Today is the 20th anniversary of the disaster that changed the face of English football forever.
On 15th April 1989 during the FA Cup Semi Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium, a mass surge of Liverpool fans (caused by Police opening a gate) entered the already packed Leppings Lane terrace. There was nowhere to go, steel anti hooligan fencing prevented the fans already in the terrace from escaping and 96 were lost in the resulting crush, with countless more injured.
There is a memorial at Liverpool's Anfield ground, a stone wall marked with the 96 names of those who died, and a eternal flame burning in their memory.
Whether you like Liverpool as a club is irrelevant (I'm a United fan)
because if you have ever stood on a terrace to watch a football match, then at least spare a moment today to reflect on this:
It is only by the grace of God, that, that memorial isn't at another ground with our own name upon it.
96 people, men women and children, Innocent people who simply made the decision to attend a football match, who were destined never to return.
Perhaps in some ways it is fitting that the legacy of the tragedy was to improve the conditions of stadia and treatment of football fans in England, and by example - Europe.
Yet also perhaps it is somewhat ironic that those changes have possibly been a key factor in stopping the kind of everyday, working class folk who died - being able to afford to see their teams.
In any case I'm sure that today, regardless of who we support we will be united in remembrance and reflection and truly the title of the famous Anfield song will never be more apt.
96 dead R.I.P - You Will Never Walk Alone.
On 15th April 1989 during the FA Cup Semi Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium, a mass surge of Liverpool fans (caused by Police opening a gate) entered the already packed Leppings Lane terrace. There was nowhere to go, steel anti hooligan fencing prevented the fans already in the terrace from escaping and 96 were lost in the resulting crush, with countless more injured.
There is a memorial at Liverpool's Anfield ground, a stone wall marked with the 96 names of those who died, and a eternal flame burning in their memory.
Whether you like Liverpool as a club is irrelevant (I'm a United fan)
because if you have ever stood on a terrace to watch a football match, then at least spare a moment today to reflect on this:
It is only by the grace of God, that, that memorial isn't at another ground with our own name upon it.
96 people, men women and children, Innocent people who simply made the decision to attend a football match, who were destined never to return.
Perhaps in some ways it is fitting that the legacy of the tragedy was to improve the conditions of stadia and treatment of football fans in England, and by example - Europe.
Yet also perhaps it is somewhat ironic that those changes have possibly been a key factor in stopping the kind of everyday, working class folk who died - being able to afford to see their teams.
In any case I'm sure that today, regardless of who we support we will be united in remembrance and reflection and truly the title of the famous Anfield song will never be more apt.
96 dead R.I.P - You Will Never Walk Alone.
