15/04/1989 Hillsborough |
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dunloybhoy
Liam Brady Joined: 31 Mar 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 2662 |
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Posted: 15 Apr 2011 at 3:43am |
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/davi ... port-group
James Jones, the bishop of Liverpool, sits in a hangdog, wood-panelled room at the House of Lords and speaks with characteristic clarity about his job chairing the independent panel examining the documents relating to the Hillsborough disaster. More than a year into his appointment to what he calls "probably my most important work as the bishop of Liverpool", now approaching the 22nd anniversary of the day, 15 April 1989, that 96 Liverpool supporters did not return from an FA Cup semi-final, he is intent on stating three main points. The first, which he leans forward to make immediately, is that the panel, established by the Labour government in 2009 after 40,000 people at the 20th anniversary memorial service called for "justice", is being fully supported by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. "This government has wholeheartedly embraced the commitment of the previous government," Jones says. He wants it on the record that the panel's work, to collate, publish, and make sense of the disaster's whole paper trail, will continue to its conclusion. Its budget has been maintained and its staff, including the senior civil servant Ken Sutton, retained. The second is to emphasise that the panel is committed to revealing "the full truth" about the disaster and its aftermath. They are dealing with some 60 agencies who hold documents, including Sheffield Wednesday football club, with the most important archive currently being "yielded up" by South Yorkshire police, whose negligence was the prime cause of the disaster. "That is our absolute priority," Jones says. "Legally and emotionally, those are our terms of reference, to add to the public understanding of the Hillsborough disaster. We are wedded to the terms of reference." His third main theme is to confirm that the documents so far released already add to public understanding; they are new and revelatory. "There is significant material that sheds light and adds to public understanding of the disaster, its aftermath and the way it was investigated," he affirms. "Without doubt. There is material which we will put into the public domain which has not been seen before." What that significant material is, he will not say, abiding by a commitment the panel has given to the families of those who died, that the detail will not be selectively released before the ultimate report is written. "We have already had panel members say they have found significant material, but we have to be disciplined for the greater good," he says firmly. "We are having to be this disciplined with the families, not feeding the material back. They are trusting us – this phrase is used: they feel this is their last chance of getting the job done properly. It is an awesome thing to stand in front of families who have lost 96 of their loved ones tragically, and for them to say: 'We trust you.'" The families' abiding outrage, tormenting them in their grief – that all of what happened at Hillsborough was never exposed, the perception that South Yorkshire police covered up their culpability by changing officers' statements – finally burst fully into public consciousness in 2009, 20 years on. The Hillsborough Family Support Group had fought tirelessly to expose their main accusations of injustice: that after Lord Justice Taylor judged in his official report that the police, Sheffield city council and Sheffield Wednesday football club were culpable, nobody in authority was subsequently held accountable. The Sheffield coroner, Stefan Popper, conducting the inquest which produced a verdict of accidental death, limited its scope to 3:15pm on the day of the disaster, thereby excluding from inquiry the chaos of the police operation and failure to implement an emergency plan to save more lives. Meredydd Hughes, South Yorkshire police's current chief constable, had already in April 2009 made a commitment, in an interview with the Guardian, to release his force's whole archive. Andy Burnham and Maria Eagle, then Labour ministers, had resolved to call for all official documents to be published. Then, at the Anfield memorial service, Burnham's speech was drowned out by the crowd's call for justice, which gave him and Eagle more persuasive force when arguing for the process to senior Labour ministers. The result is the independent panel, chaired by bishop Jones, and constituted of police and public-health experts, with its remit to order the documents in a publicly readable archive, and produce their report. Katy Jones, factual producer of Jimmy McGovern's ITV drama-documentary Hillsborough, is understood to be reading much of the police material now, and professor Phil Scraton, author of Hillsborough: the Truth, who first exposed the changing of police statements, is chiefly responsible for drafting the report, which is expected to be completed this year. Bishop Jones, although wary of talking about specific themes which are emerging, does confirm that the panel will be seeking to shine as full a light as possible on those areas which have most concerned the families. "We meet the families on a regular basis," he says, "and the families rehearse those familiar questions. It is almost as if they hold up those questions to the light and turn them round. We are absolutely taking into account all the issues the families have raised. But the process cannot be defined by them, because as you look at them, other issues come up which we haven't anticipated. There are no holds barred." South Yorkshire police is in the process of releasing all its archive, which adds up to 350,000 unique documents – not copies or papers held on behalf of others, according to Hughes, the chief constable. He offered to release the documents, he explains now, in his own interview with the Guardian, "In the interest of openness", without initial consultation. Only afterwards did he hold discussions with his police authority, government and colleagues. As for the officers in charge on that dreadful day, including chief superintendent David Duckenfield, the match commander, whose conduct Taylor severely criticised, Hughes says: "The officers have said they welcome the fact that this process is happening, and this will give the fullest picture yet of what happened on the day, and its fullest context." To the accusation of a cover-up, Hughes answers: "Every statement will be available in its original form, and its changed form. I think people will be able to understand more why the statements were changed." As for what the process will produce to address the sense of injustice which abides, Hughes says, simply: "I hope the families will be satisfied that all the documents from South Yorkshire police are out there. Beyond that, it is up to them what the process will mean. I fervently hope there will be no unanswered