sports // no. 8 theotherpress.ca

Paul Chapman comments on the 1989 F

» FA Cup semi-final was site of worst mass death toll in British sporting history

Brandon Yip
Senior Columnist

 

pril 15, 1989 was the day of the FA Cup semi-final match

between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. It was held at a
neutral site, Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire,
England. Over 54,000 fans gathered to watch this exciting match.
Unfortunately, the game would be secondary to the tragic outcome
that unfolded.

After only six minutes, police and the referee stopped
the match as large masses of people had entered the playing
surface behind the Liverpool goal. A human crush had occurred
due to overcrowding in the central pens and both teams were
immediately sent to the dressing room. BBC News reported
that a total of 96 people died—all except one were Liverpool
supporters. More than 760 people were injured with the youngest
fatality being 10-year-old Jon-Paul Gilhooley. The oldest victim
was 67-year-old Gerard Baron with 38 of the victims aged 19
and younger; it was the worst mass death toll in British sporting
history.

Former Liverpool goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar, remembered
the horror seeing the fans behind the net being crushed and
suffocated. “I was near gate number 13 and there was this soft
sound—like air coming out,’ Grobbelaar said in an interview with
The Guardian. “I saw the faces squashed against the fence. I went
to get the ball and shouted to the policewoman: ‘Open the effing
gate. She said: ‘I haven't got the key’? When the ball came back
a second time, I shouted again. | saw they had a key and people
spilled on to the ground. I kicked the ball out and ran to the
referee. That’s when the barrier went over, and the bodies came
down. I could hear the air coming out of them. One of the faces
squashed against the fence belonged to a girl called Jackie. I had
given her that ticket but luckily, she survived. | saw her last night at
[my] book signing.”

Reuters reported that the families of the 96 victims were
outraged by the police and their lack of accountability—and
especially empathy. After the tragedy, police blamed it “on the
supporters themselves, and had told lies and staged a cover-up
of ‘industrial proportions’ to hide their mistakes in managing the
crowd surging into the stadium.” Karen Hankin, whose husband
Eric was among those killed, stated in a news conference: “The
conspiracy and lies which began on the 15th of April 1989 and
continued over the years involving police, politicians, and officials
of high standing has been the most evil act of man’s inhumanity to
man.” In addition, there would be a boycott of The Sun newspaper
who published egregious false stories about Liverpool fans’
behaviour on the front page.

An inquest was conducted in 1991, with a verdict of accidental
death ruled as the cause of the 96 fatalities—a conclusion that was
disputed by the victims’ families. That ruling was overturned in
2012, after a long campaign by bereaved families. The BBC News
reported that a second inquest into the Hillsborough Disaster
began in March 2014 and lasted till April 2016. The jury ruled
that the 96 people were “unlawfully killed.” Jurors found David
Duckenfield, the man at the centre of the tragedy, “responsible
for manslaughter by gross negligence” due to a breach of his
duty of care. He was the former South Yorkshire Police chief
superintendent and the then match commander at Hillsborough
Stadium.

In November 2019, the BBC News reported that criminal
proceedings had concluded. David Duckenfield was found not
guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans
and was cleared after a seven-week retrial at Preston Crown Court.
Because of the law at the time, there can be no prosecution over