Hillsborough - A Candle for the 96

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Another football weekend approaches (12-13 April) and it includes crunch matches at both the top and bottom of the Barclays Premier League and the two FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley Stadium. However, this is not a normal football weekend.

Tuesday, 15 April marks the 25^th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. It was a day when 96 Liverpool supporters went to see a football match and never came home. It still is Britain’s worst sporting disaster and no-one has still been found fully accountable for the nightmare that befall the Reds fans on the terraces of Sheffield Wednesday’s ground that fateful day.

For the families of the 96, plus those who survived but remain scarred by the events of that sunny, Saturday afternoon in 1989, the pain will never ease. They are currently in Warrington as new, fresh inquests opened a fortnight ago into the disaster. The flawed verdicts of accidental death to all the victims was quashed two years ago and the hope is that the families will finally get the justice they deserve after 25 years of endless campaigning and crushing setbacks.

As a mark of respect this weekend, all matches will kick-off seven minutes later than scheduled, before a minute’s silence at every ground across the country to mark the anniversary. This tribute by the FA is a nice touch as the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was stopped at 3.06pm on that horrible day in April 1989. On Sunday, Liverpool face Manchester City in what is sure to be a poignant day at Anfield before the annual Hillsborough Memorial Service at the famous ground two days later. The game between the Merseysiders and the Citizens could be the one that decides the destination of this season’s Premier League title race. However this weekend, football games take a distant second place behind remembrance and paying our respects. As a Liverpool fan, I always have my thoughts away from the field at this time of year.

I pay my respects now with a poem on the 25^th anniversary. It is called ‘A Candle for the 96’

