Hillsborough – A Tragedy That Rocked a Football Club and a City
On the 31st anniversary of Britain’s worst sporting disaster, we reflect on the events that saw 96 Liverpool fans lose their lives and a city unite in grief.
15 April 1989, a date that will forever symbolise one of the darkest hours in Liverpool FC’s history.
On a day that began with the hopes and dreams of players and supporters anticipating an FA Cup Semi-Final against Nottingham Forest ended in tragedy as 96 men, women and children lost their lives at Hillsborough stadium.
Shortly before kick-off, a fatal crush had developed at the Leppings Lane end of the ground where Liverpool fans were allocated tickets. In a bid to alleviate the build-up of fans outside the turnstiles, Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield – the man in charge of police operations on the day – ordered an exit gate to be opened at 14:52 to admit fans in time for the scheduled 15:00 kick-off. Almost 2,000 fans entered and the majority headed for the already dangerously overcrowded sections behind the goal.
In the 1980s, football stadiums in Britain were a stark contrast to the arenas we know today. Decrepit and poorly maintained, they included huge banks of terracing that were divided into pens and featured high fences at the front in a bid to combat trouble at football matches.
It would have disastrous consequences as the influx of fans caused severe crushing in pens 3 and 4 in the Leppings Lane end. Fans were pressed up against the fences and crush barriers as the game kicked off.
Within six minutes, the game was stopped and what was supposed to be a football pitch soon resembled a battle scene as fans spilt onto the pitch in a desperate attempt to attend to the injured and dying.
Instead of being praised, however, the blame was quickly apportioned to the Liverpool fans themselves. A narrative quickly took hold that it was they who’d facilitated the deaths of their own, largely due to drunk and ticketless fans breaking entry into the ground.
In the 30 years that have followed the victims’ families, survivors, fans and even a whole city have fought not just public perception, but the justice system itself in a bid for truth and accountability for events in Sheffield. The road has been long.
After an initial ‘Accidental Death’ verdict in the 1991 inquests into the disaster, campaign groups saw their hopes raised when the Hillsborough Independent Panel report in September 2012 paved the way for those verdicts to be quashed in a High Court hearing three months later.
At the new inquests in 2016, a landmark ruling of ‘Unlawful Killing’ cleared Liverpool supporters of any wrongdoing on the day and laid the blame squarely at those in authority. The verdict paved the way for Duckenfield to be tried for his part in the disaster, but in December 2019 he was found not guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
A question still remains: Who is accountable? The families now fear they may never get an answer.
Yet there is no denying Hillsborough is an integral part of the history of Liverpool FC and the city itself. A refusal to admit defeat in the fight for justice has shaped the mentality of those on Merseyside. Like the club’s anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone, they held their heads up high through the storm, and walked on through the wind and rain.
