26 years ago

Like a few of you, I suppose, I was at Villa Park. At this remove I have few memories of the day itself. I think the weather was similar to today's, and I never forgave Ian Crook, although I wouldn't have wanted us to play the final anyway.
We knew that the other game had been suspended - I think the general thought was "Liverpool fans again" - and certainly by the end of the match we knew there had been deaths. I remember encountering an Everton lad who was concerned about family. My then-wife and my mother who she was with had been frantic for a while; they had switched on the TV and seen what was happening but didn't know which match it was initially.
The oddest thing looking back was that all the controversy leading up to the games had surrounded inflatables which I think the Hillsborough authorities had banned. On a personal note my then-wife was very heavily pregnant and I was half expecting to hear my name over the tannoy (he actually arrived 8 days later).
Looking at the three tragedies that befell English football in the mid- to late- eighties it seems to me that, although it wasn't the major factor in every case, the common thread that runs through is that the stadia had been allowed to become inherently unsafe places and the authorities were either unaware or not bothered. I'm not convinced that attitudes towards the paying customer have changed everywhere. I know for sure that our board would never permit Carrow Road to be an unsafe place, but I'm really not so sure about the people that operate some of the places we visit.
Everyone should go to the match and leave happy - even if they're only happy that they have a player, or manager, or performance to moan about.
JFT96

Posted By: Winged Eel Creosote, Apr 15, 10:29:26