Hillsborough

[Scouse Hibee]

36 years ago today I want to a football match. Remembering all those that went and never came home. 🥲❤️

[Cooshed Kid]

36 years ago today I want to a football match. Remembering all those that went and never came come. 🥲❤️
I was watching the game in Hong Kong. We were the beneficiary of a conversation which was intended to be "off-air". Someone had left microphones on and Desmond Lynam's primary concern seemed to be how to get home. Maybe he was unaware of what had become abundantly clear to the rest of us but I couldn't stand him from that moment.

[Pagan Hibernia]

Dreadful day. I was only 6 going on 7 but I remember vividly the horrific images and photographs that appeared in the newspapers afterwards. Thoughts with all the families

[Billy Whizz]

It’s one of these days you always remember where you were
I played amateur football back then, and we went to a pub in Powderhall post match to watch the results etc
Terrible tragedy that I’ll never forget

[green day]

36 years ago today I want to a football match. Remembering all those that went and never came come. 🥲❤️

I was there too Scouse, an awful day for all the families.

Pre mobile phones too, so it took an age for us all to contact our families up the road and tell them we were ok.

[Bostonhibby]

Tragedy, good friend was in the Forest end that day. He said he instantly felt the police had lost control and constantly said afterwards there was a cover up going on as what they said often contradicted what he saw and heard on the day.

Upsets him still.

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

[Springbank]

I recall we were playing the next day, and there was a minute's silence at Hampden in honour of those who had passed away at Hillsborough. A poignant moment.

As a teenager, desperate to see Hibs win the Cup, I do also remember we had high hopes (Archibald, Collins, Goram) and Celtic had lost to Hamilton and Motherwell in the week leading up, confidence low and seemingly there for the taking. Alex Miller was never one for taking advantage though and thought it would be fun to play 5 CBs, and within 4 minutes we lost a headed goal to a largely unmarked Mick Mccarthy. Three nil down before the half hour and it ended out 1-3.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

I was there too Scouse, an awful day for all the families.

Pre mobile phones too, so it took an age for us all to contact our families up the road and tell them we were ok.

5 days before my 18th.


Likewise, my mum was absolutely frantic by the time I phoned her from York Station. 😥

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

I recall we were playing the next day, and there was a minute's silence at Hampden in honour of those who had passed away at Hillsborough. A poignant moment.

As a teenager, desperate to see Hibs win the Cup, I do also remember we had high hopes (Archibald, Collins, Goram) and Celtic had lost to Hamilton and Motherwell in the week leading up, confidence low and seemingly there for the taking. Alex Miller was never one for taking advantage though and thought it would be fun to play 5 CBs, and within 4 minutes we lost a headed goal to a largely unmarked Mick Mccarthy. Three nil down before the half hour and it ended out 1-3.

I seem to recall that it was Steve Fulton's Baggio game, Sat on the terracing wondering what the hell I was doing there

[Stevie Reid]

There are very few tragedies that have resonated with me as much as Hillsborough. I was eleven at the time.

It wasn't unusual to feel quite unsafe at the football as a child in the 1980s - be that through the dilapidated stadia or potential for crowd trouble. I still have vivid memories of the Celtic game at ER with the CS gas, and being in a group that was ran at by Aberdeen fans when walking along Bothwell Street circa 1986. Obviously Bradford happened a few years prior, and was horrendous - but this specific set of circumstances, and the disgusting negligence from all authorities involved, was the stuff of nightmares.

I can't even begin to imagine the horrible range of emotions that those most affected by it have had to endure, for decades now. Many people have sadly been the victims of tragedies over the years, but I'm not sure if a group has ever had to suffer quite as much as the bereaved Hillsborough families.

[Pretty Boy]

There are very few tragedies that have resonated with me as much as Hillsborough. I was eleven at the time.

It wasn't unusual to feel quite unsafe at the football as a child in the 1980s - be that through the dilapidated stadia or potential for crowd trouble. I still have vivid memories of the Celtic game at ER with the CS gas, and being in a group that was ran at by Aberdeen fans when walking along Bothwell Street circa 1986. Obviously Bradford happened a few years prior, and was horrendous - but this specific set of circumstances, and the disgusting negligence from all authorities involved, was the stuff of nightmares.

