Twenty-three years ago this writer was at a game in England when the news came through that the FA Cup Finals between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough had been delayed due to crowd trouble; at the time that came as no great shock. Those were the times we lived in and crowd trouble was not exactly anything new.
There were no mobile phones back then, and so it was via transistor radios that we slowly started to hear that people had died. Despite the game going on in front of us as we stood on the terraces, everyone was looking around for someone with a radio to hear what exactly had happened.
Normally post game we would head to the pub to celebrate or commiserate, but that day most people headed home as the number of deaths appeared to be mounting. Having been at a game standing behind the fences that were to prevent us running on the pitch we could all relate to what had happened.
That night very few went out. We sat in front of the television watching and unable to believe what had happened that afternoon, and the number of people who had lost their lives, just because they went to watch their football team. It was a tragedy that should never have happened and there were many at whose feet the blame should lie, but the one thing that it did, was unite football fans.
Everyone who had been to a game and stood on the terraces knew that it could so easily have been them.
So for Chelsea fans to fail to acknowledge one minute’s silence on the anniversary of this disaster makes one wonder if they deserve to be called “fans” or “supporters,” as they obviously fail to understand the tragedy that was Hillsborough.
How sad is it that the referee Martin Atkinson felt the only option open to him was to cut short the minute’s silence.
With CCTV at all grounds it would be nice to see Chelsea take stills and identify those who failed to show their respects by publishing the pictures in the club programme for their next home game. Hopefully shaming them amongst their peers may make them realize the disgrace they have brought to club’s name.
Thank you for sharing that with us. I cannot imagine to understand your pain and suffering, I really do not know what to say that could possibly help you and other fans like you. Trust me when I say that other fans genuinely do feel for you, and hope that it does get easier as life goes on.
A great shame indeed, Sunday was a bad day for me, My partner took me over to Liverpool to have a wander around the wonderful Liverpool docklands, spot of lunch a chat to take my mind of that living nightmare that always destroys me called Hillsborough. Anyone who was there will tell you we live with it day in day out. Yes it could of been another set of supporters quite easily. But believe me the guilt it wasnt myself instead of thise poor kids that got caught up in it stays with you. So yeah it couldve of been another set of supporters. But why it wasnt me instead of those poor children kills me every 15th of April. It doesnt matter if Chelsea can show no respect…it will never change my nightmare