It’s taken 27 years, but just after 11am this morning, justice was finally delivered when 96 Liverpool supporters who died following the Hillsborough tragedy were found to have been unlawfully killed. The conduct of fellow Liverpool fans was also found to have played no part in their death, this after years of receiving mudslinging from the Sun newspaper and many involved in Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government.
In addition to this, the commanding officers of South Yorkshire Police were found guilty of causing the crush due to their errors. An organisation that shamefully ran one of the biggest cover ups ever witnessed in this land.
Today’s victory for the families of those Liverpool fans, Liverpool FC and supporters of Liverpool FC is a victory for all football fans.
Football is the peoples game. A sport that is historically driven by working class communities who had very little in their pockets but had the joy of going to watch their football team, normally in appalling conditions. As a youngster I was taken to the football terraces by my working class Dad and I’m sure I speak for many, if not all true football fans, when I say today’s victory against the British establishment is a victory for all football fans who have shared the pain and cried in sympathy with our Liverpool supporting brothers and sisters.
There’s been a lot of talk of building statues in Britain in honour of Thatcher. This heartless, evil piece of work was complicit in the cover up that took place during her time as Prime Minister and put so many families through an unnecessary prolonged period of heartache. Instead of building a statue to evil, build one for good. Anne Williams was a true hero. A real iron (and loving) lady who against all odds never gave up fighting for the truth about the death of her Son and worked tirelessly with many other families, who suffered horrendous loss, for years against the might of the British establishment.
All the thoughts of the football family are with Anne, the loved ones of the people who lost their lives at Hillsborough, Liverpool fans who have suffered horrendous lies about them and the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives following the tragic events on the 15th of April 1989.
May you all now rest peacefully. You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Don’t buy the s*n, scottish, english or irish versions, they still employ Kelvin Mackenzie.
Never fails too amaze me how the establishment closes ranks, denies the truth, orchestras cover ups, never misses an opportunity too shit on the ordinary people of this country and it never fails to amaze me how so many ordinary people still support the corrupt fuckers.
Justice is part done and won’t be full done until those in the wrong, police, politicians and any one who knew and remained silent is fully punished, but i won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
I remember this day horrible. The fire. at. Bradford heyslel stadium. Greedy clubs forcing fans into sheep pens. Was at the ibrox disaster game too got a lift over by one of the ex clubs fans at section 13 at ibrox. Thanks to mr Lawrence’s building firm the barriers folded like balsa wood. Good reason for all seaters though atmosphere suffered. Anyway ynwa. Rip
Another truly shameful chapter in British history, how a government can sanction a cover up of that magnitude of mass manslaughter of its own people just to save the skins of a select few within the establishment is truly horrendous, I lost a work friend that day,Tony Bland from Keighley, he was the last supporter to die when they turned his life support machine off almost 4 years later and today my prayers are with him and all the victims and their families, yet another heinous crime and cowardly cover up under the devil that was Thatcher and her tory establishment government…. JFT96
Anne Williams your courage finally rewarded with truth.
You’ll never walk alone Anne God Bless.
Justice finally for the 96.
Fuck the Sun.
May their souls now be at peace.
Our Lady of Lourdes pray for them
Our Lady of Fatima pray for them
Our Lady of Knock pray for them.
Now will they charge those responsible.
They’ll probably let it run and run and allow them die of natural causes,with their knighthoods and healthy pensions.
The UK, home of corruption and a brainwashed society.
The Sun offices throughout the country should be burnt to the ground.
And this c*nt could be Prime Minister
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3749548.stm
Scary thought Andy. Bojo in Downing Street and Donald Tramp in the Whitehouse.☘☘☘
What a scenario. I would imagine the doomsday clock would be chiming at midnight.
Dan they would be better than Cameron/Clinton who are the epitomy of evil inmo.
Trump is looking more of a reality than fantasy. They voted arnie in over there fucking nutcase country
Well done Anne Williams and those who fought for truth against one of the worst cover-ups in history. We admire your courage and determination. You didn’t walk alone. What you did was an inspiration for all of us.
Congratulation,Anne Williams and all you wonderful people,
in the true spirit of all civil rights campaigners you fought and refused to give up on your fight for justice.
We salute your efforts and your resolve.
We have shared your pain so bravely fought,your anguish at the lies that were made against your efforts.
H.H. You will never walk alone.
There are many brave people from our city and beyond who have done so much to turn the tide on Hillsborough.
