Hillsborough document release

[mumkin]

When I first attended Owlerton in the 50s with regular crowds of over 45,000 I never witnessed any trouble............which was a good job because there was only one policeman at either end sat on a stool with a flask of tea!

So what has happened to football all these years later? armoured vans full of police placed at strategic points around Hillsborough on Saturday afternoons,pubs shut,and a general air of Beruit or Northern Ireland should give us a clue !

The problem is that the game has been infiltrated by aggressive feral types with animalistic tribal tendancys, generally, but not always of low intellect, who have been brought up with no fear of authority, looking to cause trouble and brighten their sad lives up at the match.

There is now a general witchhunt in progress,and rightly so! but if blame is to be apportioned, some of the above must take equal blame!

 

 

Indeed. Good post

[Joe Totale]

Does anyone know why Sheffield Wednesday didn't have a safety certificate?

Did they never have one for that part of the ground?

Did they have one before but it expired?

If so, when did it expire?

Did the ground have a safety inspection and it failed, or had it just elapsed and wasn't renewed?

Would the ground have passed a safety inspection?

If not, why not?

Found this on the Guardian site:

"From the earliest safety assessments made by safety engineers commissioned in 1978 by SWFC, it was apparent that the stadium failed to meet minimum standards under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and established in the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (known as the 'Green Guide'), 1976. Documents released to the Panel confirm that the local Advisory Group for Safety at Sports Grounds carried out inadequate and poorly recorded inspections. There is clear evidence that SWFC's primary consideration was cost and, to an extent, this was shared by its primary safety consultants, Eastwood & Partners....

 

Recommendations to feed fans directly from designated turnstiles into each pen, thus monitoring precisely the distribution of fans between the pens, were not acted on because of anticipated costs to SWFC ...The fire service ...raised concerns about provision for emergency evacuation of the terraces. As the only means of escaping forwards was onto the pitch, concern was raised specifically about the width of the perimeter fence gates which was well below the standard recommended by the Green Guide. The gradient of the tunnel under the West Stand leading down onto the terrace also significantly breached the Green Guide's recommendation ...

 

While modifications were made inside the stadium, the issue of congested access to the turnstiles outside the stadium remained unresolved ...Following alterations, the safety of the existing maximum capacity for the Leppings Lane terrace was questioned repeatedly yet the decision was taken by the Club and the safety engineers not to revise the figure ...

 

From the documents disclosed to the panel, key issues - positioning of safety barriers, elevation of the tunnel, adequacy of the perimeter fence gates - were not discussed or recorded at the annual safety inspections ..."

[geebosaurus]

Why did the southyorks police think they could could cover up hillsborough?

 

Because they had got away with dirty tricks during the miners' strike of 84, .....and then got backed by those at the highest level (Thatcher government) and a certain national paper- The Sun.

 

So it is no surprise when they get in a mess in 89 they revert to these tactics, knowing where they will get a blind eye turned from government and support from the Sun

 

Imagine the pressure on a young bobby to change his statement......being a copper in Sheffield wasn't good in 89....lads you went to school with who went down the pits wouldn't speak to you

 

and being a copper kicked out because you wouldnt toe the line would be a very lonely place

[fallen1]

Why did the southyorks police think they could could cover up hillsborough?

 

Because they had got away with dirty tricks during the miners' strike of 84, .....and then got backed by those at the highest level (Thatcher government) and a certain national paper- The Sun.

 

So it is no surprise when they get in a mess in 89 they revert to these tactics, knowing where they will get a blind eye turned from government and support from the Sun

 

Imagine the pressure on a young bobby to change his statement......being a copper in Sheffield wasn't good in 89....lads you went to school with who went down the pits wouldn't speak to you

 

and being a copper kicked out because you wouldnt toe the line would be a very lonely place

 

for shame...

 

Today feels worse for me, I don't pretend to know how any of you all feel, but, to me, it feels worse. As others around the country come to their conclusions, it becomes more and more obvious how devious and cowardly, sickly our police force was and could even still be.

 

Am I the only one that is shamed by these events in my good city ? I would like to say, once again, to anyone that may read this and has been affected by the disaster or those that engineered it, Im so very sorry.

[F. Sidebottom]

The police may well have altered stories which could be a criminal act, but it was after the event and contributed nothing to the loss of life.

 

96 people are dead because:-

 

1 Sheffield Wednesday allowed a match to be played on their ground knowing it to be inadequate and not having the required safety certificate.

2 The FA sanctioned a match to be played on a ground knowing it to be inadequate and not having the required safety certificate.

3 The two teams involved turned up to play a match on a ground known to be inadequate and not having the required safety certificate.

4 Sheffield City Council allowed a match to be played on an unlicenced ground.

 

Had that not been the case there would have been no loss of life.

 

SY police contributed to the tragedy due to their inability to control the crowds and/or through negligence.

SY ambulance service appear to have added to the death toll by inasequate response.

 

After that nothing anyone did added to the loss of life. So cover ups and bogus reports in newspapers are a dispicable side show. The deaths had already occured.

 

If anyone is to be brought to account for the deaths they will be from Sheffield Wednesday FC, Sheffield Council, The FA & the 2 clubs involved.

 

Beyond that the ambulance service, and the police on duty at the time may well have failed in their actions but that was not through deliberate attempt to flout the regulations.

 

Yuo seem to be suggesting that SWFC didn't have 'the required safety certificate'. Where are you getting this information from?

[geebosaurus]

Yuo seem to be suggesting that SWFC didn't have 'the required safety certificate'. Where are you getting this information from?

 

http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/repository/report/HIP_report.pdf

 

 

read the report before asking silly questions it is all clearly stated in there.....they did not have the safety certificate....but this is small set against the rest of the information

[PrimalJay]

Here is the full statement by David Cameron...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6c3gvAoqnM

[Doris Night]

Will the Sheffield Star be apologizing for the Sun like headlines they published? I doubt it, although they seem to be pointing everyone elses mistakes out in today's issue...

[fallen1]

Will the Sheffield Star be apologizing for the Sun like headlines they published? I doubt it, although they seem to be pointing everyone elses mistakes out in today's issue...

 

What an absolute shameful lot we are.

 

 

So ashamed, my city....my home.

 

How did we let it get so decrepit ?

[donkey]

Can't believe I had to search for this thread because it is in the 'Sheffield Disscussions' section. I think the mods might find it has attracted some attention in other parts of the country.

 

Anyway, Irvine Patnick. What a scumbag! http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/repository/docs/SYP000017520001.pdf

 

After six pages of waffle - during which he goes into great detail on every matter from who he phoned at what time, to where he parked his car and for how long - The Right Dishonourable Gentleman finally gets round to the supposed source of the lies he disseminated to the press (Page 7 of Doc). Strangely, at this point he suddenly looses interest in recounting his movements that day in painfully pedantic detail. He doesn't even note the names or ranks of the officers he claims as the source of his false information.

 

Being an MP, he must have been aware that such allegations would cause great hurt to the victims, so it would be grossly unfair to put them foreward without, at least some, corroborating evidence. That didn't stop him though. Strip this lowlife of his knighthood!