RIP the 96

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Still sickens me to this day.

I recall watching the match being stopped in The Jewellers Arms, Hockley, so it must have been a Villa home game that day.

Nobody at the time realised how serious the situation was.

[London Villan]

We weren't at home, Everton were in the other semi-final at Villa Park that day.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We weren't at home, Everton were in the other semi-final at Villa Park that day.

Christ knows what I was doing in there then.
I only used to drink in there on match days.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

And how readily we put ourselves in harm's way. This made me think back to Nottingham Forest vs Swindon in 1967. It was an F.A. Cup 5th round second replay at Villa Park. Goodness knows why I went, but there were nearly 53,000 (for a 5th round replay?) in the ground and shops had been shut early in Nottingham to allow fans to go (Monday night game).

The Holte End was utterly rammed with Forest fans, no ticketing, and I paid at the turnstile - all of 15, 5' 2" - all I really saw of the game were fleeting glimpses as I was swept around most of the lower right between Forest fans, often feet off the ground, dependent entirely on men holding me up from being trampled on the floor. I remember being scared witless and at the same time excited. Stupid twat.

Forest won 3-0 (I found out afterwards).

[Rico]

Went to Hillsborough myself that season. First time at that ground. Thẹ Leppings lane end was an accident waiting to happen. Villa took approx 3000, and most a large proportion were in that central pen. Totally rammed. Couldn't see a thing first half. It was only during half time that people worked out how to enter thẹ side pens, and after that it was much better. Dread to think what it must have been like on that day.

[dave.woodhall]

Saw the photos of the Liverpool supporters with their faces being pushed up against the bars of the fences again yesterday, truly heartbreaking.  Some families lost more than one member, all because they were unlucky enough to get into the ground first.

It wasn't just the people at the front who got crushed. There were deaths in the tunnel as well.

[London Villan]

That was one of the other problems with Leppings Lane. The paddock had a capacity of something like 6000, but that was for the whole paddock. There was no way of knowing how many people were in each of the bays, or when one was full to capacity, which is was when the gates were opened outside.

Also, unlike the terracing at the front of the North Stand at the time, there was no passage-way at the back that easily allowed people to move from one bay to the next.

There were a number of points where the disaster could have been avoided. Even something as simple as a couple of stewards at the mouth of the tunnel could well have stopped it happening.

[dave.woodhall]

That was one of the other problems with Leppings Lane. The paddock had a capacity of something like 6000, but that was for the whole paddock. There was no way of knowing how many people were in each of the bays, or when one was full to capacity, which is was when the gates were opened outside.

Also, unlike the terracing at the front of the North Stand at the time, there was no passage-way at the back that easily allowed people to move from one bay to the next.

There were a number of points where the disaster could have been avoided. Even something as simple as a couple of stewards at the mouth of the tunnel could well have stopped it happening.

One more point as well. Can you, or anyone else, think of any other ground where you could walk from the turnstile to the top of the terrace without having to go up a single step? Even something as small as that might have encouraged people to go to the sides rather than through the tunnel.

[Villan For Life]

What strikes me now when I look back is how well organised the Holte was in comparison. 

Following the revamp in the mid-70's that created the central corridor right up the middle of the terrace, I always felt reasonably safe. Plenty of stweards and police. It was reasonably easy to get in and out and how Leppings Lane must have seemed in comparison I really cannot imagine.

The fact that 96 fellow football fans lost their lives was a sickening tragedy. The tragedy has been made so much worse by the fact that 22 years later justice has not prevailed.

[London Villan]

Not in a ground of that size.

That is the sad thing about what happened, so many relatively minor factors contributed to the deaths of innocent fans.
 

[London Villan]

Yep, the Holte in 1989 was pretty much a text book case of how to design a large terrace.

Lowered circulation routes at the back of each third.
Crush barriers running fully across the terracing.
Central channel splitting the stand.
Plenty of entrances onto the terrace.

[The Villan On The Wirral]

My uncle took my cousin for his 8th birthday to hillsborough to watch their beloved Liverpool.They were in the seats at the Leppings Lane end of the ground.Not once were they asked to show their tickets and several other people i know gained entrance to the ground without showing their ticket.Luckily my relatives found there way to their seats and friends of mine decided to go to the side pens.They were the lucky ones.No one should have experienced what happened that day let alone an EIGHT year old boy who saw dead bodies lying on the floor of the tunnel on the way out.As peope have said previously it could of been any big club,including us.
I went over to Anfield for the 20th anniversary and what struck me was the rawness of it all,even now.The families and everyone involved that day deserve justice and i certainly hope they get it.
Justice for the 96. RIP

[Villan For Life]

Breaking news on BBC News website that the government have been ordered to release confidential files about Hillsborough.

Perhaps the 96 and there families will finally get the justice that they deserve.

[curiousorange]

My grandad started taking me to the Villa the season after Hillsborough (my first actual game at VP was days after the tragedy) and all the times I stood on the Holte, I never, ever had the slightest sense of any danger.

I still find the concept of ninety-six people going to watch a football match and not going home completely heartbreaking, regardless of their affiliation.

[Vancouver]

My dad took me upto Celtic for the first game for Liverpool afterwards. He wanted to go because even though it was Liverpool, it could have been anyone of us. Liverpool won 4-0 not that it matters but the atmosphere will always stay with me. My dad still has the programme.