In just over four months Liverpool will be remembering the 30th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster in which 96 Liverpool Football Club fans were killed in a crush at the stadium of Sheffield Wednesday. Liverpool FC were, for the second year running, playing Nottingham Forest at the ground in a semi-final for that year’s Football Association (FA) Cup. A fatal decision by the police match commander, David Duckenfield, to open a gate outside the Leppings Lane end of the stadium caused an in-rush of hundreds of Liverpool fans keen to get inside before the game started. Mr Duckenfield was commanding a major match for the first time and in his inexperience he didn’t order the police to close the tunnel that directly faced the gate he had opened. Had he done this, the fans – as they normally do – would have been directed to two adjacent tunnels leading into the all-standing Leppings Lane section of the stadium. There was plenty of room at either side of the Leppings Lane end but the Liverpool fans, seeing the tunnel directly ahead of them surged into it, carried along with the enthusiasm to see the match and by the hundreds behind them moving inexorably forward into the tunnel. The tunnel and this central section, however, was already full to capacity and the surge of more people from behind led to those already in the section being pushed forward with fatal consequences. By the time the match kicked off at 3pm people were already dying and more would be beyond saving. Dozens, however, had they received prompt medical treatment, could have survived.
The lies and cover-up by the police began almost immediately with David Duckenfield telling the FA representative that the fans had been drunk and had forced the gate open. Duckenfield knew this was a lie as he had directly ordered the gate to be opened – something he only admitted to over 20 years later. Worse still this lie began to spread via tabloid newspapers and politicians to the dismay of the families of the victims and the survivors of the disaster who from the beginning were telling the media what had really happened. This developed into a fight-back to expose the truth and achieve justice, something which would take nearly three decades before an independent panel concluded that there was a cover-up and the fans were blameless and more so when a second inquest into the deaths concluded that the Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed. The original, flawed, inquests had concluded that their deaths were accidental. That first inquest had said that the police were at fault but no criminal charges were brought against Duckenfield or anyone else. That decision was finally reviewed nearly 30 years later and Duckenfield and others will face criminal trials in the coming months – to be held in Preston.
Being 30 years since the disaster we could have expected a particularly large memorial service at one of Liverpool’s cathedrals. We might have also expected a memorial at Liverpool FC’s Anfield Stadium. However, fear of prejudicing the trials has forced the Hillsborough Family Support Group to restrict the commemorations to family only and, if there is a memorial at one of the cathedrals there will be no speakers except for the clergy. After 30 years of suffering and struggle to bring the truth out and secure justice for the 96 victims, it is understandable that the families don’t want to put a spanner in the works with some inadvertent comment at a memorial or on social media. Margaret Aspinall, who is chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, elaborated on the plans to Liverpool FC’s official website:
As everybody knows, the past two years we’ve been alternating between the two cathedrals, but on the 30th anniversary we’ve got to have a private service in a room at Anfield – not on the Kop – and it will be families only. And people will be wondering: ‘Why is that?’ Because obviously we would have liked all supporters and fans to be there and to be open for everybody. Unfortunately, we can’t do that at this moment in time, because of proceedings that are going on in Preston. We have to be extra careful and extra vigilant to make sure we don’t make it too big. So that’s why we decided to just have families only.
I’ve had a meeting with the city council and the Mayor, Joe Anderson. The city will be holding a minute’s silence and it will come to a standstill at 3.06 pm [the time the match was stopped on 15 April 1989]. The tunnels will be closed, buses will be stopped, the ferries will be [sounding] their horns and that’s just for one minute at 3.06 pm. They are in discussions, at the moment, holding a service at either the Metropolitan or the Anglican cathedral. They are not sure yet. But [there will be] no media coverage whatsoever. There will be nobody doing any speeches, except for obviously the clergy. But they are still in discussions over that. So the city will be marking it in some way. But [they will be] extra vigilant, extra careful. And can I also add as well, I would be very, very grateful – the families would be very, very grateful – if nothing goes on social media about this, because nobody wants the trial to be held or stopped. So please, be extra vigilant to what’s said and what’s done.
We can’t thank the supporters [enough]. Not just the supporters, but the city as a whole, for all the support we have had over all the years. And I do understand it’s a very important time [for them]. On April 15, it’s obviously very important, in the 30th year, [to remember] the deaths of the 96 and so many people who were injured. But under circumstances that are no fault of our own, we have to be very, very careful. But I’d like to thank all the supporters for what they have done over the years, in supporting the families, and especially the survivors, who are still suffering to this day. So I’d just like to thank them all on behalf of all of us and [to say] please, please do not say anything that can prejudice any trial that is going ahead.
It is pretty scary to think that it is nearly 30 years since the Hillsborough Disaster. In many ways it feels like yesterday with it being so vivid in the mind as, like many, many others, I remember watching the disaster unfold live on television at home. I have only attended one the Anfield vigils since the disaster, and that was for the 20th anniversary. It is sad that it took the families and others all these years to expose the lies and to secure new inquests and now criminal charges against some of those responsible for the cover-up. Many of the victims of Hillsborough were in their teens in 1989. Had they survived they’d be closing in on 50. That really puts into perspective the time that has passed, through which the families have never given in and have continued to force the truth out into the open. The upcoming trials in Preston will hopefully be the final chapter in their long campaigns.
STEPHEN NULTY 