Hillsborough disaster
Encyclopedia
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough
, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
in Sheffield
, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C.
. It remains the deadliest stadium-related disaster in British history and one of the worst ever international football accidents. It was the second of two stadium-related disasters involving Liverpool supporters, the other being the Heysel Stadium Disaster
in 1985.
The match, an FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest
, was abandoned six minutes into the game.
The official inquiry into the disaster, the Taylor Report
, concluded that "the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control." The findings of the report resulted in the elimination of standing terraces at all major football stadia in both England
and Scotland
.
which had plagued the sport for several years. Hooliganism was particularly virulent in England, where it often involved pitch invasion
s, the throwing of missiles, or both pre- and post-match violence; the Heysel Stadium Disaster
is a prominent example, where Liverpool fans themselves were involved. From 1974, when these security standards were largely put in place, English stadiums had an increasing number of crushes.
Hillsborough Stadium was a regular venue for FA Cup
semi-finals during the 1980s, hosting a total of five. A previous crush had occurred at Hillsborough during the 1981 semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur
and Wolverhampton Wanderers
, causing 38 injuries. This prompted Sheffield Wednesday to alter the design of the Leppings Lane end, dividing it into three separate pens. This was further divided into five pens when Wednesday were promoted to the First Division in 1984. Liverpool and Nottingham Forest had also met at the semi-final stage of the same competition at the same ground the previous year with many Liverpool fans reporting crushing in the Leppings Lane end, leading to Liverpool FC lodging a complaint prior to the 1989 FA Cup Semi-Final.
It was reported that fans had been delayed by unannounced roadworks on the M62 motorway
over the Pennines
and the resulting road congestion. Between 2:30 pm and 2:40 pm, there was a big build-up of fans in the small area outside the turnstile entrances to the Leppings Lane End, all eager to enter the stadium quickly before the match started.
A bottleneck developed with more fans arriving than could enter the two cages in the middle of the Leppings Lane Stand. People who had been refused entry could not leave the area because of the crush behind them but remained as an obstruction. The fans outside could hear the cheering from inside as the teams came on the pitch ten minutes before the match started, and again as the match kicked off, but could not get in; the start was not delayed while the fans got in. In one instance, a small gate was opened to eject one person, and twenty people got into the ground through it. A side gate was also opened to ease the build-up. With an estimated 5,000 fans trying to get through the turnstiles, and increasing security concerns over crushing outside the turnstiles, the police, to avoid deaths outside the ground, opened a set of gates, intended as an exit, which did not have turnstiles (Gate C). This decision caused a rush of supporters through the gate into the stadium.
s directing many fans into side pens, but on this occasion, this was not done.
For some time, the problem at the front of the pen was not noticed by any persons other than those affected as the attention of most people present was absorbed by the match, which by this time had already begun. It was not until 3:06 pm that the referee, Ray Lewis
, after being advised by the police, stopped the match after many fans had begun climbing the fence onto the pitch in an effort to escape the crush. By this time, a small gate in the fencing had been forced open and some fans had escaped via this route, as others continued to climb over the fencing, while still other fans were pulled to safety by fellow fans in the West Stand directly above the Leppings Lane terrace. The intensity of the crush had broken the crush barriers on the terraces; later, holes in the perimeter fencing were found to be caused by desperate tearing by fans attempting rescue.
Those trapped had been packed so tightly in the pens that many of the fatalities died of compressive asphyxia while standing. The circumstances in the Leppings Lane Stand rapidly overspilled onto the pitch, with many injured and traumatised fans who had managed to climb to safety congregating on this section of the pitch. The police, stewards and members of a St. John Ambulance
service present at the stadium were overwhelmed. Many uninjured fans helped assist injured fellow fans; with several attempting CPR and others tearing down advertising boards in the ground and using them to act as temporary stretchers.
As these events unfolded, some police officers were still being deployed to make a cordon three-quarters of the way down the pitch, with the aim of preventing Liverpool supporters reaching the Nottingham Forest supporters at the opposite end of the stadium. Some fans tried to break through the police cordon to ferry injured fans to waiting ambulances, and were forcibly turned back. Forty-four ambulances had arrived at the stadium but police prevented all but one from entering.
Only 14 of the 96 fatalities ever arrived at a hospital.
was withdrawn after nearly four years, during which he had been in a persistent vegetative state and shown no sign of improvement.
Andrew Devine, aged 22 at the time of the disaster, suffered similar injuries to Tony Bland and was later diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state
, but in March 1997 – a month before the eighth anniversary of the disaster – it was reported that he had emerged from the condition and was now able to communicate using a touch-sensitive pad.
79 of the fatalities were aged 30 or younger. Two sisters and three pairs of brothers, and a father and son were among the fatalities. Also among the dead were two men who were about to become fathers for the first time; 25-year-old Steven Brown of Wrexham
and 30-year-old Peter Thompson of Widnes
.
BBC Television's cameras were at the ground to record the match for their Match of the Day
programme, but as the disaster unfolded the events were then relayed to their live sports show, Grandstand
, resulting in an extreme emotional impact on the general British population. There was commentary afterwards on television about the lack of administrable oxygen
and metal-cutting tools, and that there was no way to get ambulances onto the pitch.
Jon-Paul Gilhooley, cousin of current Liverpool F.C. captain Steven Gerrard
, was the youngest person to die at Hillsborough, aged 10. Gerrard has stated that it was this tragedy that has inspired him and led him to lead his boyhood team and reach the heights of his career.
was appointed to conduct an inquiry into the disaster. Taylor's inquiry sat for 31 days and published two reports, one interim report that laid out the events of the day and immediate conclusions and one final report that made general recommendations on football ground safety. This became known as the Taylor Report. As a result of the report, fences in front of fans were removed and many of the top stadiums were converted to become all-seated.
stated that the official cause of the disaster was the failure of police control. Due to the low number of turnstiles, it has been estimated that it would have taken until 3:40 pm to get all ticket holders into the Leppings Lane End had an exit gate not been opened. Gate C was opened to let more fans in, but the total number of fans entering the terrace is not thought to have been more than the capacity of the standing area.
The disaster happened because most of the fans entering the terraces headed for the central pens 3 and 4 as directed by the large notice pointing them that way above the tunnel. Normally a police officer or steward would direct fans away from full pens, but on that day this did not happen. There were no stewards in that area at all. The official capacity of these pens was around 2,000, but the Health and Safety Executive
later found that this should have been reduced to around 1,600 as the crush barriers did not conform to the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds 1986. It is estimated that more than 3,000 people were in these pens shortly after kick off at 3:00 pm. This overcrowding caused the fatal crush.
Witness estimates of the number of fans who were drunk varied from a minority to a large proportion of the crowd. Although it was clear that many fans had been drinking, Lord Taylor unequivocally stated that most of them were: "not drunk, nor even the worse for drink". He concluded that they only formed an exacerbating factor.
The possibility of fans attempting to gain entry without tickets or with forgeries contributing to the disaster was also suggested. South Yorkshire Police
also suggested that the late arrival of fans amounted to a conspiracy in order to gain entry without tickets. However, analysis of the electronic monitoring system, Health and Safety Executive
analysis and eyewitness accounts showed that the total number of people who had already entered the Leppings Lane End was far below the capacity of the stand. Additionally, eye witness reports suggested that tickets were easily available on the day of the game, and that tickets for the Leppings Lane End were still on sale from Anfield
until the day before the game. The report dismissed the conspiracy theory.
's New Den
stadium, which opened in 1993. The Deva Stadium of Chester City F.C.
, opened the year before, had been the first English football stadium to fulfill the safety recommendations of the Taylor Report, although not an all-seater stadium.
, all are listed below:
On Portland, Dorset on one of the coastal walks there is a stone that is dedicated to the '96'
Since 2007 there has been a Hillsborough Memorial service held at Spion Kop, KZN South Africa. The significance of this particular ceremony is that it is held on the Spion Kop Battlefield which gave its name to the Kop Stand at Anfield. There is also a permanent memorial to the 96 fans who died, in the form of a bench, positioned in view of the battlefield at a nearby lodge. Dean Davis and David Walters, members of the Official South African Liverpool Supporters Club (Gauteng Branch), are responsible for the creation of the service and the bench was commissioned by Guy Prowse in 2008.
. A service was led by the Right Reverend James Jones
, the Bishop of Liverpool
and was attended by past and present Liverpool players, including Robbie Fowler
, Steve McManaman
and Alan Hansen
. According to the BBC report: "The names of the victims were read from the memorial book and floral tributes were laid at a plaque bearing their names." A gospel choir performed and the ceremony ended with a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone
". The anniversary was also marked by a minute's silence at the weekend's league games and FA Cup
semi-finals.
, 4–4).
