Liverpool vs Forest 15/04/1989 - Hillsborough Condolences

x in the city

Did you watch this game?

RTE screened it and I was watching, a bit hazy now but just wondering how many here remember George 'oh its there' Hamilton.

RTE also showed the replay, oh them were the days before sky ruined football as we know it.

I remember also Everton beat Norwich 1:0 in the 'other' semi final on that fateful day.

Amen to that

monkey9

My abiding memory of the six minutes of football is Peter Beardsley hitting the crossbar.

I remember watching ITN news that night and the death tally was rising.

It's a very early football memory and it's horrible! Just horrible

x in the city

I was watching it on me 14" Hi Def TV hooked up to my spectrum...

:rolleyes:

FatherTed

I watched that on RTE. Worst thing I've ever seen live.

monkey9

x in the city wrote: »

I was watching it on me 14" Hi Def TV hooked up to my spectrum...

:rolleyes:

What??????

kensutz

x in the city wrote: »

Did you watch this game?

RTE screened it and I was watching, a bit hazy now but just wondering how many here remember George 'oh its there' Hamilton.

RTE also showed the replay, oh them were the days before sky ruined football as we know it.

I remember also Everton beat Norwich 1:0 in the 'other' semi final on that fateful day.

Amen to that

A lot of people in the other semi final didn't know what happened at Hillsborough until the drive/trains home. I still remember that day.

ciaran76

Was watching it on RTE2 myslef and called my Dad in from the garden to see the "trouble" as it was first seen as.


I remember it been a very sunny day and a weird feeling watching it on tv when the people were been carried on the advertising boards. Knew then it was not right.

Hopefully I will never see anything like that again.

gimmick

Had come in from playing snooker, as well as a 10 year old could. Racing was on instead of the match. I asked my mother whats going on. As a person who was not itno sport, she had no idea. Seconds later, we both knew when the picture cut across.

Read books and all about this, and still I get teary eyed about it all.

Horrific.

Remember the 96

5starpool

I was watching it at home and as it unfolded I was getting somewhat upset and my mother made me go with her to the shops instead of sitting watching it.

I was 12.

OPENROAD

Was 13 at the time and was at the Horse racing, saw it on the tv screens at the racing but didn't think it was serious, only when I got home that evening did I realise how serious it was. Remember feeling very very sad at the time, was just really starting to get into football. Football changed that day in England forever, and I think for the better imo just so sad that it took an horrific tragedy for it to change.

Read an article in the newspaper last week from a fan that was at the match, have to say found the article very upsetting even though it is some 20 years on. People just going to watch a football match like we all love to do except 96 never returned home

kingshankly

unfortunately one could never forget that tragic day,liverpool had started the game very well with beardo hitting the bar,the scenes that followed have a lasting affect on so many people lives.the scenes at anfield that followed were amazing,football became irrelevant.
final was a terrific sombre occasion with everton.
hopefully some day justice will be done (but i doubt it)for the 96 that went to a football match and never returned home.
kelvin mac kenzie and irvine patnick will also never be forgotten by liverpool fans for their shameful behaviour:mad:

Karmafaerie

It's my earliest solid footballing memory.
Sitting in my grandmothers balling my eyes out.
My mother trying to turn it off, and me not letting her.
I was just 7 and it's something I'll never forget.

Justice for the 96.
R.I.P.

DeadSkin

ciaran76 wrote: »

I remember it been a very sunny day and a weird feeling watching it on tv when the people were been carried on the advertising boards. Knew then it was not right.

Hopefully I will never see anything like that again.

Whenever I'm reminded of the Hillsborough disaster, that's what sticks out in my mind, people being carried on advertising boards. I don't remember any of the few minutes that was played before the match was abandoned.
I remember the scenes outside the stadium, fans trying to help other fans up into the upper tier of the stands, the fencing at the front, horrible scenes.
I was 15, and I remeber at the time the Heysel stadium disaster came flooding back, also the fire at Bradford's ground.

And here we are 20 years on and still no justice.

mike65

BBC 1 Football Focus is about Hillsborough, on right now.

Chardee MacDennis

everytime i hear the stories from people on that day it takes the wind out of me. very good piece on Fantasy Football there...

JerryHandbag

Brilliant documentary on it on BBC 1.

I was 11, havin a kickabout in the garden and I remember my brother (LFC fan) shouting at me to come in that Peter Beardsley had just cracked the post with a volley....and by the time I had come in the police had lined the pitch and we all know the rest....terrible day.

