Hillsborough disaster
Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIL : Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a deadly human crush that occurred on April 15, 1989, at Hillsborough, a football stadium in Sheffield, England, resulting in the loss of 96 lives.
The disaster
Liverpool F.C. were involved in their 17th FA Cup semi-final, to be played against Nottingham Forest F.C. at Hillsborough, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. — FA Cup semi-finals are traditionally played at neutral venues so as not to favour either club involved. Liverpool and Nottingham Forest had played at the semi-final stage at the same ground the previous year without incident.At the time, most stadiums had placed high steel fencing between the spectators and the pitch, in response to hooliganism which had plagued the sport for years. Hooliganism was particularly virulent in England, where it often involved pitch invasions and/or the throwing of a variety of missiles. Hooliganism was not a factor at Hillsborough on the day of the disaster, but the fencing was later identified as one of the main factors leading to the disaster. The part of the stadium where the problem occurred was also a "terrace" area, a cheaper standing section without seats that was determined to be a major contributing factor to the disaster. Terraces were frequently divided by further fencing into sections called pens to aid crowd control.
Hillsborough Stadium was segregated between the opposing fans as was customary at all large matches, the Liverpool supporters being assigned to the Leppings Lane End. Kick off was scheduled for 3.00pm but due to a variety of factors including traffic delays on the route to Sheffield from Liverpool many of the Liverpool supporters were later than usual arriving. Between 2.00pm and 2.45pm there was a considerable buildup of fans in the small area outside the turnstiles at the Leppings Lane End, all eager to enter the stadium before the match started. A bottleneck developed with more fans arriving than were able to enter the stadium. With an estimated 5,000 fans trying to get through the turnstiles and an increasingly dangerous situation, the police decided to open a set of exit gates which did not have turnstiles (Gate C). The resulting influx of hundreds, or possibly thousands, of fans through a narrow tunnel at the rear of the terrace and into the already overcrowded central two pens caused a crush at the front where people were pressed against the fencing. The people entering were unaware of the problems being experienced at the fence — police or stewards would normally stand at the entrance to the tunnel if these central pens had reached capacity and would direct fans to the side pens, but on this occasion did not. For some time the problem was not noticed by anybody other than those affected; it was not until 3:06pm that the referee, after being advised by the police, stopped the match — several minutes after fans had started climbing the fence. By this time a small gate in the fencing had been opened and some fans escaped the crush by this route — others climbed over the fencing, and further fans were pulled up by fellow fans into the West Stand above the Leppings Lane terrace.
Even at this point there was still much confusion among the authorities at the match. Senior police initially assumed that they were witnessing a pitch invasion and responded by sending in reinforcements to keep people off the pitch rather than helping the fans out of the crush. Fans were packed so tightly in the pens that many died standing up. The pitch quickly started to fill with people sweating and gasping for breath, those with crush injuries, and with the bodies of the dead. The police were slow to recognise the scale of the disaster and by the time that they had realised the size of the problem the police and ambulance services were overwhelmed. Fans helped as best they could, many attempting CPR and some tearing down advertising hoardings to act as makeshift stretchers.
As these events happened some police officers were still being used to make a cordon on the halfway line of the pitch with the aim of preventing Liverpool supporters reaching the Nottingham Forest fans at the other end. Some fans attempted to break through the cordon to ferry injured supporters to ambulances.
The crush ultimately took the lives of 96 people, with 766 fans receiving injuries. Tony Bland survived for nearly four years in a persistent vegetative state before he became the 96th victim.
Graphic footage of the disaster was available because the match was being recorded for later broadcast and this, along with the number of fatalities, made an extreme impact on the general UK population.
A permanent tribute to those who lost their lives can be found alongside the Shankly Gates at Anfield. A further tribute was set up in 1999 at Hillsborough.
Following the disaster, Lord Justice Taylor was appointed to conduct an inquiry into the disaster. Taylor's inquiry sat for thirty-one days and published two reports, one interim report that laid out the events of the day and immediate conclusions and one final report that made general recommendations on football ground safety. As a result of the inquiry, fences in front of fans were removed and stadiums were converted to become all-seated. This became known as the Taylor Report.
There was considerable debate over some aspects of the disaster; in particular, attention was focused on the decision to open the secondary gates. It was suggested that it would have been better to delay the start of the match as had often been done at other venues and matches. In defence the police claimed that they were concerned that the crush outside the stadium was getting out of control and accusations were made that some Liverpool fans did not have tickets and were trying to force the turnstiles. Other accusations of misbehaviour were made in relation to the crowd. However, no substantial evidence was presented to support any of these claims, with Lord Justice Taylor making particular effort to refute them in his final report.
Prosecution
A private prosecution was brought against David Duckenfield and another officer on duty, Bernard Murray. Several other officers including Norman Bettison were accused of manipulating evidence. Bettison was later to be appointed Chief Constable of Merseyside in controversial circumstances. The prosecution ultimately failed. [link][link]The Sun newspaper
On the Wednesday following the disaster, Kelvin MacKenzie, then editor of The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, used the front page headline 'THE TRUTH', with three sub-headlines: 'Some fans picked pockets of victims'; 'Some fans urinated on the brave cops'; 'Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life'.