People who dared to fight back and question the pack of lies they were being fobbed off with; who were prepared to roll their sleeves up and apply themselves to tasks that they neither asked for, could ever enjoy or were likely to be allowed to complete. All whilst suffering the sneers and smears of a smug and seemingly impenetrable establishment. Many while living with the unending grief of having a loved one ripped from their lives and their memory callously and repeatedly sullied.
But who has done more than Anne Williams ?
Anne Williams
She was an ordinary mum, like any other on Merseyside, who just worried about bringing her kids up properly and trying to get by. Like countless others, her life was turned upside down on 15 April 1989 when her 15-year-old son Kevin went to watch his beloved Reds away from Anfield for the first time and never came home, forcing her to find from somewhere the strength to carry on, as much as anything for the sake of her other two children, Michael and Sara.
When a year and 17 days later, at her son’s mini-inquest in May 1990, she learned that not only had two people fought to keep Kevin alive long after the 3.15 cut-off point arbitrarily imposed by the coroner but also that he had suffered only relatively mild injuries and could have been saved if there had been even basic medical care available to him, it sparked the memory of a maternal instinct she’d felt on that black Saturday afternoon in Formby’s British Legion, where she’d run to in a bid to find out something, anything, about what was going on, and it lit a fire inside her to discover what really happened to Kev.
With the support of allies like Elkan Abrahamson, Ann Adlington and Sheila Coleman, who was pointed in Anne’s direction by another grieving parent John Glover, this fragile, still-traumatised woman, despite knowing the pain it would cause her, set about conducting her own investigation, tracking down the duo who had battled in vain to keep her boy breathing and then anyone else she could find who had tried to help Kevin at Hillsborough.
Anne Williams with Kevin’s Horn of Life which she made into a necklace
Having assembled documentation from forensic pathologists, Queens Counsels and increasingly-protective police authorities by writing endless letters and cold-calling, the first of many knock-backs began with the accidental death verdicts at the 1991 inquests and continued through the sick joke Stuart-Smith scrutiny in 1997, three rejected petitions to the Attorney General pleading for a new inquest and even a submission to the European Court of Human Rights under the right to life, finally rejected just before the 20th anniversary in 2009 for being ‘out of time’. How poignant those words would go on to be.
What kept Anne going long after everyone else had stopped trying to make things happen through official channels? The knowledge that Kevin was the awkward little boy who didn’t fit into the picture painted by those wanting everyone ‘still going on’ about Hillsborough to go away. Her hard-won evidence, combined with a mother’s death-defying love for her child, was the powerful cocktail that fueled her to keep going – the woman just would not give up.
She had agreed to put her latest Attorney General memorial on hold until after the publication of the Independent Panel’s report and finally saw more than two decades of toil vindicated on 12 September 2012, having got out of hospital only two days earlier. Six weeks later she discovered she had terminal cancer. There will be many who will struggle to understand how this chain of events could happen so close together.
Anne smiled as she spoke at the end of a long day in the Anglican Cathedral about how, as soon as the family learned the release date of the Panel’s report, it felt like a good omen being on the same day as her young grandson’s fourth birthday.
Perhaps her greatest legacy is that little Finlay, and generations after him, will now know the truth of what happened at Hillsborough and how the memory of his Nanny’s fighting spirit will inspire people forever.
Anne Williams the bravest of the brave RIP
Youll never walk alone.
No justice hasn’t been done, this is just another step, albeit significant, on that long road.
There will be attempts to stop justice, “statute of limitations”, “unfair to those simply doing their job” etc bullshit but until there are significant convictions then justice is, sadly, still a long way off.
Those that are no more, such as Duckenfield, should be treated in death just like Saville, stripoed of “honours” and all undeserved dignity.
Liverpool 96 Establishment 0!
Hail Hail!
Must admit to refreshing this page and seeing history disappear but it’s not a platform for inappropriate commentary. People have died going to watch 22 full grown men kick a mitre ball around. It was mitres back in the day. Let’s put it into perspective the police panicked and fucked up with bully tactics when people were fighting for air.
It still is Mitres today.
The football administrators in this country have shown themselves to be nothing short of liars, cheats and corrupt, they have zero credibility. I believe you’ll find ‘The Law’ takes presentment over any football authority in Scotland. Hail Hail.
Our over 45 s play with adidas balls no vivizuelas too be heard though
Our over 50’s just play with their…..no, better not.
Oops.
The ‘truth’ doesn’t always find justice, happy for all the families involved.
