Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy in which 96 people lost their lives.
On April 15th, 1989 inexcusable overcrowding was allowed to happen during an FA Cup final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield.
On that day mounting numbers of Liverpudlians tried to make there way through the Leppings lane entrance and were met with total gridlock. Eventually, in an attempt to resolve the lack of movement, the police opened an exit gate which allowed 2,000 fans to flood into the stadium.
Naturally, the Liverpool supporters looked to stand behind their teams net. This meant that the pen behind the nets became overcrowded while many fans ignored the lesser populated pens to the side. The police did not try to disperse the crowd evenly throughout the stadium and so the crowd was allowed to build up in this one particular section. One man, Eddie Spearitt, who lost his 14 year old son in the tragedy commented “They’ve said it was a surge but it wasn’t. It was a slow, constant build-up of pressure, like a vice getting tighter and tighter until you couldn’t breathe.”
Although there was visible overcrowding and many fans screamed at passing police to resolve the problem the perimeter gates remained locked. At 3.04pm Liverpool striker Peter Beardsley hit the crossbar which caused a surge in the crowd. It wasn’t until two minutes later, when security precautions had been taken by the police that the game was called off and security gates were opened to allow hundreds of fans, 750 of which were injured, to spill onto the pitch.
Despite the large number of fatalities and injuries only one, of the 42 ambulances waiting outside the ground, went into the stadium itself. Its driver, Tony Edwards, recalled “A policeman came to my window and said, ‘You can’t go on the pitch, they’re still fighting.’”
What followed the event was numerous scandals, falsehoods and cover ups which outraged the public. Police blamed the tragedy on football hooliganism. British tabloid The Sun even claimed, under the title “The Truth”, that drunken football fans urinated on police trying to resuscitate bodies and even robbed the dead. To this day, however, not one of the security forces in operation that day has been held accountable for their lack of decisive action on that day.
Liverpool’s home club, Anfield, became a focal point of mourning in the days that followed the tragedy. The pitch was partially covered in flowers, scarves and messages of support in what is one of the worst football tragedies of all time. Of the 96 who lost their lost their lives, over half were 21 years of age or under.
Last Saturday, before Liverpool faced Blackburn, a minutes silence was held in Anfield in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Hillsborough tragedy. Tomorrow, on Hillsborough’s 20th anniversary, a 90 minute memorial service will be held in Anfield, followed by a two minute silence, to be observed across Liverpool, Nottingham and Sheffield.
