Hillsborough 15th April 1989 Where were you ?

I had flown to Hong Kong as part of a round world trip and was heading to work in Australia. Surreal to be watching our cup semi that day in Kowloon as well as all the tragedy that had unfolded.

Justice at last.

 

It was one of the stragest days of my life. It started out with high expectations but was soured with the news that Robert Fleck's father had passed away and that Fleck was not going to play. Then the game kicked off and we didn't play particularly well, conceded a goal and all of a sudden there were rumblings about something serious going on at Hillsborough. More and more whispers were abound as the radio carriers were passing on titbits of information and if I remember it correctly i think a message was announced over the tannoy system along the same lines.

When we got back to the coach we were all obviously disappointed at losing a game of football but it paled into insignificance when compared to the reports that were being aired on the radio. It really made you wonder and reflect. The worst thought was that it could have happened to us had we been packing out that stadium that day! It was a scary and sad day for a 12 year old to endure and I'll never forget the hug my dad gave me when I returned safely back home. He had watched the scenes live on TV and was distraught and couldn't help thinking like us about what would have happened if it had been us caught up in that stand!

 

I 'watched' it unfold on TV with my older children who were the same age as many of the youngsters who were killed; both were regulars at Carrow Road, so I could identify with the parent's anguish. Our youngest was born later that year; I am driving a transit with her and all her belongings down to her new life in London tomorrow; it has taken all her lifetime for these people to get the truth told. Let's hope justice follows.

 

Thank you all very much for your sentiments.

 

I was in Sheffield that day to visit friends from University - we didn't go to the game. I caught a train out of town that evening. The train station was full of Liverpool supporters in various states of shock and distress. Some very angry, vocal and aggressive, others very quiet and subdued. An experience that I will never forget.

A sad, sad day.

 

I am another "lucky" one to have been at Villa Park that day and from that day to this I still cannot believe that I heard nothing about the events in Sheffield until we got back to the minibus!

Normally during a game some people have a radio to their ear, out of habit if for no other reason, and news such as this would normally filter through the crowd in no time, yet for some reason this never happened on this particular day.

Same as others on this thread, I was gutted we lost to Everton on the day as I believed (even without "Flecky") we could beat them and finally have a FA Cup final. I did not talk on the way back to the transport, very few around me did either, it was so quiet. Only once everyone was back on board, engine switched on and the radio kicked in did we hear what had happened followed by a lot of speculation, subsequently proven to be incorrect.

I do not want to go in to depth about the actually tragedy as it has been more than amply covered in the article and I am certainly defending not the actions of the police following events but my thoughts are this............

As the article suggested - it was an accident waiting to happen, alas it was far more than "just an accident". The article accurately explained the police and government thinking of the day, to contain rival supporters and in particular the hooligan element, of which both teams were highly active in years gone by. Everything written in the first section of that article is consistent with the "current" strategy (at that time) as it is easy to see why it happened. It is also sad to read that individual police officers were either not allowed, or could not (for whatever reason) use any initiative. Bruce Grobbelaar's plea to a WPC simply dismissed until a higher authority offered it's blessing! Totally ridiculous but unfortunately the sign of the times.

Would I have acted own my own initiative under the circumstances? I would like to think I would have done but it is hard to say for sure as it was drummed in to PC's at that time that all football fans should be treated like cattle.

There are some points in the article I personally would dismiss as not being totally relevant to the events of the day, the main one being the respective fan base of each club and who got the bigger ticket allocation. Although the South Yorkshire police probably had the final say in which set of supporters occupied each end of the ground I would not use this in a "finger pointing" exercise. The allocation, for whatever reason, which was reasonable in terms of safety for both supporters and the local population (remember Hillsborough and all roads leading to Hillsborough are paved with peoples homes and property) to my mind should not be used against the police force.

Of course everything is so much easier in hind-sight of which we now have the benefit but at a tragic cost to many lives.

For the actions that followed the tragedy i.e. the lies and deceit to cover their actions, those senior figures at that time, in the South Yorkshire police should be held accountable and in some way punished although I suspect this either will not or cannot be done for one reason or another.

Maggie Thatcher, PM at that time should also come out and make a formal apology. Although her government were not the only politicians to view football fans as nothing more than animals, the "right wing" attitude certainly did nothing to change the attitude of previous governments.

Thankfully, that particular "social disease" has largely been dealt with or at least inside and near football grounds and hopefully we will never see anything even remotely similar happen again.

 

Was at Villa Park that day. To be honest for the first half hour of the news breaking I couldn't care less as I was watching City unluckily losing. As the news became graver obviously the mood changed.
I am not going to post my feelings about what happened at Hillsborough. CS is right, now is not the time. We have to remember that 96 innocent people died above all else.

 

I was at Villa park too. I dug out the programme from that day just yesterday and flicked through it and it brought back nothing but memories of the sombre journey back to Norwich. I had never been in such a quiet train carriage. I remember the atmosphere at the game dropping off as news filtered through the terrace from chaps with their trannie radios. The result of the day paled against the tragedy.
May the 96 RIP.

 

Out of all this I am disgusted that the police decided to cover it up. They are the ones who are supposed to apply the law and not break it in a disgusting manner. How are people supposed to trust the police if they are willing to change evidence to suit them? I hope many do face criminal charges and the families of the 96 can claim compensation for the gross negligence manslaughter that day and a criminal charge for perverting the course of justice.