Saturday is here and so is the sun

This day could turn out to be a lot of fun

Hoping that Liverpool would have won

However, the lives of 96 by day’s end were done

For John, Colin, James, Kester and Gerald

A candle is burning bright

For Simon, Barry, David, Tony and Paul

A candle is burning bright

A candle for the 96, the never to be forgotten 96

On that bright day, many families said to their loved ones goodbye

Little did they know that their souls would depart into the sky

The big question on many, both then and now is why

Other higher forces decided to start telling lies

For Andrew, Carl, Henry, Peter and Raymond

A candle is burning bright

For Gary, Joseph, Stephen, Tracey and Christopher

A candle is burning bright

A candle for the 96, the never to be forgotten 96

In some instances, people might have forgot

The families of the 96 remain distraught

However, they have continued the justice campaign and fought

To ensure those responsible for this disaster are caught

For Vincent, Thomas, Jon-Paul, Barry and Ian

A candle is burning bright

For Derrick, Roy, Phillip, Eric and Nicholas

A candle is burning bright

A candle for the 96, the never to be forgotten 96

Two years ago, the families finally got some hope

Finally, the truth emerged from a steep slope

It is amazing how they have coped

Ensuring there is little chance of letting go of the rope

For Sarah, Victoria, Gordon, Arthur and Alan

A candle is burning bright

For Christine, Richard, Anthony, Michael and Brian

A candle is burning bright

A candle for the 96, the never to be forgotten 96

The community of Merseyside have formed a strong committee

Liverpool should be proud of what it has as a city

Thanks Everton for your gritty and loving support

You are our friendly neighbours, not the noisy local rivals

For Francis, Marion, Joseph, Keith and Lee

A candle is burning bright

For Jonathan, William, Graham, Steven and Henry

A candle is burning bright

A candle for the 96, the never to be forgotten 96

Hillsborough left many with plenty of difficult emotions to feel

What happened was a truly terrible ordeal

Then the truth was finally revealed

There is vindication for our 96, justice is the final deal

For Inger, Paula, Adam and Philip

A candle is burning bright, burning bright

For Patrik, Stuart, Martin and Kevin

A candle is burning bright, burning bright

A candle for the 96, the never to be forgotten 96

What happened 25 years ago wasn’t fair

It drove football and those affected to deep despair

The publication printed in the aftermath was a scandal

For our 96, we should always light a candle

A quarter of a century on from Hillsborough and we have stayed strong

Whether it has been through poem, campaign or song

What happened was so wrong

It is time to remember those we lost and light a candle for the 96

HILLSBOROUGH MEMORIAL – 25 YEARS ON
John Alfred ANDERSON (62)	Derrick George GODWIN (24)	Joseph Daniel McCARTHY (21)
Colin Mark ASHCROFT (19)	Roy Harry HAMILTON (34)	Peter McDONNELL (21)
James Gary ASPINALL (18)	Philip HAMMOND (14)	Alan McGLONE (28)
Kester Roger Marcus BALL (16)	Eric HANKIN (33)	Keith McGRATH (17)
Gerald Bernard Patrick BARON (67)	Gary HARRISON (27)	Paul Brian MURRAY (14)
Simon BELL (17)	Peter Andrew HARRISON (15)	Lee NICOL (14)
Barry Sidney BENNETT (26)	Stephen Francis HARRISON (31)	Stephen Francis O’NEIL (17)
David John BENSON (22)	David HAWLEY (39)	Jonathan OWENS (18)
David William BIRTILE (22)	James Robert HENNESSY (29)	William Roy PEMBERTON (23)
Tony BLAND (22)	Paul Anthony HEWITSON (26)	Carl William RIMMER (21)
Paul David BRADY (21)	Carl Darren HEWITT (17)	David George RIMMER (38)
Andrew Mark BROOKES (26)	Nicholas Michael HEWITT (16)	Graham John ROBERTS (24)
Carl BROWN (18)	Sarah Louise HICKS (19)	Steven Joseph ROBINSON (17)
David Steven BROWN (25)	Victoria Jane HICKS (15)	Henry Charles ROGERS (17)
Henry Thomas BURKE (47)	Gordon Rodney HORN (20)	Colin Andrew Hugh William SEFTON (23)
Peter Andrew BURKETT (24)	Arthur HORROCKS (41)	Inger SHAH (38)
Paul William CARLILE (19)	Thomas Anthony HOWARD (14)	Paula Ann SMITH (26)
Raymond Thomas CHAPMAN (50)	Thomas HOWARD (39)	Adam Edward SPEARRITT (14)
Gary Christopher CHURCH (19)	Eric George HUGHES (42)	Philip John STEELE (15)
Joseph CLARK (29)	Alan JOHNSTON (29)	David Leonard THOMAS (23)
Paul CLARK (18)	Christine Anne JONES (27)	Patrik John THOMPSON (35)
Gary COLLINS (22)	Gary Philip JONES (18)	Peter Reuben THOMPSON (30)
Stephen Peter COPOC (20)	Richard JONES (25)	Stuart Paul William THOMPSON (17)
Tracey Elizabeth COX (23)	Nicholas Peter JOYNES (27)	Peter Francis TOOTLE (21)
James Philip DELANEY (19)	Anthony Peter KELLY (29)	Christopher James TRAYNOR (26)
Christopher Barry DEVONSIDE (18)	Michael David KELLY (38)	Martin Kevin TRAYNOR (16)
Christopher EDWARDS (29)	Carl David LEWIS (18)	Kevin TYRRELL (15)
Vincent Michael FITZSIMMONS (34)	David William MATHER (19)	Colin WAFER (19)
Thomas Steven FOX (21)	Brian Christopher MATHEWS (38)	Ian David WHELAN (19)
Jon-Paul GILHOOLEY (10)	Francis Joseph McALLISTER (27)	Martin Kenneth WILD (22)
Barry GLOVER (27)	John McBRIEN (18)	Kevin Daniel WILLIAMS (15)
Ian Thomas GLOVER (20)	Marion Hazel McCABE (21)	Graham John WRIGHT (17)

These are the names of the 96 who will never be forgotten. You’ll Never Walk Alone!  

