Hillsborough: Triumph at last wrested from tragedy

Last week’s conclusion of a series of inquests in England put to rest the controversy that since 1989 has swirled around the world's most notorious sporting tragedy. The decision on the Hillsborough disaster not only exonerated the deceased supporters of the Liverpool Football Club, but also vindicated their family members and fans, who waged such a prolonged fight for justice. The world is now hailing “the new truth”, a term mocking an infamous headline lie in the Sun tabloid, “The truth”.
This epic campaign for justice never had anything to do with money or any other form of compensation, other than the reward of the actual truth itself. The relatives and friends of the 96 fans killed in the appalling crush at Hillsborough stadium never sought a financial pay-off. The fans who died that day were awaiting the start of an FA Cup match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. In the aftermath the authorities maintained that drunkenness in the crowd and a surge at an entrance gate by fans without tickets cost 96 lives and left 766 injured in horrifying fashion. The Sun poured salt on the wounds by highlighting accounts of people picking the pockets of the dead and others assaulting or urinating on “brave cops”.
Liverpool, home to the stadium, never forgave the Sun, and a “Hillsborough movement” was born, its advocates insisting that the police were lying about what happened to cover up their utter failure in ensuring the safety of the 50,000 fans in attendance. The inquests just ended yielded a terrifying picture of what can happen when the police, news media and politicians conspire to hide the facts. It was only a couple of years ago that the authorities were finally persuaded to re-examine the evidence, and even that came with great reluctance.
The inquests determined that the level of alcohol consumption in the stadium that day was par for the course at football matches and that there was no basis for claiming those who were killed were drunk. They found the crush inside the stadium became lethal when police opened a gate, not when it was breached. The senior police official in charge at the stadium had no experience in crowd control. The stories of fans assaulting police came from police officers drinking at a private club and were contrived to push the blame onto the fans.
There were of course “good cops” on duty that day, but whatever aid and succour they provided was completely overshadowed by the behaviour of others among their colleagues. Police records of the incident were assembled in unorthodox fashion – without the benefit of notebooks – giving rise to further scepticism. Grieving relatives complained of police treating them and the dead with disrespect.
It remains to be seen what will happen next in this awful drawn-out saga, since guilt has not yet been fully apportioned, but in the meantime we can have important lessons to take to heart. There is, above all, the triumph of the never-say-die attitude. The campaigners for truth ignored overwhelming odds against them and fought off every instinct to give up.
Second, there is the sobering recognition that, in some cases, justice takes a very long time to arrive. Third, no truth can remain buried forever. And, finally, the power of the people is reaffirmed again in Liverpool’s two-decade-plus boycott of the Sun, which has never recovered from the blow.
The victory in Liverpool is an inspiration. It underscores the strength of unity and perseverance. It adds weight to the meaning of the football club’s famous terrace song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, with its urging to “walk on” no matter how treacherous the journey ahead, because there's always a golden sky at the end of a storm.