1 Question: 96 Responses. Part 1
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On the 22nd anniversary of Britain’s worst sporting disaster, we publish 96 very different responses to the question: What does Hillsborough mean to you?
1. Margaret Aspinall, Mother of 18-year-old James who died at Hillsborough
I can’t blame the club for what happened on that day. I’m angry that they even allowed the game to be played at Hillsborough, especially giving Liverpool supporters the smaller end of the ground, but I’ve no resentment against Liverpool Football Club since Hillsborough. I felt we were trying to defend the fans on that day, which is the wrong word to use, because there was nothing to defend them for, but that’s what we were doing at the time and I just felt very angry with the Club that they didn’t do something more for their supporters at that time. They should have done it, not us, but I felt we had to do it. In other ways, the Club have been very supportive to the Hillsborough Family Support Group. It’s important when you go the Memorial Service that you remember the cost of these all-seater stadiums. Not monetary but something so much more precious than that, 96 human beings. A part I try to remember is that’s the price our children paid for safety. Families knew that this was a cover up and it is a cover up. I’m not ashamed to say that. If that offends anyone, tough, I make no apologies for that. The Memorial Service has always been full. Even last year we know we could have had a lot more people there but we had to make it all ticket, for safety reasons, for the same reasons that 96 people died. Safety is paramount.
2. Barney Lowe, Supporter
What does Hillsborough mean to me? The day football died.
3. Scot Williams, Actor
What does Hillsborough mean to me? In brief, it breaks my heart in two every time I hear the word.
I can no longer sing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ without crying a river of tears.
I remember doing my research for my role of Joe Glover in the 1996 Docu-Drama ‘Hillsborough’, (Joe was surviving brother of Ian Glover, one of the 96 victims).
I remember interviewing a guy in a wheelchair who hadn’t walked since that fateful day of April 15th 1989. He was completely able bodied and had full use of his legs, but on that particular day he had stood on children’s head’s and so now flatly refused to ever stand upon his own two feet again.
I interviewed a man who had barely said a single word in the seven years between the disaster and the film. That man told me something that he had NEVER told anyone else, not even his own parents and that something was his brothers final words to him that day: ‘Please don’t let me die’.
I spoke to a guy who awoke under a pile of bodies, presumed dead and flung aside. He’d had his pulse taken by a policeman wearing leather gloves.
I scrolled through piles and piles of photographs of victims of crush asphyxia, shots from that day that where very rarely seen. Men with arms broken at right angles; old men crying; children dying.
Hillsborough was TWO disasters. First, what unfurled that day in the Leppings Lane stands and secondly the disaster that followed in the law courts. I watched hour upon hour of footage from both of these events. I saw survivors and families of the dead being asked if their loved ones had been drunk, disorderly.
I saw Liverpool football fans accused of terrible, terrible things. I saw hideous blatant lies spread on tabloid front pages in a bid to make bloody money, but people have eyes and they will have seen what I saw.
Great heroism, courage, initiative, an army of medics and soldiers all dressed in the Red shirts of LFC fighting for their fellow men and women, fighting for the family that is Liverpool Football Club.
So yes, Hillsborough to me means INJUSTICE, TRADGEDY, TEARS.
But it also means PRIDE, HOPE and LOVE. YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE.
4. Kevin Cowley, Supporter
The very word Hillsborough changes me even today. It has become to me more than a word. It has the ability to transport me back to that day.
It evokes tears and defiance. It gives me goose bumps when I or others speak about it. It signified a change in me that has made me the person I am today.
Twenty two years ago, I was a happy go lucky teenager with my life mapping out the way I wanted. I was academically bright, sporty and confident. I had spent my youth following the Reds and match day was the highlight of every week.
The person that came back across the Pennines and got off that coach was not the same. I struggled to complete my A levels. I couldn’t concentrate anymore. I was prone to sudden outbursts of anger and real depths of depression. I stopped going to the match for 11 years.
It left me looking at a person in the mirror that I didn’t recognise. Today, as I write this, it is a beautiful spring day. But they are the worst. I want to sleep until the 16th April. I want to hide from the world.
I rage, I cry, I have nightmares about getting out of Pen 3 and the things I saw. I look to the sky and think, ‘It was just like today’ and I feel isolated from even my closest family and friends. I am surrounded by the love of my family but feel alone, exposed.
I feel guilt and shame. I feel pride and sorrow. I fought my way out of that pen, but try to console myself knowing that on the pitch, I carried the dead to the gym.
