Liverpool FC Forum

by **DAV** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:53 pm

I could find no where else to post this sorry.

I just thought i would share a conversation/argument i had with a Sheffield Wednesday Supporter last week. I now live in Sheffield and at work the topic of Hillsbrough came up. He had no idea that i was their that day in leppings lane.
His opinion was that 1000s of ticketless Liverpool supporters most of which were drunk. turned up that day and they are to blame for the the 96.
My first reaction was anger but then i thought no, instead i gave my account of that day. As a slagging match would give him the opinion that Liverpool FC and their supporters are scum and just blame everyone else with no valid reason.
I told him that outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles their were a large amount of people, i don't dought some didnt have tickets and im sure like my self more of them had had some alcohol at some point, but that isnt to say everyone was drunk and i certainly wasnt. But as i said to my colleague tell me a game anywhere where people don't have a drink before a game, and you always get a minority of people who have had to much. I also challenged him weather when Shefield Wednesday have all ticket games, do you get ticket touts and people trying to purchase tickets. (i personally hate ticket touts). He also confirmed they do.
I then said how are touts and drunks dealt with in sheffield, he confirmed stewards and the police deal with it.
Then we got on to the main subject, was it the police,the fans or the stewards who were to blame.
My own opinion is this. The gate which was opened outside the ground needed to be opened as the police felt that their was a safety issue at leppings lane. Which i must say i agree with as even an hour before kick off their was beginning to be a crush their. My colleague was surprised at my comments and expected me to just shout and moan about the police.
I dont no how many of you have been in the old sheffield wednesday away end but basically you go through the tunrstiles then their are 3 ways to get to the old standing enclosure. Straght in front of was a tunnel that lead to the 2 pens directly behind the goal. Their are 2 other entrances all the way round each side of the stand.
My first point to him was this. If you go to a ground dont no your way round it you go to what you see. Which happens to be the tunnell under the stand. No Steward or policeman directed anyone anywhere. When they planned to open the gate how long would it have taken to have a line of police or stewards directing people to the other 2 entrances. And also do the checking of tickets their.
Again my colleague still blamed us the supporters.
So my closing comment was this, the police and stewards are paid to do crowd control by the clubs. Drunks and ticketless fans are turned away or even arrested at games every weekend. If you say the police and stewards have no blame in this then what you are actually saying is that police and stewards are not needed at football matches or any large event for that matter. As large crowds dont need any direction in unfamilar places.
I think i changed his opinion of what happend that day, as no news paper or tv show tells the fall story

by **red37** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:21 pm

Moved here

by **J*o*n*D*o*e** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:50 pm

i was at hillsborough for the semi-final the year before,me and two friends walked down that tunnel but had to walk back out again because the two pens behind the goal where so full, did u also know that tunnel had two doors at it entrance which could of been closed to stop anymore fans entering, to think this is all it would of taken to stop what happened

by **lakes10** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:53 pm

I am shocked that that is the view of that Sheffield Wednesday Supporter.

At the time i knew a lot of Sheffield Wednesday Supporters and their view was that it was down to poor policing of the game and the fans and some even said it was lucky not to have happend before.

by **DAV** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:11 pm

alot of people think this way. I would say that i would not personally blame them the reason being like any tradegy that occurs the media get hold of it. take the star and the sun, and alot of people in this country believe what they read and news they see on the TV.
the bit i find odd with all the media is that i was their i no what happend and alot of what i saw and experinced has never been released to the public.

by **Owzat** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:45 am

DAV wrote:I just thought i would share a conversation/argument i had with a Sheffield Wednesday Supporter last week. I now live in Sheffield and at work the topic of Hillsbrough came up. He had no idea that i was their that day in leppings lane.
His opinion was that 1000s of ticketless Liverpool supporters most of which were drunk. turned up that day and they are to blame for the the 96.
My first reaction was anger but then i thought no, instead i gave my account of that day. As a slagging match would give him the opinion that Liverpool FC and their supporters are scum and just blame everyone else with no valid reason.
I told him that outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles their were a large amount of people, i don't dought some didnt have tickets and im sure like my self more of them had had some alcohol at some point, but that isnt to say everyone was drunk and i certainly wasnt. But as i said to my colleague tell me a game anywhere where people don't have a drink before a game, and you always get a minority of people who have had to much. I also challenged him weather when Shefield Wednesday have all ticket games, do you get ticket touts and people trying to purchase tickets. (i personally hate ticket touts). He also confirmed they do.
I then said how are touts and drunks dealt with in sheffield, he confirmed stewards and the police deal with it.
Then we got on to the main subject, was it the police,the fans or the stewards who were to blame.

Unfortunately I've had a similar argument with a wednesday fan, sadly some are too happy to accept the myth about drunkenness and fans without tickets.

The fact remains, no matter how congested it was OUTSIDE the ground, there were more places for fans to go and less chance of getting crushed etc than there was INSIDE a confined area. The fans didn't decide to open the gates, or force them open, and the tragedy was down to a stupid error of judgement.

What it shows is a lack of preparation for a semi final, of course fans will have had some drink, of course some fans with no tickets shouldn't be there, but are you telling me that the solution is to let them into a confined space already populated? The police should have appreciated the situation a lot sooner, stopped people who didn't have tickets entering the approaches to the ground and turned away people who were drunk. Poor management and crowd control by the police, who you'd think by 1989 would have had plenty of practice and instruction on how to deal with large numbers of fans, some drunk, some without tickets etc

by **Sheff_Wed_lad** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:24 pm

Hi, Im a Wednesday fan living in sheffield and just thought id send my respects to all the people that were affected that day including the family's of those who lost their lives. There is an article/announcement on the official Wednesday website if any Liverpool wants to read. I dont want to get into a debate about "who was to blame", i just wanted to send my respects for what happened at my football clubs stadium.

Good luck Liverpool for the rest of the season, hope you win the title

Up The Owls!

by **das20093** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:15 pm

blinded by the s*n

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