This article was due for publication last weekend, but due to “technical difficulties” it has been held up in the system.
Both the author and site admin are in agreement that this remains important, no matter the time of year.

Today marks the seventeenth anniversary of the worst disaster ever to befall English football. Ninety-six Liverpool fans attending an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, Sheffield, never returned home to their families.

I was just ten when this, an event that has shaped football since, happened. Although it is a day that sticks in my mind - it was a sunny outside and I had spent the morning playing football with my brothers in the back garden - I can offer no real insight into what actually happened in the Leppings Lane end to cause the came to be abandoned a 3:06pm on 15th April 1989.

This is a poem about that day which sends shivers down my spine:

That Lad

April fifteenth, nineteen-eighty-nine.
Semi-final day, the weather was fine.
Set off for Hillsborough in our mini-bus.
Laughing and singing, all twelve of us.
Bevy in the alehouse. Reds having the crack.
We didn’t know then some wouldn’t come back.
Walked down the hill on the way to the ground.
This was dead weird, not many bizzies around.
There’s normally hundreds. Usually loads.
They must all be busy blocking off the roads.
Forest fans in one way, Liverpool another.
Can’t have them meeting. “Don’t want the bother.”
One bizzy on horseback shouting over the din.
“Stop bloody pushing. You’ll all get in.”
“Come on lads, they’ve opened a gate.”
“Hurry up, we don’t wanna be late.”
Straight up the tunnel and into the dark.
Couldn’t even see the players out there on the park.
Something’s not right. This is all going wrong.
My ribs are getting crushed in this massive throng.
I fell on the terrace, looking up at the sky.
God, I was scared. I don’t wanna die!
Punch, kick, scrap, fight.
Got to do anything to get back upright.
I was like a wild animal. What’s happening here!
Survival instinct. Stark bloody fear!
“Get outa my way lad. I can’t get my breath!”
I didn’t realise he was so near to death.
“Open the fence! Please! Let us out!”
That lad went under. It was his last ever shout.
Help me! Pull me up! Grab hold of my hand!
Get me out of this hellhole and into the stand!
I was safe. I survived. I was free from that hell.
How many dead? I just couldn’t tell.
Looked down at the pitch, there was that lad.
A man weeping over him. That man was his Dad.
He was trying to revive him with the kiss of life.
But that lad was gone. How would his Dad tell his wife?
Many years on. Still no justice done.
That man’s still grieving for his dear son.
Was it me? Was it my fault? Was I to blame?
I still ask myself at the Eternal Flame.

I would urge all to think about this, to be thankful that it wasn’t you or a loved one who was crushed to death by a fellow fan, a friend, that you have returned home to your family after the countless football matches you may have attended, and to remember the 96 who didn’t.

Rest in Peace

John Alfred Anderson (62)
Thomas Howard (39)
Colin Mark Ashcroft (19)
Thomas Anthony Howard (14)
James Gary Aspinall (18)
Eric George Hughes (42)
Kester Roger Marcus Ball (16)
Alan Johnston (29)
Gerard Bernard Patrick Baron (67)
Christine Anne Jones (27)
Simon Bell (17)
Gary Philip Jones (18)
Barry Sidney Bennett (26)
Richard Jones (25)
David John Benson (22)
Nicholas Peter Joynes (27)
David William Birtle (22)
Anthony Peter Kelly (29)
Tony Bland (22)
Michael David Kelly (38)
Paul David Brady (21)
Carl David Lewis (18)
Andrew Mark Brookes (26)
David William Mather (19)
Carl Brown (18)
Brian Christopher Mathews (38)
David Steven Brown (25)
Francis Joseph McAllister (27)
Henry Thomas Burke (47)
John McBrien (18)
Peter Andrew Burkett (24)
Marion Hazel McCabe (21)
Paul William Carlile (19)
Joseph Daniel McCarthy (21)
Raymond Thomas Chapman (50)
Peter McDonnell (21)
Gary Christopher Church (19)
Alan McGlone (28)
Joseph Clark (29)
Keith McGrath (17)
Paul Clark (18)
Paul Brian Murray (14)
Gary Collins (22)
Lee Nicol (14)
Stephen Paul Copoc (20)
Stephen Francis O’Neill (17)
Tracey Elizabeth Cox (23)
Jonathon Owens (18)
James Philip Delaney (19)
William Roy Pemberton (23)
Christopher Barry Devonside (18)
Carl William Rimmer (21)
Christopher Edwards (29)
David George Rimmer (38)
Vincent Michael Fitzsimmons (34)
Graham John Roberts (24)
Thomas Steven Fox (21)
Steven Joseph Robinson (17)
Jon-Paul Gilhooley (10)
Henry Charles Rogers (17)
Barry Glover (27)
Colin Andrew Hugh William Sefton (23)
Ian Thomas Glover (20)
Inger Shah (38)
Derrick George Godwin (24)
Paula Ann Smith (26)
Roy Harry Hamilton (34)
Adam Edward Spearritt (14)
Philip Hammond (14)
Philip John Steele (15)
Eric Hankin (33)
David Leonard Thomas (23)
Gary Harrison (27)
Patrik John Thompson (35)
Stephen Francis Harrison (31)
Peter Reuben Thompson (30)
Peter Andrew Harrison (15)
Stuart Paul William Thompson (17)
David Hawley (39)
Peter Francis Tootle (21)
James Robert Hennessy (29)
Christopher James Traynor (26)
Paul Anthony Hewitson (26)
Martin Kevin Traynor (16)
Carl Darren Hewitt (17)
Kevin Tyrrell (15)
Nicholas Michael Hewitt (16)
Colin Wafer (19)
Sarah Louise Hicks (19)
Ian David Whelan (19)
Victoria Jane Hicks (15)
Martin Kenneth Wild (29)
Gordon Rodney Horn (20)
Kevin Daniel Williams (15)
Arthur Horrocks (41)
Graham John Wright (17)

For information, support or to offer help please contact:

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign
PO Box 1089
178 Walton Breck Road
Liverpool
L69 4WR
Tel / fax : 0151 2605262

email: info@hillsboroughjustice.org.uk

http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/

Hillsborough Family Support Group
69 Anfield Road
Liverpool
L4 0TH

Tel: 0151 2642931

email: hfsg@liverpoolfc.tv

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/club/hfsg.htm

This entry was posted on Friday, April 21st, 2006 at 10:41 am and is filed under Liverpool. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.