The memorial to the 96 outside the gates at Anfield

Categories: 1989, FA Cup, Football, Hillsborough, Justice, Liverpool, Merseyside, Poem, Saturday, Truth

Respecting the underdog

The underdog should never be discounted.  It doesn’t matter in any form of life what that could be. 

It could be someone who defeats all the odds to achieve a massive win on the bookies, get an important University assignment in on time against all adversity, or overcoming many hurdles thrown at you to achieve the goal you set out to achieve in life.

Oldham's players celebrate after their historic victory

The message is crystal clear.  Never underestimate the underdog or you could feel the force of it.  And in the world of football as an example, it has to go down as ‘Underdog Weekend.’

Not since 1994 has there been a weekend like it in the FA Cup.  Five Premier League sides have been dumped out of the greatest cup competition in the world by lower league outfits, ranging from play-off contenders in the Championship to non-league footballers – who probably earn a tenth of what the likes of Lionel Messi and John Terry earn in a week.

Supporting the underdog…unless it is your team

Footballers are generally overpaid; there is no getting way around it.  It means some people struggle to respect the game in general, and that is understandable.  In such economic hardship, the sport seems to defy all with more inflated transfer fees, and crazy wages being belted out to players – some who simply have no brains to play the game.

So it is these kinds of weekends that makes the neutral fall in love with football and by supporting the underdog, it makes you feel a lot better.  That is of course unless your team is on the wrong end of a classic cup upset.

I felt that this afternoon.  Sitting down to watch Oldham Athletic v Liverpool on ITV today, I wanted my side to be tested, but to avoid the banana skin upset.  From the moment Oldham took the lead in the second minute, a shock was on.

This is a side in League One in the bottom seven, attracting gates of no more than 10,000 – in a stadium which is classic but certainly outdated.  Yet they put the likes of Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and co to the sword.  Liverpool are seventh in the Premier League but over 90 minutes, anything can happen and it usually does.

Oldham thoroughly deserved their 3-2 victory and advanced into the fifth round.  I’m hurting, because deep down, I knew this was a competition Liverpool could have realistically won, and the effort from some players today (I won’t mention names) was absolutely abysmal.

However take nothing away from unfancied Oldham.  They had a gameplan, rattled the Premier League giants and scored at crucial moments of the game to keep themselves in the ascendancy.  I wish them all the best and they deserve all the credit.

Outwitted and outfought

It wasn’t just Oldham who were upsetting the formbook.  Mighty Tottenham Hotspur – fourth place in the Premier League couldn’t cope with the intimidating atmosphere of Elland Road, Leeds.  The inconsistent Championship side outfought and outwitted their better opponents to win 2-1. 

While Liverpool’s demise to smaller opposition will take most of tomorrow morning’s headlines, Spurs should be ashamed of themselves.  Their team couldn’t be bothered; they underestimated Leeds and paid the price. 

Reigning European champions Chelsea were very fortunate to leave Griffin Park with a replay, after drawing 2-2 with Brentford.  Their performance was again one where they seemed to think they could coast through with something to spare.  

Well if these players in these clubs do not want to give 100 per cent effort for the crest on their shirt, then they know where the door is.  There are plenty of other people who’d love to do the ‘job’ these so-called Premier League megastars do.

Sometimes, the game of football annoys me massively.  Talking about ball boys, diving and the power of infidelity is not what it is all about, it is these moments that bring a smile to the face of many up and down the land.

Vast differences

As a prime example, take Bradford City from League Two.  Their starting 11 for Tuesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final at Aston Villa was a value total of just £10,000.  Compare that with a Manchester City squad and a total valuation of over £500million.

The differences are vast, and we all want to find magnificent stories that we can treasure forever.  Bradford’s remarkable journey to the final of the League Cup is one that should never be forgotten.