The event was remembered with another ceremony at Anfield attended by over 28,000 people. The Kop, Centenary and Main Stands were opened early to the public before part of the Anfield Road End was opened to supporters. The memorial service, led by the Rt Reverend James Jones began at 14:45 BST
and a two minutes silence (observed across Liverpool and in Sheffield and Nottingham, including public transport coming to a stand-still) was held at the exact time of the disaster twenty years earlier, 15:06 BST. The Sports Minister Andy Burnham addressed the crowd but was heckled by supporters chanting "Justice for the 96". The ceremony was attended by survivors of the tragedy, the families of victims and the current Liverpool team, with goalkeeper Pepe Reina leading the team and managerial team onto the pitch. One of the main events of the ceremony was when team captain Steven Gerrard and vice-captain Jamie Carragher
handed over freedom of the city
to the families of all the victims. Candles were lit for each of the 96 fatalities. Kenny Dalglish
, the manager at the time of the disaster, read a passage from the Bible, "Lamentations of Jeremiah". The Liverpool manager at that time, Rafael Benítez
, was also on hand to set 96 balloons free. The ceremony ended with 96 rings of the church bell across the city of Liverpool and a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone".
Other services took place at the same time, including at Liverpool's Anglican
and Catholic Cathedrals
. After the two minutes' silence, bells on civic buildings rang out throughout Merseyside
.
A song was also released to mark the 20th Anniversary, entitled "Fields of Anfield Road" which peaked at #14 in the UK charts.
Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal
and Manchester United
players showed their respects by wearing black armbands during their Champions League matches on 14 and 15 April.
On 14 May, more than 20,000 people packed Anfield for a match held in memory of the 96. The Liverpool Legends, comprising ex-Liverpool footballers beat the All Stars, captained by actor Ricky Tomlinson
by 3–1. The event marked the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and raised cash for the Marina Dalglish Appeal which will be put towards a new radiotherapy centre at University Hospital in Aintree.
With the imminent release of police documents relating to events on 15 April 1989, the Hillsborough Family Support Group launched Project 96, a new fundraising initiative on 1 August 2009. At least 96 current and former Liverpool footballers are being lined up to raise £96,000 through the auctioning of limited edition (of 96) signed photographs.
, Liverpool's traditional local rivals, were affected by the tragedy, many of them having lost friends and family. They laid down flowers and blue & white scarves to show their respect for the dead and unity with their fellow Merseysiders shortly afterwards.
On 19 April 1989, the Wednesday after the disaster, a European Cup semi final between AC Milan and Real Madrid
was played. The referee blew his whistle 3:06 minutes into the game to stop play and hold a minute's silence for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough. Half way through the minute's silence, the A.C. Milan fans sang Liverpool's "You'll Never Walk Alone
" as a sign of respect.
Also in April 1989, Bradford City A.F.C.
and Lincoln City F.C.
held a friendly to benefit the victims of Hillsborough. It was their first meeting since the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 that claimed 56 lives at Valley Parade
. Bradford won the match, 3-1.
As a result of the disaster, Liverpool's game against Arsenal
was delayed to the end of the season and eventually decided the league title. The Arsenal players brought flowers onto the pitch and presented them to the Liverpool fans around the stadium before the game. Arsenal won the game 2 – 0 and thus claimed the league title.
In 2006, Celtic F.C.
fans produced a banner featuring the Liverpool crest and the Celtic crest with a flame in the middle surrounded by the words 'Justice For The 96, You'll Never Walk Alone and presented it to the Kopites during their Champions League quarter-finals return leg
(vs PSV Eindhoven, 1–0) at Anfield.
On 11 April 2009 Liverpool fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" as a tribute to the upcoming anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy. This was prior to their home game against Blackburn Rovers
(which ended in Liverpool winning 4–0) and was followed by the former Liverpool player, now at Aston Villa, Stephen Warnock
presenting a memorial wreath to the Kop showing the figure 96 in red flowers.
" was released in aid of those affected by the disaster. The song featured famed Liverpudlians Paul McCartney
and Gerry Marsden
and other popular artists of the time. The song was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman
and reached #1 on the UK and Irish charts.
, Dr Stefan Popper, limited the main inquest to events up until 3:15 pm on the day of the disaster – just nine minutes after the match was halted and the crowd began to spill onto the pitch. Popper said this was because all of the victims were either dead, or brain dead, by 3:15 pm. This decision angered the families of the victims, many of whom felt this meant the inquest was not able to consider the response of the police and the other emergency services after that time. The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.
Relatives have failed in their attempts to have the inquest reopened, to allow for more scrutiny of the police actions at Hillsborough, as well as closer examination of the circumstances of individual cases. Anne Williams, who lost her 15-year-old son, Kevin Williams, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights
, on the strength of witness statements that her son was still showing signs of life at 4:00 pm. Her case was rejected in March 2009.
It was announced on 19 April 2009 that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
had requested that secret files concerning the disaster should be made public.
On 8 March 2011 the Hillsborough Independent Panel announced that they would examine previously-hidden documents to determine what took place after the 3:15 pm cutoff imposed during the inquest of 1991. A HIP spokesman said: “We have a wide remit to analyse all documents relating to the context, circumstances and consequences of the tragedy and its aftermath.”
Following a Governmental e-petition which had reached over 139,000 signatories on 17 October 2011, Parliament has agreed to debate the full release to the public of Cabinet documents relating to the disaster.
During this debate in the House of Commons the Labour
MP for Liverpool Walton Steve Rotherham, read out a list of all the victims of the tragedy and, as a result, these names will now be entered into Hansard
- the official publication of printed scripts of all House of Commons debates.
Link to article -
Full transcript of speech in Liverpool Echo
newspaper -
QC
told the court that Chief Superintendent
David Duckenfield gave the order to open gates that allowed hundreds of fans to flood on to the already crowded terraces at the Hillsborough stadium. Mr Jones then stated that minutes after the disaster,[Duckenfield] "deceitfully and dishonestly" told senior FA officials that the supporters had forced the gate open themselves. Duckenfield admitted that he had lied about certain statements regarding the causes of the disaster. Several other officers, including Norman Bettison
, were accused of manipulating evidence. Bettison was later to be appointed Chief Constable
of Merseyside in controversial circumstances. The prosecution was abandoned when Duckenfield's doctor declared him unfit to stand trial due to illness. Because he was unavailable, it was decided that it would be unfair to proceed with the charges against Bernard Murray. Duckenfield took medical retirement on a full police pension.
and was an important milestone in the law of claims of secondary victims for negligently inflicted psychiatric injury. It was held that claimants who watched the disaster on television/listened on radio were not 'proximal' and their claims were rejected.
Another psychiatric injury claim was also brought to the House of Lords, White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 A.C. 455. It was brought by the police officers on duty on that day against the Chief Constable who was said to have been vicariously liable for the disaster. Their claims were dismissed and the Alcock decision was upheld. It affirmed the position of the courts once again towards claims of psychiatric injuries of secondary victims.
, then editor of The Sun
, a British tabloid newspaper with national distribution owned by Rupert Murdoch
, used the front page headline "THE TRUTH", with three sub-headlines: "Some fans picked pockets of victims", "Some fans urinated on the brave cops" and "Some fans beat up PC
giving kiss of life
".
The newspaper cited the words of unnamed police sources and a Conservative
MP
for information relating to the alleged incidents.
The story accompanying these headlines claimed that "drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims" and "police officers, firemen and ambulance crew were punched, kicked and urinated upon". A quotation, attributed to an unnamed policeman, claimed a dead girl had been "abused", and that Liverpool fans were "openly urinating on us and the bodies of the dead". These allegations contradicted the reported behaviour of many Liverpool fans, who actively helped the security personnel to stretcher away a large number of victims and gave first aid to many injured.
In their history of The Sun, Peter Chippendale and Chris Horrie wrote:
Following The Sun' s report, the newspaper was boycotted by most newsagents in Liverpool, with large numbers of readers cancelling orders and refusing to buy from shops that stocked it. The Hillsborough Justice Campaign also organised a less successful national boycott that nevertheless did have an impact on the paper's sales, which some commentators have given as a cause for continued drops in price, the introduction of free magazines, and video and free DVD offers. The issue was also addressed on the documentary Alexei Sayle's Liverpool on BBC Two when it covered the subject of Hillsborough. The segment saw comedian Alexei Sayle
with a newsagent attempting to give away copies of The Sun, but every customer declined. Eventually, Sayle and the newsagent took the copies outside and, despite the newsagent's concern, set them alight.
MacKenzie explained his reporting in 1993. Talking to a House of Commons
National Heritage Select Committee, he said: "I regret Hillsborough. It was a fundamental mistake. The mistake was I believed what an MP said. It was a Tory
MP. If he had not said it and the Chief Superintendent(David Duckenfield) had not agreed with it, we would not have gone with it."
MacKenzie repudiated this apology in November 2006, saying that he only apologised because the newspaper's owner Rupert Murdoch
ordered him to do so. He said, "I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now" for the paper's coverage. MacKenzie refused again to apologise when appearing on the BBC's topical Question Time
on 11 January 2007.
