35 years since Hillsborough

[wednesday1957]

In your opinion, is that end safe now?

Because in recent years, seems like there have been a few near misses again.

I can only answer from experiences from a couple of years back mate,
I only get to home matches now, cos the wifes ill, last away game was Wembley last year
But yea...I used to take a young lad on the Lepp who was a patient at the hospital I worked at...got in free as a carer, even though I had a season ticket on The kop, but I know the layout, never felt unsafe
I've been on the Lepp with over 45k in the ground, cup game, quarter finals of the F.A cup v Burnley, Kop was sold out....potg on the Lepp..no problem...cos I knew where to go
I mean..you tell me if "That ends safe"..I've had a season ticket on the Kop for years, Idon't go on the lepp....
But funnily enough I've 2 Mackem mates who have been tripping up to Hillsborough every time we have played you for the last few years...both Sunderland season ticket holders..they text me from The Lepp..I text back from the Kop...That time you came up under Keane, both were on The Lepp, sold out, full up...met them both in The Yew tree pub after...
If they had been ....."Fearing for their lives" on The Lepp...Mighta thought they would have mentioned it

I think tho it's both
I agree with this and I've heard the stewards at Hillsborough can be dicks

Stewards at Hillsborough are shocking mate, no argument....

I can only answer from experiences from a couple of years back mate,
I only get to home matches now, cos the wifes ill, last away game was Wembley last year
But yea...I used to take a young lad on the Lepp who was a patient at the hospital I worked at...got in free as a carer, even though I had a season ticket on The kop, but I know the layout, never felt unsafe
I've been on the Lepp with over 45k in the ground, cup game, quarter finals of the F.A cup v Burnley, Kop was sold out....potg on the Lepp..no problem...cos I knew where to go
I mean..you tell me if "That ends safe"..I've had a season ticket on the Kop for years, Idon't go on the lepp....
But funnily enough I've 2 Mackem mates who have been tripping up to Hillsborough every time we have played you for the last few years...both Sunderland season ticket holders..they text me from The Lepp..I text back from the Kop...That time you came up under Keane, both were on The Lepp, sold out, full up...met them both in The Yew tree pub after...
If they had been ....."Fearing for their lives" on The Lepp...Mighta thought they would have mentioned it

Stewards at Hillsborough are shocking mate, no argument....

They are, there was a video out when Birmingham came up earlier in the year, Brummie lad was doing a vlog, Stewards approached him, got hold of him, ripped his coat trying to take his phone off him, he was trying to explain he was outside the ground simply doing a vlog, and they had no right....
When it came out....and I can maybe find it if you want...Owls fans were absolutely fuming....got a fund up to buy the lad a new coat..but its so unnecessary, its like being hit over the sodding head with idiots at the minute, The Bradley lowery disgusting stuff, the Coventry neanderthal idiot with the chimp gestures, 35 years since Hillsborough disaster...dipping down to league 1 again...and theres absolutely jack sheeite me, or any other ordinary run of the mill Owls fan can do to change it...Any road up the stewards..and the Brum lad..try and put the link up

Watch the vid from about 10 mins in...bloody disgusting
This is what ordinary Owls fans have to swallow..week in, week f.ucking out, its embarassing, its shaming, its a football club thats lost its way
As a Wednesday fan, you seem to be scampering and slipping like a bloody puppy on lino to excuse your club,
and you find you can;t, but you cannot help following it...born into it, bred from the teat on it, despite the hillsborough disaster, despite the Bradley stuff, despite the daft Coventry racist,
I'm simply doing what me Grandad did, simply doing what I was fed on, I can't change, I can simply apologise to other clubs and their fans for the sodding mess we are.
Not only a shambles on the pitch, but a total dogs breakfast off it
I have begun to think, maybe league 1 is the best place to bloody hide in for a while..outta the spotlight , back in the doldrums, and take a bloody breath

 

[Harbour Boy]

