I seem to recall that one of the things that exacerbated the initial crowding was that the turnstiles were mostly inoperative and the police were initially worried about a crush happening at the turnstiles at that entrance to the stadium and so let folks in to avoid the crush at that point.
Evidence, again, that really bad accidents happen as series of bad decisions (even if in isolation the “right” localized decision), rarely from a single bad one.
Still being used!
I believe the capacity is now about 40,000, instead of “population of Rome” or whatever it was in the 80s!
27 years? Well I guess you wouldn’t want to rush these things.
The real issue is the way that “newspapers” like the Sun blindly support the police in exchange for special access to stories. At least this announcement will mean that a new generation of Liverpudlians (and perhaps a few others) will learn why they shouldn’t buy Murdoch’s publications.
The Hillsborough story was small fry in comparison with what is happening in the Middle East, but it shows just how reliable the British tabloid press is in reporting any news which might reflect badly on “sources”.
I see a parallel here with blacklivesmatter, in that these fans weren’t considered important enough to deserve a legitimate inquir the first go round. If it had been a different stadium, perhaps, with a different group of fans with more refined taste than “Liverpool Supporters”, the cops might have thought twice.
Sadly, I have to disagree: The cops knew they were at fault, but could not accept culpability.
This happens every time, everywhere police culture is not carefully curated.
Basically, yes. They were primarily working class and northern in Thatcher’s Britain. The police had spent most of that decade kicking fuck out of people exactly like them. I hope the bastards who lied & instigated the coverups are prosecuted now. As for Murdoch and his vile papers, I entreat the universe to indulge me in my hope for his demise very day.
And the police force that were involved in this- South Yorkshire, had been Thatcher’s stormtroopers during the Miners’ Strike a few years earlier. They had a culture of violence and impunity, and this is exactly what happens when you get that sort of thing going on.
I suspect most of them are dead, par for the course when the conclusions are going to be embarrassing, spin it out as long as possible.
But Duckenfield should be facing prison.
The Graun has a really good article on this.
Aye, exactly.
It was at least 72,841 at one point, and over 53,000 fans went to the match on 15 April 1989.
When I was working at Carlisle United in 2000 I had to study the Valley Parade Fire, the 1971 Ibrox Disaster and Hillsborough (or rather, the police lies about it). It was very depressing and disturbing and I never want to see those videos again.
At the time all football fans were viewed with suspicion by those in power, not just Liverpool. This was 3 years before the Premier League and a decade before people started talking about the prawn sandwich brigade.
Finally.
It was the general culture of Thatcher’s Britain - and the lot in power at the moment are trying to bring it back, but now they’re taking on the middle classes. Look up the Battle of the Beanfield. Any marginalised or working class group was ripe for kicking.
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Came to post the same thing. Football365 has a good article on today’s Sun and Times covers:
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