For those of you that don’t know the details of the tragedy then please, please go to http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/ and find out everything you can. I will not be able to even touch on the importance of the disaster or the justice campaign here so I’m not going to try.
But in the light of Alan Davies’s comments today I wanted to write something in response. The emotive nature of the subject matter means that we can often respond to any mention of Hillsborough with rants and abuse. That does nobody any favours.
Thanks to lies told by a certain rag in the aftermath of the disaster and perpetuated by government after government, it’s a sad fact that most people in this country do not know the truth behind Hillsborough. They look on Liverpool as a ‘woe is me’ city, living in a constant state of maudlin desperateness. Like Alan Davies they will acknowledge with one hand that Hillsborough was a terrible tragedy, but then suggest with the other that we all ‘move on’.
Alan Davies has stated in a despicably glib and dismissive manner what a lot of people in this country probably think. That there is no reason why Liverpool shouldn’t be made to play on April 15th – the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. United play on the anniversary of Munich. Rangers will still play matches when the yearly remembrance of Ibrox comes around. Why shouldn’t Liverpool do the same?
The answer can be summed up quite simply. Because we shouldn’t. Because we don’t want to. Because if United or Rangers or any other club felt that they didn’t want to play on the anniversary of a disaster important to their club, why should we make them?
Davies has, evidently, never been to the memorial service at Anfield on the anniversary of Hillsborough. There are some clear, glaring facts that he’s managed to ignore in order to make a stupid attempt at humour. I’ve been there. I’m sure many people reading this have too. It’s an incredibly emotional occasion. The feelings are still raw. The families who lost loved ones on that day have still, 23 years later, not had any justice for the lives lost. No-one has been held accountable. People like the odious Kelvin Mackenzie, who told base lies about Liverpool fans, are able to work for the BBC and make a living from the licence fee payer’s pockets, but mothers like Anne Williams still don’t know the truth of what happened to their children.
Kenny Dalglish, the current Liverpool manager, was also managing the club in 1989. He had the weight of the city on his shoulders in the aftermath of the disaster and he helped us all stand tall. At times he was attending several funerals on the same day, offering families any support he could. He was magnificent.
The events of April 15th 1989 still haunt him and they still haunt the city of Liverpool. Is Alan Davies seriously suggesting that, on the day that Dalglish remembers the tears of parents who lost children, children who lost families and a city that mourned as one he should also ‘get over it’ and manage a football match?
Liverpool quite rightly expects the playing squad to attend the Hillsborough memorial. To pay their respects and show the fans that we all stand together in the face of adversity. Should we abandon that because it would be ‘easier’ for Chelsea to play on the Saturday?
The anniversary of Hillsborough isn’t just a time when we take a moment and have a think. We gather together. We stand shoulder to shoulder and demand justice. The team, the management and the fans understand and respect that, when all’s said and done, football really is just a game. Nothing is more important than remembering those who lost their lives and shouting out for justice that’s taken far too long to come.
That United, Rangers or any other club decide to play on the anniversary of their own personal tragedy is up to them. But if they didn’t want to I’d understand. We should all understand.
Hillsborough is still very raw. Still very real. A lot of match going reds were lucky. They were at Hillsborough and were fortunate enough to make it home. Most fans were personally affected by what happened, knew someone that lost their life in the most horrendous of circumstances. They should never, ever have to think of anything other than their loss on that day. Kenny Dalglish shouldn’t be asked to think about formations and substitutions when he should just be allowed to reflect.
It’s time for the non-Liverpool supporting people in this country to stop making glib comments about something they know little to nothing about. If you insist on opening your mouth to say something about the Hillsborough disaster then the only thing you should say is JUSTICE FOR THE 96. You’ll Never Walk Alone.
The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Kopsource.
You can follow me on Twitter: @Adam_Smith_82
Kopsource.com is the brainchild of passionate Liverpool FC fans whose desire for real and regular news, opinions and statistics could not be satiated by any of the other existing sites online.
hes supposed to be playing on the liverpool empire in october this needs to be stopped
Davies’ anger should be aimed at the FA and TV companies, why couldnt they just play both games on Saturday? Of course TV has to insist on sat/sun matches.
Having said that Davies disgusting comments are sickening. A vile human being. He is an arsenal fan and they have been getting increasingly bitter with their lack of success.
The guy is a complete bellend avoid going to his show knob
Do you play on the anniversary of Heysel?
Thought so.
Bradford play, MUFC play. Rangers Play.
Scousers are wrapped up in a cloak of self-pity that doesn’t extend to the Italians killed when Heysel happened. That’s hypocrisy of the worst kind. What the Sun did was utterly wrong but should not be used as an excuse for not playing. When youse lot apologise for Heysel, we’ll listen to you.
