3.15pm
December 16th, 2011 § 1 Comment
On the 15th April 1989, the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield was full of heroes.
Some of those heroes were junior ranked South Yorkshire Police officers who seemed to say ‘balls to orders’ and to realise that despite the fact they were not permitted to open gates, that other human beings needed their help.
Most of the police force that day however seemed to be totally transfixed in a fog of misunderstanding; long after the dead and dying were being pulled from the Leppings Lane terraces. How could the police still think it was a case of crowd disorder when the vast majority of those that escaped the Leppings Lane terracing just collapsed on the turf? Look up pitch invasion on YouTube, and I guarantee you that no pitch invasion looks even close to the Hillsborough crowd fighting for their lives.
The majority of the South Yorkshire Police officers were still trying to react to a non-existent pitch invasion, when some of the junior officers had acted on instinct and started to help the injured and dying fans. That mind-set of control over safety led them to keep 43 ambulances full of potentially life-saving personnel to be held outside. There was a long cordon of officers along the half way line. This was presumably to stop Liverpool fans reaching the Nottingham Forrest end of the stadium. That was a massive problem though, because the Liverpool fans trying to reach the Nottingham Forrest end of the stadium were only doing so with make-shift stretchers holding critically ill men, women and children.
Today, I met with one of the latterly described heroes who had no idea that he could be described in such a way. I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I didn’t call him a hero at the time either. But he was, whether he likes it or not.
Tony O’Keefe is a fire-fighter. He’s a Scouser living in London, saving lives every other week – no doubt. On the day of the Hillsborough disaster he travelled to the match hoping to see a great game of football and a Liverpool win en-route to Wembley.
Instead, he saw chaos and death. With other Liverpool fans that day he picked up an advertising hoarding holding 15 year old Kevin Williams. Kevin was unconscious, and being carried to the end of the ground where the paramedics were being held.
Tony left Kevin with helpers after 3.30pm. However, in the subsequent inquiry the coroner stated that everybody who died at Hillsborough would have been dead, or would have suffered fatal injuries, before this time. If they were still alive, they would have been beyond saving by 3.15pm was the coroner’s verdict. The overwhelming evidence however is to the contrary of his convenient time.
Tony O’Keefe, a fire-fighter trained in first aid, was convinced that Kevin was alive. PC Bruder attended to Kevin after Tony left him at the Nottingham Forest end of the ground and he felt a pulse. Special WPC Debra Martin attended to Kevin after PC Bruder. She was adamant that she saw Kevin’s chest move, and he opened his eyes. At this point, SWPC Martin held Kevin in her arms and he murmured the word ‘Mum’ before dying; this was at approximately 4pm – 45 minutes after the coroner said no evidence would be heard. All of these real experiences were however bullied out of the officers who experienced them.
The 3.15pm cut-off means that no jury has heard about the appalling reaction to the disaster. It means that they haven’t heard about how the police, in their ridiculous fog of containment held 43 ambulances and many fire-fighters outside the stadium because they thought ‘they’re still fighting in there’.
I urge you to watch one minute of CCTV from that day, and then come back to me to explain how it is possible to see the desperate escaping of fans as a pitch invasion. If you are satisfied that it was an 80’s style pitch invasion, I’d be grateful if you could leave your serial number and rank.
Kevin Daniel Williams was a clever, bubbly, 15 year old boy. He was alive long after 3.15pm, and he wasn’t the only one.
Why won’t people hold up their hands and admit that they were wrong?
22 years later, we’re still fighting to hear the real truth said out loud.
YNWA.
More reading:
What really happened at Hillsborough
3.15pm – A cut off from justice
What really happened at Hillsborough
Were you there & can you help?
Steve Rotheram – Commons debate speech
Steve Rotheram MP – A survivor’s stoy
Richie Greaves – A survivor’s story
Pete Carney – A survivor’s story
Damian Kavanagh – A survivor’s story
Hillsborough survivors needed for interviews
December 7th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I am looking to interview fans who were at Hillsborough, and specifically those that were towards the very front of pens three & four. These interviews are video-based, and are for use in my documentary about the real truth of the Hillsborough disaster, which will be released after the Independent Panel release their report.