The Sun issued an apology for their treatment of the Hillsborough disaster "without reservation" in a full page opinion piece
on 7 July 2004, saying that it had "committed the most terrible mistake in its history" by publishing it. The Sun was responding to the intense criticism of Wayne Rooney
, a Liverpool-born football star who still played in the city (for Everton, now for Manchester United) who had sold his life story to the newspaper. Rooney's actions had incensed Liverpudlians still angry with The Sun. The Sun's apology was somewhat bullish, saying that the "campaign of hate" against Rooney was organised in part by the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo
, owned by Trinity Mirror
, who also own the Daily Mirror – arch-rivals of The Sun. Thus the apology actually served to anger some Liverpudlians further. The Liverpool Echo itself did not accept the apology, calling it "shabby" and "an attempt, once again, to exploit the Hillsborough dead".
On 6 January 2007, during their team's FA Cup
defeat to Arsenal at Anfield, Liverpool fans in the Kop held up coloured cards spelling out "The Truth" and chanted "Justice for the 96" for six minutes at the start of the game. The protest was directed at Kelvin MacKenzie and The Sun, and at the BBC for employing MacKenzie as a presenter.
Many people in the Liverpool area continue to reject buying The Sun as a matter of principle, and the paper's sales figures within Merseyside remain very poor. It is the only major newspaper not to have articles published on Liverpool's official website. As of 2004, the average daily circulation of The Sun in Liverpool was just 12,000 copies a day. Some Liverpudlians refer to the paper as simply: The Scum.
The controversy was referred to during the 2009 Labour Party conference. On 30 September 2009, after the decision by The Sun to switch its support to the Conservative Party
in advance of the forthcoming general election, Union Leader Tony Woodley
ripped up a copy of The Sun, saying "In Liverpool we learnt a long time ago what to do."
However, subsequent articles in The Sun have since acknowledged that hooliganism was not a cause of the tragedy; on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy (15 April 2009) an article by journalist Mike Ellis
condemned the 1991 inquest verdict of death by misadventure into the deaths of the 95 victims (the 96th victim Tony Bland did not die for another two years after this) as "tosh" and claimed that "death by negligence would have been a more accurate description".
Other corners of the media also pinned the blame for the disaster at least partly on Liverpool fans, including the Daily Star, which ran the front page headline "Dead Fans Robbed By Drunk Thugs" on 18 April 1989. The Sheffield Star
published allegations similar to those in The Sun, running the headline "Fans In Drunken Attacks On Police", and the Liverpool Daily Post
published an article entitled "I Blame the Yobs".
Anger about The Suns reporting of this incident continues to the present day. James Murdoch recently apologised on behalf of The Sun to the phone hacking select committee about this same incident, even though at the time he was only sixteen years old.
in Australia was forced to be withdrawn from sale, and a public apology made in both the Australian and British editions, because it contained jokes mocking the disaster. As a result of the controversy, Emap
Australia pledged to make a donation to the families of the victims.
The Australian editor of FHM, Geoff Campbell, released a statement which read: "We deeply regret the photograph captions published in the November issue of the Australian edition of FHM, accompanying an article about the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. The right course of action is to withdraw this edition from sale – which we will be doing. We have been in contact with the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to express our deep regret and sincere apologies." The British edition disassociated itself from the controversy, stating: "FHM Australia has its own editorial team and these captions were written and published without consultation with the UK edition, or any other edition of FHM."
The vice-chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Philip Hammond, said that he wanted all football fans to boycott the magazine, saying, "I am going to write to every fanzine in the country – including Liverpool FC's – telling them to ban FHM. People are very upset by it. I think there will be a real boycott." He also added that it would be like him making jokes about the 2002 Bali bombings, in which eight fewer Australians were killed than the Hillsborough disaster.
caused controversy when the character Minty Peterson
(played by Cliff Parisi
) made a reference to the disaster. During the episode car mechanic Minty said: "Five years out of Europe because of Heysel
, because they penned you lot in to stop you fighting on the pitch and then what did we end up with? Hillsborough." This prompted 380 complaints and the BBC apologised, saying that the character was simply reminding another character, former football hooligan Jase Dyer
, that the actions of hooligans led to the fencing-in of football fans. Ofcom
also received 177 complaints.
was accused of having shown disrespect towards the Hillsborough victims during the 2009 remembrance ceremony, as he was spotted on camera "smiling and nudging" team-mate Damien Plessis
. Other players and persons in the crowd were seen to be looking directly at Itandje as he was nudging Plessis. He was suspended from the club for a fortnight and many fans felt he should not play for the club again.
used the Hillsborough disaster as a motivation for serial killer
Albie Kinsella (played by actor Robert Carlyle
) in the plot of "To Be A Somebody", the opening story of the second series of the crime drama Cracker
. One of Albie's targets includes a fictional reporter for The Sun, Clare Moody. Albie attempts to butcher Moody in her car during the second act, but she escapes. She is killed at the end of the third and final act when she opens a letter bomb sent by Albie, who has already stabbed to death an Asian shopkeeper, a psychologist, an off-duty police officer and a security guard at a quarry.
"To Be a Somebody" led to a number of complaints; however, McGovern had met with many of the victim's families while researching the episode. He went on to write a television drama about the Hillsborough disaster, which was screened in December 1996 on the ITV
television network in the United Kingdom.
and titled Hillsborough, the drama starred Christopher Eccleston
(who also featured in To Be a Somebody) as Trevor Hicks, whose story formed the focus of the script. Hicks lost his children; teenage daughters Sarah (19), and Victoria (15) in the Hillsborough disaster, and went on to campaign for safer stadiums, as well as helping form the Hillsborough Families Support Group. Other families featured were those of Ian Glover (20) and Adam Spearritt (14). Ricky Tomlinson
was another notable actor to appear in the film, portraying the father of Ian Glover.
Hillsborough has since been screened on two further occasions within the United Kingdom; in 1998, two years after its original screening, and on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster.
In 1997, Hillsborough was awarded both the British Academy of Film and Television Arts
and the Royal Television Society
awards for Best Single Drama (TV) and was listed by the British Film Institute
as #54 in its 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
, published in 2000. The programme inspired the Manic Street Preachers
song "S.Y.M.M. (South Yorkshire Mass Murderer)" on the album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
. The Independent Television Commission
praised Granada for the drama in its annual programme review, describing it as 'arguably the most powerful drama on the screen in 1996'.
Five months after the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, on 7 September 2009, the Hillsborough docu-drama was released on DVD.
Hillsborough Stadium
Hillsborough Stadium is the home of Sheffield Wednesday football club, Sheffield, England. Football has been played at the ground since it was opened on 2 September 1899, when Wednesday moved from their original ground at Olive Grove. Today it is a 39,812 capacity all-seater stadium, making it the...
, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
. It remains the deadliest stadium-related disaster in British history and one of the worst ever international football accidents. It was the second of two stadium-related disasters involving Liverpool supporters, the other being the Heysel Stadium Disaster
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, as a result of rioting before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy...
in 1985.
The match, an FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
, was abandoned six minutes into the game.
The official inquiry into the disaster, the Taylor Report
Taylor Report
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report, better known as the Taylor Report is a document, whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. An interim report was published in August 1989, and the final...
, concluded that "the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control." The findings of the report resulted in the elimination of standing terraces at all major football stadia in both England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Before the disaster
At the time, most United Kingdom football stadiums had placed high steel fencing between the spectators and the pitch, in response to hooliganismFootball hooliganism
Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
which had plagued the sport for several years. Hooliganism was particularly virulent in England, where it often involved pitch invasion
Pitch invasion
A pitch invasion or field invasion, known as rushing the field in the United States, occurs when a crowd of people who are watching a sports game run onto the field, to celebrate or protest about an incident...
s, the throwing of missiles, or both pre- and post-match violence; the Heysel Stadium Disaster
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, as a result of rioting before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy...
is a prominent example, where Liverpool fans themselves were involved. From 1974, when these security standards were largely put in place, English stadiums had an increasing number of crushes.
Hillsborough Stadium was a regular venue for FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
semi-finals during the 1980s, hosting a total of five. A previous crush had occurred at Hillsborough during the 1981 semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
and Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
, causing 38 injuries. This prompted Sheffield Wednesday to alter the design of the Leppings Lane end, dividing it into three separate pens. This was further divided into five pens when Wednesday were promoted to the First Division in 1984. Liverpool and Nottingham Forest had also met at the semi-final stage of the same competition at the same ground the previous year with many Liverpool fans reporting crushing in the Leppings Lane end, leading to Liverpool FC lodging a complaint prior to the 1989 FA Cup Semi-Final.
Build-up
As is usual at all important matches, Hillsborough was segregated between the opposing fans. The police chose to put the Nottingham Forest fans in the Spion Kop End of the ground, which had a capacity of 21,000. The Liverpool supporters were assigned to the Leppings Lane End of the stadium, which could only hold 14,600 fans, even though Liverpool were regarded as having a larger support than Nottingham Forest, as with the opposite arrangement the routes of the opposing fans would have had to have to cross each other. Kick-off for the match was scheduled for 3:00 pm, with fans advised to take up their positions fifteen minutes beforehand. On the day of the match both radio and television advised that supporters without tickets should not attend.It was reported that fans had been delayed by unannounced roadworks on the M62 motorway
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
over the Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
and the resulting road congestion. Between 2:30 pm and 2:40 pm, there was a big build-up of fans in the small area outside the turnstile entrances to the Leppings Lane End, all eager to enter the stadium quickly before the match started.
