April 15 th 1989 marks one of the darkest days in Soccer history and the day that soccer stadiums would drastically change seating arrangements for fans. The game only lasted a few minutes and at days end 94 people were killed and hundreds injured at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.

Soccer games had long had a history of unruly fans and violence between rival clubs. For this reason, extra security measures and high fences had been used to keep fans off the pitch. Since the 60's Hillsborogh stadium had seen injuries and fan crushes, but never like the one that happened on this day.

The Hillsborough Stadium is divided into 5 pens. Fans enter the stadium through turnstiles and police officers point the arriving fans to various pens, as one pen reaches capacity, police officers redirect newcomers to other pens.

Opposing sides are segregated and each teams supporters go to their teams side. At the Hillsborough Stadium the two sides were of different capacity. Even though Liverpool was known to have had more fans than the opposing Nottingham Forest team, Liverpool fans were put into the smaller of the two sections, Leppings Lane. Leppings Lane held about 14k people. The other side, Spion Kop, had a capacity of 21k.

The game was scheduled to start at 3 PM. Problems started when some road work caused delays for thousands of fans. The resulting congestion caused a buildup of eager fans rushing to get in before the game started. All the fans had to enter through only a few small turnstiles and the fans without tickets who were refused could not leave due to the crushing crowd behind them.

Police, fearing a crush at the turnstiles, opened up a side gate to allow people in. Thousands of people rushed in because they could hear the start of the game. Due to the mess outside, there was a lack of security inside. On most days when a section fills to capacity, police direct incoming fans to uncrowded sections. This did not happen. The thousands of incoming fans rushed the main section pushing people forward.

Within minutes people were being crushed to death at the fence. Fans started climbing the fence to get onto the pitch for safety. The pitch quickly filled with fans as the crushed and injured crowd tried to escape the pens. Confused officers were afraid that the Liverpool fans would reach the opposing side and cordoned off the pitch, in doing so they trapped more people in and did not allow the injured to leave. One report states that fans tried to break through the cordon and were met with force by security. Ambulances arriving also were turned back by police.

94 people died that day, 766 were injured and 300 hospitalized. 4 days later, 14 year old Lee Nicol died in the hospital and almost 4 years later, Tony Bland died. Tony had been in a vegetative state since the accident.

The disaster made a huge impact on Britain with many people angered by the lack of security, tools, medical support and oxygen at a stadium that holds such large crowds. Following the disaster, an inquiry was made into the disaster and safety issues at the stadium. Lord Justice Taylor was appointed to conduct the inquiry and the report made on football ground safety came to be called the Taylor Report. The Taylor Inquiry stated that the disaster was caused by a lack of police control.

As a result of this disaster and the Taylor Report, the pitch side fences were removed, more fan security precautions were put in place and Many of the large stadiums were converted to become all seated.

 

 The scene outside the Hillsborough Stadium that started the crushing

 

 

 Liverpool Museum, A paintingdepicting the Hillsborough Disaster

George Eisler (1928 - 1998)

 

 

 

 

 

1989: Football fans crushed at Hillsborough

At least 93 football supporters have been killed in Britain's worst-ever sporting disaster.

They were crushed to death at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.

The crush is said to have resulted from too many Liverpool fans being allowed in to the back of an already full stand at the Leppings Lane end of the ground.

More than 2,000 Liverpool fans had still not got into the stadium when the match started at 1500.

A police spokesman said orders were given for the gate to the stand to be opened because they believed the pressure of fans outside the ground was "a danger to life".

But as fans rushed in, those already there were pushed forward and crushed against the high, wired-topped safety fences.

However, it was more than five minutes into the match before what was happening became apparent to those not in the Leppings Lane stand.

Then, alerted by fans spilling through a narrow gap onto the pitch or being lifted by others into the seating areas above, a policeman ran onto the field and ordered the referee to stop the game.

Bodies

But improved security measures recently introduced at grounds to keep rival fans apart meant, for many, there was no escape from the crush.

Police and match officials attempted to help those trapped clamber over the safety barrier.

Bodies were lifted forward and laid out on the pitch - many of them teenagers and children.

Other injured fans were ferried to ambulances on stretchers improvised from crash barriers and advertising hoardings.

At least 200 people were injured, about 20 seriously.

Some fans have said bad ticket allocation contributed to the disaster.

Liverpool has far more supporters than Nottingham Forest but were given 6,000 fewer tickets and allocated the smaller Leppings Lane stand.