The reason I am being specific about your spec, is that I have already interviewed many fans who were either towards the middle or back of the pens, and I need really need to hear the story from those who were close enough to the perimeter fence to have heard fans screaming for the police to help, and close enough to hear and see the police response to those screams – or lack of it.!
That’s not to say that I don’t also want to hear from fans who were elsewhere in the pens by the way.
If you feel that you can help, I would be very grateful if you could write a brief account of your experiences in the first instance, and email it to me at mike_nicholson@hotmail.co.uk
Thanks in advance.
More reading:
What really happened at Hillsborough
3.15pm – A cut off from justice
Were you there & can you help?
Steve Rotheram – Commons debate speech
Steve Rotheram MP – A survivor’s stoy
Richie Greaves – A survivor’s story
Steve Rotheram House of Commons Speech
November 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
On 17th October 2011, there was a Commons Debate on whether the government should release all papers pertaining to the Hillsborough Disaster. Steve Rotheram, MP for Liverpool Walton, spoke passionately and truthfully about events 22 years earlier.
Here is that speech in two parts:
Part one:
Part two:
More reading:
What really happened at Hillsborough
3.15pm – A cut off from justice
Were you there & can you help?
Steve Rotheram – Commons debate speech
Steve Rotheram MP – A survivor’s stoy
Richie Greaves – A survivor’s story
Hillsborough; Spurs v Wolves. F.A.Cup semi-final, 1981
November 15th, 2011 § 7 Comments
I interviewed Neil Irving for the documentary, a Spurs fan who was at the Hillsborough stadium for the 1981 semi-final v Wolves. I am massively grateful for him for giving his time so freely to help tell the real truth of the Hillsborough disaster. He’s one of many rival fans who have offered support, solidarity and who are only too aware that this disaster could have happened to them. For Neil, he came closer than most other club’s supporters to that horrendous reality.
Neil was behind a crush barrier on the Leppings Lane terrace, and when the crushing became unbearable he lifted himself into the air so his ribs were clear of the barrier. He ended up spending 90 minutes pinned in the air, with the weight of the crowd behind him pinning his thighs firmly against the crush barrier. The crucial difference in 1981, is that South Yorkshire Police opened the gates at the front and let over 500 Spurs fans spill onto the perimeter of the pitch as you clearly see in the video below.
This is a video that Neil has put together himself, which shows Tottenham fans spilling onto the pitch that day:
If you are a Spurs fan, and you were at Hillsborough for this match in 1981, please leave a reply with your recollections below.
Pete Carney – A survivor’s story
November 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’d like to take this opportunity to give a big, public thank you to Pete Carney who gave many hours of his time freely to help me piece together the truth of that day.
There is a tiny teaser clip of Pete’s interview below, but the full interview will be used in the doco.
Pete had a near-death experience, and had to be carried unconscious from the crowd, back up the tunnel to the Leppings Lane where thankfully he regained consciousness.
Damian Kavanagh – A survivor’s story
November 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Damian Kavanagh is another top lad that I have had the pleasure of meeting through the making of this documentary, and as with the others, he gave up his time freely to talk to me about his experiences of the 15th April 1989.
Below is a short clip from a longer interview that will be used in the documentary. For me, these few minutes of footage perfectly sums up why so many are still doing so much to fight for truth & justice 22 years later.
The real truth about what happened at Hillsborough
November 16th, 2011 § 1 Comment
In 1989, on Saturday 15th April, Liverpool FC were due to play Nottingham Forest in the semi-final of the F.A. Cup.
In 1988, the same teams played in the same round of the same Cup and at the same venue; The Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, home to Sheffield Wednesday FC.
In 1988, Liverpool FC complained to the Football Association that, despite having a far larger average support than Nottingham Forest, they had been allocated the far smaller Leppings Lane end of the ground rather than the much larger Kop end. The reason given for this decision was due to the direction from which the two sets of supporters would have arrived from, and according to the South Yorkshire Police it was easier to segregate the opposing fans on that basis.
Chief Inspector Brian Mole , a match commander with significant experience of policing big matches at Hillsborough presided over the policing of the 1988 semi-final. Although there were complaints from Liverpool supporters of over-crowding in the central Leppings Lane pens, the match in 1988 passed without serious incident.