questions." Margaret Aspinall, chair of the HFSG, whose 18-year-old son, James, was killed at Hillsborough, says of the process, and the liaison with bishop Jones and his panel: "We do feel a trust in them. We feel we are finally being listened to after 22 years of having to fight for everything, even for the good name of our loved ones. But because of everything that has happened before, what we have been put through, we still have to be cautious. We are, this time, cautiously optimistic." Key questions The Hillsborough Family Support Group, Hillsborough Justice Campaign, and Anne Williams, whose 15-year-old son Kevin died in the disaster, have campaigned for answers to several key questions which the independent panel is dedicated to answering: • What happened after 3.15pm on the day of the disaster, and could more people have been saved? The coroner limited his inquest to the events leading up only to 3.15pm. • What was said between Peter Wright, the South Yorkshire police chief constable, and Margaret Thatcher, then prime minister, when she visited Hillsborough the next day? • Was there a cover-up by the police? Who removed two CCTV video tapes from the locked control room at Hillsborough on the night following the disaster? • Has the public seen all the statements made by South Yorkshire police officers which were subsequently changed before being sent to the Taylor inquiry? • Which officers worked in the unit that vetted those police statements, who gave the orders for them to be changed and what was the purpose of that operation? • Why was detective superintendent Stanley Beechey, a former head of the West Midlands serious crime squad, working at a senior level in that force's investigation into the Hillsborough disaster on behalf of Taylor and the inquest, when Beechey had been placed on "non-operational duties" due to the disbandment of the serious crime squad? The Justice Bell A schoolboy holds a leather ball in a photograph on a bedroom wall the bed is made, the curtains drawn ...as silence greets the break of dawn. The dusk gives way to morning light revealing shades of red and white which hang from posters locked in time of the Liverpool team of 89. Upon a pale white quilted sheet a football kit is folded neat with a yellow scarf, trimmed with red and some football boots beside the bed. In hope, the room awakes each day to see the boy who used to play but once again it wakes alone for this young boy’s not coming home. Outside, the springtime fills the air the smell of life is everywhere viola’s bloom and tulips grow while daffodils dance heel to toe. These should have been such special times for a boy who’d now be in his prime but spring forever turned to grey in the Yorkshire sun, one April day. The clock was locked on 3.06 as sun shone down upon the pitch lighting up faces etched in pain as death descended on Leppings Lane. Between the bars an arm is raised amidst a human tidal wave a young hand yearning to be saved grows weak inside this deathly cage. A boy not barely in his teens is lost amongst the dying screams a body too frail to fight for breath is drowned below a sea of death His outstretched arm then disappears to signal thirteen years of tears as 96 souls of those who fell await the toll of the justice bell. Ever since that disastrous day a vision often comes my way I reach and grab his outstretched arm then pull him up away from harm. We both embrace with tear-filled eyes I then awake to realise it’s the same old dream I have each week as I quietly cry myself to sleep. On April the 15th every year when all is calm and skies are clear beneath a glowing Yorkshire moon a lone scots piper plays a tune. The tune rings out the justice cause then blows due west across the moors it passes by the eternal flame then engulfs a young boys picture frame. His room is as it was that day for thirteen years it’s stayed that way untouched and frozen forever in time since that tragic day in 89. And as it plays its haunting sound tears are heard from miles around they’re tears from families of those who fell awaiting the toll of the justice bell. |
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put em under pressure!
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dunloybhoy
Liam Brady Joined: 31 Mar 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 2662 |
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Justice for the 96! may they never be forgotton.
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put em under pressure!
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dunloybhoy
Liam Brady Joined: 31 Mar 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 2662 |
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Kenny Dalglish believes the families of those who died at Hillsborough are edging closer to justice. Today is the 22nd anniversary of our 1989 FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest during which 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives. The families of those who never came home will once again gather alongside supporters for a memorial service at Anfield - and Dalglish believes they will do so with added hope in their hearts. The fight for justice has progressed in recent years with the establishment of an independent panel to examine previously unseen documents relating to Hillsborough. The panel, which is being chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool, is expected to complete its report next year. "I think it's getting closer to some positive news for the families, but it's taken them a long time to get to this point," Dalglish said. "Two years ago Andy Burnham (then Culture Secretary) came up to the service and promised to do the best he could to get access to some of the papers that weren't due to be released for another three or four years. "To the man's great credit he has done that. They have got access to some papers now that they didn't have before and need to file through them. That's why I am saying it's getting a bit more positive for them. "Everyone knows how difficult it is for the people who lost someone. The sooner they get the justice for themselves the happier they will be and we will all be for them. We're hoping that's moving onwards and upwards now." Dalglish was Liverpool manager when the disaster unfolded and was a linchpin of support for the families. "I don't think it will ever be removed from anybody and neither should it be. Nobody should ever forget it," he added. "It's a significant day for every Liverpool supporter. Everyone knows what it means to the football club. "It's a day when we remember that 96 fans went to a football match and never came back. Obviously it's more poignant for people more directly involved in losing someone. "It's a sad day and it's a day etched in the minds of everyone connected with the club. "It's been so long there are a generation of our fans who were not born when Hillsborough happened but they are perfectly aware of what happened. I'm sure it will be in the forefront of their minds as well." |
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put em under pressure!