This truly was for me one of those, were where you moments in my life. HH
Done my hamstring chasing a winger who looks like Charlie drake so feeling sorry for myself
So that’ll be you donald ducked.
Nah start of the season here back in a month. Full of Huns and toms kicking the shit out of each other here can’t miss that
Tims
This is not a success, it is a sad inditement of our so called betters.
People were ready to point a finger at the low life football supporters as they are at anyone they consider a low life.
No political party can take a crumb of comfort from this, they are all guilty as every Hom Secretary has been of this criminal cover up.
For years the working class in this country has been treated abysmally by our betters.
I lit a candle on more than one occasion for the 96 souls who were denigrated by the Establishment.
Just look at the latest scandal, another shower of wide boys ripping off 11,000 hard working individuals.
This is not a day of celebration, it is a day to remember the poor, and the underprivileged, the ordinary working people, such as the parents tha fought over all this time for JUSTICE
Well said.
I also remember being at Parkhead last year and the Hillsborough families marched around the stadium at half time with banners thanking the Celtic support for their efforts, one fan went
down to give one of the Liverpool fans a gift, he was immediately accosted by one of the security persons and warned of his behaviour, says it all?
Here’s a post from the KDS you’ll never walk alone.
HILLSBOROUGH 20 YEARS ON
I never thought I’d see the day when I had to think twice about going to a game at Celtic Park! Furthermore, it wasn’t costing me a penny … coach paid for, even my ticket was free!
That day came nearly twenty years ago now. I’d been up to watch Celtic play a few times since I started work in 1984, travelling up from Liverpool with mates heading for the old Jungle or the Celtic end, then beaten the path down to the Gallowgate to have a few bevvies with the Bhoys. Loved every minute of it and nothing would keep me away if the chance ever arose to get up there.
This time was different though, It was a game at the end of April 1989 . Basically, looking back, I didn’t know who I was, what I was, where I was.
I felt I’d been battered from pillar to post and was at the point were I didn’t know what the hell was going on inside my head.
You see …. I’d been to watch my beloved Liverpool FC attempt to reach an FA Cup Final two weeks earlier on the 15th of April. The following two weeks from that infamous date have easily gone down in my life as the worst.
From being in the stadium that day (I was one of the lucky ones in the stand) to getting onto the pitch, looking for my 17 year old brother (who I knew was in the terraces behind the goal).
I did eventually find him ……. in a body bag in the gynasium at Hillsborough Stadium.
He’d only gone to the game I thought as I checked his clothing to make sure it was him, shock setting in as what I was looking at didn’t seem to register at all. In this shocked state, my brother was then taken from my sight and I was then questioned by officers of the South Yorkshire Police. Questions which included “How much had my brother had to drink ?”’ They were already getting their side of the story together!
I then had to make the phone call to my family back home in Liverpool. Now, I can’t even really speak about that phone call looking back, it’s hard enough writing about it.
But it’s fair to say, if there’s ever a point in my life again that I am that low, then I think i’ll ask to be put down! Heartbreaking to have to tell your Mum, Dad , Brother and Sister that their son/brother isn’t coming home. When I see other tragedies happen now, I always think of that moment that somewhere soon, a phone will ring, a door will be knocked upon and some poor souls life will never be the same again.
I returned home to my house in the early hours of Sunday the 16th to deep, deep despair.
The subsequent days that followed were of family and friends coming round, masses being said, Cathedral services, press knocking on the door, cards dropping through the letterbox, complete strangers bringing food around (one still does to this day), funeral to organise etc etc .
My brother’s funeral was a joint one, as sadly his mate that he went to the match with also died. It was a massive event for the whole community and the numbers that we could see as we approached our local church were unbelievable.
The Archbishop of Liverpool was there as were representatives of Liverpool FC including Scottish Internationals Alan Hansen and Stevie Nicol. Not every one could fit into the church so it was relayed on screens into the parochial centre and also on tannoy to the people outside. A Crucifix on a wall of the Church bears their two names under it still today. ‘Never Forgotten’!
Now the funeral took place just three days before the game up at Celtic Park and I didn’t know what to do.
Thankfully, I made the right decision. It was a decision that made me realise that I could carry on, and the fact that I did I put down to Celtic FC and the Celtic Fans who remained true to the whole ethos of their club by helping those that were in need ….. we were in need, and we were helped and I for one will never ever forget that.
Looking back to the day of the game, I remember nothing of the journey up there which started from the Liverpool Supporters Club in Anfield, I don’t remember anything from the journey back even, all I remember is being in Celtic Park, being given a Celtic scarf off a fan and being told that ‘We’ll Never Walk Alone’ and that they shared in our sorrow.