The crush
The result was that many thousands of fans entering through a narrow tunnel at the rear of the terrace and into the two already overcrowded central pens, caused a huge crush at the front of the terrace. Hundreds of people were pressed against one-another and against the fencing by the weight of the crowd behind them. The people entering were unaware of the problems at the fence; police or stewards would normally have stood at the entrance to the tunnel if the central pens had reached capacity, and would otherwise have directed fans into the side pens, but on this occasion they did not, for reasons which have never been fully explained. A BBC TV news report later stated that if police had posted two police horses correctly, they would have acted as breakwaterBreakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
s directing many fans into side pens, but on this occasion, this was not done.
For some time, the problem at the front of the pen was not noticed by any persons other than those affected as the attention of most people present was absorbed by the match, which by this time had already begun. It was not until 3:06 pm that the referee, Ray Lewis
Ray Lewis (referee)
Ray Lewis is a former referee in the Football League, Premier League and at FIFA level.-Career:Lewis became a Football League linesman in 1969 at the remarkably young age of twenty five. At this point he was based in Bournemouth but he later moved to Great Bookham in Surrey where he served the...
, after being advised by the police, stopped the match after many fans had begun climbing the fence onto the pitch in an effort to escape the crush. By this time, a small gate in the fencing had been forced open and some fans had escaped via this route, as others continued to climb over the fencing, while still other fans were pulled to safety by fellow fans in the West Stand directly above the Leppings Lane terrace. The intensity of the crush had broken the crush barriers on the terraces; later, holes in the perimeter fencing were found to be caused by desperate tearing by fans attempting rescue.
St. John Ambulance
St John Ambulance, branded as St John in some territories, is a common name used by a number of affiliated organisations in different countries dedicated to the teaching and practice of medical first aid and the provision of ambulance services, all of which derive their origins from the St John...
service present at the stadium were overwhelmed. Many uninjured fans helped assist injured fellow fans; with several attempting CPR and others tearing down advertising boards in the ground and using them to act as temporary stretchers.
As these events unfolded, some police officers were still being deployed to make a cordon three-quarters of the way down the pitch, with the aim of preventing Liverpool supporters reaching the Nottingham Forest supporters at the opposite end of the stadium. Some fans tried to break through the police cordon to ferry injured fans to waiting ambulances, and were forcibly turned back. Forty-four ambulances had arrived at the stadium but police prevented all but one from entering.
Only 14 of the 96 fatalities ever arrived at a hospital.
Aftermath
94 people whose ages ranged from 10 to 67 years died on the day, with 766 other fans injured: around 300 of whom were hospitalised. Four days later, on 19 April, the death toll reached 95 when a 14-year-old boy named Lee Nicol – attached to a life support machine – succumbed to the crush injuries he had received at Hillsborough. The final death toll reached 96 in March 1993, when artificial feeding and hydration of 22-year-old Tony BlandTony Bland
Anthony David Bland was a supporter of Liverpool F.C. injured in the Hillsborough disaster. He suffered severe brain damage that left him in a persistent vegetative state whereby the hospital, with the support of his parents, applied for a court order allowing him to 'die with dignity'...
was withdrawn after nearly four years, during which he had been in a persistent vegetative state and shown no sign of improvement.
Andrew Devine, aged 22 at the time of the disaster, suffered similar injuries to Tony Bland and was later diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state
Persistent vegetative state
A persistent vegetative state is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. It is a diagnosis of some uncertainty in that it deals with a syndrome. After four weeks in a vegetative state , the patient is...
, but in March 1997 – a month before the eighth anniversary of the disaster – it was reported that he had emerged from the condition and was now able to communicate using a touch-sensitive pad.
79 of the fatalities were aged 30 or younger. Two sisters and three pairs of brothers, and a father and son were among the fatalities. Also among the dead were two men who were about to become fathers for the first time; 25-year-old Steven Brown of Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
and 30-year-old Peter Thompson of Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...
.
BBC Television's cameras were at the ground to record the match for their Match of the Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
programme, but as the disaster unfolded the events were then relayed to their live sports show, Grandstand
Grandstand (BBC)
Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
, resulting in an extreme emotional impact on the general British population. There was commentary afterwards on television about the lack of administrable oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
and metal-cutting tools, and that there was no way to get ambulances onto the pitch.
Jon-Paul Gilhooley, cousin of current Liverpool F.C. captain Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard MBE is an English footballer who plays for and captains Premier League club Liverpool. He also has 89 caps for the England national team. He has played much of his career in a centre midfielder role, but he has also been used as a second striker and right winger...
, was the youngest person to die at Hillsborough, aged 10. Gerrard has stated that it was this tragedy that has inspired him and led him to lead his boyhood team and reach the heights of his career.
The Taylor inquiry
Following the disaster, Lord Justice TaylorPeter Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth
Peter Murray Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth PC was the Lord Chief Justice of England from 1992 until his premature retirement in 1996, due to poor health which led to his death the following year.-Family:...
was appointed to conduct an inquiry into the disaster. Taylor's inquiry sat for 31 days and published two reports, one interim report that laid out the events of the day and immediate conclusions and one final report that made general recommendations on football ground safety. This became known as the Taylor Report. As a result of the report, fences in front of fans were removed and many of the top stadiums were converted to become all-seated.
Police control
There was considerable debate over some aspects of the disaster; in particular, attention was focused on the decision to open the secondary gates. It was suggested that it would have been better to delay the start of the match as had often been done at other venues and matches. In defence, the police pointed out that the crush outside the stadium was getting out of control.Stadium design
Although it was noted that Hillsborough was considered "one of the best in the country" , Sheffield Wednesday were criticised for the low number of turnstiles at the Leppings Lane End and the poor quality of the crush barriers on the terraces there. However, the Taylor ReportTaylor Report
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report, better known as the Taylor Report is a document, whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. An interim report was published in August 1989, and the final...
stated that the official cause of the disaster was the failure of police control. Due to the low number of turnstiles, it has been estimated that it would have taken until 3:40 pm to get all ticket holders into the Leppings Lane End had an exit gate not been opened. Gate C was opened to let more fans in, but the total number of fans entering the terrace is not thought to have been more than the capacity of the standing area.
The disaster happened because most of the fans entering the terraces headed for the central pens 3 and 4 as directed by the large notice pointing them that way above the tunnel. Normally a police officer or steward would direct fans away from full pens, but on that day this did not happen. There were no stewards in that area at all. The official capacity of these pens was around 2,000, but the Health and Safety Executive
Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland...
later found that this should have been reduced to around 1,600 as the crush barriers did not conform to the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds 1986. It is estimated that more than 3,000 people were in these pens shortly after kick off at 3:00 pm. This overcrowding caused the fatal crush.
Other aggravating factors
There were accusations that the behaviour of the Liverpool fans contributed to the disaster. These centered around consumption of alcohol before the game and attempts to enter the ground without a ticket. Although Lord Taylor acknowledged that these aggravated the situation, they were only secondary factors.Witness estimates of the number of fans who were drunk varied from a minority to a large proportion of the crowd. Although it was clear that many fans had been drinking, Lord Taylor unequivocally stated that most of them were: "not drunk, nor even the worse for drink". He concluded that they only formed an exacerbating factor.
The possibility of fans attempting to gain entry without tickets or with forgeries contributing to the disaster was also suggested. South Yorkshire Police
South Yorkshire Police
South Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England.The police force covers an area of approximately 1,554 square kilometres which is made up of the county's three boroughs , along with the City of Sheffield. The resident population is 1.2...
also suggested that the late arrival of fans amounted to a conspiracy in order to gain entry without tickets. However, analysis of the electronic monitoring system, Health and Safety Executive
Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland...
analysis and eyewitness accounts showed that the total number of people who had already entered the Leppings Lane End was far below the capacity of the stand. Additionally, eye witness reports suggested that tickets were easily available on the day of the game, and that tickets for the Leppings Lane End were still on sale from Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
until the day before the game. The report dismissed the conspiracy theory.
Impact on new stadium safety standards
The Taylor Report has had a deep impact on safety standards for stadia built since its publication until today. Most notably, all new stadia built in the Premier League and most Football League teams since then have been all-seater stadia, the first having been MillwallMillwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...
's New Den
The New Den
The Den , is a football stadium and the home of Millwall FC. It is situated in South Bermondsey, South East London, almost directly adjacent to the railway line between London Bridge and New Cross Gate, plus the SELCHP incinerator. It is under a quarter of a mile away from original Den...
stadium, which opened in 1993. The Deva Stadium of Chester City F.C.
Chester City F.C.
Chester City Football Club was an English football team from Chester. The club was founded as Chester F.C., and joined the Football League in 1931, spending most of their time in the lower divisions. They changed their name to Chester City in 1983. Chester won their first league title in 2004, the...
, opened the year before, had been the first English football stadium to fulfill the safety recommendations of the Taylor Report, although not an all-seater stadium.
