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FREE THE GAME OF OUR LIVES: THE MEANING AND MAKING OF ENGLISH FOOTBALL PDF David Goldblatt | 400 pages | 05 Mar 2015 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780241955260 | English | London, United Kingdom Hillsborough disaster - Wikipedia The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in SheffieldSouth YorkshireEngland, on 15 April The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football 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. With 96 fatalities and injuries, it remains as of the worst disaster in British sporting history. Ninety-four people died on the day; another person died in hospital days later and the final victimwho had been put into a persistent vegetative The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football by the crush and had never regained consciousness, died in In the following days and weeks police fed the press false stories suggesting that hooliganism and drunkenness by Liverpool supporters had caused the disaster. The first coroner's inquests into The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football Hillsborough disaster, completed inruled all the deaths accidental. InLord Justice Stuart-Smith concluded that there was no justification for a new inquiry. It also produced two criminal investigations led by police in 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 to 26 April The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently dropped all charges against one of the defendants. Hillsborough Stadium had been constructed in to house Sheffield Wednesday. 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. It emphasised the general situation at Hillsborough was satisfactory compared with most grounds. 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 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 It made recommendations on the safety of crowds penned within fences, [18] including that "all exit gates should be manned at all times Hillsborough hosted five FA Cup semi-finals in the s. A crush occurred at the Leppings Lane end of the ground during the semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers after hundreds more spectators were permitted to enter the terrace than could safely be accommodated, resulting in 38 injuries, including broken arms, legs and ribs. In a post-match briefing to discuss the incident, Sheffield Wednesday chairman Bert McGee remarked: "Bollocks—no one would have been killed". The safety certificate was never renewed and the stated capacity of the stadium was never changed. After the crush inHillsborough was not chosen to host an FA Cup semi-final for six years until A Leeds fan described disorganisation at the turnstiles and no steward or police direction inside the stadium, resulting in the crowd in one enclosure becoming so compressed he was at times unable to raise and clap his hands. Liverpool and Nottingham Forest met in the semi-final at Hillsborough inand fans reported crushing at the Leppings Lane end. Liverpool lodged a complaint before the match in One supporter wrote to the Football Association and Minister for Sport complaining, "The whole area was packed solid to the point where it was impossible to move and where I, and others around me, felt considerable concern for personal safety". In October a probationary PC in Mole's F division, South Yorkshire was handcuffed, photographed, and stripped by fellow officers in a fake robbery, as a hazing prank. Four officers resigned and seven were disciplined over the incident. Chief Superintendent Mole himself was to be transferred to the Barnsley division for "career development reasons". The transfer was to be done with immediate effect on 27 March No known minutes exist of this meeting. This left planning for the semi-final match to Duckenfield, who had never commanded a sell-out football match before, and who had "very little, if any" training or personal experience in how to do so. As is common at domestic matches in England, opposing supporters were segregated. Nottingham Forest supporters were allocated the South Stands and Spion Kop [a] on the east end, with a combined capacity of 29, reached by 60 turnstiles spaced along two sides of the ground. Liverpool supporters were allocated the North and West ends Leppings Laneholding 24, fans, reached by 23 turnstiles from a narrow concourse. Turnstiles numbered 1 to 10, 10 in all, provided access to 9, seats in the North Stand; a further 6 turnstiles numbered 11 to 16 provided access to 4, seats in the upper tier of the West Stand. Finally, 7 turnstiles lettered A to G provided access to 10, standing places in the lower tier of the West Stand. Although Liverpool had more supporters, Nottingham Forest was allocated the larger area, to avoid the approach routes of rival The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football crossing. As a result of the stadium layout and segregation policy, turnstiles that would normally have been used to enter the North Stand from the east were off-limits and all Liverpool supporters had to converge on a single entrance at Leppings Lane. On match day, radio and television advised fans without tickets not to attend. Rather than establishing crowd safety as the priority, clubs, local authorities and the police viewed their roles and responsibilities through the 'lens of hooliganism'. Three chartered trains transported Liverpool supporters to Sheffield for a match fixture [b] inbut only one such train ran in Some supporters were delayed by roadworks while crossing the Pennines on the M62 motorway which resulted in minor traffic congestion. While rehearsing for the match off-air, he suggested a nearby cameraman look as well. Well, if you look at the Liverpool end, to the right of the goal, there's hardly anybody on those steps Look down there. People presenting tickets at the wrong turnstiles and those who had been refused entry could not leave because of the crowd behind them but remained as an obstruction. Fans outside could hear cheering as the teams came on the pitch ten minutes before the match started, and as the match kicked off, but could not gain entrance. A police constable radioed control requesting that the game be delayed, as it had been two years before, to ensure the safe passage of supporters into the ground. The request to delay the start of the match by 20 minutes was declined. With an estimated 5, fans trying to enter through the turnstiles, and increasing safety concerns, the police, to avoid fatalities outside the ground, opened a large exit gate Gate C that ordinarily permitted the free flow of supporters departing the stadium. Two further gates A and B were subsequently opened to relieve pressure. After an initial rush, thousands of supporters entered the stadium "steadily at a fast walk". When the gates were opened, thousands of fans entered a narrow tunnel leading from the rear of the terrace into two overcrowded central pens pens 3 and 4creating pressure at the front. Hundreds of people were pressed against one another and the fencing by the weight The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football the crowd behind them. Fans were still streaming into pens 3 and 4 from the rear entrance tunnel as the match began. For some time, problems at the front of the Liverpool central goal pens went largely unnoticed except by those inside them and a few police at that end of the pitch. Liverpool's goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaarreported fans from behind him pleading to him for help as the situation worsened. Possibly connected to the excitement, a surge in pen 3 caused one of its metal crush barriers to give way. South Yorkshire Police Superintendent Greenwood the ground commander realised the situation, and ran on the field to gain referee Ray Lewis 's attention. Lewis stopped the match at [40] as fans climbed the fence in an effort to escape the crush and went onto the track. By this time, a small gate in the fence had been forced open and some fans escaped via this route, as others continued to climb over the fencing. Other fans were pulled to safety by fans in the West Stand above the Leppings Lane terrace. The intensity of the crush broke more crush barriers on the terraces. Holes in the perimeter fencing were made by fans desperately attempting to rescue others. The crowd in the Leppings Lane Stand overspilled onto the pitch, where the many injured and traumatised fans who had climbed to safety congregated. Meanwhile, on the pitch, police, stewards and members of the St John Ambulance service were overwhelmed. Many uninjured fans assisted the injured; several attempted The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football and others tore down advertising hoardings to use as stretchers.

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