The look on Kenny Dalglish face said it all that day.

Justice for the 96 that never came home.

redout

Gerrard pays Hillsborough tribute

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard has revealed the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy will have an extra significance for his family.

Ninety-six fans died in the crush during Liverpool's FA Cup semi against Nottingham Forest and Gerrard's cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was among them.

"It was difficult knowing one of your cousins had lost his life," the 28-year-old England international said.

"Seeing his family's reaction drove me on to become the player I am today."

Gerrard will attend the annual memorial service at Anfield on Wednesday, and along with team-mate Jamie Carragher, will present the Freedom of the City to the bereaved families.

Steve Wilson blog
I hadn't stood on the Leppings Lane in the 20 years that have passed. I expected it to be difficult. It was.

There will also be a two minute silence held in Liverpool, Nottingham and Sheffield at 1506 BST which will end when all civic, cathedral and church bells are rung 96 times.

"The families have conducted themselves with dignity since the tragedy," said Gerrard.

"I know how horrific it has been for them. They should be proud of themselves. The club are very proud of them and will continue to be so."

During the service at Anfield, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez and councillor Steve Rotheram will lay a scarf on the pitch and release 96 red balloons.

Gerrard added: "What happened that day is very central to the club - the 96 that lost their lives will never be forgotten," he said.

"They must be remembered individually and not as numbers.

"As a football club we've stuck together since that day. Like we always do when times are hard.

"We're not just about what happens on the pitch we're all together off the pitch as well."

Watch a Football Focus special marking the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster on Saturday 11 April, 1210 BST, BBC One

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7994062.stm

Rockee

I dont remember watching the actual game but I remember the front of the broadsheet newspapers the next day showing the pitch covered in flowers.

I was 7.

mike65

I have to say I watched that through moist eyes, I found it far harder then I was expecting.

The Sparrow

mike65 wrote: »

I have to say I watched that through moist eyes, I found it far harder then I was expecting.

Me too. It is still so shocking. I don't remember it at all as I wasn't into football at the time. But every time I see anything about Hillsborough I always shed a tear. I found it especially difficult listening to the mother and father who lost their two daughters.

BTW the opening piece from Football Focus was from a documentary called Hillsborough Remembered which is going to air on Wednesday night at 8pm on the History Channel. I'll definitely be taping it and watching it after the Champions League.

copacetic

Like a lot of the above, watched in at home, remember a sunny day and coming in from the back garden sweating after a kick around to watch the game. Vaguely remember a bit of banter with my cousin the day before about whether we would see them in the final (he was an Everton fan).

Then all I recall is being shocked wondering what was going on and my Mam saying it'd be grand, not to worry. Then as above seeing people being carried on the advertising hoardings and people being pulled into the upper stand from below. For me it was the frantic efforts to pull people up out of trouble that stand out the most. Knew then that something bad was happening. Still wasn't prepared for how bad it turned out.

I was 14 and it had a big effect on me. Doesn't seem like 20 years.

Rowley Birkin QC

Far too young to remember the actual event but I do remember seeing the documentary and reading about the disaster, then going to my first GAA matches and looking in disbelief at the terraces, frightening to see how it can happen.

That Football Focus piece was well done, Peter Jones closing comments from the day were tough to listen to.

JerryHandbag

mike65 wrote: »

I have to say I watched that through moist eyes, I found it far harder then I was expecting.

Same here

woooo232 wrote: »

BTW the opening piece from Football Focus was from a documentary called Hillsborough Remembered which is going to air on Wednesday night at 8pm on the History Channel. I'll definitely be taping it and watching it after the Champions League.

Damn I dont have the History Channel, would love to see the whole thing. BBC definitely not showing it??

The Sparrow

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Damn I dont have the History Channel, would love to see the whole thing. BBC definitely not showing it??

Unfortunately, I don't think so. I did a quick google search and I couldn't find anything about it being on BBC. Plus I assume if it was going to be on BBC that they would have said so on Football Focus.

K-9

copacetic wrote: »

Like a lot of the above, watched in at home, remember a sunny day and coming in from the back garden sweating after a kick around to watch the game. Vaguely remember a bit of banter with my cousin the day before about whether we would see them in the final (he was an Everton fan).