The semi-final in 1989 once again saw Liverpool drawn against Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough with Liverpool allocated the smaller end of the ground. Liverpool FC complained and once more their concerns fell on deaf ears. So the date was set. Saturday 15th April 1989, Liverpool would play Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.
Planning for this huge match started in earnest, and Chief Inspector Brian Mole dusted down the successful operation order from the year before and started putting plans in place. However he was removed from his position just a few short weeks before the semi-final was due to take place and Chief Inspector David Duckenfield, an officer with no experience of policing a match of this size, was promoted in his place.
The now Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police, Meredydd Hughes, admitted to the Guardian’s David Conn in a 2009 interview that this was “the wrong decision”. The first of many mistakes had been made.
In 1988, under the watchful eye of the experienced Brian Mole, the South Yorkshire Police had set barricades across the road leading to the Leppings Lane turnstiles. These roadblocks were primarily to stop ticketless fans getting to the area outside the turnstiles, an area that had been constantly problematic on big match days as the number of people that could arrive in the courtyard outside the turnstiles was far larger than could be safely admitted through them.
As Prof. Keith Still, an expert of over 20 years in Crowd Dynamics told me when I interviewed him for the forthcoming documentary – from a crowd planning point of view the Leppings Lane end had “a high risk of failure by design”. In essence, the Leppings Lane concourse area outside the turnstiles allowed far more people to arrive than the turnstiles could admit.
Above: Video clip of Professor Keith Still. Full interview to be used in the documentary.
In 1989, the rookie match commander decided against these barricades. This was the second mistake. The South Yorkshire Police now had no way of controlling the flow of fans towards the problematic Leppings Lane turnstiles. As a result, more and more people arrived and entered the courtyard outside the turnstiles, but the decrepit and malfunctioning turnstiles could not (even on a good day) admit the growing numbers safely. The crowd outside started to grow at around 2.30pm, a full 15 minutes before the official match ticket stated that supporters were to be in the ground. This in itself dispels the myth that Liverpool fans turned up late.
Once supporters had entered the courtyard outside the turnstiles, the sheer weight of numbers arriving behind them meant that they couldn’t exit the crowd. As everyone individually shuffled forward eager to get in before kick-off, the crowd started to compact and a vice-like crush developed. There were shouts and screams from scared people who were struggling to breathe. The turnstiles themselves were set into a brick wall, and the people at the front were being crushed against that wall. The police had lost control, and there was now a clear & present danger that somebody could be seriously hurt, or worse. Fans continued to arrive at the back of the throng – in good spirits and unaware of the problems at the front of the crowd.
Outside the turnstile area was in a desperate state, and inside viewing via CCTV cameras, the rookie match commander David Duckenfield looked on.
In those days, fans were filed into a ground via tiny turnstiles to allow for tickets to be checked. Fans then exited via huge metal exit gates. As the final whistle approached, stewards would open these gates to allow people out quickly. These gates were never designed to allow entry to a ground, but the situation outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles had become so dangerous and the police had now lost control of the situation and started to consider the possibility.
Directly behind exit gate C was a tunnel that led to the central pens behind the goal, named pens 3 & 4. Above that tunnel was the single world ‘STANDING’. It was the only obvious way for fans entering the turnstiles to gain entry to the terraces and it is where most people headed. The tunnel was long and fans were taken down a 1 in 6 gradient slope in the semi-dark with just the bright light and green of the turf to head towards at the end. Quite literally, they could see the light at the end of the tunnel. As fans exited that tunnel they were right behind the gates allowing access to pens 3 & 4. In 1988, once these pens were full, the police would close off access and direct fans coming out of that tunnel would be led to the to the side pens. In 1989, this didn’t happen – resulting in fatal consequences.
Meanwhile inside the stadium, BBC commentators, fans in the other stands, players and officials all commentated (as kick off approached) that the central pens were jam packed full, and that the side pens (or wing pens) were not even half full. People were sat on the floor reading programmes in the wing pens with enough room to swing a cat, whereas the central pens were jammed solid, barely moving. They were unable to move because of the sheer density of the crowd.
