Hillsborough - There but for the grace of God went us....

The following is taken from www.nufc.com, so I take no credit for the content. I strongly identify with this though, having been at the Spurs game mentioned. I left this game just after half time because I genuinely thought I could end up being seriously injured. I was right at the front, crushed against the fence, very close to the people who climbed over and promptly got arrested!

There but for the grace of God, go us....

Wednesday's damning indictment of all aspects of the British establishment following the independent panel's investigation into Hillsborough, was shocking but not surprising for those of us unfortunate enough to follow football in the late 1980s. We always knew The Truth.

Hillsborough could have happened to any of us.

We often found ourselves in various perilous situations at different grounds (including St. James' Park) up and down the country where we were always one slip, one mounted police charge, one gate opening away from disaster.

A few years before the disaster I was in the central pen at the Leppings Lane End, packed in so tightly that breathing became an effort, my feet were off the floor and some of us were sensing the danger.

Thankfully, we were near enough to the tunnel to fight our way out and make our way, despite the non-existent signage, into the side pens which were virtually empty. It had been a death-trap for years.

My colleague was at the White Hart Lane incident, some years later, where it was nothing short of a miracle that no-one lost their lives when in 1987 United fans were almost the victim of callous policing by the Met.

The Park Lane end containing the travelling support was allowed to become dangerously overcrowded while the adjacent paddocks remained closed and unused.

The first few fans to scale the fences were arrested but gradually more joined in and fought with stewards to open gates on to the pitch. And in an eerie foretaste of the Hillsborough tragedy, seated fans above pulled some of those below to safety and disaster was averted.

The police's reaction was to stretch a line of officers in front of the away section which blotted out any view of the match and after the final whistle a vain attempt was made to hold the away fans in their pen.

A midweek game at Maine Road saw a massive crush on the stairs leading down from the away terrace on the Kippax and at one point I was jammed up against the railings staring at a 50ft drop with nowhere to go. A piece of fatigued metal or crumbling concrete would have seen dozens of us fall to our deaths.

Just a year after Hillsborough, our game in Sheffield at Bramall Lane had seen an almighty crush at the end of the match where once again the South Yorkshire police had lost control. Had they learned nothing? I remember writing to The Mag about it at the time.

But things weren't much better at St. James'. Many of the sold out games saw crowds way in excess of the official attendance figures and while some areas of the Gallowgate were packed, the "Scoreboard" section would be dangerously crammed. Kenny Wharton's testimonial game being a surprising case in point.

The "them and us" attitude of the police at the time meant that it never entered their heads that on that awful day, that they were watching a disaster unfold. They presumed it was a pitch invasion and disorder.

It says much about the way this country (still) works that all areas of society were able to collude and cover-up with senior police officers, emergency services, coroners, lawyers, journalists, politicians all in on the conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The legal system serves victims the least.

In the end, it has taken an independent group outside of the establishment to uncover what happened that day and how the families of the victims of Hillsborough have found the strength and dignity to carry on their fight is incredible.

Five years after the tragedy Newcastle went to Anfield in a Premier League fixture on April 16th and both sets of fans paid tribute to those lost in a fitting and spontaneous show of unity. It was an extraordinarily moving occasion and like the victims of Hillsborough, will never be forgotten.

The Truth was always there and it's a national disgrace that it took 23 years to make those responsible unable to deny and ignore it.

Will justice follow? Whatever happens now, it'll be far too little, far too late.

Our thoughts go to our fellow football fans who suffered then and are still suffering now. You're not alone.