I can't even begin to imagine the horrible range of emotions that those most affected by it have had to endure, for decades now. Many people have sadly been the victims of tragedies over the years, but I'm not sure if a group has ever had to suffer quite as much as the bereaved Hillsborough families.

What has always struck me about Hillsborough is that it wasn't something that came out the blue. There has been near misses and warnings at the ground before and they were routinely ignored by all the people who had the power to make decisions.

Leeds had complained in 1987 that the Leppings Lane End had become overcrowded and footage of the game clearly shows that. Liverpool had complained the year before that it wasn't fit for purpose and had actively requested the opposite end for the fateful game after overcrowding in 1988. Going as far back as Spurs v Wolves in 1981 there had been severe crushing and 38 people in the Leppings Lane End had been injured, including broken bones. The same crushing had been seen at the turnstiles as was the case in 1989, a gate was opened to let fans in and a crush ensued in the central pens after a goal was scored. The match referee stopped the game and in the highlights you can see a perimeter gate being opened and hundreds of fans standing and sitting around the pitch. There were differences in the circumstances but almost a decade before a stark warning was ignored.

I think back to my formative years watching football prior to the Taylor Report and the conditions football fans were expected to put up with were a disgrace. I like visiting old grounds now as a nostalgic treat but thankfully at games that attract big attendances in the UK they are all but consigned to history. The Police and FA have to take their share of responsibility but plenty clubs were complicit in allowing infrastructure to rot and spending the bare minimum to replace it and on even the most basic safety standards. It's really a miracle there wasn't more incidents in the vein of Bradford, Ibrox or Hillsborough. I remember visiting the Hillsbrough memorial at Anfield a few years back and got genuinely emotional and angry; it really could have been any one of us and the same smear campaign would have been initiated.

[Bushwoof]

36 years ago today I want to a football match. Remembering all those that went and never came come. 🥲❤️

A big thanks for putting this up. That's one game I'm so glad I wasn't at, and I guess it must have been horrible for you, although that obviously comes nowhere near what the 97 and their families endured.

Could have happened to anyone, and it's important that we don't forget what happened at the time, and all the disgraceful actions afterwards to shift the blame onto the innocent.

[Stevie Reid]

What has always struck me about Hillsborough is that it wasn't something that came out the blue. There has been near misses and warnings at the ground before and they were routinely ignored by all the people who had the power to make decisions.

Leeds had complained in 1987 that the Leppings Lane End had become overcrowded and footage of the game clearly shows that. Liverpool had complained the year before that it wasn't fit for purpose and had actively requested the opposite end for the fateful game after overcrowding in 1988. Going as far back as Spurs v Wolves in 1981 there had been severe crushing and 38 people in the Leppings Lane End had been injured, including broken bones. The same crushing had been seen at the turnstiles as was the case in 1989, a gate was opened to let fans in and a crush ensued in the central pens after a goal was scored. The match referee stopped the game and in the highlights you can see a perimeter gate being opened and hundreds of fans standing and sitting around the pitch. There were differences in the circumstances but almost a decade before a stark warning was ignored.

I think back to my formative years watching football prior to the Taylor Report and the conditions football fans were expected to put up with were a disgrace. I like visiting old grounds now as a nostalgic treat but thankfully at games that attract big attendances in the UK they are all but consigned to history. The Police and FA have to take their share of responsibility but plenty clubs were complicit in allowing infrastructure to rot and spending the bare minimum to replace it and on even the most basic safety standards. It's really a miracle there wasn't more incidents in the vein of Bradford, Ibrox or Hillsborough. I remember visiting the Hillsbrough memorial at Anfield a few years back and got genuinely emotional and angry; it really could have been any one of us and the same smear campaign would have been initiated.

Couldn't agree more, PB. Whilst the hooligan element of football was obviously a big issue in the 80s, it is truly frightening to look back at how all fans were routinely treated at the time - either through the conditions we had to contend with, or treatment by the police. I think Chelsea might even have installed an electric fence at Stamford Bridge one point. As you say, the warning signs were there - those in charge just didn't care. At least they didn't care until it was too late - and even then they devoted their time and resources into cover ups and victim-blaming.

I just cannot imagine how much these families had to go through over such a long period of time. As I said in my previous post, I was 11 when the tragedy took place. By the time the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel came out, I was 34. I was 38 when the new inquests found the 96 were unlawfully killed, and just about to turn 42 when the David Duckenfield verdict came out.

