I was watching a local non league game at the time. Someone was listening to the radio and said that the semi-final had been held up as fans were on the pitch. The immediate reaction of people stood there was "they're at it again", meaning football fans were causing trouble. With what was happening in those days that was quite an understandable reaction. It was only 4 years after Heysel where Liverpool fans had hardly distinguished themselves. Plenty turned up for the Cup Game st BP without tickets hoping to blag their way in. It is not surprising that many people accepted what they were told and thought football fans must be at fault. Let's face it, there would have been no fences if there hadn't been years of misbehaviour by football fans for years previously. Which is not excusing the behaviour of and the lies told by the police at the time. Football fans are still treated in a way they would not treat any other section of society.
You are reading too much conspiracy theory into this, Obi. Meanwhile, when will they finall sort out the Mansfield 200? Now that was diversionary tactics at their finest.
Remember seeing this unfold on Grandstand all those years ago, glad the victims families have finally got justice.
So basically you're an ill-informed **** who prefers to make judgments based on your own prejudices rather than do any research?
I've probably said this before on here. It is remarkable how much of the damning evidence used in the last two years was actually identified or at least strongly alluded to in Justice Taylor's first report, published only a few weeks after the disaster. That the establishment managed to hoodwink so many despite Taylor's evidence being in the public domain, really is a shocking indictment on our press, politicians and police of that time. Read the Taylor report. It's ****ing chilling.
Eh? What judgements and prejudices are you on about? I'd love to know cos a) I haven't made any and b) I haven't got any. But other than that, good post.
This enquiry was established to answer Yes or No to some key questions. It was not within its remit to determine guilt or criminality, but responsibility. Consequently it is simple for all to understand that something or things Unlawful happened which directly led to those deaths. Likewise the enquiry established that the behaviour of Liverpool fans was not responsible for the deaths. It was not asked whether or not some Liverpool fans may have acted unlawfully, such as breaking into the Leppings Lane end. If they did, and if that contributed to the crush then the Unlawful action was in the Policing not in the action of the fans. The suggestion that we, as football fans, were morally responsible, due to our behaviour at other unconnected games, which led to fences being erected is a complete fallacy. Whatever conditions existed at the ground, and for whatever reasons they were there, the Health and Safety responsibilities lay with authorities such as the football club and the police, not with the reasons why the setup was as it was. This has been clearly demonstrated today. The 96 people who died, as well as all other supporters within the ground, regardless of how they entered are totally innocent of causing those deaths. The people responsible for organising and policing the event are responsible and acted Unlawfully. Justice for the 96. RIP End of story.
No conspiracy, just the utter contempt the police, the press and the politicians had for football fans. They saw an opportunity to change the face of English football and they took it.
That was one way Hull lead the way. The police in Hull have always treated football fans as a dangerous bunch of undesirables, especially those from Hull. Did you know when football hooliganism started the police had a problem with arresting fans for a whole range of things as football grounds were deemed private property. Which is why so many were merely ejected for things which would end up as court cases today. City were the first club to give the police their permission to do what they wanted on their property when posters went up advising of this in 1972 or 1973 signed by Harold Needler and Terry Neill.
The Champions League final in Athens, Liverpool fans got in on fake and without tickets. Leaving those fans with tickets unable to get in as the ground was full. Remember the reason we had fences at grounds was because of the behaviour of football fans, such as Heysel.
What is clear from today's findings is that this is irrelevant in terms of responsibility. At Hillsborough, it was the Policing that was at fault not the behaviour of fans.
The police couldn't win, as there was supporters getting crushed at the turnstyles, so they made a snap decision all be it the wrong one and the whole thing escalated into the disaster. As I stated and other have, if the knuckle draggers of all clubs weren't so interested in fighting there wouldn't have been the need for fences in the first place. Sometimes it needs a tragedy for things to change for the better, otherwise the status quo is maintained.
The Police could have won. They could have not acted Unlawfully. Their Unlawful action caused the deaths of 96 people. The action of football supporters at that game or at other games did not cause the deaths of 96 supporters. An enquiry has just spent 2 years establishing these facts.
Please read David Conn's article on today's Guardian website; you'll see that the issue of allowing the build up outside to become a problem was covered and it was police inaction compared to previous years that contributed to the finding against the police in the eventual jury verdict. Don't buy into the bad PR from 89.
