I had to think several times before I wrote this post. I couldn't decide whether to write it because it involved another club and not my beloved Arsenal. In the end I decided that Gooners would understand why I have wrote this post.
I watched the Liverpool V Blackburn match yesterday and was genuinely moved by events there. Not because Liverpool went top of the league again. No, no, no. But because of the sheer emotion at the ground.
I can't believe it has been 20 years since the Hillsborough disaster. It's strange because I was only around six years old at the time and you only remember certain things from your childhood. The Hillsborough disaster was one something I remember. Only vaguely. But I do remember it.
I suppose I didn't understand the enormity of what happened at such a young age but as I've got older I've grown to understand that it was such a terrible tragedy. Something like that should never happen at a football ground and I feel for the families and friends of anyone involved.
I've read Steve Gerrard's book and I remember reading that he had a cousin involved. You could see the emotion in his face when the camera's were on him.
I only hope that nothing will happen like this in football again.
I look at the league table and I see Arsenal out of the title race. I see Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea above us. Of the three I hope Liverpool win the league. It would be fitting that they did for those who perished 20 years on.
Keep it Goonerish..............
45 comments:
TopMan
Nice one mate.
Agree it was sad and tragic, but do people remember the Bradford fire in which 55 fans died, also in the sixties in Scotland with Celtic, believe it was more than a hundred that got crushed to death, none of these events should be forgotten because it is a reminder of what can happen.
We play Liverpool in a couple of weeks, anyone going please remember to give for 'Ray Kennedy', the man is in trouble so Gooners dig deep if you can, it was his goal that won us the league at No Heart Lane in '71
from a Liverpool fan nice one mate. Wish all gooners were like you! Justice for the 96!
well wrighty could do with three extra inches of meat
All the best and thanks mate.
Just need your boys to do us a couple of favours in the next few weeks.
JFT96!
right choice mate!
muchly appreciated.
a lot of fans dont realise that prior to hillsborough,footy terrace and the surrounds were a battle ground were anything goes.at the time it was an adrenaline fuelled buzz to hear of the what went ons after and before matches,but looking back,a disgrace!
take a look at other european countries now .the italies,where the match isnt an enjoyable experience anymore because if your not getting stabbed by a scal,the police are cracking you over the head with a baton.
hillsborough changed all this.
decent fans from all corners showed there respects.evertons uniteds to name but two and i tell you,it put a lump in the throat to think that some one who hated yer guts and wanted to beat you up,all of a sudden wants to share a tear with you.its never been forgotten by our lot,and never will.
there are clubs who you have a soft spot for by the way their fans behave.the freindly banter and stuff.the gooners are one of them.
Thank you for your sentiments mate .YNWA
thank you for understanding our pain.
a life long Liverpool supporter.
Thanx mate.
At least some other fans have some dignity. I was in the pub watchin the match and wen the minutes silence started, united fans started singing an anti hillsborough song, mocking all the people who were killed and then they started calling us murderers.
And they wonder why everyone hates them. From a scouser to a gooner, you are my favoutie fans cos ur in it for the football an dnot the trophies. I salute you.
RIP 96
YNWA
Thank you for your kinds words mate. In times when people revel in the anonymity of the internet to write some pretty nasty and disrespectful things, this was a breath of fresh air.
Also it was 66 Rangers fans that died in 1971, whilst playing Celtic and no, none of these disasters should ever be forgotten!!
Funnily enough when making a choice about whom I would prefer to win a cup or league in the past (can't help but to choose), out of the other top three it is always the Gunners I have chosen!!
Best of luck for the rest of the season!!
Wrighty[
Good work fella. I think it was a right thing to do mate. i mean, given what happened that year between the 2 teams, I feel there is something there, I remember the Arsenal team bringing garlands onto the pitch at Anfield in that match, etc...
And like the poster said, after Hillsborough, it really made the authorities take a look ay=t how they treated fans; like scum basically and lets not forget cunts like Ken bates and the electric fencin he was in favour of! Great way to treat your paying punters...
I am a Gooner who was at Anfield on 26th May 1989 and felt and shared the grief of a whole footballing community that night.
I will never forget that there was nearly a full stadium when Tony Adams lifted the trophy that night and I don't believe that any other set of fans would have done that after having the title snatched away in the final minute.
If you win the title this year it would be a fitting tribute to the loved ones that never came home.
