Hillsborough

[Jason]

This isnt a football related thread, however it is a request for all individuals to understand that the horror of that day has never gone away, especially for the famillies of the people who lost their lives. For 22 years those famillies have fought to gain access to the information which may eventually help them understand how it came to pass that 96 people died at a football match and exactly where the blame lay. The government is attempting to block at this late stage the disclosure of the cabinet meeting minutes in the aftermath of the disaster. These minutes contain information that an independant body deems to be necessary in order to attempt to finally put this saga to bed and give those famillies some peace.

Please feel free to do your own reading on the event, however should you wish to, there is an e-petition that is circulating that will allow you to add your voice in support of the famillies and inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster.

SIGN THIS PETITION - https://submissions.epetitions.direc...petitions/2199

[DirectorDave]

I signed the petition before reading this thread, but great to see all the documents will be released.

This will give us futher insight into the coverup between the Police, media and (possibly) the government of the day.

Bring back the terrace, ban the police from football.
Justace for the 96.

[Jason]

I signed the petition before reading this thread, but great to see all the documents will be released.

This will give us futher insight into the coverup between the Police, media and (possibly) the government of the day.

Bring back the terrace, ban the police from football.
Justace for the 96.

Hi Dave,

thanks for signing the petition. I was lucky that day, mainly due to the fact my uncle was clued up and managed to get us out where many didnt. The truth needs to come out.

Jason

[DirectorDave]

Thank you for signing the petition too Jason.....I have been raising this issue with my own teams supporters too, for almost 20 years.

My club has a few links with Liverpool (Billy Liddell, Callum Woods & Adam Hammill) One of the most disgraceful situations to occur ever and the vilification of football fans on and after that day was shameful.

You having been at the ground that day seems puts my mission for the truth in the shade.

Well done Theresa May, Well done the Government, Well done the previous Government for starting this process, well done to all that signed the petition and well done to the families & Friends of the victims for not giving up in the quest for the truth.

[Limehouse]

I will certainly sign. There is absolutely no justification what-so-ever for keeping anything revealed as the result of an inquiry into the incident a seceret.

The people involved and affected by this incident deserve an honest explanation and the nation itself should expect the people who carry out these enquiries and those responsible for reporting on them to be honest and open about the findings.

As a football fan who has been watching live football games for forty years, my heart goes out to those who have no answers and who mourn their loved ones.

Justice for the 96.


PS - the link doesn't work.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Jason,

During the '80s I followed Sunderland all over the country.

Many a time we had 8,000 rammed into an end with a capacity of 5,000, or 12,000 rammed into an end with a 9,000 capacity.

At Leeds 1981, they'd rammed loads of us in, probably 12,000 into a part of the ground with a capacity of 8,000. Luckily, there was an empty pen down the side that loads jumped into avoid the crush.

The problem was organisation. They'd expect so many SAFC travelling and more would turn up.

I suppose it was different at Hillsborough because it was all ticket.

I think a relationship between police and football fans had developed over the years where some football fans behaved like animals (and anyone who travelled in the '80s would not not deny that) and the police were in a difficult situation because their job was to maintain control and in order to do that they needed to demonstrate authority, and with that comes no discussion and appeal by football fans regarding their treatment.

I appreciate that the police/stewards directed too many people to the middle pens. However, I would say that context is important here, and years of disorder led to a situation where the police were heavy handed and dismissive.

As per any incident of this scale, all of the information should be made available to the public. I would say, however, that to lay the blame at the door of the police for negligence is denying context. This is not the same as corporate manslaughter.

Whatever the outcome, I hope those lads rest in peace.

[Bridewell]

Possibly

I signed the petition before reading this thread, but great to see all the documents will be released.

This will give us futher insight into the coverup between the Police, media and (possibly) the government of the day.

Bring back the terrace, ban the police from football.
Justace for the 96.