I struggle every day to come to terms with it and have yet to find a release. I lived, they died. I still don’t know why. This year, as every year, I will be back on that terrace. I hear the cries and moans. I smell the sweat and fear. Seeing again the mental pictures I carry with me.
Waiting for the 16th to come and hoping that next year could be different. To some people Hillsborough is a word. To me and many others it’s a constant every day of our lives.
5. Tony Barrett, The Times
HILLSBOROUGH. Even now, 22 years on, it is hard to say the word out loud. You hear it mentioned on the television or radio and involuntarily your thoughts are cast back to a tragedy that never should have happened. It may be the name of a football stadium but the heartbreaking events that occurred there on April 15, 1989 mean that it will forever be associated with disaster and despair.
Today, when the names of each of Hillsborough’s 96 victims are read out at the annual memorial service the emotions of their loved ones will once again be thrown into turmoil. The passage of time may well heal some wounds, but it can never be a cure all, particularly not when the most gaping wound of all is being repeatedly rubbed with the salt of injustice.
The causes of Hillsborough are now well known, even if those responsible are yet to take full responsibility for their actions and those bereaved and traumatised by it are yet to receive the justice that they deserve.
But there is also another story of Hillsborough, it is an inspirational and uplifting one of how men, women and children from all walks of life reacted to tragedy in the most humane manner imaginable; a tale of ordinary people who have refused to give in no matter how many times doors have been slammed shut in their face. From those who tore down advertising hoardings to carry the injured as the disaster unfolded to those who continue to fight for justice to this very day, they are the heroes of Hillsborough, a group of individuals to whom all of us owe a significant debt.
Many of them will be at Anfield today, paying tribute to those who went to a football match and never came home. They will be stood on the Kop, probably not aware of their own heroism and certainly not seeking credit or recognition for their actions. Take a quick glance at the person next to you and you will probably see one of those heroes. Look at the mirror when you get home and you will probably see another one. Through their unswerving solidarity, their unstinting commitment to the cause and their unconquerable determination to fight, everyone who has played a part in the ongoing battle for justice is a hero in their own right, an ordinary decent one who seeks nothing other than what is just.
At any stage in the 264 months that have elapsed since the name Hillsborough was etched into our collective consciousness like never before, it would have been easy for those who have carried the fight to walk away from it because of the seemingly insurmountable odds against them. There could have been no criticism had they done so, only an admiration that they fought in the first place at all. That their efforts have not only relented, they have actually intensified with time indicates that this group of people possess a collective courage in the face of adversity that can only be an example to us all.
Through their actions they have helped create another meaning for Hillsborough – one of hope and of bravery; one that cannot be overlooked nor forgotten; and one which is great testament to those whose actions made it possible. Men, women and children. Supporters of Liverpool and Everton and clubs from further afield. People who want to do whatever they can to help right a wrong. Individuals who have stood shoulder to shoulder when it mattered most and who continue to fight on behalf of the 96. They are the heroes of Hillsborough and they deserve nothing other than gratitude and respect.
6. John Henry, Principal Owner
I have been a part of this Club for just six months now whereas those who lost loved ones at Hillsborough have suffered for 22 years, so I don’t consider myself properly placed to answer. Although we were aware of the tragedy before we arrived here, the one thing I can say is that the more Liverpool supporters I meet and the more people I speak with, the better I understand just how much Hillsborough affected so many people’s lives and continues to do so today. What comes across clearly is how much Hillsborough brought all LFC fans together and how strongly they have supported each other in difficult circumstances. The other thing that has struck me is the absolute dignity with which those so touched by the tragedy have conducted themselves for so long.
7. Andy Mitten, ‘United We Stand’ editor
I was 15 and horrified by the images on television and the updates on the radio as the death toll grew. I remember thinking, ‘That could have been us.’ United fans had been crushed in the overcrowded Leppings Lane several times in the years preceding Hillsborough. The authorities had paid little notice to the fans being herded into pens like cattle.
Three months later I met a Scouser for the first time. We were both kids on holiday with our families in Mallorca. He stood on the Kop, me the Stretford End. He couldn’t articulate what the disaster meant, but his dad tried. He’d just walked from Old Swan to Hillsborough to raise money for the appeal, done it in memory of a friend he’d lost. He explained how he’d trekked alone across Greater Manchester, where he’d been put up for free and well looked after. I was glad of that, but still couldn’t make much sense of 96 people going to see their team and never coming home. And I still can’t.
8. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool FC captain
I was only nine years old when it happened. I was really, really shocked and deeply saddened to have seen the scenes live and heard the news over the radio. Unfortunately for myself and my family we got the dreaded knock the next morning to say that a member of our family was at the game and had been tragically killed.