I Completely agree with you mate, i was 24 when this tragic event happened, and i will never, ever, forget the scenes and the emotion i felt when i saw what happened on tv that evening after returning from wathing The Arsenal, all i kept thinking was,that could of been me, which im quite sure every other supporter around the world who follows there team must of felt, it was a tragic day for football, my thoughts go out to all the families who suffered a lose on that day
Quite simply thank-you Wrighty for your poignant comments on this memorial to our 96 brothers and sisters in heaven. Good to see fellowship in a sometimes hostile EPL. Yeah I watched Micheal Thomas? put that last minute goal past Liverpool defence's but nothing will take away Liverpool's far greater loss that year. RIP 96
Dave from Canberra
"I only hope that nothing will happen like this in football again."
Sadly it did just the other day in the Ivory Coast.
Class piece, Wrighty. I am Arsenal to the core myself, but rather like seeing Liverpool play.
Anonymous at 12:36, the Mancs cannot help themselves. They are insufferable.
Never Forgive! NEVER FORGET!
Justice for the 96.
You're a class act Wrighty7
From a Liverpool fan I feel like I have to say thank you. Like somebody else said I wish all football fans were like you!
As for us winning the league all I can say is hopefully! And if the roles were reversed I would be looking for Arsenal to win the league. Nice attractive football! I look forward to our matches as the atmosphere is great. You are a great set of fans.
Justice for the 96 - YNWA
well said wrighty.
Top man. Thanks. Some things are bigger than football and this is one of them.
Wrighty, thats a touching blog mate, I was only six months old at the time of the tragedy. It was on of the darkest moments in football along with the Bradford fire and many other incidents that have cursed the best sport/past-time the world has ever seen. I hope anything like this never happens again, anywhere, to any team or it's fans. My heart goes out to every Liverpool fan, I can't even begin to understand the emotions of that moment. That is the day football rivalries should stop, and the world of football, fans, players past and present, managers and backroom staff should stand shoulder to shoulder and pay their respects.
From a true Gooner,
We will remember them.
Gunner #1
You are a top bloke my man. As we look like we are out of Europe (barring a miracle) I will be supporting the gooners all the way. as long as you loose to us in the league ;-).
No seriously respect is due to you and all the like minded real fans like you.
Justice for the 96
with all due repect i think its about time the souse fans got over it and stopped wallowing in it..yea people died, but does this mean liverpool deserve to win whatever cup they are in? fed up of hearing 'it'd be nice to see them win so and so cup as a tribute to hillsborough' yawn
football should be just football. such tragedy should never have happened to an entertainment event.
i'm not trying to diss anyone, but this is one of the reasons why liverpool remain a special club to many, despite e lack of sucess in recent times. we've utmost respect for anyone or anything if they deserve our respect.
when alan smith broke his leg, we gave him a round of applause as he was stretchered off.
anyway,
nice one mate
- from a grateful liverpudlian
Perhaps the Liverpool fans also remember trying to storm into the ground without tickets to get into the Champions League final.
Singing songs about the Munich air disaster and killing the Juve fans at Heysel, getting all the English clubs kicked out of Europe..
Adam try tellin the 96 families to get over it you prick, maybe poeple will be able to get some closure when they get justice,
Wrighty great blog mate,
justice for the 96
YNWA
Ignore the idiots mancs.
Thanks for that mate. I genuinely hope you go on to win the CL this season, and I think you will. You can also do us a favour by beating the vermin.
39 victims at the Heysel disaster. Liverpool fans seem to want to forget that one.
why do u want liverpool to win the league they aint ever won it before so why should they now as a gooner i want united to win the league not scumy liverpool
Sorry for a rant but here we go ...
Firstly nice one if only more football supporters realised that being able to take your kids to the game or as a woman being able to go and watch your team is due to the events that horrible day.
I am a 24 year old female season ticket holder at anfield. I go to every home game and as many away games as i can afford. In 1989 I was 4. My dad had a ticket for the Leppings Lane end but my sister ripped it up so he couldn't go.
No matter how old you are or what team you support it is a horrible thing to happen.
I have to say that I have heard the odd Liverpool suppoter singing Munich songs. The difference is that the other people on the Kop tell them to shut up. The away fans that come to anfield sing all kinds of songs about killing our own fans and no one says anything .. they join in.
Because of my age i didn't understand Hillsborough. I didn't understand what happened or what hapenned since then. I was never allowed to go on the kop when it was standing because of this. I read Kenny Daglieshes autobiography and cried my eyes out.
