Thought you might be interested in this article which appeared in last Saturday's Stoke City fanzine, The Oatcake:
MORE than 23 years after the terrible tragedy of Hillsborough, the first steps towards justice have finally been taken following the publication of the results by the Government appointed ‘Hillsborough Independent Panel’.
After almost a quarter of a century of torture, of fighting and campaigning, and of having to defend themselves from the most vile and disgusting slurs, the 96 victims of Hillsborough, their families, friends, loved ones and supporters have been absolved from any blame whatsoever in the awful events which unfolded that day in April 1989.
Every single person without an agenda or a warped sense of reality always knew that the filthy allegations contained on that wretched and infamous front page of ‘The Sun’ weren’t true.
The idea that fans would pick the pockets of the dead, urinate on police officers as catastrophe and disaster unfolded around them and then actually beat up the ‘brave cops’ who were trying to administer the kiss of life to dying victims, is as despicably untrue now as it was 23 years ago when the establishment and its media mates swung into action, in a desperate attempt to shift the blame off their own culpable shoulders and onto those of the real victims of this awful tragedy.
Too many of us though (and common decency compels us to hold our own hands up here) were perhaps prepared to believe that although the ultimate responsibility for the disaster lay with the Police and the authorities, Liverpool fans may have been culpable in some slight degree themselves.
Even while accepting that the stadium was a tragedy waiting to happen and that the South Yorkshire Police had allowed a situation to get out of hand, and then completely lost control of it altogether, it was still tempting to believe that those mythical ‘ticketless fans’ and some ‘drunken yobs’ had played a part too. It seemed so plausible.
The Independent Hillsborough Panel’s findings have utterly refuted any idea of that though and laid the responsibility squarely at the door of those who were charged with protecting public safety and for ensuring that this sort of thing didn’t happen. Liverpool fans have been unequivocally absolved of any blame whatsoever for what happened. On that issue they have left no room for any doubt and in his apology, on behalf of the country and the Government, the Prime Minster didn’t flinch from completely exonerating the victims of Hillsborough and the Liverpool supporters who were there that day.
Can any of us even begin to imagine the trauma and anguish of those Liverpool fans who not only suffered this terrible tragedy but also saw the finger of blame being pointed squarely at them through some of the most disgusting and scandalous lies ever contrived by an outlet of the media in a free and democratic country?
Will any of us ever know the pain which has been added to an already devastating sense of bereavement by the knowledge that the dead had tested for alcohol - even the children - and that their records had been scrutinised, looking for any criminal past, in an effort to try and back up a pack of lies and to further discredit the victims?
At some level it is simply too shocking, too inhumane and too cowardly for any of us to even begin to contemplate.
In a recent terrible event in Manchester we saw only too chillingly the kind of danger our nation’s Police Officers face every time they report for duty. There is a deep appreciation for the work they do and in the brave and selfless way in which they do it.
There needs to be a bond of trust which exists between a people and its Police Force in a free and democratic country like ours. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of Hillsborough that bond was completely broken. The scale of lies and the proven lengths to which the cover-up was orchestrated simply beggars belief.
The Hillsborough Independent Panel discovered evidence of 164 Police reports which had been altered. All of this was done in an attempt to deflect criticism and blame away from those truly responsible and onto the innocent victims.
It has taken 23 years of delving, fighting and investigating to get through the wall of deceit which was built up around Hillsborough and it shames us as a country. Ordinary decent people, at a time of great personal suffering, have been put through hell and the integrity of a genuinely good police force has been tarnished in a way far more damaging and long-lasting then if the truth had simply been allowed to come out in the first place.
The British public have always found it within themselves to forgive mistakes, and to understand that human error does occur, but filthy lies and disgusting cover-ups cannot be so easily forgotten.
One final and genuinely sad aspect of this whole episode is provided by a few people who, despite the results of the Panel, unequivocal apologies from the FA, Police and, most importantly of all, the Government, and despite the fact that it has been stated that Liverpool fans were in “no way responsible”, continue to believe that they were actually in some way to blame. You can read their views on a variety of Internet forums, including, we’re desperately sad to say, our own message board.
There were probably no more drunken and ticketless fans than we ourselves had turn up to our two trips to Wembley two seasons ago. It’s a myth and one which has now been put to bed.
Quite why some would choose to ignore the evidence of hundreds of thousands of documents which have been looked at and investigated, and results which nobody is disputing, is beyond us but we still find it very distressing.
There seems to be an ‘anti-Liverpool’ thing going on which some people just can’t let go. This has been manifested most aggressively by the sneering way in which the subject of compensation has been mentioned.
If any of your family were killed because of almost criminal negligence by those in authority then you’d want justice and compensation too.
And those who sneer at this thought should consider that one set of people were very quick to be compensated for the trauma they suffered on that terrible day in 1989 – some police officers on duty that day have already received a total of more than Ł1.5m, at an average of Ł93,000 each. The average amount received by for people who lost children at Hillsborough that day has so far been Ł3,500.
The truth is finally out about what really happened at Hillsborough and every football fan should be glad that it is and that the first genuine steps towards achieving justice have been taken.
Any of us could have reached the semi-final that year and any of us could have suffered that terrible tragedy. We should never forget that.
Well done to all of those who campaigned and never gave up fighting to make sure the truth was revealed. You are an inspiration to us all.