Obviously it was difficult to take that my cousin Jon-Paul had been there. Seeing the reaction of his mum, dad and family helped drive me on to become the player I have developed into today.
Hillsborough is very important to this club. The 96 will never ever be forgotten, but it is important these people are remembered individually and not just as a number. This club has fought for justice ever since and will continue to do so. Time has gone by, but the scars will never ever be healed and the fans will never forget.
Even when I stop playing for the first team I will continue to go to the service and show my respects every year. I see Jon-Paul’s family there as well so it’s nice to go and share the memorial service with them. The families who lost loved ones have shown great dignity. I think they should be proud of themselves. They have behaved impeccably and the club are very proud of them and the way they have handled this tragedy.
9. Sean O’Neill, Supporter
Hillsborough means many things to me – it means spring sunshine, it means the Snake Pass, it means laughing with mates, it means convincing our driver to take another one of us to Sheffield when both car space and the law suggested he shouldn’t, it means parking up with a nice walk down hill to the ground, it means not liking the disorganisation outside the ground, it means hot, sticky heaving, it means the stench of vomit, it means the panic as horses and crowds and police lines collide, it means children separated from their father, it means helping these children over turnstiles long since vacated by gatemen, it means temporary relief from the hell that was outside, it means the calm and freedom that is inside, it means the North Stand is a good place to be right now, it means that something is wrong, very wrong, it means that life is being extinguished right before my eyes, it means not knowing what to do, it means panic, it means angst, it means that that man with a black leather jacket covering his face that’s reflecting the bright spring sunshine is dead, it means my mates may be dead, it means that my mate who I swapped my ticket with may be dead, it means get out of my way, it means jumping on to the pitch, it means looking at the grass and wondering why I was standing there, it means seeing one of the lads with a vacant look in his eye handing out water to those prone on the ground, it means realising that I must phone home and phone home now, it means kindness of spirit, it means a long trudge up hill to the car, it means a head count of the lads, it means we are all safe, it means the drive home, it means the Snake Pass, it means arriving back in Liverpool. It means I’m no longer a boy, it means I’m a man. It means the end of innocence, it means the end of football as we know it, it means that nothing will ever be the same again.
10. Steve Rotheram, MP
It is probably THE most poignant and significant date in the history of Liverpool. I’d put it on a par with 1207 when Liverpool received its charter.
I was there back in 1989 and I remember that we made our way to Sheffield and got there 20 minutes before kick off. I just remember it being a glorious day. We’d been there the year before but there didn’t seem to be the same order and control. I’d swapped my ticket just before the match to go into the stand above the Leppings Lane and I got into my seat just before kick off. I watched things unfold in a surreal and dream-like state. I remember certain parts of the day vividly but the rest of it seems something of a fog.
The reaction of the whole of Merseyside following that day showed the true spirit of Liverpool as a city. It didn’t matter whether you were red or blue or supported any other football team. They just came together and the true characteristics of Scousers came shining through. It was there for all to see, with the images of the pitch, the different coloured scarves and the way people supported each other.
11. Matt Walker, LFC TV
13 years old, wishing I was at the game to see the Mighty Reds do it again, listening to the radio with my scarf on and then watching Grandstand, bewildered, as the disaster unfolded. Feeling sick to the stomach and crying in bed long into the night thinking of all those supporters who were killed at a football match.
20 years later, sitting in silence in a darkened LFC TV edit suite with two bereaved mothers showing them our ‘Montage of the 96′ for the first time and knowing that their lovely children are about to come up on the screen any moment.
Literally putting a face to each of the 96 names and the enormity of what happened that day dawning on me like never before. 96 photographs, snap-shots in time – smiling at a birthday party, after lunch at a wedding, relaxing in the sun in the back garden, feet up in the arm-chair with a cup of tea, a school portrait, down the pub with mates, laughing by the Christmas tree, proudly wearing the Red’s latest home shirt, collecting an award at school – 96 people just like you or me and so many of them so young.
Dave Kirby’s poems ‘The Justice Bell’ and ‘Impunity for the Guilty’ which make my blood run cold every time I hear them – years of anger and a yearning for justice expressed with the most beautiful clarity.
Travelling in a car to interview the Prime Minister on Hillsborough ahead of the 20th anniversary, totally overwhelmed by a desire to not let anyone down and make sure certain questions are asked and answered.
Being among the 32,000 at Anfield who rose up with one voice demanding justice after 20 years of lies and deceit. The first time I have witnessed history in the making. Feeling so proud to be part of a club with such a brilliant and loyal support.