It's a good thing that the documents will be published in their entirety. I'm not sure it will give us "insight into the cover-up" so much as insight into whether or not there was a cover-up. I'll wait until I see the documents before I pass judgement on that one.

Justice for the 96? I fervently hope so.

[DirectorDave]

It's a good thing that the documents will be published in their entirety. I'm not sure it will give us "insight into the cover-up" so much as insight into whether or not there was a cover-up. I'll wait until I see the documents before I pass judgement on that one.

Justice for the 96? I fervently hope so.

Well here we have it.....huge cover-up by the Police.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-19543964

[Jason]

The fans who were there that day have been saying "cover up " since 15/04/1989......we know what we saw......today was momentous and i cried whilst watching the TV as it was announced......a national disgrace perpetrated by SYP, the media, and i believe above that.......23 years is scandalous but its here and now we can see the end in sight......so emotional today and i cant really say anything else.

[RivkahChaya]

OK, I'm an American, an generally not a fan of sports, other than the occasional Mets game, waaaay back when they didn't suck, so I didn't know much about any of this. I had a vague memory of a bunch of people dying at a soccer game in England, because of some crowd control problem reminiscent of the disaster at the Who concert in Ohio.

So, I read the linked article, and then I looked up the stadium on wikipedia, and followed the links to the original sources.

From what I'm reading, it was a preventable tragedy, caused by the police not being where they should have been, and the start of the game not being delayed when there was still a big crowd of advance-sale ticket holders waiting to get in, even though it was usual to delay the start.

But I'm also reading that the government report on the disaster that was released a year later pretty much laid the blame at the feet of the police.

The petition is no longer online.

Could someone explain exactly what the beef is? Is it just that the government offered no apology or recompense even after acknowledging the police's culpability, or is it the reason that the police weren't where they should be? Did somebody know that police patrol was inadequate, before the game began, and just shrugged it off?

Or is it just that families weren't given information? Did the report amount to "We goofed. Nevermind the details. Now shut up"?

Forgive me for being stupid about this. It really did make the news here when it happened, but we haven't kept up on it.

[Jason]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-19577033

[Psych_Nurse]

I remember the Hillsborough disaster very well. I live near Nottingham and a couple of friends were there that day. I believe that the government at the time & the police basically put the blame on the fans for trying to cram in, when in actual fact the police opened the gates which made it possible for too many fans to get into the area. One friend who was there was in the army at the time & has likened that day to his most traumatic experiences in war zones.

I know that many people have welcomed the release of the Hillsborough files, I believe that there was a government cover up at the time, in fact David Cameron said as much on TV earlier.

My heart goes out to anyone who lost someone on that day & I hope that they will get the justice and recognition that they deserve.

Mel

[RivkahChaya]

Forgive me if I'm still dense, but I guess my confusion between the 1990 report that put most of the blame on the police, and the cover-up, had a lot to do with the blame in 1990 being put on the police who were actually there, as opposed to people much higher up in the chain of command, who made a lot of poor decisions before the fact. If the police who are there are understaffed and under-trained, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

I actually did find a little bit about this in the American news, which is pretty good of us, I think, considering the timing. I mean, the reporter put a weird sort of "In other disaster-closure news..." twist, but still, sometimes I think aliens could land Ottawa, and the US news might miss it.

Sorry for your friend, Psych Nurse. My husband was in Iraq, so I know that's a really strong statement.

[Robert]

Obviously the Sun is in bad odour on Merseyside but as I remember it, another thing about the disaster was that there were some ghoulish photos of dead people in the papers at the time - don't know whether that was the Sun or some other tabloid. People's faces were visible.

[RivkahChaya]

Wow. Someone got a photo of a fireman carrying a dead three-year-old out of the wreck of the building in Oklahoma City, and it won an award. I thought it was ghoulish, myself, until the child's mother made a brief career of appearing on talk shows afterward. Then she had her tubal ligation reversed so she could have another child, and there was a documentary about it.

Can I come live in England?