Jury in Hillsborough inquests determine the 96 victims were unlawfully killed. Justice at last, well done to everyone who spent years campaigning. RIP the 96 More info here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-merseyside-36102998
After 26 years we hear the admission at last. The 96 at Hillsborough were "unlawfully killed". I recently mentioned my old late sparring partner, Channon walks on H2O. Channon and I were incensed about the injustice served on the families and friends of the victims. That the authorities covered up the facts for so long is scandalous. That my mate died without seeing justice pales compares to those incredibly brave people who battled to see some justice but didn't live long enough to see it. RIP the 96 and those who have died since during the struggle for the truth. EDIT My apologies, Mods. Just noticed someone else has posted as I was writing. By all means trash this one and keep the other.
The real crime was everyone covering their backs, so as to extend the suffering of those left behind. One woman who lost her brother said she had spent her whole adult life fighting for this. So in a way she lost her life as well. This was a coming together of events...inadequate ground, inexperienced police, mistaking the event for a riot, and insufficient ambulances. Errors which resulted in a catastrophe, but this should have been dealt with at the time....an enquiry resulting in lessons learned, retraining, a few heads rolling and apologies all round. No one intended anyone to die, but they did due to human error and stupidity.....this should have been sorted out decades ago. They absolved all Liverpool fans of any responsibility and, compared to what others did, they may have been right....but it shows what happens when people in a crowd push from the back. An announcement that the match would be delayed until they were all in could have prevented this...another case of misjudgement and inexperience. The only good to come from this is a better understanding of disaster and crowd management. Many lives have probably been saved since by this incident, but what a price.
Sad that a few relatives of the victims passed on before it got this far. Disgusting it took this long. Hopefully now those covered this up are punished. RIP
It should be from the top....unrealistic to think the lowly policeman at the bottom would go against what they were told from the top....especially as each single person involved would only know part of the story, so they may have accepted what they heard. And I'm pretty sure that those policemen and stewards have also suffered since. Must not forget the awful things they saw and had to deal with. Mustn't be the first to cast stones....these people deal with stuff that we'd cross the road to get away from. Need to go up the tree and find who knew and squashed it.
As Nick Holby rightly observed in "Fever Pitch" every football fan of that era knew that one day it would happen. That it was Liverpool was a question of wrong place and wrong time. Going to a match these days might lack some of the passion, but there is no question that it is a safer past time. This must be scant consolation for those like the Hicks family who lost two daughters, but it is all we have to offer.
It's a long one, but an excellently-written piece and from a journalist who has been all over this from the beginning, David Conn.
Some of the facts of the case discussed on TalkSport this afternoon were truly shocking, apparently when everyone was screaming for ambulances to be called, the Police controller made the call for more Police dogs, the same individual was promoted shortly after Hillsborough. They also reported that in excess of 160 official Police documents were altered to change the events of the day in favour of the Police. The one good thing to come out of this dreadful event is that supporters of all teams are now treated like human beings? I'm sure older members of the forum like myself can well remember some pretty frightening times at footer stadiums in years goneby?
At the time of this disaster I lived in Liverpool. Obviously, I went to Anfield and laid my scarf down. Afterwards I sensed there was a great bonding between football fans across the entire nation and beyond after all the years of hooliganism, as it brought people to their senses. Out of a tragedy we have witnessed the modernisation of the game, some it definitely for the better with wonderful stadiums, greater safety and comfort. Looking at the photos inserted by DTLW, do people really want to go back to the days of being crushed, peed upon, being unable to see the game. I wonder would Southampton be playing at St Mary's now, but for Hillsborough?
Or split up. It's been a tremendous strain on the families. They wanted these verdicts. They needed these verdicts. I hope they cannot find some peace and move on. The cover up is another matter and whilst I have no problem with that being followed up by the IPCC the families need closure and this is it. Sadly, the investigation of the cover up (and clearly there was one) will only serve to destroy yet more lives (not just the individuals concerned but their families) and will not bring back the loved ones lost on the day.
With my cynical hat on, this was a class thing. These were 1980's football supporters so what consideration were they worth? Now I'll take the hat off and speak from now. Modernisation within the game and the culture has put these people into context. Every one of these victims and families of victims were entirely equal to anyone in the land [including courtiers and royalty] and it took a culture change, and helped to make the culture change, to realise that and get proper justice for these people.
I do feel it's important to remember that the circumstances leading up to this tragedy were brought about from decades of football related violence from a small minority and is the main reason why the general public/media were so willing to believe the police cover up. I applaud and today congratulate the families who fought to prove that the vast majority of football supporters are good law abiding citizens who were out for a good time and to enjoy a game of football. The cover up was disgusting and disgraceful and I hope those responsible are now held to account. However it saddens me that due to various feature films and documentaries that football related violence may have left the terraces, but is sometimes treated with wistful nostalgia from some sectors of the media. You can pick up various autobiographies from ex-football hooligans talking about the good old days, when they rushed some west ham fans at the train station. Fences were not put around football pitches because fans were working class
Only two newspapers not running the Hillsborough story on their front page tomorrow: The Sun and The Times.
