Hillsborough Disaster

General

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Hillsborough disaster
Date:	15 April 1989 (1989-04-15)
Location:	Hillsborough Stadium Sheffield, England
Deaths:	96 (94 on 15 April)
Inquiries:	Taylor Report (1990) Hillsborough Independent Panel (2012)
Coroner:	Dr. Stefan Popper (1st inquest) Sir John Goldring (2nd inquest)

The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens in the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. Shortly before kick-off, in an attempt to ease overcrowding outside the entrance turnstiles, the police match commander David Duckenfield ordered exit gate C opened, leading to an influx of even more supporters to the pens. This led to a crowding in the pens and the crush. With 96 deaths and 766 injuries, it has the highest death toll in British sporting history. Ninety-four people died on the day; another person died in hospital days later and the final victim, Tony Bland, who had been put into a persistent vegetative state by the crush and had never regained consciousness, died in 1993. The match was abandoned but was restaged at Old Trafford in Manchester on 7 May 1989 with Liverpool winning and going on to win the FA Cup.

In the following days and weeks police fed the press false stories suggesting that hooliganism and drunkenness by Liverpool supporters had caused the disaster. Blaming of Liverpool fans persisted even after the Taylor Report of 1990, which found that the main cause was a failure of control by South Yorkshire Police (SYP). Following the Taylor Report, the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled there was no evidence to justify prosecution of any individuals or institutions. The disaster also led to a number of safety improvements in the largest English football grounds, notably the elimination of fenced standing terraces in favour of all-seater stadiums in the top two tiers of English football.

The first coroner's inquests into the Hillsborough disaster, completed in 1991, ruled all the deaths accidental. Families rejected the findings, and fought to have the case re-opened. In 1997, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith concluded that there was no justification for a new inquiry. Private prosecutions brought by the Hillsborough Families Support Group against Duckenfield and his deputy Bernard Murray failed in 2000. In 2009, a Hillsborough Independent Panel was formed to review the evidence. Reporting in 2012, it confirmed Taylor's 1990 criticisms and revealed details about the extent of police efforts to shift blame onto fans, the role of other emergency services, and the error of the first coroner's inquests. The panel's report resulted in the previous findings of accidental death being quashed, and the creation of new coroner's inquests. It also produced two criminal investigations led by police in 2012: Operation Resolve to look into the causes of the disaster, and by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to examine actions by police in the aftermath.

The second coroner's inquests were held from 1 April 2014 to 26 April 2016. They ruled that the supporters were unlawfully killed due to grossly negligent failures by police and ambulance services to fulfil their duty of care. The inquests also found that the design of the stadium contributed to the crush, and that supporters were not to blame for the dangerous conditions. Public anger over the actions of their force during the second inquests led to the suspension of SYP chief constable David Crompton following the verdict. In June 2017, six people were charged with offences including manslaughter by gross negligence, misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice for their actions during and after the disaster. The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently dropped all charges against one of the defendants.

Before the disaster

Venue

Hillsborough Stadium had been constructed in 1899 to house Sheffield Wednesday. It was selected by the Football Association (FA) as a neutral venue to host the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest football clubs. Kick-off was scheduled for 3:00 pm on 15 April, and fans were advised to take up positions 15 minutes beforehand.

At the time of the disaster, most English football stadiums had high steel fencing between the spectators and the playing field in response to pitch invasions. Hooliganism had affected the sport for some years, and was particularly virulent in England. From 1974, when these security standards were put in place, crushes occurred in several English stadiums.

A report by Eastwood & Partners for a safety certificate for the stadium in 1978 concluded that although it failed to meet the recommendations of the Green Guide, a guide to safety at sports grounds, the consequences were minor. It emphasised the general situation at Hillsborough was satisfactory compared with most grounds. Sheffield Wednesday were later criticised for neglecting safety in the stadium, especially after an incident in the semi-final of the 1981 FA Cup. The Leppings Lane end of the ground did not hold a valid safety certificate at the time of the disaster; it had not been updated since 1979.

Risks associated with confining fans in pens were highlighted by the Committee of Inquiry into Crowd Safety at Sports Grounds (the Popplewell inquiry) after the Bradford City stadium fire in May 1985. It made recommendations on the safety of crowds penned within fences, including that "all exit gates should be manned at all times ... and capable of being opened immediately from the inside by anyone in an emergency".

Ages

Of those who died, 78 were aged 30 or younger. 38 of the victims were children or teenagers, and all but three of them were aged under 50.

Age range	Total	Males	Females
10–19	38	36	2
20–29	40	36	4
30–39	12	11	1
40–49	3	3	0
50–59	1	1	0
60–69	2	2	0
Totals	96	89	7

External links

• Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG)
• Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC)
• Liverpool Football Club Hillsborough Memorial
• Hillsborough Independent Panel
• HFD – A brief but fact filled reposte of the myths of the hillsborough disaster.
• Detailed transcript of The Sun newspaper coverage of the Hillsborough disaster.
• List of archive and library material relating to the disaster held at Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives.
• Bibliography of over 150 books, journal articles, TV programmes and websites relating to the Disaster and its aftermath produced by Sheffield City Council's Archives Service.
• A 20 minute video of the disaster in Windows Media Player format.
• September 2012 Hillsborough disaster report (7.25 megabytes) (Archive)