Permanent memorials
A number of memorials have been erected in memory of the victims of the Hillsborough tragedyTragedy (event)
A tragedy is an event in which one or more losses, usually of human life, occurs that is viewed as mournful. Such an event is said to be tragic....
, all are listed below:
- Flames were added either side of the Liverpool F.C. crest in memory of the 96 who lost their lives.
- Alongside the Shankly Gates at Anfield, Liverpool's home stadium.
- A memorial at Hillsborough stadium, unveiled on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy on 15 April 1999, reads: In memory of the 96 men, women, and children who tragically died and the countless people whose lives were changed forever. FA Cup semi-final Liverpool v Nottingham Forest. 15 April 1989. "You’ll never walk alone."
- A memorial stone in the pavement on the south side of Liverpool's Anglican cathedralLiverpool CathedralLiverpool Cathedral is the Church of England cathedral of the Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool and is the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool but it is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
. - A headstone at the junction of Middlewood Road, Leppings Lane and Wadsley Lane, near the ground and by the Sheffield SupertramSheffield SupertramThe Supertram, officially called the Stagecoach Supertram, is a light rail tram system in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England...
route. - A Hillsborough Memorial Rose Garden in Port SunlightPort SunlightPort Sunlight is a model village, suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Between 1894 and 1974 it formed part of Bebington urban district within the county of Cheshire...
, WirralWirral PeninsulaWirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
. - A memorial rose garden on Sudley EstateSudley HouseSudley House, Aigburth, Liverpool, England is an art gallery which contains the collection of George Holt in its original setting. It includes work by Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, Edwin Landseer, John Everett Millais and J. M. W...
in South Liverpool (also known as the APH). Each of the six rose beds has a centre piece of a white standard rose, surrounded by the red variety, named 'Liverpool Remember'. There are brass memorial plaques on both sets of gates to the garden, and a sundial inscribed with the words: 'Time Marches On But We Will Always Remember. - In the grounds of Crosby LibraryCrosby, MerseysideCrosby is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Lancashire it is situated north of Bootle, south of Southport, Formby and west of Netherton-History:...
, to the memory of the 18 football fans from Sefton who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster. The memorial, sited in a raised rose bed containing the Liverpool Remembers red rose, is made of black granite. It is inscribed 'In loving memory of the 96 football supporters who died at Hillsborough, Sheffield on 15 April 1989. Of those who lost their lives the following young men were from Sefton families'. The memorial was unveiled on 4 October 1991 (before the final death toll reached 96 on the death of Tony BlandTony BlandAnthony David Bland was a supporter of Liverpool F.C. injured in the Hillsborough disaster. He suffered severe brain damage that left him in a persistent vegetative state whereby the hospital, with the support of his parents, applied for a court order allowing him to 'die with dignity'...
) by the Mayor of Sefton, Councillor Syd Whitby. The project was carried out by the Council after consultation with the Sefton Survivors Group.
On Portland, Dorset on one of the coastal walks there is a stone that is dedicated to the '96'
Memorial ceremonies
The tragedy has been acknowledged on 15 April each year by the community of Liverpool and football in general. An annual memorial ceremony is held at Anfield and at a church in Liverpool. The 10th and 20th anniversaries were marked by special services to remember the 96 victims.Since 2007 there has been a Hillsborough Memorial service held at Spion Kop, KZN South Africa. The significance of this particular ceremony is that it is held on the Spion Kop Battlefield which gave its name to the Kop Stand at Anfield. There is also a permanent memorial to the 96 fans who died, in the form of a bench, positioned in view of the battlefield at a nearby lodge. Dean Davis and David Walters, members of the Official South African Liverpool Supporters Club (Gauteng Branch), are responsible for the creation of the service and the bench was commissioned by Guy Prowse in 2008.
Tenth anniversary
In 1999 Anfield was packed with a crowd of around 10,000 people ten years on from the disaster. An individual candle was lit for each of the 96 people killed. The clock at the Kop End stood still at 3:06 pm, the exact time that the referee had blown his whistle in 1989 and the ground held a minute's silence, signalled by the match referee from that day, Ray LewisRay Lewis (referee)
Ray Lewis is a former referee in the Football League, Premier League and at FIFA level.-Career:Lewis became a Football League linesman in 1969 at the remarkably young age of twenty five. At this point he was based in Bournemouth but he later moved to Great Bookham in Surrey where he served the...
. A service was led by the Right Reverend James Jones
James Stuart Jones
James Stuart Jones is a British Anglican bishop. He is currently the Bishop of Liverpool.The son of Major Stuart Jones and Helen Jones, he was educated in the Duke of York's Royal Military School, Dover and Exeter University, where received a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology in 1970...
, the Bishop of Liverpool
Bishop of Liverpool
The Bishop of Liverpool is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool in the Province of York.The diocese stretches from Southport in the north, to Widnes in the south, and from the River Mersey to Wigan in the east. Its see is in the City of Liverpool at the Cathedral Church of...
and was attended by past and present Liverpool players, including Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler is an English footballer who is currently player/manager for Thai Premier League club Muangthong United....
, Steve McManaman
Steve McManaman
Steven McManaman is a retired English footballer who played as a midfielder, winger and playmaker. Having spent his playing career at two of European football's most successful clubs of the 20th century, Liverpool and Real Madrid, as well as a spell at Manchester City, McManaman is the most...
and Alan Hansen
Alan Hansen
Alan David Hansen is a Scottish former football player and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, Liverpool and Scotland...
. According to the BBC report: "The names of the victims were read from the memorial book and floral tributes were laid at a plaque bearing their names." A gospel choir performed and the ceremony ended with a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone (song)
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the...
". The anniversary was also marked by a minute's silence at the weekend's league games and FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
semi-finals.
Twentieth anniversary
In 2009, on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, Liverpool were granted their request that their Champions League quarter-finals return leg, scheduled for 15 April, be played the day before (at ChelseaChelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
, 4–4).
The event was remembered with another ceremony at Anfield attended by over 28,000 people. The Kop, Centenary and Main Stands were opened early to the public before part of the Anfield Road End was opened to supporters. The memorial service, led by the Rt Reverend James Jones began at 14:45 BST
British Summer Time
Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in the following places:* the Canary Islands* Portugal * Ireland...
and a two minutes silence (observed across Liverpool and in Sheffield and Nottingham, including public transport coming to a stand-still) was held at the exact time of the disaster twenty years earlier, 15:06 BST. The Sports Minister Andy Burnham addressed the crowd but was heckled by supporters chanting "Justice for the 96". The ceremony was attended by survivors of the tragedy, the families of victims and the current Liverpool team, with goalkeeper Pepe Reina leading the team and managerial team onto the pitch. One of the main events of the ceremony was when team captain Steven Gerrard and vice-captain Jamie Carragher
Jamie Carragher
James Lee Duncan "Jamie" Carragher is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League side Liverpool...
handed over freedom of the city
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
to the families of all the victims. Candles were lit for each of the 96 fatalities. Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
, the manager at the time of the disaster, read a passage from the Bible, "Lamentations of Jeremiah". The Liverpool manager at that time, Rafael Benítez
Rafael Benítez
Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudes is a football manager, and former player. He is currently unemployed, after leaving as manager of Internazionale in December 2010....
, was also on hand to set 96 balloons free. The ceremony ended with 96 rings of the church bell across the city of Liverpool and a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone".
Other services took place at the same time, including at Liverpool's Anglican
Liverpool Cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral is the Church of England cathedral of the Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool and is the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool but it is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
and Catholic Cathedrals
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Christ the King is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Liverpool and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool. The Metropolitan Cathedral is one of two cathedrals in the city...
. After the two minutes' silence, bells on civic buildings rang out throughout Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
.
A song was also released to mark the 20th Anniversary, entitled "Fields of Anfield Road" which peaked at #14 in the UK charts.
Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
and Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
players showed their respects by wearing black armbands during their Champions League matches on 14 and 15 April.
On 14 May, more than 20,000 people packed Anfield for a match held in memory of the 96. The Liverpool Legends, comprising ex-Liverpool footballers beat the All Stars, captained by actor Ricky Tomlinson
Ricky Tomlinson
Eric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....
by 3–1. The event marked the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and raised cash for the Marina Dalglish Appeal which will be put towards a new radiotherapy centre at University Hospital in Aintree.
With the imminent release of police documents relating to events on 15 April 1989, the Hillsborough Family Support Group launched Project 96, a new fundraising initiative on 1 August 2009. At least 96 current and former Liverpool footballers are being lined up to raise £96,000 through the auctioning of limited edition (of 96) signed photographs.
Tributes from other clubs
The Hillsborough disaster touched not only Liverpool themselves, but also clubs in England and around the world as well. In particular, supporters of EvertonEverton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
, Liverpool's traditional local rivals, were affected by the tragedy, many of them having lost friends and family. They laid down flowers and blue & white scarves to show their respect for the dead and unity with their fellow Merseysiders shortly afterwards.
On 19 April 1989, the Wednesday after the disaster, a European Cup semi final between AC Milan and Real Madrid
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
was played. The referee blew his whistle 3:06 minutes into the game to stop play and hold a minute's silence for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough. Half way through the minute's silence, the A.C. Milan fans sang Liverpool's "You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone (song)
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the...