The ‘WALK ON’ at that game, I will always say is the best I have ever seen or heard. I remember saying to my mate as I looked around the ground that I couldn’t see any faces, just scarves.
There is picture taken that day of me and fellow Reds in the Main Stand holding up a ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ banner (I’m the one underneath the R).
That day alone I class as being one of the most important of my life and I’ve said ever since, and I have been proved right, that the supporters of Celtic Football Club have stood by us every step of the way in the cause and it is a ‘Just’ cause of ‘Justice for the 96’ !
I could go on page after page about the injustices of Hillsborough and what we have had to endure for the last twenty years, about how the British establishment closed rank, police lies, police statements altered to suit their fabrication, the appalling 3:15pm cut off time as not to hear true evidence of their neglect, The S*N and the odious Kelvin McKenzie…. their list of shame is indeed long!
For those wishing to learn of ‘THE TRUTH’ go to http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough or get hold of the book ‘HILLSBOROUGH THE TRUTH’.
Finally, as we move towards the twentieth anniversary of the deaths of 96 innocent football fans I would like to thank officially on my behalf and that of all at the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, the Jungle Bhoys and all of the wider Celtic family of supporters for their solidarity and friendship throughout the past years …… I/We are proud to know you as friends!
Please keep the bereaved families, the survivors and the supporters in your prayers this April.
Liverpool & Celtic YNWA ~ JUSTICE FOR THE 96
Thanks for posting this Jimmybee
jimmybee
I remember the game well. It was a truly emotional occasion especially, as you said, at the Never Walk Alone. The one dampener (I don’t know if you saw it) was the attempt of the police and or stewards to stop the Liverpool fans running round the track catching donations thrown by fans into a large banner. More disgraceful behaviour by our custodians of law and order. It might still stick in the craw but it will never take away the beautiful memories of that day.
H H
Pensionerbhoy, I do remember it well m8.
Yes fans were trying to give donations and gifts
Polis acted like they always do.They are the thugs. I used to go to anfield every year for the service,I have a lot of good friends in Liverpool,both red and blue,with Celtic as their other team,the common bond which brought us together,over many a holiday to Spain.
I also used to collect for the Liverpool dockers,and the shocking way they were also treated.
What made Hillsborough more poignant for me.was that it nearly happened to us Celtic fans at Nottingham Forest. The police done the exact same thing and opened the gates.We were struggling for breath,and the panic was starting to happen.I had my young brother with me,and can relate to the feeling of god if something happens to me or him what can we tell our parents.
Pensionerbhoy, The thing about Hillsborough,is I knew the truth as soon as I saw the tv pictures.
For the exact same thing happened to us down at Nottingham Forest at a European tie.
We were struggling in the pens,as the police decided just to open the gates.
I had my young brother with me who lost his shoes as we managed to pass him down to the front,but they just kept coming. We were roaring at them to open the pens but they just looked at us,anyway as people started to feel faint and dizzy,the wall at the corner collapsed allowing fans onto the park,this was our saving grace,as I do believe some would have died that night.
So I always supported the campaign,went to Anfield on numerous occasions,and have a great affinity with the people of Liverpool. We nearly had the same outcome at Nottingham and the same lies would have been told.
Justice for the 96 you’ll never walk alone.
Hector
I unashamedly admit I shed a tear over this. You article along with some of the posts especially jimmybees’ on Anne Williams and the many courageous people who fought the criminal authorities genuinely moved me. Thank you all for some deserved emotional thoughts and recollections.
RIP all who died at Hillsborough and the fighters who gave very ounce of energy in the cause of justice and have since passed away. God bless you all. Prayers and respect.
H H
Hector
Just read the Celtic statement on Hillsborough. What hypocritical platitudes, making the following comment,”…… whose quest for the truth has today been realised.” What about the quest for truth beginning at home. Sincere apologies to Liverpool for desecrating this special day with this but I feel it is significant.
H H
yer darn tootin its significant as they say in the auld country western night doon the gallowgate
The Polis in Yorkshire weren’t’ so different to any other force in the Country at that time. They were all taking orders from the security services. So while they were planning and instigating the murder of the Irish, in and outside of Long Kesh, they were setting about Miners, Dockers, Printers and anybody else that dared challenge their rule. On the same day the 96 died,upstairs decided to steal our game from us. The Taylor Report is what it is normally referred as.