David Duckenfield, in the police control box directly over-looking the Leppings Lane terrace had arguably the best view of anybody and also the CCTV cameras to pan and zoom at will. It was later noted by visitors to the police control box that the CCTV was so powerful that you ‘could see the colour of somebody’s eyes in the central pens’.
Duckenfield was now being asked by a senior colleague, who was policing the now desperate area outside the Leppings Lane, to open the exit gate to alleviate the crush.
Right in front of Duckenfield’s eyes was a mass of people virtually set in concrete in the central pens. The police box is elevated over the Leppings Lane terrace, and directly underneath Duckenfield’s feet was a sparsely populated pen. For those that have seen Jimmy McGovern’s excellent docu-drama, it was from this pen that Trevor Hicks was screaming at the police on the steps of the control box to do something. He could see that the crowd was in distress, and his two daughters Victoria & Sarah were in those central pens. His wife, Jenny Hicks was in the North stand and was also extremely concerned as she looked at the central pens, However the police who had the duty of care, who had a bird’s eye view, did nothing.
The officer outside the ground, Bernard Murray, radioed to Duckenfield to “open the gate” and a little later shouted “if you don’t open the gate, somebody is going to get seriously hurt out here”. The final request came, almost pleadingly “are you going to open the gate?” After a pause, which must felt like a lifetime, Duckenfield gave the order to “Open the gates”.
The next mistake resulted in the loss of 96 lives, the injuries of hundreds more and the fallout impacted on thousands of friends and family members.
As already stated, in the 1988 semi-final police and stewards were stationed at the gates leading into the central pens to direct fans safely away to the wing pens once full. Had Duckenfield given the order to seal off the obviously over-full central pens when he gave the order to open the gates, then disaster would have been averted. But he didn’t, and hundreds more fans made their way into the dark tunnel, with a steep slope. As some started to lose their footing they were virtually stumbling into the stadium, like a human river, and straight onto the back of an already dangerously over-full terrace. The official government enquiry into the Hillsborough disaster, chaired by Lord Justice Taylor, and now known simply at The Taylor Report, later called the decision not to seal off the over-full central pens “a blunder of the first magnitude”.
Eventually, under the strain a crush barrier made from metal and steel buckled, gave way and a human wave of suffering went down, body over body.
At the front people were screaming at the police, positioned directly outside the fence between the pitch and the terrace, to open the gates at the front. The police ignored these requests even though people were dying in front of them. In fact at once point a gate sprang open under the immense pressure of bodies, and the officers on the track forced it closed again. It turned out that Duckenfield had given strict orders not to open the gates under any circumstances without his express permission, and at that point the police radios reportedly malfunctioned.
Eddie Spearitt was at the front with his son Adam. This is his testimony …
“The crush came … it wasn’t a surge. It was like a vice getting tighter and tighter and tighter. I turned Adam round to me. He was obviously in distress. There was a police officer, about five or six feet away and I started screaming. Adam had fainted and my words were ‘my lovely son is dying’ and begging him to help me and he didn’t do anything. I grabbed hold of Adam’s lapels and tried to lift him over the fence. It was ten feet or thereabouts with spikes coming in. I couldn’t lift him. So I started punching the fence in the hope I could knock it down. Right at the beginning, when I was begging that officer to open the gate I know I could have got Adam out. I know that because I was there’.
Adam Spearitt, 14, died at Hillsborough. Jenny Hicks and her husband, Trevor, who had been screaming at the police to help earlier, lost his two daughters Vicky (15) & Sarah (19).
96 lives were taken that day in total. Men, women and children. One as young as 10 years old died at a football match.
What happened next is almost more harrowing and disgraceful, but I will write a follow-up post to cover that in due course.
