“Over this great city,
Light after long dark;
TRUTH
The sweet silver song
Of the Lark”
I am a devout Manchester United supporter. I’m a little saddened by our loss to Manchester City in the Derby at Old Trafford this weekend. I am the very same supporter who is proud that we knocked Liverpool ‘off their perch’, and of the fact that we are on course to win a record 20th first division title. Chelsea’s 12-odd years of history does not trouble me, nor does Arsenal’s lack of ammunition.
What really troubles me though is the blind eye that some so-called hardcore supporters turn to instances of human tragedy in this beautiful game of football. When opposition supporters sing chants on the Munich Air Disaster, we fume at their insensitivity and lack of respect. However, why do we, as Manchester United supporters, then chose to ignore the same ideals when it comes to other clubs? Agreed, it’s a fact – Liverpool are the team United supporters love to poke fun at. Feel free to crack all kinds of jokes at their lack of trophies in recent years. Feel free to talk about the zero premier league titles they have won. This does not mean that we can extend the same jokes to the deaths of their supporters!
On 15th April, 1989, 24000 Liverpool supporters traveled to the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, for an FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Sadly, 96 of them never returned. This incident had such an impact on the entire Liverpool community, that their supporters have even stopped chanting about Munich since then. Of course, a few Scousers still do, and thus give a bad name to the rest of the supporters as well. So what really happened at Hillsborough? Why has this incident received so much attention in the media and has been entangled in legal proceedings for so long?
The game was scheduled to kick off at 15:00. The Leppings Lane End at the stadium was the designated stand for the away supporters. Many supporters made their way on to the lower terraced stands, which were divided into ‘pens’, through a small number of turnstiles. Supporters moved towards pens 3 & 4, directly behind the goal. The official capacity of these pens’ was 2,200. However, this should have been reduced to 1,600, as the crush barriers installed did not meet official safety standards. By 14:50, these pens were fully occupied for all practical purposes.