Then all I recall is being shocked wondering what was going on and my Mam saying it'd be grand, not to worry. Then as above seeing people being carried on the advertising hoardings and people being pulled into the upper stand from below. For me it was the frantic efforts to pull people up out of trouble that stand out the most. Knew then that something bad was happening. Still wasn't prepared for how bad it turned out.

I was 14 and it had a big effect on me. Doesn't seem like 20 years.

Very, very similar here, the age and everything. The advertising hoarding and people being pulled out from the top stand as well as people being crushed up against the fencing stand out. The look of helplessness, fear and shock, I'll never forget that.

I think I thought at the time it wasn't going to be that bad and then watching the BBC News that night just brought home the trajedy.

citytillidie

LFC TV is free for the day and showing the memorial service live from Anfield from 2:30pm

Also ITV3 is showing Jimmy McGovens Hillsborough docudarma first screened in 1996 at 9pm.

Ronan|Raven

RIP the 96, may justice someday be done but it will not bring them back sadly.. JUSTICE.

Highsider

Justice for the 96. Still find it hard to talk about to this day.

Thanx 4 The Fish

I played footy that morning, came in to watch the game and remember talking to the guy over the back wall as my dad told me to go out of the room as he did not want me to watch it. Still saw most of it anyway, watching through the door and going in and out.

Sad, sad day.

chopperbyrne

Alan Hansen was finding it very hard to hold back the tears on MOTD last night.

Horrible tragedy. Remember watching a documentary on it ten years ago and when they were talking about kids being crushed I had to switch it off.

mike65

Football Focus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtRs-3jQmf8

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=football+focus+Hillsborough&aq=7&oq=football+focus+

monkey9

Anyone got the full Football Focus programme??

Tusky

monkey9 wrote: »

Anyone got the full Football Focus programme??

All three parts are on youtube.

K-9

Tusky wrote: »

All three parts are on youtube.

Just after watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtRs-3jQmf8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4NvFIDcdEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXDeiDiA3R0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEmWY5CyL5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE6omI9ki3o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_YylJznzhA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVBl4Ww_m7E

Never before could a football song be more apt.

Daysha

A guy from a different forum who was right in the thick of things at Hillsbrough recently posted his own recollection of events.

When I went to a ground away from home I'd try and get to one of the sides – I couldn't be arsed with a crush in the middle – and the previous year you were allowed and even encouraged to proceed through any of the three gates into the ground. We went for the far one that we'd been in the year before but a cop stopped us. I knew that once you were in you were stuck in your third, but he wasn't having it. Men, men with kids, etc probably wouldn't have been bothered to ask – but we knew where we wanted to go and we couldn't understand why we weren't allowed. It was still early – I dunno, maybe 2.00 or 2.15 but as we walked through the tunnel we agreed that we'd get into the side pens asap.

As we got into the sunlight I saw an opening to the next pen, right at the back of the central one, it would fit maybe 1.5 people through it at once but by the time I'd seen it it was gone. Trying to get back was pointless, there was a wave of people coming in and there was nowhere to go. We went down to about the middle on the right hand side and stood behind a barrier. The pressure built up gradually and finally we decided to get in front of the barrier while we still had the option.

Fast forward 90 minutes and I'm walking back through the stand, on my own – seeing single shoes and amidst tons or hats, scarves and other football detritus – and that barrier is 90 degrees to the floor. Whoever had stood behind it had died, no doubt.

As the place filled there was a game of keepy up going on with a beachball, and some long ginger haired metaller body surfing over the crowd, all good fun but the place was now getting a bit uncomfortable. This was as crushed as I'd ever want to be. I couldn't lift my hands up from my sides, and we haven't kicked off yet.

I've lost my friends and now I need to scratch my nose so I aggressively drag my arm up and end up snotting some poor asian dude in his kipper – I apologise like mad but he just laughs saying he couldn't hit me back anyway as his hands are trapped. I start to realise that my breathing is odd, I'm shorter than most still at 15, maybe all's I'm getting is their CO2 now, but as I bob up and down I can see that people are trying to climb over the front of the fence.

The police are throwing them back in – I can see a man with a 'tache, a mullet and a white denim jacket standing on the fence shouting at the police – instinctively it's clear that he has rather than is a problem, but he is pushed back into the crowd. We've probably kicked off now but I don't know, I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't have come because I'm too weak to deal with the situation, I'd been ill for a couple of days and my mum had tried to make me stay home.