The same as when I read the Hysel chapter.
NOONE should go to a game and lose their life. No ONe. wether you support Liverpool, Man U, Celtic or any club in the whole country.
Many people say that we shouldn't have carried on that season. I don't know, I wasn't there and the only thing I can compare it to is Athens in 07.
You know what, no fans are perfect. As much as I love the club and the supporters, there are idiots that follow every club. That is, as rafa would say a fact!.
Rant over. I have a few points.
1: Anyone who goes to a match knows that this disaster could have happened to anyone of the teams that have a large following.
2: Hysel is as remembered as Hillsbrough. Justice has never been done for the Liverpool supporters that died on that day. Actions where taken after Hysel and although stadiums are now all seater due to the 15th April 1989 verdicts of accidental death don't reflect the events of the day.
3: Arsenal are the team with true supporters that can put themselves in the situation many suppoters found themselves in on that day. I have never heard Arsenal fans sing you kill your own fans and that puts you in high regsrds in my eyes. Keep it up
4: Win the Champions League. You play football and don't roll round like idiots like everyone else!
You are an absolute star mate. We need to remember that you are one of the MAJORITY. One of the main reasons that Hillsborough happened in the first place was because the authorities treated ALL fans as animals and so put us all behind fences and in cages. The vast majority of fans are decent people like yourself, and we should remember that we have all got more in common than not, no matter who we support. Good luck against Villareal.
As for Hamaad, you reckon Liverpool "aint ever won" the league? You are the type of ignorant idiot that football could do without.
Hey mate, there are only handful of true supporters like you. Your post really means to me as a Liverpool fan. Take care and all the best.
Wrighty
YOu have just proved what we all already knew and that is that you are a top man.
i can say that having met you randomly once or twice that you are a true gent in real life!
YNWA
A class blog entry which illustrates everything that's great about British football.
You're a top man and although I couldn't ever presume to speak for the families of the 96, I'm sure it's appreciated.
YNWA.
Echo all the comments. Some things are more important than petty rivalry, and i wish Man Ure fans would remember that when they sing about Hillsborough em masse.
Great post!
to adam your a sick thick mofck RE quote"yea people died, but does this mean liverpool deserve to win whatever cup they are in".
Who mentioned anything about Liverpool deserving to win anything on the back of 96 dead supporters? I bet you are not a true Gooner unlike Wrighty or Gunner #1 or tonyss, and just bleat on like an anonymous muppet that you really are. Get a life idiot. YNWA - Dave from Canberra
Boring topic wrighty. What happened at hillborough 20 years ago was terrible, but a lot of things have happened since then for the memories of the dead to be continually dragged up. I say let the dead rest in peace. Are we gonna be remembering them in 50 years, whats the whole point, BOOOOOORING:
Thanx for your thoughts mate. As for a recent poster saying it's boooooring then let's hope one or worse two of his kids go the match and end up dead and then nobody being held accountable even though it's quite obvious who was to blame - South Yorkshire Police.
Thats very touching.
Is also one of the reasons why many fans respect Arsenal fans as the majority are decent fans unlike those at UTD and CFC
Top Class Mate. Always held the belief that the rivalry between Arsenal and Pool is totally professional with strong mutual respect. Sadly, the same cannot be said about the mancs. Their players' prima donna antics are well matched to their motley crew of fans who go around slinging mud at their nearest competitors. YNWA!
For those that don't understand:
FACT: No 1 Tragically 96 people died which brought about a massive change by eliminating some of the causes (sadly not all) of the disaster. For the benefit of us all
FACT: No 2. Football supporters at that time were treated as a subspecies to be contained, corralled like animals, abused by the authorities and treated with disdain and disrespect. The prime minister of the day Maggie Thatcher had legislation in process to force all football fans (the only people in the nation required to do so) to carry identity cards. Lord Justice Taylor's inquiry squashed this idea.
FACT: No 3. The organization by the Football Association was inept, arrogant and pathetic. Not only did they select the larger end of the ground for Nottingham Forest fans in spite of the fact they had less supporters but they selected a decrepit stadium without a safety certificate.
FACT: No 4. Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield of South Yorkshire constabulary who was in charge of the policing had never before managed such an event and was found guilty by the official inquiry of "a blunder of the first magnitude." that caused the disaster.
