Hillsborough. Police did doctor evidence in a bid to avoid blame.

[Darkesteyeswithflecksofgold]

A report in the Independent about the cover up. RIP to the people who lost their lives on 15th April 1989.
And condolences to the families who are still suffering.

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/exclusive-hillsborough--police-did-doctor-evidence-in-bid-to-avoid-blame-8126233.html

In 1989 I was a young police officer with 3 years service - the police communication in those days were like this [http://www.qsl.net/gm8aob/pages_2/be439.htm here]]

On a normal shift sometimes you would have enough radios let alone a major public event.

I am embarrassed by the whole cover-up by lets not say it was 'the Police' it was Senior Officers who didn't have a clue and as always the blame should be with Senior Officers not the bobby on the beat.

The only good thing to come out of the Hillsborough disaster was the improvement in Senior Officers training for major events and disaster control.

Yep, seen that one now. Like I say, I'll go with what the new report says, which Sammy has read.

And I'm absolutely not trying to turn anything into a bunfight.

here even !

I knew there had been a cover up, but I'm speechless at the sheer scale of it.
23 years for those poor families that have finally been vindicated
Is the Sun still boycotted in Liverpool?

kenDodds...afaik noone on this thread has ever said such a thing at all. However, it was put out that maybe violence amongst football hooliganism was not as bad as the press made it seem. It was there discussed...although in most posts it was also pointed out that although their was a history of violence amngst some football fans that this was not the cause or blame for Hillsborough.

I am old enough to remember the decision to put up those metal fences at football grounds. I said at the time it would lead to people being crushed and it did in horrible circumstances at Hillsborough.

The police will be heavily criticised today but in risk managment theory it is well known that a series of seemingly unrelated decisions, actions and chance events often over a long period of time often lead to the final disaster.

I know the fences were taken down shortly after Hillsborough but I do wonder if the Govt of the day were also keen to also avoid blame and legal liability. The initial inquiry came up with a conclusion that was rather convenient for a lot of people who had an interest in blaming the fans.

random your FIL is disgustingly wrong. I hope he has watched the news today and feels thouroughly ashamed of the lies he is telling himself and others. As a soused who was only about 6 months old when this happened I can tell you iv NEVER read the S*n and never will. An apology... Like the last one he issued but admitted he didn't mean? Absolute scum. JFT96

Babybythesea

Honest to god, I am not trying to argue with but really, there was a lot of trouble and very bad it was too.
My family were immersed football, my brothers played and we went to matches - arsenal, tottenhm, Chelsea, Oxford, reading, derby.
It was awful for a while. If your mother missed much of it she did well.

It has nothing to do with hillsborough. But I would rather think that the previous years of hooliganism was the reason why people doubted the real story for a while rather than some irrational snobbery about football.

And of course it wouldn't have mattered if ootball hooligans were rampaging throughout the land - it had nothing to do with the totally innocent victims at hillsborough who did nothing wrong.

Yes The Sun is and always will be boycotted in Merseyside. Trevor Hicks went so far to ask if there were any representatives from The Sun at the press conference, saying if there were would they please leave.

I would urge anyone who has been shocked by today's revelations to boycott The Sun.

Yy morebeta

I recall the discussions about putting fans effectively in cages and it being a recipe for a tragedy

It was post the Bradford fire too wasn't it.

Jft96

JFT96

But I would rather think that the previous years of hooliganism was the reason why people doubted the real story for a while rather than some irrational snobbery about football.

I think another reason people believed the lies told is that they were being told to us by people we would normally trust - the Police, the Government, the press (who we probably trust less, but certainly to some extent).

Even if football had never been plagued by hooliganism (which it undeniably has) I think it would still be understandble, to a point, if some people said they believed the lies were facts. It was a campaign of deception.

I went to school with a boy who died at Hillsborough, and latterly I worked with his Mum. She was a shell of a woman. She talked about her lovely son all the time. I hope she finds some peace today, at long last. But I somehow doubt it. She knew it was all lies, she knew her boy was alive past 3:15pm. Perhaps it will help that now everyone knows.

I didn't say anyone had suggested it on this thread... It was used by the media as an excuse to blame the fans.

The Hillsborough Family Support Group also gave a statement to the Leveson Inquiry about the unhealthy relationship between press and police. Sadly, nothing seems to have changed.

Yes. There was a stronger sense that the police etc wouldn't lie than there is now.

That poor woman Spartfc.
It is impossible to imagine the grief and anguish of losing a child and then hearing slurs about them. I hope this helps just a little

So pleased with today's news. Just watching Andy Burnham MP speak at the vigil now. When he spoke at the memorial service a few years ago and the crowd started chanting it moved me to tears and you could see him realising how important this was to the people of Merseyside. And yes, The Sun is still most definitely boycotted in Liverpool. I'm not sure i've ever seen anyone reading the Sun in Liverpool.

Just catching up with the news and feel sick to my stomach.

Utterly heartbreaking

JFT96 x x

I'm a Liverpool fan, but was 12 weeks pregnant the day of the disaster so watched on television. It was obvious from the very next morning that the real events were being misrepresented because the news coverage and official statements were so at odds with what I saw. They were reporting things that I knew weren't true because I'd seen the exact opposite. That's one thing that's always puzzled me - why did they think they could tell so many lies about an event that happened live on national television? Do they really think people are that stupid?!

I'm glad the truth is finally coming out, I hope it leads to the families getting the justice they deserve. They've suffered for far too long, and through it all have shown enormous dignity.

JFT96 YNWA

I agree with Growlithe I would urge anyone who has been shocked by today's revelations to boycott The S#n.

Like ChristineDaae, I never have and never will.

Thank goodness the cages weren't there in Bradford Pagwatch

I am pleased the truth is now out there.

And sad that some people still choose to believe liars.

agree with tunapasta
having said that i would rather have lost my job than join in a cover up. i am a serving officer.
i hope the families can begin to find some peace. Its all so very sad.

There is a theory that the Thatcher government did not dig too deeply into the actions of South Yorkshire Police as they were aligned with them after the support they'd shown the same government in the early/mid 1980s. Don't know what anyone thinks about this.

It's a small detail but it has always bothered me that such a big match was held in a club/ground with no safety certificate, I mean it's not subjective, it's black and white that it hadn't been done. The football people involved (as opposed to police) were allowed to climb the ranks within football and I don't understand that either.

Dave Conn writes well about this subject.