" as a sign of respect.
Also in April 1989, Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
and Lincoln City F.C.
Lincoln City F.C.
Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....
held a friendly to benefit the victims of Hillsborough. It was their first meeting since the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 that claimed 56 lives at Valley Parade
Valley Parade
Valley Parade, also known as the Coral Windows Stadium through sponsorship rights, is an all-seater football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1886, and was the home of Manningham Rugby Football Club until 1903, when they changed code from rugby football to association...
. Bradford won the match, 3-1.
As a result of the disaster, Liverpool's game against Arsenal
Liverpool 0–2 Arsenal (26 May 1989)
The final match of the 1988–89 English Football League season was contested on 26 May 1989, between Liverpool and Arsenal, at Liverpool's Anfield ground. By sheer coincidence, it was the match between the top two teams in the First Division and the teams were close enough on points for the match to...
was delayed to the end of the season and eventually decided the league title. The Arsenal players brought flowers onto the pitch and presented them to the Liverpool fans around the stadium before the game. Arsenal won the game 2 – 0 and thus claimed the league title.
In 2006, Celtic F.C.
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
fans produced a banner featuring the Liverpool crest and the Celtic crest with a flame in the middle surrounded by the words 'Justice For The 96, You'll Never Walk Alone and presented it to the Kopites during their Champions League quarter-finals return leg
(vs PSV Eindhoven, 1–0) at Anfield.
On 11 April 2009 Liverpool fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" as a tribute to the upcoming anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy. This was prior to their home game against Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
(which ended in Liverpool winning 4–0) and was followed by the former Liverpool player, now at Aston Villa, Stephen Warnock
Stephen Warnock
Stephen Warnock is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa as a left-back.He has been capped by England twice and was part of the nation's squad at the 2010 FIFA World Cup...
presenting a memorial wreath to the Kop showing the figure 96 in red flowers.
Charity Single
In May 1989, a charity version of the song "Ferry Cross the MerseyFerry Cross the Mersey
"Ferry Cross the Mersey" is a song written by Gerry Marsden. It was first recorded by his band Gerry and the Pacemakers and released in late 1964 in the UK and in 1965 in the United States. It was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching number six in the United States and number eight in the...
" was released in aid of those affected by the disaster. The song featured famed Liverpudlians Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and Gerry Marsden
Gerry Marsden
Gerard "Gerry" Marsden is an English musician and television personality, best known for being leader of the British band Gerry & the Pacemakers.-Biography:...
and other popular artists of the time. The song was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
and reached #1 on the UK and Irish charts.
Inquests
The process of inquests into the deaths of those who died at Hillsborough proved controversial. The coronerCoroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
, Dr Stefan Popper, limited the main inquest to events up until 3:15 pm on the day of the disaster – just nine minutes after the match was halted and the crowd began to spill onto the pitch. Popper said this was because all of the victims were either dead, or brain dead, by 3:15 pm. This decision angered the families of the victims, many of whom felt this meant the inquest was not able to consider the response of the police and the other emergency services after that time. The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.
Relatives have failed in their attempts to have the inquest reopened, to allow for more scrutiny of the police actions at Hillsborough, as well as closer examination of the circumstances of individual cases. Anne Williams, who lost her 15-year-old son, Kevin Williams, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
, on the strength of witness statements that her son was still showing signs of life at 4:00 pm. Her case was rejected in March 2009.
It was announced on 19 April 2009 that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith is a member of the British Labour Party. She served as the Member of Parliament for Redditch from 1997 until 2010 and was the first ever female Home Secretary, thus making her the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher and...
had requested that secret files concerning the disaster should be made public.
On 8 March 2011 the Hillsborough Independent Panel announced that they would examine previously-hidden documents to determine what took place after the 3:15 pm cutoff imposed during the inquest of 1991. A HIP spokesman said: “We have a wide remit to analyse all documents relating to the context, circumstances and consequences of the tragedy and its aftermath.”
Following a Governmental e-petition which had reached over 139,000 signatories on 17 October 2011, Parliament has agreed to debate the full release to the public of Cabinet documents relating to the disaster.
During this debate in the House of Commons the Labour
Labour
Labor might refer to:*Labor, an obsolete unit of area*Josef Labor, a composer, pianist, organist, and teacher*Labor, SloveniaLabour or labor might refer to:* Employment of any kind* Manual labour, physical work done by people...
MP for Liverpool Walton Steve Rotherham, read out a list of all the victims of the tragedy and, as a result, these names will now be entered into Hansard
Hansard
Hansard is the name of the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, an early printer and publisher of these transcripts.-Origins:...
- the official publication of printed scripts of all House of Commons debates.
Link to article -
Full transcript of speech in Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is Liverpool's evening newspaper while its sister paper, the Liverpool Daily Post, is the morning paper...
newspaper -
Prosecution
A private prosecution was brought against David Duckenfield and another officer on duty, Bernard Murray. Prosecutor Alun JonesAlun Jones
Alun Jones may refer to:*Alun Jones , also known as "Alun Cilie"*Alun Jones *Alun Jones , Welsh writer*Al Jones, born Alun Jones, UK folk-rock musician*Alun Jones, Baron Chalfont , British politician...
QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
told the court that Chief Superintendent
Chief Superintendent
Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces organised on the British model.- United Kingdom :In the British police, a chief superintendent is senior to a superintendent and junior to an assistant chief constable .The highest rank below Chief Officer level, chief...
David Duckenfield gave the order to open gates that allowed hundreds of fans to flood on to the already crowded terraces at the Hillsborough stadium. Mr Jones then stated that minutes after the disaster,
Norman Bettison
Sir Norman George Bettison, QPM is a British police officer and the current Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.-Education:...
, were accused of manipulating evidence. Bettison was later to be appointed Chief Constable
Chief Constable
Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
of Merseyside in controversial circumstances. The prosecution was abandoned when Duckenfield's doctor declared him unfit to stand trial due to illness. Because he was unavailable, it was decided that it would be unfair to proceed with the charges against Bernard Murray. Duckenfield took medical retirement on a full police pension.
Psychiatric injury claims
Various negligence cases were brought against the police by spectators who had been at the ground on the day, but had not been in the pens, and by people who had watched the incident unfolding on television (or heard about it on the radio). A case, Alcock and others v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 A.C. 310, was eventually appealed to the Appellate Committee of the House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and was an important milestone in the law of claims of secondary victims for negligently inflicted psychiatric injury. It was held that claimants who watched the disaster on television/listened on radio were not 'proximal' and their claims were rejected.
Another psychiatric injury claim was also brought to the House of Lords, White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 A.C. 455. It was brought by the police officers on duty on that day against the Chief Constable who was said to have been vicariously liable for the disaster. Their claims were dismissed and the Alcock decision was upheld. It affirmed the position of the courts once again towards claims of psychiatric injuries of secondary victims.
The Sun newspaper
On the Wednesday following the disaster, Kelvin MacKenzieKelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin Calder MacKenzie is an English media executive and former newspaper editor. He is best known for being editor of The Sun newspaper between 1981 and 1994, an era in which the paper was established as Britain's best selling newspaper.- Biography :MacKenzie was educated at Alleyn's School...
, then editor of The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, a British tabloid newspaper with national distribution owned by Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
, used the front page headline "THE TRUTH", with three sub-headlines: "Some fans picked pockets of victims", "Some fans urinated on the brave cops" and "Some fans beat up PC
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
giving kiss of life
Artificial respiration
Artificial respiration is the act of assisting or stimulating respiration, a metabolic process referring to the overall exchange of gases in the body by pulmonary ventilation, external respiration, and internal respiration...
".
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for information relating to the alleged incidents.
The story accompanying these headlines claimed that "drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims" and "police officers, firemen and ambulance crew were punched, kicked and urinated upon". A quotation, attributed to an unnamed policeman, claimed a dead girl had been "abused", and that Liverpool fans were "openly urinating on us and the bodies of the dead". These allegations contradicted the reported behaviour of many Liverpool fans, who actively helped the security personnel to stretcher away a large number of victims and gave first aid to many injured.
In their history of The Sun, Peter Chippendale and Chris Horrie wrote:
As MacKenzie's layout was seen by more and more people, a collective shudder ran through the office (but) MacKenzie's dominance was so total there was nobody left in the organisation who could rein him in except Murdoch. (Everyone in the office) seemed paralysed – "looking like rabbits in the headlights" – as one hack described them. The error staring them in the face was too glaring. It obviously wasn't a silly mistake; nor was it a simple oversight. Nobody really had any comment on it—they just took one look and went away shaking their heads in wonder at the enormity of it. It was a 'classic smear'.
Following The Sun
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...
with a newsagent attempting to give away copies of The Sun, but every customer declined. Eventually, Sayle and the newsagent took the copies outside and, despite the newsagent's concern, set them alight.
