Stand Up For Southport Blog by Andrew Brown
Remembering all the many victims of the Hillsborough tragedy today.
97 people went to enjoy a football match and lost their lives, leaving their families, friends and fellow supporters devastated.
They include 18 victims from Sefton, more than from any other borough in the UK.
The names and ages on the Sefton Hillsborough memorial outside Crosby Library make horrific reading – several teenagers died, the youngest locally just 14 years old.
Others suffered horrendous injuries.
Many more at the ground; Liverpool fans, Nottingham Forest fans, stewards, emergency services workers, were left severely traumatised,
The families of the victims – some of whom are sadly no longer with us – have still not had the justice they deserve and have campaigned so hard for.
As a young reporter, I remember interviewing some of the families about their fight for answers.
One lady in Crosby, who had lost her son, had a room packed full of box files with evidence she was compiling. Her life was consumed with finding answers that she never got instead of being allowed to grieve and carry on with her life.
As an Everton fan, I was at Villa Park for the other semi final on the same day as Hillsborough.
I was sat next to my Dad, who as a Liverpool fan should have been in Sheffield, but decided at the last minute to come to Birmingham instead. Friends of ours had his tickets, we were desperate to know how they were and were praying they were safe.
The crowd at Villa Park was deathly quiet as news was slowly whispered along the stands, from the few sat with transistor radios, listening to a tragedy unfolding where they were hoping to tune into the result.
There were no mobile phones in those days. Most Everton fans had friends or family at Hillsborough and there was a desperate search for people to find payphones on the way back.
Afterwards, I left my beloved lucky Everton scarf on a rail in The Kop at Anfield, as thousands of fans made a pilgrimage to the ground which saw the pitch and stands packed with scarves, flowers, teddy bears and messages of love.
The Merseyside Derby in the League that followed, and the 1989 FA Cup Final between the teams, were emotional occasions.
Merseyside was together.
I cannot express my admiration for the Dalglish family for the immense support they showed to the Hillsborough families, and to the families themselves who have spent 35 years campaigning for the real ‘the truth’ to emerge.
Today, 35 years after that horrendous tragedy, we will remember all those who died; all those who were injured; all those forever traumatised by the tragedy; and all the families who deserved so much better.
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