Hillsborough - 20 Years on…

20th Apr

Hillsborough - 20 Years on…

Twenty years on and questions still remain about the role played by the South Yorkshire police in the horrific tragedy which occurred at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium on April 15^th 1989, claiming the lives of 96 Liverpool football fans.

I remember the day it happened. I just cannot believe 20 years have passed. Seeing the pictures in newspapers and reading the eye witness accounts of the day that changed football brought it all back to me.

As a young football fan who had stood on the Leppings Lane terrace for an FA Cup quarter-final and the ground’s much bigger Kop End for the semi-final two years earlier to see my beloved Coventry City, I sat glued to our television screen as the gruesome event unfolded before my eyes.

Within what seemed like minutes the explanation being given for the disaster was that drunken Liverpool hooligans with no tickets had stormed the ground leading to a deadly crush in the two central pens of the crumbling concrete terrace.

The sheer scale of the tragedy brought tears to my eyes as I tried to understand what was happening. In the days that followed the official line was drummed into us that these ‘fans’ had smashed down a gate and rushed the tiny corridor which lead to the terrace.

Stories then emerged of fans robbing the dead, urinating on those trying to help the injured and even abusing police officers as they attempted to revive the men, women and children on the brink of death. Now that I know better, I feel ashamed for believing this to be the truth.

But as a young fan – I was 21 at the time - I had been to grounds where intimidation and stand-offs between police and fans was the norm. I had even stood on Anfield’s Kop End the season before and been abused and spat at because I had a ‘cockney’ accent.

So to me South Yorkshire police’s story had a ring of truth to it. And if it wasn’t for the families of the dead and their incredible fight for justice I might still believe the utter load of hogwash – to put it mildly – that the police dreamed up to protect their arses.

Every single allegation, assumption and aspersion cast by the South Yorkshire constabulary on that day has been proven false. There were no drunken hooligans – or certainly no more than a handful, if that. There was no storming of the stadium.

There was no fighting. No urinating and no stealing from corpses. What did in fact happen on that day was quite possibly the biggest police cover up of all time in this country. One so deeply driven by ignorance, a sense of self preservation and selfishness that all of those involved should hang their heads in shame even to this day.

The only positive – and I’m not even sure that is the right word – is that all those who died on the horrific day did not give up their lives in vain.

Their suffering and their sacrifices helped make football what it is today. Valuable lessons were learned by those in charge of upholding the reputation of the beautiful game.

But have the police learned lessons from the role they played in the tragedy. I fear not. Only a fortnight ago reports began seeping through that an innocent man trying to make his way home amid the highly-charged G20 London summit had died of a heart attack.

The City of London and Metropolitan police forces quickly issued a statement stating they had not seen or had any contact with the man in question. Just 24 hours later a video emerged of a police officer shoving Ian Tomlinson to the ground from behind, then striking him with a baton as colleagues stood by and watched.

A short time later Mr Tomlinson suffered a fatal cardiac and died. Again, the initial police version of events proved to be complete and utter lies.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

So why – 20 years after the Hillsborough police cover-up – are we still force-fed a carefully controlled diet of lies and half-truths and when will those who occupy the glass towers finally learn that honesty is always the best policy?

Written by Doug