21 years ago over 20,000 Liverpool fans went to watch their beloved Reds play in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final. 96 never returned home.
Just read that statement. 96 people never returned home.
I think even now, after watching all the documentaries, films, memorial services and even visiting the memorial outside Anfield, it's still so hard to believe what actually happened. Despite that i can't even go this far in the blog without having to hold back the tears.
Football, as a whole has changed so much since then, and the Hillsborough disaster would seem to act as a form of wake up call, to help sport move into a modern era, where supporters weren't treated like everyone was a potential hooligan, penned into a unsafe, crumbling terracing.
I was brought up to be a Liverpool fan by my step dad, someone who witnessed the horrific scenes live on TV, hence my strong feeling about it. Which also leads to why i feel so strongly about the 'Don't buy the Sun' campaign. The headlines by The Sun looked something like this :
THE TRUTH
- Some fans picked pockets of victims
- Some fans urinated on brave cops
- Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life
Even recently in Modern Studies we were watching a DVD about the impact of the media. These headlines that The Sun published were obviously such a controversy, and the story of it appeared on this DVD. Now, i understand that the vast majority of the class had no idea of what had happened. While watching the DVD, i have to admit, i was getting quite upset and angry as it was another reminder of the disaster and how The Sun had dealt with it. After we had finished watching the DVD i was discussing it with Lauren, and i can't remember her exact words but it was something along the lines of 'Why do the Liverpool fans get so angry, they only published the truth'. That is by no means any fault of Lauren's, but just shows the impact that the media has. After watching a 15 minute video about it, the headlines that they had produced, had her believing the stories of the absolute scum that they had been portrayed as.
The Sun issued an apology for their treatment of the Hillsborough disaster in 2004, saying 'it has commited the most terrible mistake in it's history by printing it'. Although this by no means made up for what they did, the apology did acknowledge that they regretted printed it. You know what then happened in 2006? Mackenzie who was the editor of The Sun, then came out and said that he had only apologised because Rupert Murdoch had told him to, 'i was not sorry then, and i am not sorry now'. Still to this day, many newsagents in Liverpool refuse to stock The Sun newspaper, and i know for a fact no-one in my house has ever bought a copy of the newspaper since.
At 14:30 today, I'll watch the memorial service. At 15:06, the exact minute the game was abandoned i will have a minutes silence, in memory of those who lost their lifes. And that's all we can really do, watch on and remember what happened as way to pay our respects
April 15th is never about football at Liverpool FC. It's about remembering each fan who lost their life. They'll never walk alone.
JUSTICE FOR THE 96
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