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Hillsborough - 20 years later

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by NoOneLikesUs, Mar 17, 2009.

  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Here's the SI story from 1989. It was in the same issue as the Mandarich "Incredible Bulk".

    http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1068307/index.htm

    I still remember vividly the images of a fan's face being crushed up against the chain-link fence, which you can see by clicking on the "view this issue" link and flipping to page 40.

    http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/edb/reader.html?magID=SI&issueDate=19890424&mode=reader_vault
     
  2. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    [​IMG]

    I wonder if that girl made it out alive.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  3. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    Much of the blame for Hillsborough has to rest on the heads of the cops/stewards/whomever that allowed/forced the fans into the holding pens in the first place. When people started fighting for their lives, the thought it was hooligans and started beating them back, making the crush even worse.

    Didn't the Taylor Report kinda leave that part of the blame out and family members are still fighting it in court?
     
  4. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    That had to be a nice final few moments of life for those against the fence: Their ale-sotted insides being crushed to death while some photog is snapping away from the safety of the other side.
     
  5. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    And according to Wiki, there were no cops to direct fans to the other holding pens at that end; they were all shunted to one or two.
     
  6. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    The guy in the khaki jacket at lower left is getting it pretty bad, too.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  7. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    If you read all the way to the end of the story that NoOne posted, the mother of one of the victims points out that the coroner declared all the deaths to have occurred by 3:15 p.m. That's significant because it means the police can't be held liable for keeping the ambulances off the pitch after that. It's also completely untrue.

    It wasn't necessarily a matter of directing fans to the pens. There was a system by which the pens were supposed to be monitored by video, and once they were full, they were closed off. When they let the several thousand through the gates, they threw the already-full pens open.

    None of the police have ever been prosecuted for their actions.
     
  8. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    Didn't read the story. I was just going by memory.

    Do a search for stadium disasters, and Hillborough and Heysel (which I've been to, Euro 2000 Belgium vs. Italy, nice goal by Totti) are just the tip of the iceberg. There was one in Russia where people started slipping down an icy staircase and piled on top of one another. There were 300+ killed.

    It also seems like I've read at Hillborough there were old-style tall turnstiles that went one way and kept people from not having an escape route.
     
  9. Beaker

    Beaker Active Member

    Those pictures are just gut-wrenching.
     
  10. MN Matt

    MN Matt Member

    That first article is just amazingly impactful.
     
  11. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    Exactly. At some point, though, I hope the photog put down the stinking camera and went to help somebody. Let's see, doing the job thing vs. maybe saving someone's life.... tough choice, but I think I'd go with rendering whatever aid I could to prevent someone from being crushed. :(
     
  12. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to be snarky or anything.

    You weren't actually at the old Heysel. It was torn down in 1994 and a new stadium built on the same site. From everything one gathers, it was about 25 years too late.

    And as far as rendering aid is concerned, I think some people did make it over the fence, but not many -- there were spikes on the top to keep people from climbing it.
     
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