Villa faced up to that humiliation with another shock defeat on Friday night, going down 2-1 at Millwall which started this dramatic weekend.

Premier League no-hopers QPR were caught napping by Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday, trailing 4-0 at one point before losing 4-2 at home.  The Dons have made the last 16 for the first time, and Harry Redknapp’s response afterwards said it all.

He said: “It was disgusting!”

And perhaps the story of the weekend was Luton Town’s amazing victory at Premier League Norwich City.

Scott Rendell scored the only goal as the non-league side won 1-0 at Carrow Road.  They became the first side from the non-league to knock out top-flight opposition since Sutton United from the GM Vauxhall Conference beat Coventry City from Division One 2-1 in 1989.

Upsets aplenty

I will leave you now with highlights of some of the biggest giant-killing upsets in FA Cup history.  Supporters of big teams should look away now.

Congratulations to Oldham Athletic, Luton Town, Bradford City, Milton Keynes Dons, Brentford, Millwall and Leeds United on their incredible results in the last seven days.

You have proven that the romance in cup competitions is very much still alive. 

Football….some game.  Never underestimate the power of the underdog!

Categories: 1994, Brentford, Championship, FA Cup, Lionel Messi, Liverpool, Oldham Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur, Underdog, Wages

Hillsborough - A harrowing week

The flowers and tributes are a regular at the memorial at Anfield

For Liverpool fans across the globe, this week has been harrowing and difficult at best.

The support of the fans united the players against tonight, as they battled to a 1-1 draw away at Sunderland.

Although it leaves the Reds still without a win in four Premier League matches, the result was more than just a football match. 

It was for the families who this week may have had the truth but have had to deal with many emotions within the biggest injustice in sporting history.

Difficult pieces to write

As a Liverpool fan myself, I’ve had to report on the Hillsborough story with two pieces for Total Football Magazine.

I can honestly say that both pieces were very difficult to write, possibly the hardest ever in my days as either an amateur blogger, student journalist or in the unpaid writer/editor position that I have today.

On Wednesday night, I sat down to read the report findings of the Hillsborough panel and it was heartbreaking to read.  I won’t lie to say that it brought some tears to me too as I struggled to digest some of the damming revelations.

Britain’s biggest cover up was finally blown out into the public eye – and the truth that the families and the football club have always believed has come out.

In case some people wonder what I mean, I will give some background into why Hillsborough has been talked about so much this week.

On a sunny, spring afternoon on 15 April 1989, Liverpool supporters flocked to Sheffield, anticipating a feisty but hopefully successful victory in an FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest.

Blunders of the first magnitude

Due to ‘blunders of the first magnitude’ (see Lord Justice Taylor’s report) from senior police members, a terrible crush occurred in the Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough terraces.

96 supporters were killed and many others were injured on the terraces.

For 23 years, Liverpool fans and more importantly, the families of the bereaved have been campaigning for justice with little reward.

Although Lord Justice Taylor’s report later that year blamed police control, the cover-up that followed was absolutely extraordinary.

First, South Yorkshire Police attempted to blame the victims for their horrendous mismanagement. 

Over 250 statements from police on duty that day were either deleted or altered, as the panel revealed in their findings on Wednesday.

No remorse

For them to have done this shows they had no remorse.  They took the coward’s way out and those responsible deserve criminal prosecution. 

While I’m not one to single out members, the role that chief superintendent David Duckenfield had on the day plays a part.

He ordered the gate to be opened to relieve the pressure on the turnstiles which was a shocking and dithering piece of thinking that led to tragic and horrendous consequences.

Next to be questioned is the FA’s role.  This week, it was revealed that the Hillsborough ground did not have the updated safety certificate at the time.  Why on earth did they play the semi-final there?

There had been crowd trouble at the previous semis in 1987 and 1988 and at the time, there would have been better neutral stadiums to play the match.