Liverpool have apologised for Heysel on a number of occasions including when Juventus came to Anfield in the CL.
Don’t let your ignorance of facts and the truth hit you on your way out eh?
It’s an idiotic comment that comes from a place of ignorance, but not malice. I don’t think he’s an awful human being, but he needs to educate himself about what happened instead of this imbecility .
I hope he apologizes more strongly than he has done on Twitter, where it is clear he did not mean it.
Great response, the only thing I’d like to say is, personally I don’t think the fa cup semi final should ever be played on the 15th, move it too another weekend totally.
Davies’s stand-up tour takes him to Liverpool on the 23rd September. ‘Boycott’ springs to mind.
Excellent, balanced response to an ill thought out but almost certainly innocent comment. He would only have said it though had he thought the general consensus would be one of agreement. Not in these parts I agree, but countrywide? We shall see. In any event, I will no longer be a fan.
I doubt that Davies realised there was a memorial service on the anniversary every year and just thought Liverpool didn’t want to play on that particular day.
As much as the neutral, myself included, hates Liverpool Football Club, I think the Hilsborough tragedy is universally (well as universal as you can get given a lot of people are cunts) taken very seriously.
shut up tit and keep your nose out of matters that don’t concern you. Your real agenda is coming on here to cause offence and spread your hate. At least have the gut’s to declare that instead of hiding behind a smokescreen of phoney indignation about Heysel
No doubt the pubic haired headed little gimp has a book to peddle and is looking to get a little attention
Controversey sells, and with the littile silly comments he made, he has us just where he wants. Emotional and talking back. i wouldnt waste any more time on him. Lets observe our minutes silence and move on. let the manbe.
The comment from the poster “Juve” is disgusting, and all that poster has done is displayed that he either can’t read the article, or hasnt bothered to take the time to read the article, because he is so wrapper up in his own opinion.
For someone who wasnt alive at the time of Heysel, I have sought information from my uncle, who was at that game. Heysel was a tragedy caused by UEFA. LFC warned Uefa, that the stadium was not fit to hold the final. It was crumbling, with concrete rubble lining the terraces. The Juve ultras, thought it correct to throw this at the Liverpool fans. The police stood by and watched this happen. The Liverpool fans reacted, causing a (decaying) wall to collapse. Tragically killing 39 people.
If UEFA would have switched the stadium, or sought competant policing and segregation, it would never have happened.
The Thatcher government at the time, ever alert to sticking the boot in on Liverpool (the city – not the club) insisted on a ban of English teams participating in european competitions.
“It’s time for the non-Liverpool supporting people in this country to stop making glib comments about something they know little to nothing about. If you insist on opening your mouth to say something about the Hillsborough disaster then the only thing you should say is JUSTICE FOR THE 96. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Ridiculous statement. Basically you want no one to discuss the events in a reasonable manner. Everyone must agree with your views and any one who doesn’t is a ‘bellend’. We live in a free society, where people should be allowed express their opinion. Getting offended by opinions that on’t correspond with your own is childish and futile
Conor.
Perhaps on reflection the end of my blog didn’t sum up what I was trying to say as well as I’d hoped.
The fact is that this whole saga has shown how little people in this country know about the Hillsborough disaster. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who say things like ‘it was all the fault of the Liverpool fans’ when that is patently not true and proven to be the case by the Taylor report.
As I state in my article I believe there are a number of very fair reasons why Liverpool fans and the club do not want to play on April 15th. I do not expect everyone to agree with those reasons. I just ask that people take them on board and realise that it’s not a subject which can be summed up with a glib comment or smart-alec soundbite.
I have never suggested that anyone who doesn’t agree with me is a ‘bell end’. I’m also not offended by other people’s opinions. I am offended by people who refuse to do any research into a topic and yet have an outspoken opinion about it.
I also think it’s no more ‘childish and futile’ of me to put forward my opinions in what you would describe as a ‘reasonable manner’ than it is for you to ignore most of my article to call my final statement ‘ridiculous’.
The families of the victims of Hillsborough are still waiting for the truth about what happened on that fateful day. There still hasn’t been anyone found accountable for the disaster. Why not? That should be the only thing people want to know about. It could have happened to any football team in the country, and instead of getting bogged down in the nonsense Alan Davies spouted on about I believe that people should be asking for justice.
I hope that makes my point clearer.
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A boycott? 2 hours of heckling would drive the point home much more effectively. Julian Clarey once nearly had his career destroyed for an inappropriate remark about Norman Lamont. This is far more offensive and to a lot more people.
“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”.
Abraham Lincoln
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The Gooner’s comments were ill-judged, but not malicious. He’s apologised, let’s leave it at that eh?
There is no point making a big deal out of it, there has been more than enough hatred around this club recently!
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