Dave Walsh, Liverpool Socialist Party
At the FA Cup third round match between Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United at Hillsborough stadium on 7 January, Newcastle fans in the Leppings Lane end reported serious safety concerns about overcrowding and poor crowd management.
Fans complained they were crammed through narrow entrances on their way into the stadium. Once inside, many said they were unable to head towards their allocated areas as they were carried along through a narrow bottleneck on the stairwell by the force of the crowd behind them. Even after fans reached the stand, many said these areas were overcrowded. A number of fans also complained that stewarding was poor, with too few stewards, leaving many being misdirected causing narrow exits to become blocked.
Thankfully no one was injured but the incident raises serious questions about safety at British sports stadiums. Particularly given this was the very stadium and stand where the 1989 Hillsborough disaster (see here for previous articles) occurred, leading to the unlawful killing of 97 Liverpool fans. After that, authorities claimed ‘lessons would be learned’ and significant changes would ensure fan safety, but this incident shows that not enough has been done and that profit is still the priority of the capitalist owners of the game.
The claim that ‘lessons were learned’ always rang hollow when, after years of campaigning by the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, no one was brought to justice for the unlawful killings.
The fact that not one police officer was convicted after the verdict shows who the law really serves and what lessons were really learnt.
Reading the accounts of the Newcastle fans reminded me of that terrible day in 1989 and the chaotic scenes inside the stadium, and I feel angry that the warning signs of another tragedy are being ignored. Just like the incident in 1981 was ignored when 38 Spurs fans were injured in a crush at the Hillsborough Stadium. I remember that day in 1989 feeling helpless at the back of the stand as I watched bodies being laid out on the pitch while traumatised fans did whatever they could to help victims. And I remember the aftermath, feeling outrage at the relentless lies and propaganda that saturated the capitalist media.
The Newcastle United Supporters Trust has asked fans to come forward with more information and I hope they do, so their experience won’t be ignored. Sadly it is not an isolated incident of fans still being put in danger at games, as the Champions League final in 2022 shows (see ‘Eyewitness: Champions League final – lying Uefa, politicians and brutal police to blame for chaos’).
The justice system failed to provide justice after the Hillsborough disaster and will always fail while it’s controlled by the capitalist class. Fans can never be confident that they will be looked after while the game is controlled by billionaires and private corporations. We need democratic workers’ control over the justice system and football to be taken into the hands of fans, so that decisions that affect them are made by them.