JF96 YNWA

[Bearlyknitted]

27 years. Justice at last.

That Guardian piece made me sob the first time I read it. And the second.

I won't have The Sun in the house and judge anyone who reads or refers to it as anything other than a rag, if I'm honest.

That day changed so many people. My best friend, dragged out alive but missing the skin off his ribs, and the cousin who never made it.

I cried when I heard, it's taken so long. Remember listening to it on the radio and play being stopped due to "fans on the pitch".
There are still plenty of bloody comments on the stories "why were they pushing in without tickets, though? Surely the drunk fans are partly to blame?" Thanks to Kelvin McKenzie we still have to listen to this bollocks even though today's verdict and headline exonerates the fans
This is only the beginning of JFT 96

Bearly - and for all the families who lost loved ones that day.

to everyone affected on this thread either through personal links or just as people who knew an injustice was carried out
I am relieved and saddened today
Someone on my local newspaper facebook page posted an awful victim blaming comment which has had me twitching my fingers all afternoon to correct but I am ignoring and facing it with some of the dignity shown by the families

Even though it was so long ago that it predates the fall of the Berlin Wall and Mrs Thatcher was at number 10, I remember the day clearly.

I was at the Everton-Norwich semi-final and earlier in the season had been to Hillsborough. The programme sellers had programmes of both semi-finals, not that I would have bought one for a game I was not at. It was just a normal game and half time scores were shown, with the message that the Liverpool-Notts Forest game had been delayed.

We knew nothing about deaths or injuries during the game, and it was only when getting in the car to return home and listening to Sports Report that I heard that people had died. I remember seeing the Sun headline a few days later.

To those who have fought since that day to have the truth told, I hope today brings some closure. For those who were responsible, and especially those that covered it up, I hope that prosecutions follow.

Truth and justice, finally. YNWA.

Huge respect to Andy Burnham. And also for the Sun being banned from the press conference .

I just heard on C4 news that the reason it's taken 2 years is that the police lawyer person was still arguing right till the bitter end that the lies which have been proven to be lies are actually the truth. Unbelievable.

to all those who lost loved ones at Hillsborough. The dignity and resilience of those families is just mind-blowing. Irvine Welsh tweeted today: 'Hillsborough about more than establishment cover up of tragic deaths. Also about a state-led cultural vilifaction of a city and its people.'

There really need to be prosecutions next.

JFT96

for the victims and their families. I was only a baby when this happened but it haunts me. My DM had a near miss in a 'pen' at another ground in the 80s.
As a Sheffield Uni student we had our exams in the gymnasium at Hillsborough, it gave me chills sitting in there. Just horrible.

There have been so many upsetting and moving stories today, but I was especially tearful upon hearing a reporter recall how, when Anne Williams had to endure listening to a Police Officer give untrue evidence, she commented that 'he'll give up before I do.'
To me, that summons up a mother's love.

Kelvin MacKenzie is a Cunt who authorised those shocking headlines on the front of The Sun back then.

Shithead of the highest fucking order.

I've been to Anfield numerous times and still get choked watching man, woman and child gently touch the memorial outside.

Far too long to wait for a small amount of justice.
YNWA

Horrible horrible weak bastard McKenzie www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kelvin-mackenzie-reacts-hillsborough-verdict-7839834

Published in good faith McKensie??
Spineless, horrible prick

Kelvin MacKenzie is a Cunt who authorised those shocking headlines on the front of The Sun back then.

Shithead of the highest fucking order.

Hear hear. Wish MN had a like button.

NC for very obvious reasons.

Let me just state I'm from Liverpool and still live in the city - I am old enough to remember Hillsborough and have first hand experience of the impact it has had on friends and work colleagues.

I have never and never will buy The Sun newspaper - primarily because it's an awful paper, is Tory centric and because of the years of denial about Hillsborough. The Mirror has always been the paper of choice on Merseyside (pre-Hillsborough as well).

However, I think some posters are getting confused between what the newspaper did wrong and what the police and other authorities covered up.

The police told The Sun editorial team that they had proof that horrendous things were done by Liverpool fans (things we all know to be untrue).

It was the police who gave this "exclusive" to The Sun - the editorial staff did not make things up (it was the police who did this) , they acted in good faith on what they believed was a reliable source - a source that had also briefed Number Ten about the same things.

Why is the vitriol that should be directed at the police being directed at the newspaper and those who acted in good faith at the time?

If any other newspaper had been given the "exclusive" The Sun was given they would have printed the same thing.

JFT96YNWA May they rest in peace.

JFT96

Remembering two of my brother's school friends who died that day. Another day another ground it could so easily have been my brother.

And remembering the young Liverpool fans mum and I met on a train to Wembley a year or so before Hillsborough. They were excited about the match and offered to share their one can of lager with us. I've often thought of them since then. I hope and pray they survived Hillsborough because I'm sure they would've been there.

I have to strongly, strongly disagree. The Sun simply didn't check their sources. They took it as read that the police would not lie and that Scousers were drunken robbers. Had they bothered to dog even slightly deeper they would have uncovered limitless inconsistencies - ones which any reporter of any integrity would not have overlooked. Sadly this didn't suit the rhetoric of the time. The conduct of their editorial team was utterly shameful and indefensible.

(Last post to Sundefender)

Thank you for the explanation Herethereandeverywhere - I didn't grow up in the UK and wasn't even aware of the tragedy until this thread. I'll read the Guardian article now.

Joshua, thank you for the Duffy poem, I hadn't read that before, it's beautiful.

I agree Bearlyknitted - and perhaps today isn't the day to debate it - I'm just astounded that The Sun gets all the vitriol for lazy journalism at worst. Had other papers been given the story they may not have handled it as magnanimously as they would like us to believe.

Also I marvel at the "boycott" that extends to a newspaper that was never popular in Merseyside anyway but doesn't think twice at watching LFC matches on Sky or buying the Sunday Times.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it The Sun who also printed the most distressing images of crush victims dying? I'm sure some of the vitriol comes from that. The Sun had a huge following across the Northwest and it has never regained its circulation figures there, including in the outskirting towns.