On 15 April, it will be 25 years since the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, when 96 Liverpool fans went to see their football team play in the FA cup semi-final – and never came home.
This video was made by a Liverpool fan after the 2012 inquiry into the disaster. We show it here in tribute to the 96 who died, to the survivors, and to the families of the 96 who have fought so long and so hard for the truth and for justice.
Just look at the ages of those who died, listed at the end.
It is down to the Hillsborough campaigners that after years of police lies, slander and cover-up, the truth of what happened on the day has begun to be told.
They fought for the independent inquiry, they forced the prime minister to apologise. Now we can see exposed more clearly the absolute disregard of the police for the lives of working class football fans.
Another Liverpool fan, who was at the match with his dad, made the second video. It pieces together reporting from the time and the recollections of those who were there.
The fight goes on – after the 2012 inquiry and the quashing of the original inquest verdict, the families are now going through a second inquest, which has started by bringing out the stories of those who died.
Campaigners are also pressing for an investigation into whether the police spied on them.
The third video is a bit different.
This video was not made by a fan. It is live footage from Irish broadcaster RTE – and it is shocking because it actually shows the match. Yes, you should watch this footage of the football game that began between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Here we are, in the sunshine and the “sensational news” is that Alan Hansen is in the starting line-up for Liverpool. The match kicks off and it looks set to be a cracking game – oh! he’s hit the crossbar! – and then, slowly, over on the left of the picture we can see fans trying to escape on to the pitch at the Leppings Lane end, where the 96 died.
Contrast
The power of the film is that it contrasts what the day should have been all about, what all the fans had been looking forward to so much – the joy and excitement and exuberance of a wonderful football match between two great teams – with the horror we will always remember: the crush, the deaths, and later the smears, the lies, the cover-ups, the trauma and the pain.
No one should die because they love football. No one should have to endure what the survivors and the Hillsborough victims’ families have suffered.
Justice for the 96! You’ll never walk alone.