Getting to know people who have been so cruelly treated for so long and learning from them that each set-back has only made them stronger and more determined. I am 100% certain that their desire for the truth will one day lift the blanket that was thrown over Hillsborough.
12. Tom Werner, Liverpool FC Chairman
What does Hillsborough mean to me? It’s a difficult question for me to answer, as John’s and my association with the Club has been recent. Of course I had heard about the tragedy, but when we first visited Anfield in September 2010, I stopped at the Shankly Gates and began to understand the pain and suffering so many have gone through these past 22 years.
Since then I have spoken to many supporters and a few families directly involved in the events of that tragic day. I read a letter, as well, that was published on the 20th anniversary, written by the wife of one of the supporters who never returned. The letter was so eloquent: ‘To the world my husband is one of the 96, but to me and his children, he was always number one.’
I will be among the millions thinking about these families on this April 15th. Along with other supporters, we will reflect on what happened that day. Hopefully, some day the families will get the justice and closure they deserve.
13. Ste Walker, Supporter
Hillsborough means everything to me, my dad was supposed to be at that game in the Leppings Lane end. I count myself lucky to be alive at this present day and he was only stopped due to a family wedding happening. I’m glad this wedding happened because I probably wouldn’t be here if he had gone to the game, however, forget me for a second and lets pay tribute to the 96 lives that were lost on that day. YNWA, 96 lives lost but never forgotten.
14. Peter Millea, Liberal Democreat Councillor for Cressington
As the Council’s Chairman of the Hillsborough Disaster Working Party for many years, and the present Chairman of the Ground Safety Advisory Group, I have always been motivated to ensure justice for the 96 and their families and friends is achieved, but that also their memory and legacy is that we always ensure the safety of the supporters at our two football Stadia in Liverpool. I can never ever get the scenes of carnage out of my mind, whenever I think of Leppings Lane on April 15th 1989. I pray constantly for the 96 souls, whenever I am in church, or passing the Hillsborough Flame in Anfield Road, though I know that they are better placed to pray for me.
This has always been an issue which does not divide Councillors, as it did not matter whether it was me or my late friend, former Labour Councillor, Jack Spriggs, who chaired either the Working Party or Advisory Group. Jack and I always agreed on what needed to be done to give our support for the families affected, and there was never any political advantage being sought. Indeed, Jack was a vocal critic of his own Government, if he thought they were dragging their heels. I will be at the 22nd Anniversary Service as usual, having attended every service at Anfield since the fateful day, to pay my respects and to offer to do whatever I can to help in the quest for Justice.
God Bless the 96, YNWA.
15. Sheila Coleman, HJC
I always remember the day of Hillsborough because I was down great Homer Street Market with my son. We were walking towards my mother’s house and an old man stopped me and said ‘Isn’t it terrible what’s happening’? I asked him what he meant and he said, ‘The football’. Right away I thought Liverpool must be losing. But he said ‘No, no, people are hurt’. When I got to my mother’s I turned on the TV and we watched the disaster unfold. I remember there was a heavy atmosphere in the city because people didn’t know who was dead or who was injured.
If it hadn’t been for the breakdown of police control those deaths would not have occurred. I think Hillsborough is firmly set in the context of British society in the 1980s. It was a time when the ordinary working person was oppressed. Football supporters in particular were treated very badly. They were herded to football grounds and penned in like animals. Even the police language at the time involved animal terminology. They spoke about corralling fans from trains to the ground and putting them in pens. Liverpool fans paid the price for that mentality.
Had people held their hands up at the time I am sure families would have moved on; but because of the lies told, people feel they have to fight for justice for their loved ones, otherwise they are doing them a disservice.
I therefore see the history of Hillsborough as a history of a cover-up.
16. Kathryn Owen, Supporter
To me, it means still having my dad. He was there. I was two at the time and poorly at home. My mum could have lost her husband and I could have lost my dad. My sister would never have been born. It means pain, and loss. It also means community – from the “mile of scarves” from Anfield to Goodison, to the always moving annual Hillsborough memorial services. But, what Hillsborough means to me can be summed up in one beautifully written line: “96 friends we all shall miss, and all the Kopites want justice.” To those that lost their lives and to their families – You’ll NEVER Walk Alone.
17. John Marquis, Supporter
Let me spell out to you my thoughts and feelings about H I L L S B O R O U G H
Hills borough, Sheffield. 15 April 1989, the day 96 Reds; men women and children went to an FA Cup semi-final and never returned. The…
Inspiration, we have all gained from the dignity and strength shown by the families of the 96 over the past 22 years. Not only did they lose those close to them in circumstances that could so easily have been avoided but they have suffered time and time again and continue to do so because their loved ones have been wrongly saddled with the blame for the disaster.
