Sorry in advance for the long post.
There is much to be said, I think, in favour of the moderators splitting this thread into three separate threads. I say that because we have got three separate issues being debated here and having three issues in one thread muddies the water rather than clears it.
The first issue is that due to a combination of factors, an appalling tragedy occurred in 1989 which meant that 96 fans of another team lost their lives. Wherever the blame rests for that, and it seems that the answer to that is that the blame lies very largely with the policing of the game, it might be helpful to remember that there is no evidence that a single person went to the match that day with the intention of causing the loss of life. It was a tragedy, yes, an appalling and – crucially – an avoidable tragedy, but tragedies are part of life. Whether the failings displayed on that day by the police, SWFC and others are so bad as to leave them open to criminal or civil liability is a more difficult matter, and I am not well enough up on the actual specific causes of the tragedy to reach a view.
For instance, at 2.45 one of the PCs on the ground radio’d up (IIRC) with a request to put back the kick off. A simple idea which might have saved 96 lives. I don’t know why that request – acknowledged, but not acted on – was ignored. Somebody made a decision not to do that, and – without intending it – that decision cost lives. Whoever that somebody was, they were plainly working under pressure. Did they make an honest mistake? If they did, should they face civil or criminal charges for making an honest mistake, even one with such awful consequences? I don’t know about that.
Likewise the management of the tragedy once it had occurred could have been better – much much better – but isn’t that true of many catastrophes? So calls for retribution against the participants are a difficult one in my view. Not that they should get off scot free, but nor is a lynching going to be helpful.
There is also the point that since 1989 we have learned some of the lessons of Hillsborough. Never again will we allow such a tragedy – which football had flirted with before (my god, in 1981 it could so easily have been us). Our stadium is not a potential deathtrap, it is one of the Cathedrals of the modern game. It is beautiful. And it is safe – they all are. So I can take my beloved sons and my beloved daughters to watch my beloved team and know they will not be crushed to death. And for that, I owe a debt of thanks to 96 Liverpool fans who went to watch their team but never made it home.
So why the tragedy happened is one issue in this thread. Then there is the second issue. Some people seem to hold the view that because the 96 people who died were Liverpool fans, it shouldn’t trouble us that much that they lost their lives. This school of thought apparently holds that scouse lives are somewhat less valuable than those of real people, presumably because they all wear shell suits, or because Liverpool as a City is responsible for Heysel, benefit cheats, whinging, an annoying accent, victim mentality, Jimmy Tarbuck, curly black hair and quite possibly bad cat aids. I think a separate thread for these people to express their views in happy isolation from the other issues would be quite an improvement to the debate.
But then there is the third issue. A tragedy occurred in 1989, the fault for which (whether or not it involves criminal liability or breach of any legal duty) lies with the police (SYP). Had they manned up in ’89 they would have been slaughtered for it at the time, but they would have got through it. Probably, SYP would have been a better place for it, after the inevitable inquiry and the lessons were learned. But for what look like entirely political reasons there was a combination of cover-up and smear campaign. So it was that “The Truth” was peddled that the whole thing was the fault of drunken scousers who went round robbing dead bodies. The revelation that the criminal records and alcohol consumption of the deceased were checked in search of ammunition for use in a propaganda war is just one aspect of the despicable campaign waged against people who could no longer defend themselves. Evidence was destroyed, statements were doctored. They used those tactics in South Africa during the Apartheid years, I understand.
I can’t stress enough that this is a wholly separate issue to why the tragedy occurred. If you have responsibility for lots of lives, and you fuck up, people die. That is a shit deal (although those deals tend to be quite well paid accordingly). But it also means that we should perhaps think twice before throwing to the lions people who cause loss of life in this way. We have, I think, to accept that tragedies will from time to time happen due to human failings: all of us, we’re only human.
There is no excuse whatsoever for destroying evidence, tampering with statements, peddling disinformation. The scale of the conspiracy is breathtaking, and I have no hesitation in saying that IMO every single person who was involved in that process has to explain why their conduct does not involve a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. If the answer is 'it was a conspiracy', they should all be charged, every last one of them.
This distinction between the fuck ups on the day and the later attempts to cover it up and push the blame on to the fans themselves is to my mind crucial. Accepting blame for that which is your fault is an integral part of our justice system, it is an integral part of rehabilitation. That is why guilty pleas attract shorter sentences. SYP are largely responsible for the deaths, as today’s statement reveals. As an institution, they knew that. Yet they have lied and denied responsibility for almost a quarter of a century. Their conduct reminds me of nothing more than a drink-driver I once knew who killed a child through his drink driving, and blamed the child’s parents for not taking greater care of him (they were wholly blameless, by the way). It was a total abdication of responsibility. It was despicable. Just like SYP.
I use this user name infrequently and only to post on serious matters concerning the justice system. Since in a way I represent the justice system when I post in this capacity, if anyone reads this who is in any way connected to the 96, on behalf of that justice system that SYP and I are both part of I am so sorry. Your lost ones for 23 years have had their graves pissed on by SYP. They deserved so, so much better.