FACT: No 5. As the disaster unfolded the police not only failed to respond but actively made things worse by pushing people escaping from the crush back into the crowd. Later they stood and watched while supporters administered first aid and made makeshift stretchers from the advertising boards. None of this is hearsay or folklore! It was all documented by live TV and validated by the official inquiry.
FACT: No 6. The dead, the dying and the injured were denied even the basic first aid as the police denied access to the convoy of waiting ambulances and skilled paramedics outside of the stadium. Only 3 ambulances made it to the pitch out of the 42 that were held outside. Apparently a breakdown in communication and a disregard for the perceived “hooligans” was behind this outrageous behaviour. As a consequence many died who should have lived.
FACT: No 7. Even in the immediate aftermath the attitude of the police towards the bereaved and injured was hostile and threatening as if accusing them of causing the event. They interrogated persons who had just lost two daughters (15 & 19) regarding how much alcohol they had consumed - the answer was none!
FACT: No 8. Sections of the media, in particular the SUN and its despicable editor Kelvin MacKenzie, ran a headline stories of lies stating that supporters had urinated on their dead colleagues and robbed the bodies - this under a front page headline “THE TRUTH” The proprietor of the newspaper subsequently withdrew these allegations and apologized but to this day McKenzie refuses to do so and refuses to identify the supposed source of the story. Sales of the SUN newspaper in Liverpool are still blighted by a boycott. NOTE: Lord Justice Taylor's inquiry described at the behaviour of Liverpool supporters on the day as “magnificent”
FACT: No 9. The authorities - the FA, the Football League, the South Yorkshire police and the government behaved appallingly in the days and months and years following the disaster. The police effectively implemented a cover up with CCTV videos going missing police officers statements changed and a campaign of misinformation to protect the guilty. Coroner Dr Stefan Popper's inquest was rigged with a cut-off time of 3:15pm to prevent those who died of neglect on the field to be included. The government and the football blazers came out with platitudes and crocodile tears. It wasn't until Lord Justice Taylor's inquiry 4 months later that action occurred. Even then only changes such as all-seater stadia to prevent future such events occurring were addressed. No blame was acknowledged, no accountability determined or compensation offered to the victims and no apology was forthcoming from anybody.
FACT: No 10. The only group to receive compensation for the grief and stress caused by this horrendous event was – Yes! You guessed it - the South Yorkshire police!
Nice one and very well said indeed.
Am from Mauritius and down here we all remembered having watched the tragedy live on TV...stunned by what was happening.
The Kops know that Arsenal fans are indeed a class apart.
YNWA...
Thanks Wrighty, Football needs true fans like you, justice for the 96, YNWA - Jamie from Chester
I was ten when Hillsborough happened and I remember seeing the footage on the old wooden TV. Hillsborough was a major disaster, a mix of incompetence in crowd control, minority of hooligans, dangerous stadium setup and the general Police vs Fans mentality that football had created. I feel sorry for those connected with the Hillsborough disaster and waht happened that day, but what people need to rememeber is that it was an accident that the Police failed to control and the actions by the Police during and afterwards are unreal and I think those connected should have seen justice and the Police held accountable. BUT it was an accident, a badly handled accident.
Heysel was an act of hooliganism and was not an accident that caused 39 deaths and 600 injuries. Liverpool fans should never forget which moves me onto the discrace that was Athens, and probably if not for control by Police another accident waiting to happen. Was some of Hillsboroughs cause by fans turning up without tickets drunk and ignoring police crowd control, I think so?
I find it difficult to feel sympathy for Liverpool fans, especially those who jump on the Hillsborough bandwagon, who cause trouble at grounds themselves, probably singing songs about the munich air disaster.
For those connected and who lost family, its fitting that they are respected and had such a great tribute at Anfield.
I totally agree with the last poster. The root cause of the hillsborough tragedy was 100's of liverpool fans without tickets trying to force their way into the leppings lane end.
This situation was very badly managed by South Yorks Police and the crush was transferred from outside the ground to the terracing inside.
After the crush started the coppers on the ground followed their orders from control and tried to contain what they were told was hooliganism.
The end result was many fans being crushed to death. A total tragedy.
But it was not as some think, a deliberate act by the police. All parties need to share their portion of the blame. The police have accepted their part, but have Liverpool fans looked in the mirror and come to terms with their role in the disaster? 20 years on, it doesn't look like they have...
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