What happened at Hillsborough? The Hillsborough tragedy took place at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on Saturday April 15th, 1989. The disaster was a fatal human crush at the match held at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. With 96 deaths and 766 injuries, it remains the worst such case in British sporting history. With the match sold out, more than 53,000 fans from the two sides headed to Hillsborough for the 3pm kick-off. At the time, it was common practice at football grounds for the terrace to be divided into “pens” by high fences which put fans into blocks and separated them from the pitch. The crush happened in the two standing-only central pens in the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. Fans started arriving at 2pm and it seemed to be a good atmosphere, but that was to completely change just a short while after. Shortly before kick-off at a quarter to 3, CCTV cameras panned around the outside of the stadium to show that thousands of supporters were been pressed up and crushed against the entrance, so to try to ease overcrowding outside the entrance turnstiles, Hillsborough police match commander David Duckenfield gave the order for exit gate C to be opened – leading to a greater influx of supporters into the already overcrowded central pens. The Leppings Lane entrance had a limited number of turnstiles of which seven were allocated to the 10,100 fans with tickets for the standing terraces. Once they had gone through the turnstiles, supporters would have seen a wide tunnel leading to the terrace and signposted “standing”. As more people entered the stands, they were forcibly squeezed up against those in front who were already pressed up against the perimeters of the stands. People then began to be crushed to death. Fans desperately tried to escape the crush by climbing over the side fences into less packed adjoining fences or tried to climb out of the pens and onto the pitch. The game kicked off and fans continued to be pressed up against the fences and crush barriers in the two central pens. Supporters continued to climb perimeter fences to escape while others were dragged to safety by fans in the upper tiers. Some fans managed to break free, but others had already become victims of asphyxiation after struggling for air. At about 3.05pm, the referee was told to stop the game. In the aftermath, supporters tore up advertising hoardings to use as makeshift stretchers and tried to administer first aid to the injured. The Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans. The 96 people killed by the crush ranged in age from the youngest, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, who was 10, to the oldest, Gerard Baron, who was 67. Seven of those killed were women or girls. The other 89 were men and boys and in total, 37 of the people who died were teenagers.