From the time I was in Primary 7, to me becoming a middle aged man, these families suffered and fought so much - and still justice wasn't fully served in the end. And, as if they didn't have enough on their hands fighting the establishment and trying to clear the names of their loved ones, they also had to deal with the sight of Kelvin McKenzie regularly getting platformed on Question Time. Absolutely sickening.

[Hibs07p]

I remember it well, my 30th birthday, and was going to Hampden the following day for the SC semi final. It was a horrendous incident to see and I nearly didn’t go due to family concerns. I remember the bucket collection for the Liverpool fans before the game, I think Archibald was our scorer but it was a pretty deflated situation. But with the fans still caged in at most grounds the following season and beyond, a tragedy was still possible. Luckily, the smoke bomb that was launched over the fence from the Celtc supporters at EasterRoad didn’t result in a fatality. Our perimeter fence in the East had access / egress gates and a lot of fans got onto the pitch to escape the results of the smoke. Terrible memories of that time.

GGTTH
Scottish Cup Winners
2016

[He's here!]

What has always struck me about Hillsborough is that it wasn't something that came out the blue. There has been near misses and warnings at the ground before and they were routinely ignored by all the people who had the power to make decisions.

Leeds had complained in 1987 that the Leppings Lane End had become overcrowded and footage of the game clearly shows that. Liverpool had complained the year before that it wasn't fit for purpose and had actively requested the opposite end for the fateful game after overcrowding in 1988. Going as far back as Spurs v Wolves in 1981 there had been severe crushing and 38 people in the Leppings Lane End had been injured, including broken bones. The same crushing had been seen at the turnstiles as was the case in 1989, a gate was opened to let fans in and a crush ensued in the central pens after a goal was scored. The match referee stopped the game and in the highlights you can see a perimeter gate being opened and hundreds of fans standing and sitting around the pitch. There were differences in the circumstances but almost a decade before a stark warning was ignored.

I think back to my formative years watching football prior to the Taylor Report and the conditions football fans were expected to put up with were a disgrace. I like visiting old grounds now as a nostalgic treat but thankfully at games that attract big attendances in the UK they are all but consigned to history. The Police and FA have to take their share of responsibility but plenty clubs were complicit in allowing infrastructure to rot and spending the bare minimum to replace it and on even the most basic safety standards. It's really a miracle there wasn't more incidents in the vein of Bradford, Ibrox or Hillsborough. I remember visiting the Hillsbrough memorial at Anfield a few years back and got genuinely emotional and angry; it really could have been any one of us and the same smear campaign would have been initiated.

As you say, the failure of clubs to address safety issues at crumbling old grounds was a contributory factor which tends to get overlooked. Easter Road was a disgrace of a stadium at that time.

Rangers were the only club in the UK pre-Hillsborough to take decisive action, rebuilding three sides of Ibrox from scratch. Pittodrie used to get bracketed alongside Ibrox as 'an all seater stadium' but all they did was bolt Cowshed-style benches on to the terracing, thus making the uncovered areas arguably more treacherous in the rain than the old standing areas. The seats bolted on to terracing thing never works properly and is why much of Hampden remains crap.

[lapsedhibee]

I remember it well, my 30th birthday, and was going to Hampden the following day for the SC semi final. It was a horrendous incident to see and I nearly didn’t go due to family concerns. I remember the bucket collection for the Liverpool fans before the game, I think Archibald was our scorer but it was a pretty deflated situation. But with the fans still caged in at most grounds the following season and beyond, a tragedy was still possible. Luckily, the smoke bomb that was launched over the fence from the Celtc supporters at EasterRoad didn’t result in a fatality. Our perimeter fence in the East had access / egress gates and a lot of fans got onto the pitch to escape the results of the smoke. Terrible memories of that time.

GGTTH
Scottish Cup Winners
2016

Happy 66th!

[cubehindthegoal]

36 years ago today I want to a football match. Remembering all those that went and never came come. 🥲❤️

So sad to think of and remember .. all 💚❤️ to the families and those affected beyond.

[scoopyboy]

It’s one of those ones that you never forget where you were when it happened.

I was bowling in the Scottish Cup Final for East Lothian at Blantyre and news was filtering through to the players on the green. It was only after we finished did we realise the magnitude of the disaster.