The story accompanying these headlines claimed that 'drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims' and 'police officers, firemen and ambulance crew were punched, kicked and urinated upon'. A quote, attributed to an unnamed policeman, claimed that a dead girl had been abused and that Liverpool fans 'were openly urinating on us and the bodies of the dead'.
In their history of The Sun, Peter Chippendale and Chris Horrie wrote:
- 'As MacKenzie's layout was seen by more and more people, a collective shudder ran through the office [but] MacKenzie's dominance was so total there was nobody left in the organisation who could rein him in except Murdoch. [Everyone] seemed paralysed, "looking like rabbits in the headlights", as one hack described them. The error staring them in the face was too glaring. It obviously wasn't a silly mistake; nor was it a simple oversight. Nobody really had any comment on it—they just took one look and went away shaking their heads in wonder at the enormity of it. It was a "classic smear".'
- 'The real cause of the Hillsborough disaster [was] overcrowding, the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control.'
MacKenzie explained his reporting in 1993. Talking to a House of Commons National Heritage Select Committee he said "I regret Hillsborough. It was a fundamental mistake. The mistake was I believed what an MP said. It was a Tory MP. If he had not said it and the chief superintendent (David Duckenfield) had not agreed with it, we would not have gone with it." This explanation was not accepted by families of Hillsborough victims. Even fifteen years after the Hillsborough disaster, the circulation of The Sun in Liverpool is still believed to be only 12,000 copies a day where previously it was around 200,000.
The Sun itself issued an apology "without reservation" in a full page opinion piece on 7 July 2004, saying that it had "committed the most terrible mistake in its history." The Sun was responding to the intense criticism of Wayne Rooney, a Liverpool-born football star who then still played in the city (for Everton), who had sold his life story to the newspaper. Rooney's actions had incensed Liverpool dwellers still angry at The Sun. The Sun's apology was somewhat bullish, saying that the "campaign of hate" against Rooney was organised in part by the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo, owned by Trinity Mirror, who also own the Daily Mirror, arch-rivals of The Sun. Thus the apology actually served to anger some Liverpudlians further. The Liverpool Echo itself did not accept the apology, calling it "shabby" and "an attempt, once again, to exploit the Hillsborough dead."
Some other newspapers also detailed the same allegations on the same day, which apparently originated from a source within South Yorkshire Police attempting to divert blame, but The Sun attracted particular opprobrium for its use of the huge "THE TRUTH" headline and its subsequent refusal to issue an apology, something the other newspapers were quick to do.
\"Hillsborough\" television drama
Produced for the network by Granada Television and titled simply Hillsborough, the drama starred Christopher Eccleston as Trevor Hicks, whose story formed the focus of the script. Hicks lost two teenage daughters in the disaster and went on to campaign for safer stadiums, as well as helping form the Hillsborough Families Support Group. It drew much praise for its sensitive handling of the subject matter, which was heavily critical of the actions of the South Yorkshire Police. It was listed by the British Film Institute as one of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000. The programme inspired the Manic Street Preachers song "S.Y.M.M. (South Yorkshire Mass Murderer)" on the album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.
See also
- Charity record - "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" was released to raise funds for the Liverpool Supporter's Club
Books
- Ground safety and public order: Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, report of Joint Working Party on Ground Safety and Public Order (Report/Joint Executive on Football Safety); Joint Working Party on Ground Safety and Public Order; ISBN 0901783730
- Hillsborough: The Truth; Phil Scraton; ISBN 1840181567
- Scrutiny of Evidence Relating to the Hillsborough Football Stadium Disaster (Command Paper); Home Office; ISBN 0101387822
- Sports Stadia After Hillsborough: Seminar Papers; RIBA, Sports Council, Owen Luder (Ed.); ISBN 094787772X
- The Day of the Hillsborough Disaster; Rogan Taylor (Ed.), Andrew Ward (Ed.), Tim Newburn (Ed.); ISBN 0853231990
- The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, 15 April 1989: Inquiry by Lord Justice Taylor (Cm.: 765); Peter Taylor; ISBN 0101076525
- The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster: Inquiry Final Report (Command Paper); Home Office; ISBN 0101096224
- Words of tribute: An anthology of 95 poems written after the Hillsborough tragedy, 15 April 1989; ISBN 1871474183
References
- [The Hillsborough Justice Campaign online]
- [Piece from The Guardian describing the story of The Sun and Hillsborough]
- [Leader from the Liverpool Echo in response to The Sun's apology]
- [Liverpool Football Club Hillsborough Memorial]
- [Information from the HSE relating to Hillsborough Stadium disaster]
- [Hillsborough Tragedy article on LFC Online]
External links
- [Memorial page] including list of victims
- [BBC News On this Day]
- ["Hillsborough" television drama] at the Internet Movie Database
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.