 

i was another at villa park that day. memories are patchy. i was just 8 years old so the events of that day were not clear to me as i really didn't understand what was happening at the other semi final. things i can recall include the muteness of the crowd as transistor radios inside the ground began picking up what was occurring in sheffield, and the murmuring inside our area. i remember half time and the talking about what was going on (we'd been told it was hooligans), i remember the 2nd half being a total non-event, as players seemed to know what was happening elsewhere. what i remember most vividly about the day was getting home. i'd gone to the game with my best friend and his father so my parents were petrified about my safety (this was long before the days of mobile phones so although they knew nothing had been reported about our match that didn't stop them worrying.) i remember the hug from my mum, and her telling me i'm not going to the football anymore. i remember me sulking in my room! i actually went to hillsborough for our semi final 3 years later, much to the horror of my parents. back to yesterday, i wasn't surprised in the slightest by the findings - i doubt many were, although it was arguably worse than i'd believed it to be. i can't stand our current prime minister but i felt his comments in parliament yesterday were perfect. of course its far too little far too late but i'm thankful, no, relieved that he said what he did. the less said about kelvin mckenzie the better. the justice for 96 campaign has been important and i take my hat off to each and every one of them who fought and will keep fighting for justice, but its not just about the 96. i wasn't effected by events that day but numerous fans at our match were - my friends dad said he was haunted by it for years, even though he was at a different match and had no family or friends involved, not to mention all those pour souls who were attempting to save lives at hillsborough despite almost being crushed themselves, carrying hoardings and receiving literally ONE ambulance after orders from police (what total scumbags they were that day) to not go on the pitch. these people have to live with it for the rest of their lives. apologies are 23 years too late but at least they are now coming. i'd also like to see chippy issue an apology for his post because it made me extremely angry - he's completely out of touch. i don't care if its 'his opinion' or not - it was a disgrace.

 

Also that they cocked the alcohol in some of the underage supporters who died is horrible.

Also chippy, it's been proven that it wasn't down to the fans drinking too much or too many through the turnstiles as shown by the tampering of statements by police so your comments are out of place and are rather disrespectful.

 

From the reports at the time, I believed that the fans were in some way reponsible; but as soon as news of the lies and altering of police statements on the events of that fateful day began filtering through yesterday, I realised that I had been duped at the time and that the Liverpool fans have been totally exonorated.

Personally, I would like to see some sort of justice meted out to the perpetrators of the lies, that tarnished the fans' reputation.

 

has anybody read some of these statements? i don't have the link, but it was on the BBC website last night, one from a PC and one from an ambulance driver. it showed the original and the one tampered with. truely shocking.

i went to hillsborough in 2008 which i think was the last time we played them there, we lost 3-2 in a certain shocking season that we had. i sat in the kop as i was with some wednesday fans, but on the face of it, despite being all-seater, the stadium looked like it hadn't changed in the 15 years since i last went there when i was at uni in sheffield (started in 1993 so a few years after the disaster). a big stadium, but creaking to say the least.

 

I'd be grateful if you could find the link please max.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19571415

here you go wonky

 

At the risk of sounding argumentative, I am not so certain that ALL Liverpool fans are totally blameless but as always we are probably only talking about a fairly small minority.

What I do find very believable is the rush to access the ground, with or without tickets, through those few turnstiles. Those without tickets seeing the opportunity to get in easily. This is not a direct criticism of LFC supporters as I firmly believe this would apply to most football fans if they did not have a ticket but turned up on the day.

I am pretty sure some LFC fans played a part in making the situation worse, regardless of whether alcohol played a part or not, so I feel they are not totally exonerated.

 

Good article by Henry Winter in the telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...or-story-but-they-will-never-get-closure.html

Horrible how some of the parents werw treated.

 

I don't want to get too political here but at that time unfortunately, the government was using the police to batter everyone into submission. They weren't be allowed to do their proper job but were there to enforce Thatchers belief that most football supporters were yobs.
Individual coppers are probably to blame but I still believe the state had a hand to play in this.

 

thai, i guess it was a number of factors that resulted in the crush outside, almost a perfect storm - those without tickets swelling the numbers, some of the coaches ariving late (partly due to police roadblocks) meaning anxious fans wanting to get in and not miss the start, lack of police control / planning, ancient turnstiles meaning slow entry for the mass of fans etc etc

on the drive home last night, there was a lady being interviewed by 5 live, she was a special constable on the day. Man, this was one of the most moving interviews i have ever heard and will be difficult to get over on this medium. to cut a story short, she ended up with an unconscious teenager in her arms. after giving him ressusitation, the teenager looked up to her and said 'mum'?. the interviewee was in tears on national radio, and i had a lump in my throat listening

 

I first heard the news on my car radio driving back from Bradford where we played against a team with a certain Paul Jewell playing! An absolutely horrific experience and its not just a football tragedy it is indeed a human tragedy. Innocent people lost their lives that day on what should have been a great sporting occassion. The comments made by Chippy earlier in this thread are beneath contempt and although I usually agree with Thai I find some of his speculation on whether some of the Liverpool fans were to blame also beyond the pale. This was a human tragedy and we should cast aside our football and political allegiances in remembering this.