hillsborough: twenty years, no justice

One of the things about getting older is the increasing duty to pass on the lesser known bits of history that you've witnessed. It can be surprising how some things get forgotten, or how the public perception differs from what you know happened.

April 15th is the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, when 96 people were crushed to death at a football match at Sheffield Wednesday's ground. There'll be stuff in the media about it. Expect it to focus on the human aspect and to treat it as some sort of dreadful accident, either without proper cause or perhaps the result of some 80s-style football hooliganism. It wasn't.

The crush was caused by criminally neglectful policing compounded by the awful decision to push fans outside the ground into an already overcrowded, poorly laid-out area of the stadium.

Even as the event unfolded the police were denying responsibility, and the years that followed have been a sordid tale of despicable cover-up and intimidation.

I've written a piece about it that's the new feature article on U-Know, called Hillsborough: Twenty Years, No Justice.