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ShamtheRam
Paul McGrath Joined: 05 Apr 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 18145 |
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While your at it there...........justice for the 39 at heysel too.
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YBIG NPF founder and CEO
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Gavintheslob
Jack Charlton It’s Nessa actually Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Location: Slobsville Status: Offline Points: 7300 |
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it is just madness that there has been no justice, thoughts and prayers of those of the 96
childish post there sham by the way |
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Its very frustrating being a Slob
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t_rAndy
Robbie Keane Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 26244 |
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Did they not already get it? In that people were held accountable
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Sham157
Moderator Group Joined: 17 Jul 2009 Location: Monaghan/Dublin Status: Offline Points: 33210 |
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Agree Gav, no need for that post Sham, save it for the anniversary of Heysel if you've a point to make.
Crazy its been going on this long wthout justice. And before people start saying they should get over it its been 22 years, if it was your father/brother/son/friend killed, would you not fight for the truth and some justice for them?
Edited by sham157 - 15 Apr 2011 at 6:17am |
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FREEWHEELER
Robbie Keane sPICE UP YOUR LIFE Gwan MONROY Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 24595 |
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Cheap shots aren't welcome on this thread..........horrible horrible day and the fact that they're 22 years and still no justice is appalling. Shades of the Stardust in that regard. May they all RIP.
This coulda been any of us, or our brother/sister/Dad/Ma, just footballing mad people supporting their team and they never came home.
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We'll never die, we'll never die, we'll keep the Green Flag flying high......Shamrock Rovers will never die, we'll keep the Green Flag Flying high. 19 Leagues and 25 Cups.....
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Justice No. 1
Ray Houghton Joined: 24 Dec 2009 Status: Offline Points: 4029 |
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http://pics.livejournal.com/scouselucas/pic/000221b2/s320x240 RIPEdited by Justice No. 1 - 15 Apr 2011 at 6:51am |
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dunloybhoy
Liam Brady Joined: 31 Mar 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 2662 |
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very true.
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put em under pressure!
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Justice No. 1
Ray Houghton Joined: 24 Dec 2009 Status: Offline Points: 4029 |
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Emerald
Liam Brady Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Location: Emerald Isle Status: Offline Points: 2494 |
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RIP. A tragic day which united the whole city, blue and red.
A famous Liverpool manager once said that football was more important than life or death. He was wrong. Hope these families eventually get the justice they deserve. |
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walsheman
Liam Brady Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Location: Kildare Status: Offline Points: 1711 |
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good one sham ya fookin child
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Going To The Euro's,Poland and Ukraine 2012 HO HO!!!!
twitter.......@walsheman |
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ShamtheRam
Paul McGrath Joined: 05 Apr 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 18145 |
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Hang on a second.
Did I at any point make derogatory remarks about those who died at Hillsborough? I merely stated fact. Even now those in the thread are ignoring Heysel. Liverpool was hit with two tragedies involving fans..........one is constantly overlooked in favour of the other. Justice for the 96 and Justice for the 39 too. Edited by ShamtheRam - 15 Apr 2011 at 10:18am |
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YBIG NPF founder and CEO
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MayoMark
Moderator Group The NEW angrier Freewheeler Joined: 27 Jan 2009 Location: Castlebar Status: Offline Points: 26322 |
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And this so happens to be the anniversary of one of those tragedies
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They finally did it man... They killed my f**kin' car...
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ShamtheRam
Paul McGrath Joined: 05 Apr 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 18145 |
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and once again my point is missed!!! This doesn't happen on the anniversary of Heysel!!.....nothing like this happens....it's IGNORED! My point is that one incident should never be mentioned without mentioning the other. There are 2 threads on this forum about Heysel.....one was started by a Man United fan the other was started by an Everton fan. Edited by ShamtheRam - 15 Apr 2011 at 10:34am |
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YBIG NPF founder and CEO
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erimus
Roy Keane Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Location: North Kildare Status: Offline Points: 11399 |
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This is our f**king country we're talking about - Keano
ROLL ON 2016 |
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RogerMilla
Moderator Group #TEAMJAVIER #ENGANCHE Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Location: Delaney Park Status: Offline Points: 34858 |
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yes and that is muck
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The first time the Devil made me do it. The second time I did it on my own.
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