Hillsborough Kop was always like that mate, with a crowd in...much the same as every other ground i've been to with a crowd in..
Problem we have with the ground now is folk visiting it like a bloody haunted house and looking for stuff...You been to QPR on that away end with a crowd in...Brentfords old away end with a crowd in?....Everton, numerous others...in the 90's?
Gets a bit crowded at QPR, Everton, Brentford you hear nowt about it...theres no bloody history..Happens at Hillsborough and its a tragedy in the making.
Take the other season....the one where you lads went up
Sold out away end, on the Lepp, not a problem, sure its not the best ground in the sodding country, but there were no mackems posting
" I feared for me life"
Go to Newcastle in the F.A cup...one bloody reporter talks about a crush on the Leppings Lane.....cue a barrage of...absolute crap about crushes and fearfulness...then you watch videos of Geordies actually doing the vlogs fronm right in front of the tunnel and where this "Crush" was happening...no mention of anything at all...hows that happen?
It happens cos they lost....
Seriously ...how many of you lads have tripped down to Hillsborough in the last year or so...only club that year in league 1 to sell the away end out....
Did you "Fear for your life"....Seriously?

I went the 1-0 Clarke game. Showed a steward my ticket and he said just sit where you want.

Scary and it was packed out.

 

[Wrenthorpe Mackem]

A dark day for football, and for the country. No one should ever not come back from supporting their team.

Despicable coverage from the press, and from the government of the day

RIP to the 97

Travelling back from Oldham Athletic that day. A 2 v 2 draw I think. Non descript game. Listened to the radio on way back with growing horror and disbelief.

 

[Rhyd59]

I'm sure there was a crush there about two years before that wasn't there? Leeds vs spurs?

Yes, my Leeds supporting mate was in the Leppings Lane end in 1987 and said he thought his time was up.
They crammed the most Northerly team's fans (Leeds in '87, Liverpool in '89) in the Leppings Lane end for semi finals, apparently as it was easier to get them in and out of the stadium ?
But both Leeds (just up the road) and Liverpool had bigger numbers of supporters than their opponents.
The fences were supposed to protect the fans ?

 

[Sid]

Was sat next to some very concerned tranmere fans with a transistor radio at a Hartlepool match.

I was stood on the Mill House terrace at that match. Hearing reports coming through via someone's radio nearby.

 

[Safc98]

Hillsborough Kop was always like that mate, with a crowd in...much the same as every other ground i've been to with a crowd in..
Problem we have with the ground now is folk visiting it like a bloody haunted house and looking for stuff...You been to QPR on that away end with a crowd in...Brentfords old away end with a crowd in?....Everton, numerous others...in the 90's?
Gets a bit crowded at QPR, Everton, Brentford you hear nowt about it...theres no bloody history..Happens at Hillsborough and its a tragedy in the making.
Take the other season....the one where you lads went up
Sold out away end, on the Lepp, not a problem, sure its not the best ground in the sodding country, but there were no mackems posting
" I feared for me life"
Go to Newcastle in the F.A cup...one bloody reporter talks about a crush on the Leppings Lane.....cue a barrage of...absolute crap about crushes and fearfulness...then you watch videos of Geordies actually doing the vlogs fronm right in front of the tunnel and where this "Crush" was happening...no mention of anything at all...hows that happen?
It happens cos they lost....
Seriously ...how many of you lads have tripped down to Hillsborough in the last year or so...only club that year in league 1 to sell the away end out....
Did you "Fear for your life"....Seriously?

Not in any way shape or form

 

[dj_hans]

Remember hearing it unfold in the car waiting for my mam when she was shopping. Don't think I understood what was happening at the time and it didn't really sink in until years later during the inquiry. By the way, me dad remembers serious overcrowding at Roker when we played Man City in the Cup in the fifities - something like Hillsborough could've happened much earlier but reform doesn't happen until the horse has bolted.

 

[Jasper]

There's a (non-paywalled) article on The Athletic speaking to some of the survivors.

Really brings it home just how many lives it ruined beyond the 97 and their families. 35 years on and I still find new details that'll stay in my head forever.

Life after Hillsborough, told by the men and women who survived

Fans who were at Hillsborough open up on the horror of having to live with the tragedy and the effect it's had on their lives

theathletic.com

Harrowing.

