It’s hardly a surprise to read today revelations about an unnamed senior Merseyside police officer using words heard often since the Hillsborough tragedy – the myth of the drunken, ticketless fans.
Drunken, ticketless fans opened the main gate at the Leppping’s Lane end of Hillsborough; drunken, ticketless fans directed all the fans into the central pens; drunken, ticketless fans decided to die in those pens; drunken, ticketless fans stole the CCTV tapes; drunken, ticketless fans were responsible for David Duckenfield retiring on a full pension at 45; drunken, ticketless fans took the decision to stop all ambulances from going onto field; drunken, ticketless fans were responsible for a lack of a safety certificate; drunken, ticketless fans were responsible for police officers being awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds for PTSD for having to watch drunken, ticketless fans die when no family received more than three thousand pounds; drunken, ticketless fans…..do I need to go on? All problems at Hillsborough were caused by………yep, drunken, ticketless fans.
Think well on the exact words – “drunken, ticketless fans”. Down the years, the Hillsborough deniers and their acolytes have used that precise phrase, those exact words to lie, smear and slander those who cannot answer for themselves, 96 dead Liverpool fans. Funny that, how that exact phrase has been used by ALL the deniers. Word-for-word, ”drunken, ticketless fans”. Coincidence? Not a chance. Conspiracy? You better believe it.
And for all the great work of the HJC and the HFSG, there has been no one in power to speak the truth to the lies, smears and slanders of the deniers. Those who must find Scousers, Liverpool fans to blame. We can’t have the appalling vista of the deniers having to admit they were wrong, can we?
But in recent years, the fortress of the lies, smears and slanders of the deniers is being punctured here and there by some who now have a modicum of power. Steve Rotheram. Andy Burnham. Andy Burnham speaks truth to power about the myth of the drunken, ticketless fans. “These papers seem to confirm what we’ve believed for many, many years – that immediate attempts were made from the highest levels to shift the blame on to the supporters and away from the police. The truth must be told and the people of Liverpool must have an apology for one of the greatest injustices of the 20th century.”
Well said, that man.
So, slowly, there are more than the HJC and the HFSG and Liverpool fans worldwide trying to speak for those who cannot, those who were left dead on the terraces of Hillsborough. But that’s why we run. To raise funds for the HJC, for the HFSG, to help them speak for those who have not been able to answer the lies, smears and slanders of the past 23 years. We run to raise the awareness of what happened that day. And since. We run to help those best placed to speak for the dead, to answer the lies, the smears and the slanders.
(Now we wait for the attacks on Andy Burnham).