Horrible

[hibsbollah]

I was watching it on tv as a teenager and just horrified like everyone else.

As i got older i became interested in the unpublished accounts that challenged the official accounts, lots of amazing work by an academic called Phil Scraton, and it was obvious to me before it became public how blatant the cover up was. Similar to Orgreave, the Thatcher govt. , the press and the police conspired to lie and do anything including perjury and witness intimidation to stop the families get justice.
RIP.

[Keith_M]

I seem to recall that it was Steve Fulton's Baggio game, Sat on the terracing wondering what the hell I was doing there


I was at Hampden and had similar thoughts. The game seemed so irrelevant given what had happened the day before at Hillsborough.

[hibeerealist]

36 years ago today I want to a football match. Remembering all those that went and never came come. 🥲❤️

I was in hospital having discs fused and my brother brought me in a portable TV to watch the game, I was in shock watching it all unfold. It was obvious that there was a problem yet the polis were pushing kids back into the pens!

Could not believe what I was watching and the inability of the polis to help, the fans ripping up pitch side boardings to carry friends/fellow supporters to the other end of the pitch in a desperate attempt to get them medical treatment.

Yes, Scouse Hibee, nobody should ever go to a match and not come home!

RIP the 97, never to be forgotten.

[JimBHibees]

Has anyone been convicted for this?

[He's here!]

I was in hospital having discs fused and my brother brought me in a portable TV to watch the game, I was in shock watching it all unfold. It was obvious that there was a problem yet the polis were pushing kids back into the pens!

Could not believe what I was watching and the inability of the polis to help, the fans ripping up pitch side boardings to carry friends/fellow supporters to the other end of the pitch in a desperate attempt to get them medical treatment.

Yes, Scouse Hibee, nobody should ever go to a match and not come home!

RIP the 97, never to be forgotten.

The game wasn't on TV. It was pre-Sky and also a Saturday 3pm kick-off. I think with the passing of time people start to think they watched it but what they actually saw live were updates from the ground via Grandstand as it developed into a news story.

[LewysGot2]

Has anyone been convicted for this?

Only criminal conviction was a £6500 fine for the Sheffield Wednesday health and safety officer. Criminal proceedings against the 3 senior police officers charged collapsed.

[hibsbollah]

Only criminal conviction was a £6500 fine for the Sheffield Wednesday health and safety officer. Criminal proceedings against the 3 senior police officers charged collapsed.

Duckenfields retrial was appalling, it seemed to collapse because evidence that his ex colleagues themselves were responsible for producing, disappeared. How the families have survived the post disaster torment is anyones guess.

If anyone can access Jimmy McGoverns drama from the late 90s….its an astonishing piece of factual drama and we may never have found out the truth without it.

[hibsbollah]

The game wasn't on TV. It was pre-Sky and also a Saturday 3pm kick-off. I think with the passing of time people start to think they watched it but what they actually saw live were updates from the ground via Grandstand as it developed into a news story.

I was watching bbc (Grandstand?) at the time and because there wasnt tv rights from any competing company they switched to the live footage, im almost certain of it. They started to limit some of the more upsetting images as the seriousness developed and became apparent to everyone .

[Pretty Boy]

I was watching bbc (Grandstand?) at the time and because there wasnt tv rights from any competing company they switched to the live footage, im almost certain of it. They started to limit some of the more upsetting images as the seriousness developed and became apparent to everyone .

The game was broadcast live on RTE in Ireland, the whole match up to the point of the abandonment and beyond can be watched on YouTube with the live commentary.

I think Grandstand cut to that footage along with imagery from the cameras in situ for the highlights show. There were definitely live scenes on the BBC, again they can be viewed on YouTube and the like with the studio 'analysis', interviews with fans, directors etc.

[Hibspur]

The game was broadcast live on RTE in Ireland, the whole match up to the point of the abandonment and beyond can be watched on YouTube with the live commentary.

I think Grandstand cut to that footage along with imagery from the cameras in situ for the highlights show. There were definitely live scenes on the BBC, again they can be viewed on YouTube and the like with the studio 'analysis', interviews with fans, directors etc.