The 96 victims with the age at which they were taken:
- John Alfred Anderson (62)
- Colin Mark Ashcroft (19)
- James Gary Aspinall (18)
- Kester Roger Marcus Ball (16)
- Gerard Bernard Patrick Baron (67)
- Simon Bell (17)
- Barry Sidney Bennett (26)
- David John Benson (22)
- David William Birtle (22)
- Tony Bland (22)
- Paul David Brady (21)
- Andrew Mark Brookes (26)
- Carl Brown (18)
- David Steven Brown (25)
- Henry Thomas Burke (47)
- Peter Andrew Burkett (24)
- Paul William Carlile (19)
- Raymond Thomas Chapman (50)
- Gary Christopher Church (19)
- Joseph Clark (29)
- Paul Clark (18)
- Gary Collins (22)
- Stephen Paul Copoc (20)
- Tracey Elizabeth Cox (23)
- James Philip Delaney (19)
- Christopher Barry Devonside (18)
- Christopher Edwards (29)
- Vincent Michael Fitzsimmons (34)
- Thomas Steven Fox (21)
- Jon-Paul Gilhooley (10)
- Barry Glover (27)
- Ian Thomas Glover (20)
- Derrick George Godwin (24)
- Roy Harry Hamilton (34)
- Philip Hammond (14)
- Eric Hankin (33)
- Gary Harrison (27)
- Stephen Francis Harrison (31)
- Peter Andrew Harrison (15)
- David Hawley (39)
- James Robert Hennessy (29)
- Paul Anthony Hewitson (26)
- Carl Darren Hewitt (17)
- Nicholas Michael Hewitt (16)
- Sarah Louise Hicks (19)
- Victoria Jane Hicks (15)
- Gordon Rodney Horn (20)
- Arthur Horrocks (41)
- Thomas Howard (39)
- Thomas Anthony Howard (14)
- Eric George Hughes (42)
- Alan Johnston (29)
- Christine Anne Jones (27)
- Gary Philip Jones (18)
- Richard Jones (25)
- Nicholas Peter Joynes (27)
- Anthony Peter Kelly (29)
- Michael David Kelly (38)
- Carl David Lewis (18)
- David William Mather (19)
- Brian Christopher Mathews (38)
- Francis Joseph McAllister (27)
- John McBrien (18)
- Marion Hazel McCabe (21)
- Joseph Daniel McCarthy (21)
- Peter McDonnell (21)
- Alan McGlone (28)
- Keith McGrath (17)
- Paul Brian Murray (14)
- Lee Nicol (14)
- Stephen Francis O’Neill (17)
- Jonathon Owens (18)
- William Roy Pemberton (23)
- Carl William Rimmer (21)
- David George Rimmer (38)
- Graham John Roberts (24)
- Steven Joseph Robinson (17)
- Henry Charles Rogers (17)
- Colin Andrew Hugh William Sefton (23)
- Inger Shah (38)
- Paula Ann Smith (26)
- Adam Edward Spearritt (14)
- Philip John Steele (15)
- David Leonard Thomas (23)
- Patrik John Thompson (35)
- Peter Reuben Thompson (30)
- Stuart Paul William Thompson (17)
- Peter Francis Tootle (21)
- Christopher James Traynor (26)
- Martin Kevin Traynor (16)
- Kevin Tyrrell (15)
- Colin Wafer (19)
- Ian David Whelan (19)
- Martin Kenneth Wild (29)
- Kevin Daniel Williams (15)
- Graham John Wright (17)
Rest in Peace
More reading:
What really happened at Hillsborough
3.15pm – A cut off from justice
What really happened at Hillsborough
Were you there & can you help?
Steve Rotheram – Commons debate speech
Steve Rotheram MP – A survivor’s stoy
Richie Greaves – A survivor’s story
Pete Carney – A survivor’s story
Damian Kavanagh – A survivor’s story
Hillsborough: Richie Greaves – A survivor’s story
November 27th, 2011 § 2 Comments
Richie went through the tunnel, and went right into pen three at about 2.45pm.
Pen three is where most of the victims lost their lives, and where the crush barrier made from steel & concrete buckled under the sheer weight of people in that area. He maintains to this day, that had his mate Ian not insisted that they move to the far right of that pen, then he may not have been so lucky. Liverpool fans in pen two put their clasped hands through the lateral fence, and allowed those trapped in pen three to use them to get a leg-up, and to climb away from danger into the sparsely populated wing pens.
