September

[Bierzo Baggie]

Politicians and police lying, changing statements and covering up just to suit their needs, it’s been going on for years and who’s to say it isn’t still going on today. Sometimes it’s portrayed as necesary for a “greater good” (read “national security” at one level ...or just to “keep the peace”on another).

Can’t see anything changing in the future unless the very core of our democratic system is changed to make our elected leaders and their power bases even more accountable.

What happened at Hillsborough, the subsequent cover-up and how it was possible must be seen in the context of the football hooliganism at the time (I went to a lot of football in the 80s and it was , at times, pretty horrific) and in the context of Thatcher’s campaign to put football’s house in order, the Heysel disaster of a couple of years before and an (understandably?) paranoid police force. Not trying to make excuses, just telling it how I see it and how I saw it at the time. One thing (inevitably?) led to another.....

MLCM...I remember watching the Bradford fire images live on TV as it happened ...really horrific, but somehow reflective of what English football could be like in the 80s at its worst. Watched countness games couped up in cages which would have been death traps in case of a fire or a serious crush. It was sometimes a miracle that this hadn’t happened more often and with even worse consequences (at Bradford at least people could escape onto the pitch). The questions weren't really "how?" and "why?" ...but rather "when?" and "where?".

Heads will no doubt roll, a scapegoat will be found but the whole thing was a terrible tragedy reflective of English football in the 80s.