On the April 15 1989, Liverpool played Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final. It was a sunny and pleasant morning which saw a hoard of fans travel to the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, as the custom for these games is to have them at a neutral ground.
What transpired inside this arena would change not only English, but world, soccer forever. A human crush occurred before kick off, which saw 766 people injured and another 96 people perish. Imagine traveling to your favorite sporting event and dying inside the ground in such a horrific and negligible fashion.
It is the deadliest footballing disaster in British history.
For the last 23 years, Liverpool fans have sought answers to various questions surrounding that fateful day. How could this have happened? Who was to blame? But no one has ever been prosecuted or charged with an offence connected to the tragedy.
But now a report compiled by the Hillsborough Independent Panel has revealed some shocking truths from that terrible day’s excursions. Released a day after 9/11 , it has forced David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister to apologize on behalf of the government and has been labeled “the most shaming account of failings and dishonesty by the civil authorities in living memory” by the Daily Express newspaper .
Families of the victims have been battling for 23 years to reveal the truth behind the disaster with each of their endeavors often blocked and shunned by the political elite. A huge cover-up saw police and authorities hide the discrepancies of the police response , which, if it had been properly followed, could have saved dozens of lives.
These families now have the truth, but will they get the justice?