Most of the interview will be held back for the documentary, but here is a small clip:
An Ipswich fan remembers being at Hillsborough
May 1st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
http://bluelagosontour.blogspot.com/2012/04/23-years-ago.html
Petition for Kevin Williams passes 117,000 signatures
January 21st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/19149
What a week it has been. Relentless activity by so many seemed be resulting in too few signatures of Anne Williams e-petition, and with time running out it looked bleak. Then a final effort seemed to hit the right note, and with hours remaining we managed to get the number to pass the magic 100,000 number. At the time of writing there have been 117,012 signatures.
This message is now showing on the e-petiton.
This e-petition has received the following response:
This e-petition has now passed the threshold of 100 000 signatures.
The Leader of the House of Commons has written to the Backbench Business Committee, who are responsible for the scheduling of debates on e-petitions, informing them that the petition has reached 100 000 signatures
The Backbench Business Committee meets weekly to hear representations from MPs for debates in backbench time. The Committee can consider any subject for debate, including those raised in e-petitions, but an MP must make the case for their consideration. More information about the Committee is available on its website http://www.parliament.uk/bbcom
Since the petition was brought to the attention of the Attorney General, he has agreed that he will look at the applications made to his predecessor, to determine whether in his view, the evidence available supports an application to the Court for a new inquest.
Standing can never be as safe as seating
December 20th, 2011 § 2 Comments
I am making a documentary about the Hillsborough disaster, and so the movement to reinstate standing under the working title of ‘safe standing’ is of interest to me. I want to make it clear that this is my personal opinion though. I have probably spent a great deal more time looking into disaster at football than the majority of supporters because the project I am working on, but this is still just my personal opinion.
Today I found myself shaking my head in disbelief as I read the news that the Scottish Football Association has agreed to re-introduce standing areas into football grounds. When this argument raises its ugly head, it always reminds me of the famous George Bernard Shaw quote “We learn from history that we learn nothing from history”.
I am old enough to remember standing at football, and I would not argue for a second that the atmosphere was far better, but I will never accept that it always safe when a large number of people want to move in a confined direction.
Before I look at the arguments for and against, I’d like to question the very phrase ‘safe standing’ that all too easily trips from the tongue these days. Who coined the phrase, and are they suitably qualified to make such a bold statement? Its name uses the Queen’s English to prematurely speak of a theory that has far from been proved in my opinion.
One of the arguments you hear from those who are in favour of safe-standing is that away fans often stand anyway. There are a few massive differences though that makes seating areas incomparable to terraces. They slow down & break up the flow of fans into and out of the stadium. Specifically:
1. If you are standing in a seated area, you have a physical barrier (the seat) between the person in front of you and behind. Crushing on terraces happens when people become too tightly compressed for whatever reason and seats, without question, stop that from happening.
2. A seated stadium means that every single person in that stadium knows where they are supposed to be. You get a stand, a block, a row and a seat number before you even arrive at the ground.
3. When leaving the stadium, the seats once again act as a funnel to direct people back along the rows they were in, before reaching the stairs. That slows the flow of people exiting the ground. It’s still not perfect but it is highly unlikely that a solid mass of people will descend a stairwell to disaster as happened at Ibrox in 1971.
Atmosphere over safety isn’t even an argument for me, so I can’t entertain it. What I can tell you about though is how I was badly crushed against a crush barrier, next to a woman in tears at a premier sporting event in the UK. There was an announcement just before the big off, which prompted hundreds of fans to start moving onto the back of an already full terrace. The lady next to me and I were pinned against a crush barrier, and it was so far into our middle that we found it really difficult to move. I looked over my shoulder and could see ten or twenty heads back that people were still coming, oblivious to the pain being experienced where I was. The scared lady in tears next to me must have felt a momentary lull in the pressure as she quickly ducked down and got under the crush barrier. I managed to get under next and I was extremely relieved not to feel the vice like pressure slowly but surely crushing me into the barrier. This wasn’t at a football match though. No teams were involved and there were no two sets of passionate, tribal supporters. I was at the Epsom Derby, in the posh bit, the Queen’s Stand. Ladies & gents dressed up to the nines, and a spot of horse racing in the sun. Since that day, I have been convinced that if I can get into bother at a relatively posh and passion free event such as the Epsom Derby then there will always be a danger at a football match it you let a large number of people walk together.
