In 2009, on the 20th anniversary of the disaster, Liverpool's request that their Champions League quarter-finals return leg, scheduled for 15 April, be played the day before was granted. [264], In 2004, after Wayne Rooney gave exclusive interviews to The Sun, causing backlash in Liverpool, The Sun ran a front page story apologising for "the most terrible mistake in its history", saying "We long ago apologised publicly We gladly say sorry again today: fully, openly, honestly and without reservation". [325] After the inquest verdict, the BBC aired the documentary on 8May 2016, with additional footage from the inquest, as well as its final verdict. Hillsborough trial: 'Not enough' turnstiles at stadium - BBC News calling for his resignation, but he apologised on discovering hooliganism was not the cause. [69] A total of 766 people were reported to have suffered injuries, among whom 300 were hospitalised. [233] Halfway through the minute's silence, the A.C. Milan fans sang Liverpool's "You'll Never Walk Alone" as a sign of respect. The Memorial bench remains at Spion Kop Lodge. 'Why us? The intensity of the crush broke more crush barriers on the terraces. Bibliography of over 150 books, journal articles, TV programmes and websites relating to the Disaster and its aftermath produced by Sheffield City Council's Archives Service. South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service, Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police, Champions League quarter-finals return leg, Coverage of the Hillsborough disaster by The Sun, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll, "Five Hillsborough myths dispelled by inquests jury", "1989: Football fans crushed at Hillsborough", "Liverpool fan's death ruled as 97th of Hillsborough disaster", "Hillsborough Disaster: From tragedy to truth", "The legacy of Hillsborough how football has changed", "Out of the ashes of Hillsborough, modern football was born", "High court quashes Hillsborough inquest verdicts", "Not 'justice' but full truth may finally be possible for Hillsborough victims", "Hillsborough papers: Cameron apology over 'double injustice', "Hillsborough disaster: David Cameron apologises for 'double injustice', "Hillsborough inquests jury rules 96 victims were unlawfully killed", "South Yorkshire police chief suspended after Hillsborough verdict", "The great betrayal: how the Hillsborough families were failed by the justice system", "Five Hillsborough Myths Dispelled by Inquests Jury", "Before Hillsborough fans were seen as terrace fodder. [188], On 28 June 2017, it was announced that six people were to be charged with offences in relation to the disaster. FA Cup semi-final Liverpool v Nottingham Forest. In July 2021, a coroner ruled that Andrew Devine, who died 32 years after suffering severe and irreversible brain damage on the day, was the 97th victim. This prompted 380 complaints and the BBC apologised, saying that the character was simply reminding another character, former football hooligan Jase Dyer, that the actions of hooligans led to the fencing-in of football fans. Team captain Steven Gerrard and vice-captain Jamie Carragher handed the freedom of the city to the families of all the victims. [37] At 2:46pm, the BBC's football commentator John Motson had already noticed the uneven distribution of people in the Leppings Lane pens. [166][167][168], Following the inquests verdicts, South Yorkshire police announced it would refer the actions of its officers to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Taylor concluded that policing on the day "broke down" and "the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control". Liverpool won the match by four goals to nil.[237]. It is believed that an exit gate was opened to relieve crowds outside the turnstiles, which allowed over . [99] However, on the day of the disaster, "by 2:52pm when gate C was opened, pens 3 and 4 were over-full [] to allow any more into those pens was likely to cause injuries; to allow in a large stream was courting disaster". [154], Prime Minister David Cameron also responded to the April 2016 verdict by saying that it represented a "long overdue" but "landmark moment in the quest for justice", adding "All families and survivors now have official confirmation of what they always knew was the case, that the Liverpool fans were utterly blameless in the disaster that unfolded at Hillsborough. They did not seek endless further inquiries. [125] The report concluded that the then Conservative MP for Sheffield Hallam, Irvine Patnick, passed inaccurate and untrue information from the police to the press. In April 2016, a private prosecution was launched on behalf of victims' relatives against both SYP and the West Midlands Police force (who had investigated the actions of SYP), alleging a concerted cover-up designed to shift blame away from the police. The editor at the time, Dominic Mohan, wrote: "We published an inaccurate and offensive story about the events at Hillsborough. On the day of the match, radio and television broadcasters advised fans without tickets not to attend. The equipment was no use on the ambulance vehicle when critical early resuscitation was taking place some distance