remember the 96

Rinty · remember the 96

20 years ago today I was three others, in a car, travelling from Edinbane to Inverness. We had been in Skye through work and I had managed to cadge a lift in a car rather than in the van, so that I could listen to the Liverpool game on the radio.

I think the fact that it was such a sunny day made the unfolding news even more horrific. While we drving along idylic settings, people were being crushed to death.

The driver of the car was an arsenal fan and we would all be together a few weeks later when Arsenal won the league in the last minute. Even that great achievement for his side couldnt lift the sadness over Liverpools loss. He couldnt really celebrate much that night as almost everyone else there was a Liverpool fan.

That day in 1989 sticks with me far more than any other memory of a tragedy. I dont know where I was when John Lennon, Joe Strummer or Elvis died. But I remember every minute of that drive, and the tragic news becoming worse as we drove up the loch.

I will be observing the 2 minutes silence at 3.06pm today. My thought are with brothers and sisters in Liverpool - you'll never walk alone.

Cymro

Couldn't agree more, don't think I can remember what happened - I was 6 so would probably have been kept away from the news reporting by my parents but growing up in North East Wales, as well as Wrecsam you tend to have to choose a team in the English first division. Choosing Liverpool you can't help but immerse yourself in the sence of solidarity which exists with it's past, especially Hillsborough. A lad my dad taught died that day and visiting Anfield for me has always included a visit to the memorial and to seek out his name.

jamesieboy

It always annoys me that no-one was ever held responsible for a tragic event that had such a huge loss of life.

What there is no doubt about was that the policing of the event bordered on the farcical. Their incompetence was incomprehensible.

Letting the gates open so that the thousands without tickets could get in and crush to death, however unintentionally, those already in the Leppings Lane End?????

Ambulances standing doing nothing while people were dying less than a hundred yards away inside the ground?????

Cops on duty pushing an elderly fan back into the crush????

The PA system not working inside a supposedly modern stadium????

Such a catalogue of incompetent coincidences was totally beyond belief.

Anyway, Liverpool and your fans, You'll Never Walk Alone. It is a not-very-pretty working class city where people have turned to football throughout the ages for their outlet of excitement and passion. I felt at one with those people who suffered that day because we are all together as working people with a passion for the beautiful game.

And we will always remember LFC and the suffering their fans had that day forever! And I hope if any fan of the club is reading this that he will bear this in mind.

Reluctant Hero

Probably this tragedy and the Bradford one stick most in my memory. It is just uncomprehensible imagining going to the football and never coming back.

Looking for someone to blame is not going to bring back those 96 people. And from what I can remember, people were getting crushed outside the ground, so the police were initially trying to avert a disaster by letting the fans without tickets in. So it is not as black and white as some people would like to think.

There is no doubt football grounds are a lot safer these days, It is just a shame that a disaster on this magnitude had to occur before the changes were made.

Morph

I think this has to be remembered when debates on bring back terracing arise.