I try to fight upwards but I can't. I try to breathe properly but I can't. And then I give up. I remember the feeling – and it has worried me often since – that I accepted my fate, calmly and suddenly. There's nothing you can do here. Close your eyes and let go.

Some time later, I'm on the pitch. I recall being dragged over the internal fence into the area on the right. Someone saved my life. I'm given a drink with a sugar tablet or something in it. On a photo I find later I'm unconscious on a stretcher. It doesn't fit with my memory at all, but there are theories about that.

Soon, I'm sitting towards the halfway line against the advertising hoardings, watching mayhem continue to my left – and to be honest I'm dreaming. There's a boy being given CPR a few yards away from me to my right, and as they get him going again there is a roar from the Notts Forest fans behind me. Crash Team live.

But he dies in front of me, his dad, and everyone else.

ROCKMAN

Remember it very well, Sad sad day , My thoughts and prays are with the families and friends of the 96, and the supporters and staff of Liverpool football club...

Thanx 4 The Fish

Watched all of those ta k-9. Harrowing.

dfx-

citytillidie wrote: »

Also ITV3 is showing Jimmy McGovens Hillsborough docudarma first screened in 1996 at 9pm.

I remember watching that originally..tough viewing. One image I'll never forget I think is of a security camera outside the ground showing the sheer mass of people rushing towards the turnstiles/gates/tunnel.

I also think I remember it at the time, but it is a vague memory.

Super-Rush

Its not my first football memory but its the first Liverpool match i ever watched. My dad used to tell me about this great club that won everything and how passionate the fans were. I remember the game kicking off and i remember someone hitting the bar, Beards or Aldo i think. Next thing i remember is seeing Kenny and Brian Clough talking, then the tv was switched off. I didn't think any more about it. That evening the news was all about the game. My immediate memories after that are seeing the pitch at anfield covered in wreaths, the players at the funerals. My dad was right about us winning everthing but he was spot on when he said we are the most passionate fans in the world.
You'll Never Walk Alone

Never Forget

Justice For The 96

Dub13

Like everybody else I watched it at home,I was 9 so it was hard to contemplate what was happening.RTE decided to continue with the live feed looking back I am not sure if that was the right thing to do,I am not sure if the BBC did the same.

For the rescheduled game a few weeks later I was in Liverpool,we were doing one of these quintessentially Irish things of the 80s a family day in the UK to go to Argus and other such crap shops.On the boat on the way over there was loads of Irish lads heading to the rescheduled game,it was a very strange atmosphere.

On Wednesday as a mark of respect I am closing Irishkop for the day,the last thing we want is lads discussing who we will sign/sell in the summer and other such trivial matters on such a emotional day.

Mr Alan

just watched that Football Focus piece from yesterday. The BBC really have to be commended for it, fantasticly done.

OPENROAD

Mr Alan wrote: »

just watched that Football Focus piece from yesterday. The BBC really have to be commended for it, fantasticly done.

+1

K-9

The drama on ITV3 will be tough viewing. Jaysus, Football Focus was hard enough, brought a tear to the eye and that didn't even focus on what really happened. This was all so preventable.

I think it might have been pointed out on the other thread, but I remember the RTE stuck with the coverage. Harrowing stuff that will never leave my memory. The looks on peoples faces that I'm sure, died, was the worst thing I've ever seen.

Dub13

Newstalk Talking history Show did a piece on the Disaster last Sunday,a load of lads missed it so I uploaded it and added a few pics.Its a good discussion with the one exception been a couple of texts sent in at the end.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6450863931915143848

NabyLadistheman

Being only 4 at the time I have no real recollection of the events of that faithful day. Through supporting this great club I have learned so much about what happened. It really is an incredible piece by the BBC and it's a credit to the Hicks family that they could discuss losing their 2 girls like that. God bless them and the every other single family of the deceased and also to anyone who was effected with what happened.

Dub, Im a member if Irishkop & believe that is a great gesture, one very fitting for the occasion. Also think that the players handled themselves extremely well at the time & ever since.

It just strikes me that things like this bring all real football fans together regardless of who they support. Morons who use Hillsborough & Munich & other such tradegys as a stick to poke insult at opposing fans are scum & don't know anything about the scale of the tradegy or the families involved. Ho the sun could print such harrowing lies when It was clear brothers, sisters & friends were dying in front of peoples eyes. Sick. Not going to dwell on this point as it's a discussion for another day.

Tomorrow will be a tough day for everyone in Liverpool, 96 Heros. RIP

_blank_

Horrible day.