In the 1946 Burnden Park disaster, 33 people lost their lives as a gate was opened at the back of the terraces, and too many people ended up in too small a space. There were no fences between the pitch & the supporters that day, but two crush barriers collapsed and a human tidal wave ended in tragedy. After that, I’m sure standing was made safe right?
In 1971, Rangers fans were exiting the stadium with a few minutes of an old firm match remaining. They had just conceded what they thought must surely be the winning goal and decided to leave. As thousands of fans exited down Stairway 13 a huge roar went up from behind them, indicating an equaliser. The official report into the enquiry discredited those that said there was an about-turn by many fans already half-way out of the stadium because of the fans found dead on Stairway 13 were facing the same way. The official report stated that one person probably tripped on the stairs, and the sheer mass of people squashed closely together meant that it caused a domino effect, and the result was 66 people dead at a football match. No perimeter fences to blame, no late-comers either as they had already watched 88 minutes of the match. Just too many people walking together, and one trip led to disaster. Was standing made ‘safe’ after that? The official enquiry looked into what happened, and how it could be prevented in future. So now surely standing was safe and we had learnt every lesson there was to learn?
No. In 1985, after 56 people were killed in the Bradford fire Lord Justice Poppelwell investigated what had happened and recommended what football needed to learn in order to never let it happen again. He noted in his report that had the stand at Bradford had perimeter fences like so many grounds did at that time, then the death toll would have been significantly higher. Watch the fire break out on TV on this video and remember that 2,500 people were in that stand. Have we NOW learnt everything we need to know in order to keep crowds safe?
1981. Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. Spurs are playing Wolves in the FA Cup semi-final. Despite their larger supporter base, Spurs were housed in the smaller Leppings Lane terracing. You can see a clip of an interview from a Spurs fan who was there that day here but suffice to say there was severe overcrowding, and had the police not immediately opened the gates that led to the pitch the 30 odd serious injuries could have turned into deaths. Right, surely now enough is enough?
In the UK alone that I have mentioned above, 155 people have died at a football match. I fully accept that Bradford was not caused in any way, shape or form by the fact that fans were standing. I include that disaster only to illustrate the point that lessons were understood but not learnt. 1985 might seem a long time ago to us debating whether standing should be allowed at football grounds, but we were not exactly prehistoric then – Neil Armstrong landed on the moon 16 years previously for heaven’s sake, so why is it that we couldn’t make standing safe then?
Hillsborough wasn’t used for semi-finals after the Spurs near miss until 1987. My blog has many Leeds fans who will tell you Leppings Lane was overfull again that year, and that fans were being lifted to the West Stand above to escape the mass of people set like concrete on the Leppings Lane terracing. NOW surely we can enjoy safe standing?
1989. The Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield. 96 Liverpool supporters are killed on the site of the near miss in 1981. The death toll in the few disasters I have mentioned above is a total of 246. How many people have died at a football match due to crushing or crush related injuries since we have introduced all-seater stadia? To the best of my knowledge the answer to my rhetorical question is zero. Not one death caused by over-crowding or crushing from 1994 until 2011. In the 18 years preceding all-seater stadia, we lost 195 fans due to crush related problems. Not one since.
What makes us think now that we have all the answers and that standing can be made ‘safe’ when we failed so miserably at learning the lessons after Burnden Park, and after Ibrox and after Bradford, and after Hillsborough in 1981 and after Hillsborough in 1987 and again, fatally in 1989?
I interviewed Professor Keith Scraton in the making of the Hillsborough disaster documentary that I am currently working on. He has spent 20 years studying crowds. He explained to me that in a crowd, each individual lacks the perspective to make informed decisions. They can only see directly around them, and that means that the thousands in a crowd move as one, with no shared intelligence.
I know from experience that when thousands of people arrive in the same space, then the flow is not really in your hands.
I hope I am wrong, I really do, but I can see the ‘safe standing’ working in Scotland for a number of years. The clubs, stewards, fans and police will all become used to arrangements and all will be well in the world. Then, complacency will creep in. Somebody won’t do their job properly, and one day in the future we will have a serious incident again. When it happens, remember George Bernard Shaw because it doesn’t have to be this way.