Sheffield Wednesday don’t come out of anything with shine either.  They badly mismanaged their own ground and denied that there had been crowd problems in previous matches.

The FA’s apology this week fell on deaf ears.  They didn’t make any reaction until 24 hours after the report was published this week which was very disappointing and in their initial statement, there was no apology.

The first inquest was flawed

It might be better run today but in the name of David Bernstein (current chairman), I order him to resign. 

Our governing body had shamed Liverpool in 1989 and still were doing so 72 hours ago.

Next, the coroner of the initial inquest who put in a cut-off point of 3.15pm, which made the first inquest flawed.

This week, it was revealed that 41 people could have been saved, as they were still alive from the initial crush, meaning well after 3.15pm.  The match was stopped at 3.06pm on 15 April 1989.

For Dr Stefan Popper to have put that in place first time round, it meant the families were always fighting a losing and unfair battle.

His judgement has to be questioned but from the media background I come from, Kelvin MacKenzie makes me laugh.

This week, he finally apologised for the scandalous story ‘THE TRUTH’ which ran in the Sun newspaper four days after the disaster.

Lies and outrage

In fact, what they published that day was complete and utter lies – with stories such as survivors robbing the dead and urinating on police officers. 

MacKenzie claimed that he had got the report from senior police members, a Tory MP and a reputable Sheffield news agency.

The story should never had run and just added to the grief and outrage everyone felt at the time.

Many newsagents on Merseyside never sold the Sun anymore.  

As a fan of the club, I have never brought a copy of the Sun and even feel disappointed when my brother or friends read it.

That paper has never had anything good about it.  Most of their ‘stories’ are garbage.  As for MacKenzie, he can stick his apology. 

As Trevor Hicks, who lost daughters Sarah and Victoria in the carnage of Hillsborough said on Wednesday; “He’s a lowlife.  A clever lowlife but a lowlife.’  MacKenzie is scum; it is as simple as that.

Special thanks

I was pleased to see David Cameron make a double apology in the House of Commons on Wednesday. 

He admitted the mistakes made and there have been no blockages from the coalition about the releasing of the 450,000 official documents.

The government in 1989 might have had a role in the cover-up but it is difficult to say how big Margaret Thatcher’s role in it was. 

I don’t want to judge it but their apology is one that most would accept with gratitude.

While this piece has been mainly about the blame game, there should be special thanks that go out to a few people.

Firstly, the panel that had a lot of work to do and it must have been tough to look through all the documents.  Their hard work means the families finally have the truth.

Kenny Dalglish deserves a lot of credit for his support and desire to be there for the families.  He has always campaigned on their behalf and will not give up no matter what.

Also, all the football clubs down the land that have shown their support. 

Sunderland fans were great tonight, Everton have always been there for Liverpool since those events in 1989 and even Manchester United supporters have shown their sorrow and sadness.  It is these occasions when football really doesn’t matter.

The families will continue to fight on

Lastly, the families of the 96 who have campaigned for justice and will not stop until they have justice.  

They handled everything on Wednesday with so much dignity on what must have been a distressing and emotional day.

They always believed the truth would come out and now it has – although obviously, 23 years is far too long.

So, now begins the true fight for justice.  Surely, a new inquest will happen and the verdict changed to ‘unlawful killing.’ 

Hopefully, some of those responsible will also be criminally convicted for not just the worst disaster in British sport but one of the biggest injustices in British history.

I’m part of the Justice for the 96 campaign on Facebook and as a group, perhaps even as a nation, the pressure will be on for heads to roll, the guilty to be done and for the dead to finally be able to rest in peace with truth and justice revealed.

Sometimes…the game of football means absolutely nothing, especially when an appalling human tragedy happens.

JUSTICE FOR THE 96, JUSTICE FOR THE 96!!  You’ll Never Walk Alone!

Categories: April, Britain, David Cameron, FA Cup, Fans, Football, Hillsborough, Journalism, Liverpool, Sheffield