Hillsborough disaster game

The disaster resulted in a number of safety improvements in the largest football grounds, notably the elimination of fenced standing terraces in favor of all-seater stadiums in the top two tiers of English football. The disaster led to a great deal of negative press about Liverpool supporters who had attended the match that day, as police fed false stories to the press suggesting that hooliganism and drinking by Liverpool supporters was the root cause.

In the years after the disaster, there was a feeling that the full facts were not in the public domain and a suspicion that some facts were deliberately covered up. The number is based on post-mortem examinations which found some victims may have had heart, lung, or blood circulation function for some time after being removed from the crush. Many uninjured fans assisted the injured; several attempted CPR and others tore down advertising hoardings to use as stretchers.

Their report was in pages and delivered key findings. The findings concluded that witness statements had been altered. Of those statements, were amended to remove or change negative comments about South Yorkshire Police. The report concluded that the then Conservative MP for Sheffield Hallam, Irvine Patnick, passed inaccurate and untrue information from the police to the press.

Any factual error or typo? Let us know. Contact About us Privacy Policy. Menu Rare Historical Photos. With 96 deaths and injuries, Hillsborough remains the worst sporting disaster in British history. Here, sports historian Simon Inglis explains how the Hillsborough disaster unfolded and why the legal battle to prove that Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed took more than 27 years….

Attendance records were common. Traditionally, cup semi-finals were played at neutral grounds, one of the most popular being Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday. As such, in it hosted another semi, Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, without incident. It therefore seemed the obvious choice when, coincidentally, the two clubs were drawn to meet in the same fixture a year later, on 15 April Despite having a larger fanbase, Liverpool, to their annoyance were, as in , allocated the smaller Leppings Lane End of Hillsborough, consisting of a seated tier accessed from one block of turnstiles, and a terrace for 10, standing spectators, accessed by just seven turnstiles.

Even by the standards of the day this was inadequate and resulted in more than 5, Liverpool supporters pressing outside as the 3pm kick-off approached. Had the start of the match been delayed, the crush may well have been managed. Those who turned right or left towards the corner pens found room. However, most headed unwittingly, with no warnings from stewards or the police, to the already packed central pen, accessed via a 23m-long tunnel.

As the tunnel filled, those at the front of the terrace found themselves pressed up against steel mesh perimeter fences, erected in as an anti-hooligan measure. Incredibly, with fans patently suffering within full view of the police who had a control room overlooking the terrace , the match kicked off and continued for nearly six minutes until a halt was called.

The oldest was year-old Gerard Baron, a retired postal worker. His older brother Kevin had played for Liverpool in the Cup Final. Seven of the dead were female, including teenage sisters, Sarah and Vicki Hicks, whose father was also on the terrace and whose mother witnessed the tragedy unfold from the adjacent North Stand.

In his Final Report, in January , Lord Justice Taylor put forward a number of recommendations, the best known of which was for all senior grounds to be converted to seating-only. But just as importantly, he also imposed on the football authorities and clubs a far greater responsibility for crowd management, while at the same time urging the police to be better trained and to balance control of the public with fostering positive relations. As many of newly emerging football fanzines of the time argued, innocent, law-abiding fans were fed up of being treated like hooligans.

Professor Phil Scraton, whose damning account, Hillsborough — The Truth was published 10 years after the fateful day, echoed many when he questioned those officers manning the fences. He had been allocated the task only 19 days beforehand, and this was his first major game in control. Based on initial briefings by the police, The Sun laid the blame for the Hillsborough disaster squarely on Liverpool fans, accusing them of being drunk, and in some cases of deliberately hindering the emergency response.

It alleged that fans had urinated on a policeman, and that money was stolen from victims. Overnight The Sun achieved pariah status on Merseyside. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was no admirer of football. Mrs Thatcher visited Hillsborough the day after the disaster with her press secretary Bernard Ingham and Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, but spoke only to the police and local officials. Sir Bernard Ingham, meanwhile, continued to blame Liverpool fans until as recently as All attempts to revisit that verdict were stymied.