MacKenzie explained his reporting in 1993. Talking to a House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
National Heritage Select Committee, he said: "I regret Hillsborough. It was a fundamental mistake. The mistake was I believed what an MP said. It was a Tory
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP. If he had not said it and the Chief Superintendent
MacKenzie repudiated this apology in November 2006, saying that he only apologised because the newspaper's owner Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
ordered him to do so. He said, "I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now" for the paper's coverage. MacKenzie refused again to apologise when appearing on the BBC's topical Question Time
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
on 11 January 2007.
The Sun issued an apology for their treatment of the Hillsborough disaster "without reservation" in a full page opinion piece
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
on 7 July 2004, saying that it had "committed the most terrible mistake in its history" by publishing it. The Sun was responding to the intense criticism of Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
, a Liverpool-born football star who still played in the city (for Everton, now for Manchester United) who had sold his life story to the newspaper. Rooney's actions had incensed Liverpudlians still angry with The Sun. The Sun's apology was somewhat bullish, saying that the "campaign of hate" against Rooney was organised in part by the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo
Liverpool Daily Post & Echo
The Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Daily Post are two newspapers published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. They are published Monday to Saturday, the Echo being Liverpool's evening newspaper while the Daily Post, published in Merseyside, Cheshire, and North Wales editions, is the...
, owned by Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Its headquarters are at Canary Wharf in...
, who also own the Daily Mirror – arch-rivals of The Sun. Thus the apology actually served to anger some Liverpudlians further. The Liverpool Echo itself did not accept the apology, calling it "shabby" and "an attempt, once again, to exploit the Hillsborough dead".
On 6 January 2007, during their team's FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
defeat to Arsenal at Anfield, Liverpool fans in the Kop held up coloured cards spelling out "The Truth" and chanted "Justice for the 96" for six minutes at the start of the game. The protest was directed at Kelvin MacKenzie and The Sun, and at the BBC for employing MacKenzie as a presenter.
Many people in the Liverpool area continue to reject buying The Sun as a matter of principle, and the paper's sales figures within Merseyside remain very poor. It is the only major newspaper not to have articles published on Liverpool's official website. As of 2004, the average daily circulation of The Sun in Liverpool was just 12,000 copies a day. Some Liverpudlians refer to the paper as simply: The Scum.
The controversy was referred to during the 2009 Labour Party conference. On 30 September 2009, after the decision by The Sun to switch its support to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
in advance of the forthcoming general election, Union Leader Tony Woodley
Tony Woodley
Anthony Woodley is a British trade unionist who was the Joint-General Secretary of the Unite union which was formed through the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union in 2007...
ripped up a copy of The Sun, saying "In Liverpool we learnt a long time ago what to do."
However, subsequent articles in The Sun have since acknowledged that hooliganism was not a cause of the tragedy; on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy (15 April 2009) an article by journalist Mike Ellis
Mike Ellis
Mike Ellis is a retired Australian professional basketball player in the National Basketball League. He was the first captain of the Perth Wildcats when they formed in 1982 as the Westate Wildcats and captained the side from 1982 to 1992. He led the team to successive championships in 1990 and...
condemned the 1991 inquest verdict of death by misadventure into the deaths of the 95 victims (the 96th victim Tony Bland did not die for another two years after this) as "tosh" and claimed that "death by negligence would have been a more accurate description".
Other corners of the media also pinned the blame for the disaster at least partly on Liverpool fans, including the Daily Star, which ran the front page headline "Dead Fans Robbed By Drunk Thugs" on 18 April 1989. The Sheffield Star
Sheffield Star
The Star, often known as the Sheffield Star is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid in 1989...
published allegations similar to those in The Sun, running the headline "Fans In Drunken Attacks On Police", and the Liverpool Daily Post
Liverpool Daily Post
The Liverpool Daily Post is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Friday and is published in Merseyside, Cheshire, and North Wales editions, and is a morning paper...
published an article entitled "I Blame the Yobs".
Anger about The Suns reporting of this incident continues to the present day. James Murdoch recently apologised on behalf of The Sun to the phone hacking select committee about this same incident, even though at the time he was only sixteen years old.
FHM
The November 2002 edition of FHMFHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
in Australia was forced to be withdrawn from sale, and a public apology made in both the Australian and British editions, because it contained jokes mocking the disaster. As a result of the controversy, Emap
EMAP
Emap Limited is a British media company, specialising in the production of business-to-business magazines, and the organisation of business events and conferences...
Australia pledged to make a donation to the families of the victims.
The Australian editor of FHM, Geoff Campbell, released a statement which read: "We deeply regret the photograph captions published in the November issue of the Australian edition of FHM, accompanying an article about the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. The right course of action is to withdraw this edition from sale – which we will be doing. We have been in contact with the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to express our deep regret and sincere apologies." The British edition disassociated itself from the controversy, stating: "FHM Australia has its own editorial team and these captions were written and published without consultation with the UK edition, or any other edition of FHM."
The vice-chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Philip Hammond, said that he wanted all football fans to boycott the magazine, saying, "I am going to write to every fanzine in the country – including Liverpool FC's – telling them to ban FHM. People are very upset by it. I think there will be a real boycott." He also added that it would be like him making jokes about the 2002 Bali bombings, in which eight fewer Australians were killed than the Hillsborough disaster.
EastEnders
In November 2007, the BBC soap opera EastEndersEastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
caused controversy when the character Minty Peterson
Minty Peterson
Richard "Rick" Peterson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Cliff Parisi. He made his first appearance on 11 March 2002. His nickname was given to him because he was always late for work, turning up "after eight" when he was an apprentice mechanic...
(played by Cliff Parisi
Cliff Parisi
Cliff Parisi is an English actor of Italian descent, largely recognised for his performance as Rick 'Minty' Peterson in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.-Career:...
) made a reference to the disaster. During the episode car mechanic Minty said: "Five years out of Europe because of Heysel
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, as a result of rioting before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy...
, because they penned you lot in to stop you fighting on the pitch and then what did we end up with? Hillsborough." This prompted 380 complaints and the BBC apologised, saying that the character was simply reminding another character, former football hooligan Jase Dyer
Jase Dyer
Jason "Jase" Dyer is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Stephen Lord between 2007 and 2008. The character was killed off in the serial, making his final credited appearance on 29 August 2008.-Storylines:...
, that the actions of hooligans led to the fencing-in of football fans. Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
also received 177 complaints.
Charles Itandje
Liverpool reserve goalkeeper Charles ItandjeCharles Itandje
Charles-Hubert Itandje is a footballer who plays for Atromitos as a goalkeeper.-RC Lens :Born in Bobigny, Paris of Cameroonian descent, Itandje began his professional career at French club RC Lens in 2001, for whom he made 170 league appearances and 21 appearances in European games...
was accused of having shown disrespect towards the Hillsborough victims during the 2009 remembrance ceremony, as he was spotted on camera "smiling and nudging" team-mate Damien Plessis
Damien Plessis
Damien Plessis is a French footballer of Réunionais origin, who plays for Greek side Panathinaikos. He is also the younger brother of professional footballer Guillaume Plessis.-Olympique Lyonnais:...
. Other players and persons in the crowd were seen to be looking directly at Itandje as he was nudging Plessis. He was suspended from the club for a fortnight and many fans felt he should not play for the club again.
Jeremy Hunt
On 28 June 2010, following England's departure from the World Cup competition in South Africa, the UK's Culture and Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt praised the England fans for their behaviour during the competition, saying "I mean, not a single arrest for a football-related offence, and the terrible problems that we had in Heysel and Hillsborough in the 1980s seem now to be behind us." He later apologised and said "I know that fan unrest played no part in the terrible events of April 1989 and I apologise to Liverpool fans and the families of those killed and injured in the Hillsborough disaster if my comments caused any offence." Margaret Aspinall, chairperson of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, asked for a face to face meeting with Mr Hunt before deciding if she would accept the apology.Cracker: "To Be A Somebody" television drama
In 1994, Liverpudlian scriptwriter Jimmy McGovernJimmy McGovern
Jimmy McGovern is a BAFTA award-winning English television scriptwriter from Liverpool.-Early career:McGovern started his career working on Channel 4's soap opera Brookside in 1982, tackling many social issues such as unemployment.-Successes:...
used the Hillsborough disaster as a motivation for serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Albie Kinsella (played by actor Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
) in the plot of "To Be A Somebody", the opening story of the second series of the crime drama Cracker
Cracker (UK TV series)
Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series is centered on a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consists of three series which were...
. One of Albie's targets includes a fictional reporter for The Sun, Clare Moody. Albie attempts to butcher Moody in her car during the second act, but she escapes. She is killed at the end of the third and final act when she opens a letter bomb sent by Albie, who has already stabbed to death an Asian shopkeeper, a psychologist, an off-duty police officer and a security guard at a quarry.
"To Be a Somebody" led to a number of complaints; however, McGovern had met with many of the victim's families while researching the episode. He went on to write a television drama about the Hillsborough disaster, which was screened in December 1996 on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
television network in the United Kingdom.
