Remembering the 96

[Coppelled Streets]

Pete Evo Poems
That Lad

April fifteenth, nineteen-eighty-nine.
Semi-final day, the weather was fine.
Set off for Hillsborough in our mini-bus.
Laughing and singing, all twelve of us.
Bevy in the alehouse. Reds having the crack.
We didn't know then some wouldn't come back.
Walked down the hill on the way to the ground.
This was dead weird, not many bizzies around.
There's normally hundreds. Usually loads.
They must all be busy blocking off the roads.
Forest fans in one way, Liverpool another.
Can't have them meeting. "Don't want the bother."
One bizzy on horseback shouting over the din.
"Stop bloody pushing. You'll all get in."
"Come on lads, they've opened a gate."
"Hurry up, we don't wanna be late."
Straight up the tunnel and into the dark.
Couldn't even see the players out there on the park.
Something's not right. This is all going wrong.
My ribs are getting crushed in this massive throng.
I fell on the terrace, looking up at the sky.
God, I was scared. I don't wanna die!
Punch, kick, scrap, fight.
Got to do anything to get back upright.
I was like a wild animal. What's happening here!
Survival instinct. Stark bloody fear!
"Get outa my way lad. I can't get my breath!"
I didn't realise he was so near to death.
"Open the fence! Please! Let us out!"
That lad went under. It was his last ever shout.
Help me! Pull me up! Grab hold of my hand!
Get me out of this hellhole and into the stand!
I was safe. I survived. I was free from that hell.
How many dead? I just couldn't tell.
Looked down at the pitch, there was that lad.
A man weeping over him. That man was his Dad.
He was trying to revive him with the kiss of life.
But that lad was gone. How would his Dad tell his wife?
Many years on. Still no justice done.
That man's still grieving for his dear son.
Was it me? Was it my fault? Was I to blame?
I still ask myself at the Eternal Flame.
Other Poems



Six minutes past three on that tragic day.
The pain and the trauma won't go away.
Crushed as I was in that terrible pen.
Dead bodies around me; one as young as ten.
I was big and strong, so I scrapped and I fought
To save my own life; well that's what I thought.
Because inside I'm dead and it cuts like a knife
That ninety-six died and I have a life.
I did what I had to; I had three kids you see.
I couldn't die; it couldn't be me.
If I had died that day I never would have seen
My Ma's last seven years: My dear old queen.
Ninety-six souls haunt my dreams.
The nightmares won't stop; that's what it seems
I wake up sweating, shivering and shouting out loud
"There's ninety-six dead in that xxxxxxx crowd!"
I feel anger, I feel hatred, I feel guilt, I feel shame.
Ninety-six souls tell me I'm not to blame.
So why do I wake up screaming and crying

Seeing the faces of young people dying?
Ninety-six souls come to meet me each night
Taking me back to that terrible sight.
"They're to blame: Duckenfield and Murray
We'll get justice one day. We're in no hurry."
I should have died that day: I know that's a fact.
With the ninety-six souls I've made a pact.
"When my days are up and my judgement awaits
I'll meet you all in heaven at the Bill Shankly Gates.

Very touching when you read someones version of what happened that day.

[From Despair To Where?]

Spacey/TBM, were you at Elm Park for the Wigan game the following week? Possibly one of the most emotional games of football I've ever been too - the minutes silence before the start was extraordinary. I remember a few people crying on the Southbank. I suspect your attitudes would be different had you attended.

A truly heart rending night. I was one of the many crying on the South Bank that night. Regardless of club alliegences, any true fan who was a regular away supporter in the late 80's was effected hugely by Hillsborough. We played at Southend the night before and didn't have a game that Saturday. I'll never forget watching in floods of tears as the tragedy unfolded live on Grandstand.

[Stooper]

May 11th

Indeed, a day I hold very dear and personal to me.

Who can forget the hilarious chanting of Reading fans to Bradford City..."What's it like to burn to death?"

LOL

You absolute f***ing prick.

Remind me to laugh when you lose a member of your family

[TBM]

You absolute f***ing prick.

Remind me to laugh when you lose a member of your family

Hey - you posted the joke and even called it "hilarious" - surely that makes you the prick?

[T.R.O.L.I.]

[Jerry St Clair]

Hey - you posted the joke and even called it "hilarious" - surely that makes you the prick?

Only if you don't understand irony.

[TBM]

Hey - you posted the joke and even called it "hilarious" - surely that makes you the prick?

Only if you don't understand irony.

Right i think im getting there!

So its ok to laugh and make jokes about a celebrity who commits suicide at Paddington train station but do the same to football supporters and you get shot down!?

[Jerry St Clair]

So its ok to laugh and make jokes about a celebrity who commits suicide at Paddington train station but do the same to football supporters and you get shot down!?

I take your point. And, as someone who's not averse to repeating sick jokes there's an element of hypocrisy.

The Hillsborough Disaster is a little too close to home for anyone who watched football in the 1980s - it really could have been any of us. The fans that died, died doing exactly the same thing as I did the following week against Wigan; going to support their team. That is why you are going to get barbed responses for taking the piss.

[floyd__streete]

So its ok to laugh and make jokes about a celebrity who commits suicide at Paddington train station but do the same to football supporters and you get shot down!?

I think that there is world of humanitarian difference between a 'celebrity' who killed himself and 96 people killed by accident .

[TBM]

So its ok to laugh and make jokes about a celebrity who commits suicide at Paddington train station but do the same to football supporters and you get shot down!?

I think that there is world of humanitarian difference between a 'celebrity' who killed himself and 96 people killed by accident .

