too. If I had any opinion it was that things are never that clear cut when so many people are involved. I certainly didn't accept, as gospel, the authorities account of it all. I hope the families of the dead can now find some peace.
You are right to start a thread Fran. I was stunned yesterday listening to the PM read his points from that report. I wasn't stunned that there were some untruths in what was "reported" at the time, but stunned by the sheer scale that this report has condemned the activities of the authorities involved and the level of the cover up. It must be abolutley horrible for those families involved, yet they must also feel a huge sense of relief that they have now been told that what they have said for 23 years, is now vindicated. I really hope that those idiotic people who attend football matches and sing songs to Liverpool fans about that day (and particularly with the word "murderers" in them), actually take stock about what this report is saying and cease with this behaviour immediately.
Those poor souls that died were the easy target to shift the blame on. At a time when football fans were all treated as hooligans it was an easy out for the authorities that mis handled the whole thing so badly. That it has comoe to light that 30 or more could have been saved makes it worse. I think this is just the begining and the families will go after those that covered it up and I suspect we will see a lot of compensation being paid and some senior figures doing some jail time. As for the Sun, if they had any sense they would have cheque book and pen at the ready for each of the 96 families. Libeling the dead is going to be costly.
It's the sad reality of innumerable cover-ups: the dead are dead, but there are reputations to maintain. It may be well over two decades late, but credit is due for finally presenting an unvarnished account of the disaster.
I don't know much about this, but from the information i can gather it is absolutey outragoues how people were misled, cops were allowed to change statements etc Somewhere along the line, someone made a decision and that person needs to be shot (or put in bars, whichever) As I say though, i don't know much about it
I have seen a few people and they have said that every club in the land should have a minutes silence for those 96 at their next game.
Credit to whom? The only people who deserve credit are the people who have stood firm in the face of so much opposition and insisted that a great injustice had been done. My feelings of anger are matched by my enormous admiration for the families who have been so brave and the thousands of others (largely, but not all, scousers) who have added their voice to the cry for justice. Bring an extra scarf next time you come to Liverpool and place it on the memorial.
I agree wholeheartedly Fran.......Sorry to say was only on fleetingly during the day otherwise may have done a thread myself. As a result of those statements from the police and others, Football clubs and grounds around the country have had to pay out Millions of pounds for alterations. Not to mention the rule changes, some probably went broke because of it. In truth the whole infrastructure of the traditional football matches was changed. "The English as whole" bore the brunt of the criticism of the rest of the world. Which in turn gave other countries trolls the excuse they needed to start trouble with our fans while abroad for internationals. Mostly we took the main blame! Finally my heart goes out to the families....justice at last. Well done the families for the fight.....Well done the fans for sticking by them. Now for the final justice and closure perhaps........ R.I.P now for the victims.
Aside from the heinous cover up, a spotlight has also been shone on the farcical legal practices that our judicial system employs. One of the victims was incorrectly declared dead at 3:15pm by the coroner. Subsequently, not a shred, not a single shred of evidence (including eye witness statements from the paramedic treating him and the two police constables carrying him) relating to 3:16pm or after was ever permissible as evidence. This is as big a disgrace as the cover up itself.
I have not posted on the Liverpool board nor Facebook as I believe it's right to let the Liverpool fans and scousers to come to terms with what has been said , I live here and before I did I always knew it was a stitch up and so did most sensible people around the country , this is 23 years late but at least it has come . The cheap stereotypes and baseless accusations that have been said since then can never be compensated for but that is small beer compared to the grieving families , at least now it is in black and white that the police , ambulance service , local press , national press and local politicians lied , covered up and smeared people who were grieving their lost sons , daughters , brothers , sisters aunties and uncles . This could of happened to any football club , city and it's citizens , a disgrace and questions have to be asked how far did this cover up go ?
I may not have been around to see it, but I have seen enough and heard enough about the disaster to welcome the ruling that came out yesterday. My heart goes out to the victims, who were brutally treated by the system and the way that most of them were just left to die without as much as a bat of an eyelid from the police. Also for the families, having to fight so long for justice must not have been easy at all, and I can only imagine the relief that they feel right now. The scale of this cover-up from the police has been massive, and ultimately it has proved costly, both financially (one would guess) and for their public appearance. The Sun too have a lot to answer for too, especially Kelvin MacKenzie. In 2007, whilst on Question Time, he came out and admitted he did not know whether fans had urinated on policemen or whether they had robbed victimes, yet for him to vehemtly stand by his story even to this day makes me sick, and I for one hope he loses every penny he owns. One would suspect that will not happen though. On another note, I watched the documentary on the disaster on ITV on Monday night, and I felt somewhat disappointed at what I watched. Save for a couple of eyewitness accounts and CCTV footage, I felt it only served to support the claim that investigative journalism is declining in quality, and for me personally, it felt like it was 90% recycling of what was already known. Finally, to any Liverpool fans who read this, I am so happy that you finally have Justice For The 96. It's been a long time coming, and I personally hope football fans around the country do show some sort of respect to the 96 at the weekend.
Like the Bradford disaster this was a terrible day that affected thousands in person and millions that were watching. It's good that finally the truth be known and good that the families fight has achieved something. I did a lot of reading last year of witness accounts including the lone ambulanceman that managed to get onto the pitch and the witness accounts from the day are quite literally tearjerking even after all these years!!!
Finally justice for those poor people who died. I hope everyone who lied gets everything that's coming to them. The News of the world met it's end, through disgusting acts of "journalism" only to be replaced by it's vile partner in crime. I reckon a lot of what they did over this tragedy, plus many other wrongdoings since, should bring an end to the Sun too.
Never buy the sun never buy the news of the world , rags absolute rags , when I lived south I refused to buy them , Kelvin Mackenzie is the lowest of the low , sub human , I hope he gets a slot on question time this coming season as I for one will be asking to go .
Have you ever wondered where The Sun got their info from?, if you boycott The Sun do you also boycott The BBC for their comments?. http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/history/media.shtm This article shows everyone was lied to not just the fans. The Sun and all media outlets were fed **** from the police from day one. They are the ones that could have prevented this disaster but chose to cover it up instead.
No the sun went with a supposed version of the truth , it turned out to be complete lies , Mackenzie wanted sensationalistic headlines , when did the bbc ever state fans urinated on the dead , robbing them , attacking policemen , what about when the Taylor report came out , what did the sun do then ? Apologize , did Mackenzie ? He has stated it was Murdoch who told him to say sorry when he did not mean it . Why did the sun go with that bull**** and no other paper ? Ever thought of that ? Any paper that has "gotcha" on it when 100's of people are dying is bound to be the lowest of the low , it should never be bought by any person with any respect for the truth . Merseyside is a cleaner place for not having that ****e around and I salute them for it .
Never said The Sun didn't do anything wrong, what i'm saying is The Sun was just the tip of the problem. The MP's and Police have far more explaining to do. Do you boycott The Liverpool Daily Post?, their comments were nearly as harsh as The Sun's.
Are you for real ? The suns ****e set about and reinforced stereotypes that still exist today , just turn it around , would you buy the sun ? By buying it you ate defending such crap , the sun/notw is everything that's wrong in papers , they have hardly shone recently have they ? You are defending the indefensible .
