The free press

[duke63]

The Sun and the Times both 'choosing' not to report the Hillsborough verdict today in their papers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-36147007" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kwacky]

It's disgusting the way they've ignored it.

[duke63]

I see the Times have said 'they made a mistake'.

Money does not buy common sense or decency obviously.

[Perkles]

They all picked on the wrong city to piss off

[D41]

The s(k)eptic in me says "Well, they can't report everything for everybody, can they??"

The Hillsborough tragedy was a LONG time ago...and most people's attention spans rival those of a gnat on methamphetamine.
The fact that we're discussing it on this site says that some people do care, and are expressing it on TS...to me that says a lot more about the people on here that I'd ever hope to expect from some random stranger...it might not be much, and we're just a few, but that's all it takes to make a difference IMO.

[Kwacky]

The verdit of a 2 year inquest was announced yesterday and it blamed the police amongst others, so it's going to hit the front page.

[D41]

All well & good...but how has stadium security been altered in the UK since this happened, if at all??

I know it wasn't the Heysel Disaster (that was the 'crushing' incident, IIRC), but some other Euro stadium that collapsed that caused a lot of stadiums in the US to be totally demolished and rebuilt......Angel Stadium was one of them. The whole of the Upper Deck would roll when the local fatties did that "Wave" thing....and I'm talking some major rolling where the deck was moving between about 6-10ft.
I don't think I've ever been so apprehensive in my life....not when you don't have any control over it....know what I mean? I crash my bike, I know who is to blame...this mother****er felt that a two hour 5.0+ quake.

Fat Spackers.

[Kwacky]

How?

Massively. The fences came down. Seating came in. Blanket bans on football fans. No drinking strictly reinforced.

[D41]

OK, so measures have been taken....The Sun (unsurprisingly) not reporting on it doesn't alter the fact that revisions have been made...whether they are effective remains to be seen.

I'm not sure I'm seeing the point here TBH....countless millions of fans go to games every year.....accidents like this are very few & far between....I'm frankly surprised that this stuff doesn't happen more often...not in the UK maybe, but in Second & Third World Countries where 'building standards' are practically considered to be science-fiction.

[Kwacky]

Sadly it does, particularly in South America.

The main issue is that the police with the help of the government covered up a lot of evidence and it's taken 27 years to get this far. They knew well before the event that the ground wasn't suitable.

[D41]

Yeah...even as I wrote that I had a feeling Central/South America might be brought up....BUT! I feel that only reinforces my point.....Mexico is roughly two hours drive from here...and while it might be a 'Second World Country' to some, to the majority of the population it is defo a TWC in real terms....it's no wonder so many head north to the US.....for them, it's no big deal......human border trafficking is rampant, The punishment is slight....couple of days in jail here, back over the border, then try again.
The exception is someone from south of Mexico heading north towards the USA...they get caught in EUM then they are getting some major jail time, and in the worst prisons that the hospitable Mexican authorities have to offer...they do NOT fare well there....the lowest of the low.

[duke63]

Watching some of the footage from that time, i had forgotten how football fans generally were seen as scum by the police regardless of who they were.

I was at the other semi final that day at Villa Park as we were playing Everton.

We were gutted to lose the game, our first semi final in 30 years, but when we heard what had happened at Hillsborough football became insignificant.

Ironically our first game of the next season was actually at Sheffield Wednesday and we were thoroughly searched by the Sth Yorks Police well before we got to the ground and their general attitude that day was appalling.

[Kwacky]

The attitude of a lot of police still hasn't changed. Manchester is the worst place to get to. A few fans have taken Manchester Police to court and won. One case was about the Police stopping a load of Stoke fans at a pub, miles away from Old Trafford. They kept them there for a few hours, took their tickets off them and sent them home.