That's correct that it was live in Ireland but the match was not broadcast live in the UK. The BBC just showed snippets that afternoon for news purposes. Sunday live broadcasts had started by then though, which is why I think why our semi-final v Celtic was played the next day. Don't think I've ever seen any footage of that game, or perhaps I've just never looked for it. I remember it being a bit of an odd atmosphere. Archibald scored for us.

[poolman]

Watched it live on TV

Not nice that it takes tragedies like this for the authorities to do something

I'm thinking of the Ibrox disaster and the Bradford fire

All avoidable

[Hibs07p]

Happy 66th!

Thanks


The game wasn't on TV. It was pre-Sky and also a Saturday 3pm kick-off. I think with the passing of time people start to think they watched it but what they actually saw live were updates from the ground via Grandstand as it developed into a news story.

You could be right, but I’m pretty sure it was being broadcast as a live news event as it was happening, rather than live football.

GGTTH
Scottish Cup Winners
2016

[hibsbollah]

Thanks



You could be right, but I’m pretty sure it was being broadcast as a live news event as it was happening, rather than live football.

GGTTH
Scottish Cup Winners
2016

Thats correct. Im fairly sure they showed the moment when the ref abandoned the game as the match was ongoing, presumably being filmed for a later highlights programme, and then cut to the live scenes.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/may/08/weekend7.weekend

A long but, very informative article.

[worcesterhibby]

I was at Uni in England back then and my Liverpool supporting girlfriend was at the match with her brother and some of his mates. No mobile phones and only one payphone in my halls of residence which she didn't know the number of (she lived on campus too, so had no reason to phone me via that payphone). We had only been going out for a couple of months and I hadn't met her family, so didn't have her families phone number either. So she actually sent me a postcard, first class, to let me know she was ok !! mind-blowing how much has changed communications wise in the intervening years. Thankfully they weren't in the Leppings Lane stand, but I didn't know that at the time.

[Scouse Hibee]

Sadly I know a couple of Liverpool supporters so traumatised by the events of that day that they have forgotten that they weren’t actually at the game! One of them even posted a match ticket stub on his social media a couple of years ago to add to his untrue claim!

[AngloHibs]

I'd been to QPR v Boro at Loftus Road, and people with radios said that there'd been "trouble" at the Liverpool game. I assumed that it had been hooliganism. No mobile phones etc, and I was travelling home solo by train, so it wasn't until I saw Sunday's papers that I found out what had happened.

I was at Hillsborough for Boro's last game that season and I could clearly see the twisted metal barriers in the Leppings Lane stand. Seeing it relatively close up really illustrated the full horror of it. I couldn't comprehend how solid metal barriers could be bent so out of shape by human beings' bodies.

[hibeerealist]

The game wasn't on TV. It was pre-Sky and also a Saturday 3pm kick-off. I think with the passing of time people start to think they watched it but what they actually saw live were updates from the ground via Grandstand as it developed into a news story.


I certainly watched events unfolding live on TV and others have confirmed they did too.

You may be correct in terms of the live broadcasting of the game but as we know there was only the horrible events going on not a football match.

[green day]

A lot of people forget that Liverpool also played Forest at Hillsborough in the equivalent FA Cup fixture the year before - again, we were there but this time in the Spion Kop, opposite Leppings Lane.

Liverpool fans actually lodged complaints after that match about overcrowding in the Leppings Lane pens.

**** all was done, of course, its only football fans.......

[Scouse Hibee]

A lot of people forget that Liverpool also played Forest at Hillsborough in the equivalent FA Cup fixture the year before - again, we were there but this time in the Spion Kop, opposite Leppings Lane.

Liverpool fans actually lodged complaints after that match about overcrowding in the Leppings Lane pens.

**** all was done, of course, its only football fans.......

I haven’t forgot as I was one of them, the reason I swapped my terrace tickets in the Leppings Lane for seated tickets in the stand. I have also mentioned it numerous times in previous posts. Thankfully the people we swapped our tickets with avoided injury.

[matty_f]

I was watching bbc (Grandstand?) at the time and because there wasnt tv rights from any competing company they switched to the live footage, im almost certain of it. They started to limit some of the more upsetting images as the seriousness developed and became apparent to everyone .

There definitely was footage shown on the BBC, I remember watching it at my mate’s house and just being in complete shock at what was going on.
I remember being at a Hampden for the game mentioned above and the minute’s silence and being really moved at how well respected it was.