You're still laughing/making jokes at the dead, no matter how they died - both still have family/friends who would be affected by the death(s)!!?

[Daniella]

What I hate about this is just the scousers continuous case to find "justice" and point the finger of blame at anyone they can, its pathetic. Why can't they just accept it was a terrible accident, football has changed and let everyone move on?

[Gus the teenage cow]

What I hate about this is just the scousers continuous case to find "justice" and point the finger of blame at anyone they can, its pathetic. Why can't they just accept it was a terrible accident, football has changed and let everyone move on?

the authorities were to blame and there has been no accountability here, if a person isn't willing to stand up and fight for the lives of their brethern then indeed there is nothing worth fighting for

[Kes]

ANOTHER thread on the Hillsbrough disaster.

[Scylla]

ANOTHER thread on the Hillsbrough disaster.

Spotter's badge

[From Despair To Where?]

What I hate about this is just the scousers continuous case to find "justice" and point the finger of blame at anyone they can, its pathetic. Why can't they just accept it was a terrible accident, football has changed and let everyone move on?

the authorities were to blame and there has been no accountability here, if a person isn't willing to stand up and fight for the lives of their brethern then indeed there is nothing worth fighting for

the police had been getting away with heavy handed and ineffectual policing at games for years. The clubs had been getting away with poor oganisation and substandard facilities for years. Because something like Hillsborough had not happeneded previously the authorities involved in running football had got dreadfully complacent throughout the late 1980's. To most football fans one of the biggest shocks wasn't that Hillsborough happened but that how a incident like that hadn't happened sooner. It could have happened at Anfield, Old Trafford, Highbury, Stamford Bridge, in fact, any big ground, on any weekend in the preceding 5 years such was the conditions that football fans were subjected to. In fact, Hillborough was regarded as one of the best grounds in the country at the time. It is a damning inditement that it took the death of 96 people for football to put it's house in order and for conditions and organisation to improve. Football has changed because of it.

[Daniella]

What I hate about this is just the scousers continuous case to find "justice" and point the finger of blame at anyone they can, its pathetic. Why can't they just accept it was a terrible accident, football has changed and let everyone move on?

the authorities were to blame and there has been no accountability here, if a person isn't willing to stand up and fight for the lives of their brethern then indeed there is nothing worth fighting for

the police had been getting away with heavy handed and ineffectual policing at games for years. The clubs had been getting away with poor oganisation and substandard facilities for years. Because something like Hillsborough had not happeneded previously the authorities involved in running football had got dreadfully complacent throughout the late 1980's. To most football fans one of the biggest shocks wasn't that Hillsborough happened but that how a incident like that hadn't happened sooner. It could have happened at Anfield, Old Trafford, Highbury, Stamford Bridge, in fact, any big ground, on any weekend in the preceding 5 years such was the conditions that football fans were subjected to. In fact, Hillborough was regarded as one of the best grounds in the country at the time. It is a damning inditement that it took the death of 96 people for football to put it's house in order and for conditions and organisation to improve. Football has changed because of it.

So why can't liverpool fans just leave it at that? They make everyones life a misery by continually going on about it. Let the poor souls rest in peace. If one individual was personally at fault, he'd probably know this and as a result has that on his conscience, the death of 96 people. That is punishment enough, it was incompetance not murder. I find the manhunt by liverpool fans distasteful and sick to be honest, remember their protest at the sun article last year? Pathetic.
Whats the point in punishing someone? One would argue to make an example and stop others from repeating the incident. How can you punish someone for an accident? Can anyone see where another hillsbrough would happen? No, so therefore punishing anyone is pointless. Let everyone get on with their lives, mourn the dead respectfully and move on. Most of these spoilt scouse kids singing protests,etc weren;t even born ffs, they are simply going on hearsay and probably because its a trend now set in the kop.

[PlasticRoyale]

City of Self Pity FC love a protest though

[Jerry St Clair]

So why can't liverpool fans just leave it at that? They make everyones life a misery by continually going on about it. Let the poor souls rest in peace. If one individual was personally at fault, he'd probably know this and as a result has that on his conscience, the death of 96 people. That is punishment enough, it was incompetance not murder. I find the manhunt by liverpool fans distasteful and sick to be honest, remember their protest at the sun article last year? Pathetic.
Whats the point in punishing someone? One would argue to make an example and stop others from repeating the incident. How can you punish someone for an accident? Can anyone see where another hillsbrough would happen? No, so therefore punishing anyone is pointless. Let everyone get on with their lives, mourn the dead respectfully and move on. Most of these spoilt scouse kids singing protests,etc weren;t even born ffs, they are simply going on hearsay and probably because its a trend now set in the kop.

It wasn't an accident. All evidence points to levels of criminal negligence.

a) No up-to-date safety certificate for the ground
b) The Command document used as a reference point by the Matchday commander was ignored
c) Crush barriers removed
d) Emergency exits too small and too few (far below minimum stipulations in the Green Guide).
e) Lies told by police in the hours and days after the disaster (the principal one being that fans broke down Gate C)
f) Hundreds of police statements edited to remove all critical references to senior officers

Perhaps yopu think we should just allow such failures to be punished by personal conscience rather than a leggal system?

Whatever you think of the worth of pursuing this 19 years down the line, it's clear, by any reasonable measure that justice has not been served. Thankfully, I've never had a child die at a football match, therefore I'm in no position to castigate anyone who seeks justice for theirs that did.

[g]

19 years later and Liverpool supporters still rush the turnstiles.... a lesson learned?

I wonder if the 96 thought they deserved to die by the own greed of supporters.

[cmonurz]

Yes g, you're a cnut, we got it the first time.