Hillsborough television drama
Produced for the network by Granada TelevisionGranada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
and titled Hillsborough, the drama starred Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
(who also featured in To Be a Somebody) as Trevor Hicks, whose story formed the focus of the script. Hicks lost his children; teenage daughters Sarah (19), and Victoria (15) in the Hillsborough disaster, and went on to campaign for safer stadiums, as well as helping form the Hillsborough Families Support Group. Other families featured were those of Ian Glover (20) and Adam Spearritt (14). Ricky Tomlinson
Ricky Tomlinson
Eric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....
was another notable actor to appear in the film, portraying the father of Ian Glover.
Hillsborough has since been screened on two further occasions within the United Kingdom; in 1998, two years after its original screening, and on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster.
In 1997, Hillsborough was awarded both the British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
and the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
awards for Best Single Drama (TV) and was listed by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
as #54 in its 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
, published in 2000. The programme inspired the Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
song "S.Y.M.M. (South Yorkshire Mass Murderer)" on the album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours is the fifth album by Welsh band Manic Street Preachers. It was released in September 1998 on Epic Records, and in the United States the following year, on Virgin Records.- Background :...
. The Independent Television Commission
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
praised Granada for the drama in its annual programme review, describing it as 'arguably the most powerful drama on the screen in 1996'.
Five months after the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, on 7 September 2009, the Hillsborough docu-drama was released on DVD.
Topics
- Crowd controlCrowd controlCrowd control is the controlling of a crowd, to prevent the outbreak of disorder and prevention of possible riot. Examples are at soccer matches, when a sale of goods has attracted an excess of customers, refugee control, or mass decontamination and mass quarantine situations . It calls for gentler...
- Crowd control barrierCrowd control barrierCrowd control barriers , are commonly used at many public events. They are frequently visible at sporting events, parades, political rallies, demonstrations, and outdoor festivals...
- Crowd manipulationCrowd manipulationCrowd manipulation is the intentional use of techniques based on the principles of crowd psychology to engage, control, or influence the desires of a crowd in order to direct its behavior toward a specific action. This practice is common to politics and business and can facilitate the approval or...
- Football culture
- Herd instinct
- Youth culture
Specific events, in chronological order
- Burnden Park disasterBurnden Park disasterThe Burnden Park Disaster was a human crush that occurred on 9 March 1946 at Burnden Park football stadium, the home of Bolton Wanderers. The crush resulted in the deaths of 33 people and injuries to hundreds of Bolton fans...
– A 1946 crowd crush in Bolton which killed 33 people due to lack of crowd control. - 1955 Le Mans disaster1955 Le Mans disasterThe 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race, when a crash caused large parts of racing car debris to fly into the crowd. The driver was killed, as were 83 spectators. A further 120 people were injured...
– 84 people were killed, along with driver Pierre LeveghPierre LeveghPierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin was a French sportsman and racing driver. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh in memory of his uncle, a pioneering driver who died in 1904...
(most in auto racing history) - Ibrox disasterIbrox disasterThe Ibrox disaster refers to two accidents, in 1902 and 1971, which led to major loss of life at the Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.-First Ibrox disaster:...
– A 1971 crowd crush in Glasgow following the failure of crowd control barriers, killing 66 and injuring over 200. - Riverfront Coliseum stampede1979 The Who concert disasterThe 1979 Who concert disastertook place at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio on 3 December 1979, as part of the band's U.S. tour, the first in three years...
– 11 fans were crushed to death and dozens injured during a 1979 rock concert by The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
in Cincinnati, Ohio. - Luzhniki DisasterLuzhniki disasterThe Luzhniki disaster was a deadly human crush that took place at Lenin stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union during the UEFA Cup second round match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem on 20 October 1982. The official death toll to this day is 67, although many claim it to be as high as 340...
– a similar crush which happened in Moscow in October 1982, news of which was suppressed for 7 years; 66 fans are officially recorded as having died, with unofficial estimates as high as 340. - Bradford City stadium fire – A fire in one of the stands of Valley ParadeValley ParadeValley Parade, also known as the Coral Windows Stadium through sponsorship rights, is an all-seater football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1886, and was the home of Manningham Rugby Football Club until 1903, when they changed code from rugby football to association...
during a 1985 match between Bradford City A.F.C.Bradford City A.F.C.Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
and Lincoln City F.C.Lincoln City F.C.Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....
led to a crush as fans tried to escape. 56 people died, and at least 265 were injured. - Kathmandu Stadium DisasterKathmandu stadium disasterThe Kathmandu Stadium Disaster occurred on 12 March 1988 in Kathmandu, Nepal, as at least 93 people were killed and 100 more were injured when fans attempted to flee from a hailstorm inside the national football stadium. The stadium was open terrace on three sides with the west side having the only...
, Nepal. On 12 March 1988 at least 93 people were killed and 100 more were injured when fans attempted to flee from a hailstorm inside the stadium. - Orkney Stadium DisasterOrkney Stadium DisasterThe Orkney Stadium Disaster at the Oppenheimer Stadium in the city of Orkney, North West Province, South Africa was the second worst sporting incident in South African history, with 42 deaths....
– a 1991 riot in South Africa which caused 42 deaths at a football match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. - Accra Sports Stadium DisasterAccra Sports Stadium disasterThe Accra Sports Stadium disaster occurred at the Accra Sports Stadium, Accra, Ghana on May 9, 2001. It took the lives of 127 people, making it the worst stadium disaster to have ever taken place in Africa. It occurred during a match between Ghana's two most successful football teams, Accra Hearts...
– a 2001 stampede at a football match in Accra, which caused 127 deaths. - Ellis Park Stadium DisasterEllis Park Stadium disasterThe Ellis Park Stadium disaster was the worst sporting accident in South African history. On 11 April 2001, spectators poured into the Ellis Park Stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa for the local derby football match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates...
– a 2001 stampede in Johannesburg, also at a match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, which left 43 people dead and 158 injured. - 2009 Birmingham, Millennium Point stampede in which a pop-concert in Birmingham left 60 injured (4 critically) after a stampede by fans.
- Love Parade disaster – On 24 July 2010, 21 people were killed and another 510 were injured during a human crush in Duisburg, Germany, at the Love Parade 2010 electronic music festival.
Further reading
- Ground safety and public order: Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, report of Joint Working Party on Ground Safety and Public Order (Report/Joint Executive on Football Safety); Joint Working Party on Ground Safety and Public Order; ISBN 0-901783-73-0
- No Last Rights: The Denial of Justice and the Promotion of Myth in the Aftermath of the Hillsborough Disaster; Phil Scraton, Ann Jemphrey and Sheila Coleman ISBN 0-904517-30-6
- Hillsborough: The Truth; Phil Scraton; ISBN 1-84018-156-7
- 'Death on the Terraces: The Contexts and Injustices of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster' Phil Scraton in P. Darby eta al (eds) Soccer and Disaster: International Perspectives ISBN 0-7146-8289-6
- Scrutiny of Evidence Relating to the Hillsborough Football Stadium Disaster (Command Paper); Home OfficeHome OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
; ISBN 0-10-138782-2 - Sports Stadia After Hillsborough: Seminar Papers; RIBARibaRiba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...
, Sports Council, Owen LuderOwen LuderOwen Luder, CBE is a British architect who designed a number of notable and sometimes controversial buildings in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s...
(Ed.); ISBN 0-947877-72-X - The Day of the Hillsborough Disaster; Rogan Taylor (Ed.), Andrew Ward (Ed.), Tim NewburnTim NewburnWilliam Henry Timothy Newburn is an academic, specialising in criminology and policing. He was president of the British Society of Criminology from 2005-2008, director of the Mannheim Centre for Criminology from 2003-2008 and is currently head of the Department of Social Policy at the London...
(Ed.); ISBN 0-85323-199-0 - The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, 15 April 1989: Inquiry by Lord Justice Taylor (Cm.: 765); Peter TaylorPeter Taylor, Baron Taylor of GosforthPeter Murray Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth PC was the Lord Chief Justice of England from 1992 until his premature retirement in 1996, due to poor health which led to his death the following year.-Family:...
; ISBN 0-10-107652-5 - The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster: Inquiry Final Report (Command Paper); Home OfficeHome OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
; ISBN 0-10-109622-4 - Words of tribute: An anthology of 95 poems written after the Hillsborough tragedy, 15 April 1989; ISBN 1-871474-18-3
- The Hillsborough Football Disaster: Context & Consequences; ISBN 978-0-9562275-0-8
External links
- Liverpool Football Club Hillsborough Memorial
- An extensive 20 minute video of the disaster in windows media player format.
- Official Website of the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) Under Construction (flash required)
- Official Fundraising Website of the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) : Project 96
- Official website of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC)
- BBC News On this Day
- HFD – A brief but fact filled reposte of the myths of the hillsborough disaster.
- Collection of Hillsborough disaster articles on LFC Online
- Detailed transcript of The Sun newspaper coverage of the Hillsborough disaster.
- Fields of Anfield Road details
- Names of the dead and facts about their lives read on 14 October 2009 from 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square by final participant in Anthony Gormley's One and Other project.
- List of archive and library material relating to the disaster held at Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives.
- Bibliography of over 150 books, journal articles, TV programmes and websites relating to the Disaster and its aftermath produced by Sheffield City Council's Archives Service.
- The Hillsborough Disaster 1989