On Tuesday, a coroner’s inquest in Warrington, England, brought down a series of verdicts that shed the light of justice on to one of Britain’s worst tragedies and darkest chapters in modern sporting history. The verdicts pertained to the events leading up to, during and immediately after a FA Cup semifinal match played at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield on April 15, 1989. On that fateful day, nearly 800 Liverpool fans were seriously injured and another 94 died from being crushed to death on the terraces of the grounds. Another two fans died in the days and years after the event.
The jury found that the senior police officers were new to such events, the stadium was poorly designed, the capacity was over-stated, and, significantly, police opened the gates to let more and more fans into an enclosed pen where they suffocated and were crushed under the sheer force of more being shepherded in.
Police lied about opening the gate, blamed fans for being drunk, and later said the fans urinated on officers trying to give first aid. That never happened. What did happen is that police and ground officials were responsible for the unlawful killing of the 96.
So why is this important now? It has taken 27 years for the truth to finally come out. It’s taken relatives that long to clear their dead sons and daughters’ names and it’s that long without a single public prosecution being brought. And the fans did nothing wrong except to watch a football game.
For those who enjoy the Premier League now — the richest football league in the world — they can do so because of the changes brought by Hillsborough. Justice has finally been done.