I was in my grannies house watching it unfold.

redout

Hillsborough Disaster: 'Lies Hurt So Much'

It is 20 years since the Hillsborough disaster but the families of the dead say they still live with the disaster every day.

Margaret Aspinall from Huyton, Merseyside lost her 18-year-old son James on April 15, 1989.

He had arrived at the stadium with a friend in good time for the FA Cup semi-final.

His beloved Liverpool FC were taking on Nottingham Forest at a neutral ground, Hillsborough the home of Sheffield Wednesday.

Margaret told Sky News: "It won't be any different for me, but for other people it is a long time 20 years, but for me it was just like yesterday."

"I often wonder what would James have done in his life, would he have had children now?

"James was my eldest but he is now my youngest. To me 20 years is so insignificant because he has now been gone longer than he lived."



James Aspinall

Margaret has been one of those who have campaigned for the full details of what happened to come out.

She does not like the word justice but believes South Yorkshire Police should have accepted responsibility long ago.

She said: "We have suffered with the stigma of Hillsborough, the smears that the fans urinated on the dead, stole from the dead, the lies hurt so much."

Lord Mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotheram, who watched the match at Hillsborough as a fan, believes a great deal of good emerged from adversity.

"This was the greatest coming together in this city since the first and second world wars, it just shows you the mark of the people of Liverpool.

"It is they who turned out in such great numbers at the time, it is they who tied scarves together to link the two stadiums."

Fans from both halves of Liverpool will again stand together at a memorial service at Anfield.

Players, former stars, survivors and families joining together again in a two minute silence at 3:06pm, the time the semi-final was abandoned.

This year church bells will then ring out 96 times across Merseyside, one ring for each victim.

But Hillsborough touched so many more lives than the 96 it claimed, two decades may have passed, but for many their feelings are still just as raw

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Hillsborough-Disaster-20th-Anniversary-Families-Of-The-Dead-Say-They-Still-Live-With-The-Tragedy/Article/200904215261813?f=vg

dfx-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZrVfMRyoE0

European Cup Semi 1989, six minutes in play stops.

iregk

Can anyone actually tell me as I haven't read up on it really. I remember I was out playing footie and my mam called me in to see what was happening. For the next hour we sat in silence stunned at the events unfolding on the tv.

This may be a can of worms and if its going to start off some mud slinging please delete this post. What actually happend, i.e. who was responsible? Was it bad policing? Was it fans not caring about safety of fellow supporters?

Obviously bad/archiac stadium design played its part but in general what is the is main reason that seems to be out there? Genuine question.

K-9

iregk wrote: »

Can anyone actually tell me as I haven't read up on it really. I remember I was out playing footie and my mam called me in to see what was happening. For the next hour we sat in silence stunned at the events unfolding on the tv.

This may be a can of worms and if its going to start off some mud slinging please delete this post. What actually happend, i.e. who was responsible? Was it bad policing? Was it fans not caring about safety of fellow supporters?

Obviously bad/archiac stadium design played its part but in general what is the is main reason that seems to be out there? Genuine question.

The Newstalk link explains it pretty well.

Benedict XVI

iregk wrote: »

Can anyone actually tell me as I haven't read up on it really. I remember I was out playing footie and my mam called me in to see what was happening. For the next hour we sat in silence stunned at the events unfolding on the tv.

This may be a can of worms and if its going to start off some mud slinging please delete this post. What actually happend, i.e. who was responsible? Was it bad policing? Was it fans not caring about safety of fellow supporters?

Obviously bad/archiac stadium design played its part but in general what is the is main reason that seems to be out there? Genuine question.

There was a university professor from Belfast (a Liverpool native by his accent) on Radio 1 this morning who has written a book on it that was describing how it unfolded.

There was a bottle neck getting through the terraces at the Leppings Lane end, the police decided to open the exit gates to the central 'pins' and the crowed flooded into the already over crowded central 'pins'.

Once the crowd were in the central 'pin' they were stuck, they could not go forward due to a 13ft fence, nor could they go left and right due to fences

The police should have opened the exit to the left and right 'pins' to relieve the pressure.

It had a lot to do with bad policing, bad/archiac stadiums (a lot of the turn stiles were broken causing the bottle neck in the first place) and the way football fans were 'caged in' due to on going problem with violence.

The way the guy on the radio described 'pins' sent a shiver down my spine