Improved atmosphere at grounds would be fantastic, but not if it increases the risk of football taking even one more life.
Arsenal v Newcastle – The day of the Hillsborough Disaster
December 16th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
On the day of the Hillsborough Disaster Arsenal entertained Newcastle at Highbury, in a game finished 1-0 to the Gunners.
That day the football hardly mattered to many though, as in Sheffield a human crush took place before the F.A.Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest which ultimately claimed the lives of 96 men, women and children. One boy who died was as young as 10 years old.
As a part of my documentary about the Hillsborough disaster that happened while this game was taking place, I am asking fans of all clubs to contribute with their thoughts.
Maybe you were at this match or following it on the television or radio? Maybe you had been to Hillsborough previously, and have a story to tell about that?
Spurs & Leeds fans have told their stories about crushing in the ’81 and ’87 semi-finals at Hillsborough, and I have heard from a Man Utd fan who had a terrible experience at the ground in a league game. Some Coventry fans may have been at this game and the 1981 semi-final in which Spurs fans were crushed, thankfully, not fatally?
Whatever you have to say, I’d be grateful if you could leave a reply.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Please follow me on Twitter for updates @HillsboroughDoc
Please like the Facebook page
I’m interviewing a fireman today
December 16th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Morning all.
I am interviewing a Liverpool fan & fireman this morning. He was at Hillsborough in ’89 as a fan, but when things went wrong he offered his services, and helped the injured on the pitch.
If you have any questions that you would like him to answer then please leave them here, and I will check back before the interview.
Blackburn v Man City – The Day of the Hillsborough Disaster
December 12th, 2011 § 2 Comments
On the day of the Hillsborough Disaster Man City travelled to Blackburn for a second division match which ended with Blackburn winning the match 4-0.
That day the football hardly mattered though, as in Sheffield a human crush took place before the F.A.Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest which ultimately claimed the lives of 96 men, women and children. One boy who died was as young as 10 years old.
As a part of my documentary about the Hillsborough disaster that happened while this game was taking place, I am asking fans of all clubs to contribute with their thoughts.
Maybe you were at this match or following it on the television or radio? Maybe you had been to Hillsborough previously, and have a story to tell about that?
Spurs & Leeds fans have told their stories about crushing in the ’81 and ’87 semi-finals at Hillsborough, and I have heard from a Man Utd fan who had a terrible experience at the ground in a league game. Some Coventry fans may have been at this game and the 1981 semi-final in which Spurs fans were crushed, thankfully, not fatally?
Whatever you have to say, I’d be grateful if you could leave a reply.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Please follow me on Twitter for updates @HillsboroughDoc
Please like the Facebook page
A big thank you to Cast & their management
December 6th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’d like to put on record my sincere thanks to Cast and their management, for allowing me to use their music free of charge in this documentary.
Robert Swerdlow & the lads from Cast THANK YOU!
I am making this with no budget whatsoever, and will not accept a penny in payment for the finished documentary, so generosity & support like this means the world.
Leicester v Chelsea – The day of the Hillsborough disaster
December 4th, 2011 § 1 Comment
On the day of the Hillsborough Disaster, Leicester City played Chelsea in a division two match which ended 2-0 to Leicester.
As a part of my documentary about the Hillsborough disaster which unfolded as this game was taking place, I am asking fans of all clubs to contribute with their thoughts & recollections of that awful day. Many people think that the disaster was ‘a Liverpool thing’ but the truth of the matter is that it could have happened to any team.
Maybe you were at this match or following it on the television or radio? Maybe you had been to Hillsborough previously, and have a story to tell about that?
Spurs & Leeds fans have told their stories about crushing in the ’81 and ’87 semi-finals at Hillsborough, and I have heard from a Man Utd fan who had a terrible experience at the ground in a league game. Some Coventry fans may have been at this game and the 1981 semi-final in which Spurs fans were crushed, thankfully, not fatally.
Whatever you have to say, I’d be grateful if you could leave a reply with your thoughts – please just scroll down for the reply box.
Thanks in advance for your input. Please follow me on Twitter @HillsboroughDoc and/or like the Facebook page to keep up-to-date.
