by Mike Martin @thefootietweet
The really scary thing
about the Hillsborough tragedy is that it could have been far, far worse. The perfect storm of policing error, a
dilapidated ground, poor signage and ill-advised wire fencing at the front of
the Leppings Lane end could have claimed far more than 96 lives.
Just think, for
instance, if Peter Beardsley’s shot early in the FA Cup semi final between
Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on 15th April 1989 had been six inches
lower. Quite what a goal, rather
than a shot striking the crossbar, would have led to is a matter best left in
the darkest recesses of the imagination.
Let us not pretend
that anything Parliament might do in the coming weeks – any inquiry,
revelation, apology or disclosure of cabinet minutes – can remotely heal the
pain felt by the families and friends of those who died, nor of the thousands
who were injured and traumatized but able to walk away from the stadium.
What it will do is
finally end the 22 years of deceit and cover-up that has served to slander the
victims. It will vindicate those
who have campaigned tirelessly and with great dignity to shed light on what
really happened that afternoon.
So many questions
remained unanswered. Why, for
example, was Hillsborough chosen to host the match in the first place? Liverpool had complained following
crushing in the Leppings Lane end in the previous year’s semi final between the
same two teams, while in 1981 38 fans had been injured in a crush during the
Spurs-Wolves semi final. There was
Why was it decided
that the Nottingham Forest fans would occupy the larger Spion Kop End, with a
capacity of 21,000, despite Liverpool having the larger support?
Why was Chief
Superintendent David Duckenfield made officer in charge of a match for the
first time in an FA Cup semi final between two well-supported teams, as opposed
to a quiet league match at Brammall Lane?
Why did police allow
only one of the forty-four ambulances which arrived at the stadium to enter the
ground?
Why did Duckenfield
tell the then chief executive of the FA, Graham Kelly, that the fateful Gate C
had been forced open by Liverpool supporters, when he had in fact ordered it to
be opened?
Why did Margareth
Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, say that the tragedy would not have
occurred “if a mob, clearly tanked up, had not tried to force their way in?”
Why did the coroner,
Dr Stefan Popper, limit the main inquest to events up until 3:15 pm – a mere
nine minutes after referee Ray Lewis halted the match – thereby rendering
himself unable to consider the effect of the inadequate police response?
This led to a public
narrative that was wholly inaccurate, defamatory and deflective. It was maintained when the Sheffield
coroner took blood alcohol measurements from every single corpse, including the
youngest fatality, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, cousin of Steven Gerrard. Jon-Paul was ten years old.
The Sun, the best-selling tabloid rag, ran a disgraceful headline, ‘The Truth’, which was anything but. It accused Liverpool fans of picking
the pockets of the dead, urinating on police officers and assaulting a
constable giving artificial respiration.
All were lies, for which the execrable then-editor Kelvin Mackenzie has
never properly apologized. You do
well to find a Liverpool newsagent, even 22 years on, which will stock The Sun.
Senior policemen
doctored evidence to the inquiry conducted by Lord Justice Taylor in order to
cast the police in a better light.
The police’s story took root because, in 1989, people were too ready to
believe that this was just another instance of hooliganism.
That is why the truth must come out, warts and all. It will achieve, after a fashion, a
sort of justice for those who lived, as well as those who d
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