Fans unlawfully killed in 1989 Hillsborough football disaster, jury concludes

Congratulations to Liverpool, and LFC fans worldwide. You never did walk alone, and never will.

What other inconvenient truths should we expect from the Thatcher era?

Twenty Seven years to get the answers that they and the vast majority of football fans were hoping for. The cover up started before some of the fans had even drawn their last breath with the police chief at the time claiming the Liverpool fans had forced the gate open. It was known to be a lie in 1989. It was covered in depth in David Conn's excellent book the football business in 1998 and it's nothing short of a national disgrace that it has taken this long to finally get the answers that we all knew.

The football association at the time also bear some responsibility. Hillsborough was used as an FA Cup semi-final venue because Sheffield Wednesday were one of the establishment clubs awarded the presitigous tie. The Leppings Lane end was always viewed by football fans as too small for an FA Cup semi-final. There were two train stations at Sheffield. One for trains from the south and one from the north. The station in the north had direct access to the small Leppings Lane end and the station in the south access to the huge Spion Kop one of the largest in the country. Easy for the police to marshall.

I attended an FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough between Arsenal and Liverpool before the disaster. The Liverpool fans were once again crammed into the small Leppings Lane end to accomodate the easy marshalling from the station in the north.

Hillsborough should never have been used as an FA Cup semi-final venue when there were so many better choices. The establishment chose Hillsborough.

A lot of the blame would lie with the people behind the stadium's design and management, it seems to me.

Many of the victims seemed to have died from the crush of being pressed against the fencing that formed cages. Who in their right mind confines fans in cages in a crowded sports venue??!?!. Who made the cages? And why are police officers making decisions on exits and access? That should up to the stadium managers. What were they doing at the time?

It seems there's a lot more blame to go around, and what this inquest was very narrow in its focus.

Disgraceful that's it taken this long. Lying police, filthy newspapers and point-scoring politicians all in the sewer.

Justice for the 96. I wouldn't insult the fine people above by telling them to never buy the Sun.

All great comments, couldnt agree more

@ jeff "Who in their right mind confines fans in cages in a crowded sports venue??!?!." those were the eighties mate, was a kid/teen during this decade and this seemed normal to us at least in old europe. But you're right it was a recipe for disaster. Shame we had to witness the heysel and hillsborough tragedies to understand:(

Jeff, it was a differentry time and a different world. All grounds had fences like that to stop 'fans' from running on the pitch and fighting the opposition fans. The unfortunate fact of Hillsborough was that the tunnel meant that when there was a push they all had no option but to go into the pens in front. The designers have come in for criticism but it was the police who have rightly come in for the most criticism. They only focused on preventing trouble. Whilst the fans and stewards were frantically pulling fans from the Leppings Lane end, while they were ripping up advertising hoardings to act as makeshift stretchers there was a line of police stood on the halfway line to prevent the Liverpool fans charging the Forest ones. There were individual police officers crying out for direction from those I'm charge and got none. They asked for a delay to kick off. They were refused. They asked to open the gates. They were refused and then, once the scale of the tragedy unfolded the senior offices began the lies. That Liverpool fans had stormed the gates, that they'd urinated on police offices, that they'd stolen from the dead.

None of those were true but they all came from the police. The very people whose job it was to protect.

Mistakes were made in the design, the planning of the day etc but the arrogance of Duckenfield and the subsequent cover up are the reasons why the police have come in for the most criticism and justifiably so.

A lot of the blame would lie with the people behind the stadium's design and management, it seems to me.

That would entirely depend on whether the designers were told to design a stadium that could support the numbers of fans a Cup match would generate, or whether they were just designing a stadium for the expected attendance a normal match generates.

@Fadamor

At some point, someone decided and approved to construct the cages for confining large numbers of fans. I used to work in a large public venue in Canada, and I can tell you, cages(!) violate any and all the rules of the "elf and safety" book. A recipe for mass disaster and a scandal in itself.

If a single exit or access point were blocked in the smallest way at our venue, the fire department would immediately shut us down, our boss constantly reminded us.

As someone who used to marshal large crowds, it would seem the police at Hillsborough were forced to work within an impossible environment, a tinder box set to explode. Their coverup is clearly unacceptable and deserves punishment, but the blame for Hillsborough should rightly be spread far wider than what this inquest purports to resolve.

A typical investigation into the oh too powerful British police force. Stretch it out till everyone is retired or dead and pass the blame on to as many of the dead as they can.

The army should be given an equal role in policing (they do naff all else) and half the police force should be laid off to balance out the power like elsewhere in Europe.

I was a huge football fan during the 70's, 80's, & 90's. Used to travel up and down the UK. Including Hillsborough and Liverpool. I wouldnt blame the stadium architects who 'had' to put safety fences up. The 80's were wild with an active hooligan gang attached to just about every club. Even at Arsenal we would be on the pitch at any opportunity. So without fences there would have been too many games interupted and other safety risks due to fighting getting out of control.

The real danger was the standing terraces. Seating organised fans into allocated places. The real problem with the design of Hillsborough was the free standing terraces where you could cram fans in without number checks.

But in my mind the main culprits were the football association, and then the police department on the day.

The 80's were wild with an active hooligan gang attached to just about every club

Until the arrival of repetitive electronic music twined with MDMA and everyone was too luved up to be nasty!

The rave scene basically killed popular football hooliganism...

Right Mads!

I remember not very nice gang members dancing off their heads to Acid House and being all friendly to everyone. Before ecstasy they had been terrorising everyone in our local for years!

Jeff

You may actually want to read the full questions that the jury had to answer

. Defects in Hillsborough stadium: Were there any features of its design, construction and layout which were dangerous or defective and which probably or may have caused or contributed to the disaster?

Jury's answer: Yes

"The design and layout of the crush barriers in P 3 and 4 were not fully compliant with the green guide. "The removal of barrier 144 and the partial removal of barrier 136 would have exacerbated the waterfall effect of pressure towards the front of the pens. "The lack of dedicated turnstiles for individual pens meant that capacities could not be monitored. "There were too few turnstiles for a capacity crowd. "Signage to the side pens was inadequate".

Licensing and oversight of the stadium: Was there any error or omission in the safety certification and oversight of Hillsborough Stadium that caused or contributed to the disaster?

Jury's answer: Yes

"The safety certificate was never amended to reflect changes to the Leppings Lane end of the stadium. Therefore capacity figures were not updated".

Conduct of Sheffield Wednesday FC before the day of the match: Was there any error or omission by SWFC and its staff in the management of the stadium and/or preparation for the semi final match on 15 April 1989 which caused or contributed to the dangerous situation which developed on the day of the match? Jury's answer: Yes

"The club did not approve the plans for dedicated turnstiles for each pen. "The club did not agree any contingency plans with the police. "There was inadequate signage and inadequate and misleading information on the tickets".

However the blame, a large portion of the blame is at the conduct of South Yorkshire police for the way they not only handled the disaster but the way that senior officers began a cover up and one that continued until this week.

Senior offices claimed that fans urinated on the police and stole from the dead. This was simply untrue and was designed to shift the blame. It's an utter disgrace and those still living deserve everything that's coming to them for the pain and suffering that they forced the families to endure.