Liverpool, a city that was united in grief. The…
Lies and myths, perpetrated by the authorities in order to protect their vested interests and with the connivance of the media… none more so than by the editor of the…….
Sun. Lies were printed as fact and believed by a gullible British public thereby tarnishing the memory of the 96. Don’t buy the Sun. Ever.
Blues and Reds unified. Scarves that were linked across Stanley Park.
Overcrowding may have been the reason for the disaster but never forget that the cause was the breakdown of police control. The authorities were more concerned with containment than the care and safety of Liverpool fans. Indeed it was…
Reds who had to look after their own.
One minute silence. Impeccably held now for 22 seasons in memory of fellow Reds and fans to this day will visit the Eternal Flame on match day to pay their respects to the 96.
Uneducated Reds. A whole generation has grown up, but there are too many of whatever age that remain unaware why the disaster took place on a sunny, spring afternoon, twenty-two years ago. So…
Go out, educate and inform fellow Reds as to why the fight for JUSTICE is ongoing.
And finally the…
Hillsborough Justice Campaign, working tirelessly for JUSTICE, whilst supporting the families of the 96 and the survivors of a disaster that should not have taken place.
So wear your JUSTICE flame and wrist bands with pride.
It may be 22 long tearful years but with your help and support JUSTICE FOR THE 96 WILL PREVAIL
18. Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool FC manager
Hillsborough taught me the value of life, really. Football is very, very important but for two or three weeks after Hillsborough it became unimportant. The most important part of that time were the people’s lives.
For me, the greatest thing we did was to win the FA Cup that year. There were so many Evertonians who came to Anfield to pay their respects who had never been in the ground before. The rivalry went out of the window for that, just as it did with Manchester United who had many supporters coming over. It pulled a lot of fans closer together and made people realise it could have been their team. Hillsborough put things into perspective and certainly put football on the back-burner in the aftermath.
The people were absolutely magnificent in enduring Hillsborough and then in the aftermath the people of Merseyside and football people in general were fantastic in the support they gave everyone and in the way they turned up to the ground to pay their respects. Even now, the eternal flame burns outside the ground and has never been vandalised in any way, shape or form. I think that’s a tremendous mark of respect from football fans who come to Anfield, because it is at the away end. It shows people want to pay their respects to those who lost their lives.
19. Ben Thornley, Daily Post
Too often the words ‘tragedy’ and ‘disaster’ are used recklessly by football supporters and journalists when discussing defeats and off-field setbacks. Not at Liverpool. Not at a club that discovered in the worst possible way that the game isn’t more important than life or death over two decades after Bill Shankly first made the claim in jest.
Hillsborough isn’t a day remembered only on its anniversary, it’s a part of the Reds’ identity as much as any triumph, the memorial flame etched into the badge and fabric of the club. It gives Liverpool fans perspective, even during the worst of times.
The lows are less painful and don’t linger as long. In that respect it is a source of strength.
Debt ridden and destructive owners, blundering managers and disloyal players could never inflict as much agony on Liverpool as the Lepping Lane fences and South Yorkshire Police Force did.
I was 10 in 1989. The cruelest moment I’d experienced following the club – perhaps even in my sheltered life – by that point was the 1988 FA Cup final loss to Wimbledon. It hurt like hell.
Yet a year later when Michael Thomas and Arsenal stole the title at Anfield on the final day of the season, it didn’t seem to matter as much, despite the tears.
Not after seeing 96 fans die supporting the team they loved. As a 10-year-old, I couldn’t reconcile how it could ever be allowed to happen. Some 22 years later, I still can’t.
Football learned some lessons from the disaster. But while supporters are no longer treated like animals, they are still lowest in the thoughts of Britain’s ruling classes, police and the game’s governing bodies.
Hillsborough was a tragedy for all of sport, yet it also served to strengthen the sense of isolation felt among those who stand on the Kop from the rest of Britain.
Many outside of Merseyside and the club’s fan base claim to understand the significance of April 15 to Liverpool. Few, though, in my experience do.
Just as they struggle to grasp the sense of injustice or the rage felt towards those who blackened the name of supporters as they were mourning loved ones in their darkest hour.
However, the response of Kenny Dalglish and his players in 1989 solidified the special bond between what Shankly described as the Holy Trinity of players, fans and managers. Football may not be more important than life or death, but Hillsborough is also a reminder that Liverpool is much more than a football club.
Source : Liverpool FC
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