 

[RTRsBM]

I was living in Liverpool at the time. Horrendous. Was passing Anfield on the Sunday morning so went in to pay my respects as best I could to strangers. It was the idea of not coming home from the match that got to me. The crush at York the season before (I think) came to mind.

 

[Wrenthorpe Mackem]

I was living in Liverpool at the time. Horrendous. Was passing Anfield on the Sunday morning so went in to pay my respects as best I could to strangers. It was the idea of not coming home from the match that got to me. The crush at York the season before (I think) came to mind.

Yeah. Remember that. One of worst I've been in. Very difficult getting dislodged from that. Moving with the crowd. Elland Road in 89 well. Rammed.

There was weirdly a bit of a buzz on those occasions when you were in a jam packed terrace back in day, at Elland Road atmosphere was electric, but the above showed really how dangerous it was.

 

[dcl0sc]

Tragedy. I was a bit of a Forest fan as I loved Brian Clough due to his obvious Sunderland connection and loved he had for the SAFC, I was watching with my dad and just remember Desmond Lynam being utterly shell shocked reporting what was happening. Crazy how all they had to do was close the gate for the middle pen = nobody losing their life.

 

[Cyprus]

Travelling back from Oldham Athletic that day. A 2 v 2 draw I think. Non descript game. Listened to the radio on way back with growing horror and disbelief.

I remember listening to the radio on our coach coming home from the match and the late Peter Jones final summation on BBC Sports Report. "...And the sun shines now". Truly heartbreaking.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

Only been in the lower Leppings Lane End once, when Keane was manager. All I could think about when walking through that tunnel access to the seating area after you come in was how it must’ve felt on that day. It felt canny claustrophobic as it was and that was with a controlled amount of ticket holders entering, must’ve been horrific that day in 89.

It surprised me it wasn’t ordered that two extra access tunnels were built either side of that sole middle one so that it eases congestion coming through that.

 

[Skylon]

Remember hearing it unfold in the car waiting for my mam when she was shopping. Don't think I understood what was happening at the time and it didn't really sink in until years later during the inquiry. By the way, me dad remembers serious overcrowding at Roker when we played Man City in the Cup in the fifities - something like Hillsborough could've happened much earlier but reform doesn't happen until the horse has bolted.

Cup match with man u in the 60's I think. 3 people died. Dunno if any of the oldies on here were there. Official crowd was way less than what was actually there. Rumoured to be near 100,000 in the vicinity of roker park that night. I am sure a door got broken down and people charged in. No fences at the front in those days though,probably averted a bigger disaster

 

[Dredd]

I'm just thankful it was when it was, like 9/11 I couldn't imagine the horrific footage we'd have available nowadays with better cameras and mobile phones etc

 

[Steve 10]

Was that the game where your keeper dropped the ball on Mark Brights head in thelast minute mate?
Great following...Shocking keeper

Yep. Tony Norman In goal for us.

 

[Wrenthorpe Mackem]

I remember listening to the radio on our coach coming home from the match and the late Peter Jones final summation on BBC Sports Report. "...And the sun shines now". Truly heartbreaking.

Yeah....it really was. Remember those words.

 

[garyeaststand]

Was that the game where your keeper dropped the ball on Mark Brights head in thelast minute mate?
Great following...Shocking keeper

Easy one for Norman

 

[thamesvalleyman]

Yeah. Remember that. One of worst I've been in. Very difficult getting dislodged from that. Moving with the crowd. Elland Road in 89 well. Rammed.

There was weirdly a bit of a buzz on those occasions when you were in a jam packed terrace back in day, at Elland Road atmosphere was electric, but the above showed really how dangerous it was.

That Elland Road crush was 2 months before and could easily have been another Hillsborough. I got squashed like anything in that crush.

 

[Redby-lad]

Me and my brother always used to head for the front section right behind the goal at every away we went to in the late 80s. My Dad would always let us go down there and stand further back keeping an eye on us. The surges were part of the fun back then, getting carried down and sometimes having to hold your breath until the wave retreated back. Can only remember feeling in trouble a couple of times (York and Barnsley I think). My Dad tells a story of Barnsley away when he could see us struggling so pushed through to help us when a copper told him to stay where he was or he would be arrested. He told the copper to fuck off and pulled us out.