away on the pitch, behind the Leppings Lane end and in the gymnasium. A police officer ordinarily made a visual assessment before guiding fans to other pens. An annual memorial ceremony is held at Anfield and at a church in Liverpool. [39] Those still trapped in the pens were packed so tightly that many victims died of compressive asphyxia while standing. The programme was repeated on 1May 2016, at the end of the week in which the Hillsborough inquest ruled that the 96 Liverpool football fans died unlawfully. The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Interim Report - Wikisource [149][150] Upon receiving the April 2016 verdict, Hillsborough Family Support Group chair Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James was killed in the disaster, said:[151][152][153]. A memorial garden in Hillsborough Park with a 'You'll never walk alone' gateway. [39][40], With an estimated 5,000 fans trying to enter through the turnstiles, and increasing safety concerns, the police, to avoid fatalities outside the ground, opened a large exit gate (Gate C) that ordinarily permitted the free flow of supporters departing the stadium. This Harrowing report, describes how a beautiful spring day turned into a day of tragedy and disaster. It said criticism of Rooney was wrong and co-ordinated by the Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Post. [242][243], In other regional newspapers, the Manchester Evening News wrote that the "Anfield Army charged on to the terrace behind the goalmany without tickets", and the Yorkshire Post wrote that the "trampling crush" had been started by "thousands of fans" who were "latecomers forc[ing] their way into the ground". MacKenzie was suspended as a contributor to the newspaper. This is an edited extract from 'The Hillsborough Disaster: In Their Own Words . FA backed Aleksander Ceferin for Uefa re-election weeks after Paris [20], Risks associated with confining fans in pens were highlighted by the Committee of Inquiry into Crowd Safety at Sports Grounds (the Popplewell inquiry) after the Bradford City stadium fire in May 1985. Wednesday 6 April 2016, 4:11pm. He was omitted from the first team squad and never played for the club in any capacity again. In the following days and weeks, South Yorkshire Police (SYP) fed the press false stories suggesting that football hooliganism and drunkenness by Liverpool supporters had caused the disaster. [126][127], The panel noted that, despite being dismissed by the Taylor Report, the idea that alcohol contributed to the disaster proved remarkably durable. In March 1997just before the eighth anniversary of the disasterit was reported he had emerged from the condition and was able to communicate using a touch-sensitive pad, and he had been showing signs of awareness of his surroundings for up to three years before. A Liverpool fan who suffered life-changing injuries in the Hillsborough disaster has died. In 1999, Anfield was packed with a crowd of around 10,000 people ten years after the disaster. [184][185][186], Home Secretary Theresa May announced on 18December 2012 that a new police inquiry would be initiated to examine the possibility of charging agencies other than the police over the Hillsborough deaths. 15 April 1989. Chief Superintendent Mole himself was to be transferred to the Barnsley division for "career development reasons". He said of the Bradford families: "They did not harbour conspiracy theories. April 15th 1989, Liverpool faced Nottingham Forest away in the semi-final of the FA cup, as kick-off approached a large crowd built up outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles. Popper said this was because the victims were either dead, or brain dead, by 3:15pm. The tragedy was largely attributed to mistakes made by the police. In all but one case, the jury recorded the time of death as later than the 3:15pm cut-off point adopted by the coroner at the original inquests. [272] On the night of the verdict coverage, more than 124,000 tweets used the term The Sun. [308], In 2009, nearly twenty years to the day after the disaster, Steven Cohen, a presenter on Fox Soccer Channel and Sirius satellite radio in the United States (an Englishman and Chelsea fan), stated on his radio show that Liverpool fans "without tickets" were the "root cause" and "perpetrators" of the disaster. This included the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star, which reported that the match had been cancelled as a result of a "pitch invasion in which many fans were injured". [42] People entering were unaware of the problems at the fence; police or stewards usually stood at the entrance to the tunnel and, when the central pens reached capacity, directed fans to the side pens, but on this occasion, for reasons not fully explained, they did not. They just don't want their names in any more sleaze. The deaths of more than 50 Liverpool football supporters at Hillsborough in 1989 was undeniably a greater tragedy than the single death, however horrible, of Mr Bigley; but that is no excuse for Liverpool's failure to acknowledge, even to this day, the part played in the disaster by drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground that Saturday afternoon.