Justice for the 96

Open now for discussion of all things Darlo!

Moderators: mikkyx, uncovered

Post Reply
louemmell
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:55 am
Team Supported: Darlington

Justice for the 96

Post by louemmell » Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:43 pm

Finally justice for the the unlawfully killed 96 fans who went to watch a football match and never came back. Vindication after 27 long years for their families and friends. YNWA

Vodka_Vic
Posts: 2473
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:27 am
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Vodka_Vic » Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:01 pm

Brings back some very bad memories of how football fans like myself were treated like pariahs by corrupt police officers in the 80s. I'll never forget some of the bullying that took place by 'Officers' that I saw as a boy, people being arrested by little Hitlers drunk on power. Yes, there was a hooligan problem, but there was a real 'them' and 'us' situation created. I'll never forget at Runcorn where a policeman came and stood in front of some Darlo fans who was blocking their view. They politely asked him to move and he reacted by threatening to arrest them. My own father waded in and told him he was a disgrace, and he threatened to arrest him too.
Thankfully the way football fans are policed is much improved nowadays, and accountability is there as well. I am now in my mid forties and I feel safe taking my own young children to football matches. But they were awful, awful times for football fans who were herded like cattle into pens and felt like second class citizens for going to watch a sport. We were away at Burnley the day of Hillsborough so didn't see any of it on TV until we got back later on.

Darlo_Pete
Posts: 14080
Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:13 pm
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Darlo_Pete » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:06 pm

Yes remember that day well. We were in Division 1 and were going down, but somehow we managed to win at Burnley and we were celebrating at the end of the match, when news from Hillsborough came through. Suddenly from celebrating a great victory, the mood became very sombre very quickly. At least the 96 have now finally got justice.

User avatar
don'tbuythesun
Posts: 2397
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2010 12:24 pm
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by don'tbuythesun » Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:51 pm

Really pleased with the verdict. Complete respect for the families who have remained dignified throughout. We've campaigned long and hard to get to today and I don't mind admitting there's been tears. JFT 96 YNWA

biccynana
Posts: 1004
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 11:38 am
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by biccynana » Wed Apr 27, 2016 8:20 am

Vodka_Vic wrote:I'll never forget some of the bullying that took place by 'Officers' that I saw as a boy
A longish story, sorry. I went to Rotherham-Darlo in 1986 as a pretty naive 15 year old (quite possibly the first away game I'd been to on my own). Walking from the train station to Millmoor, minding my own business, headphones plugged into Walkman (ask your dad, kids), I was grabbed by two coppers, one taking an arm each, and bundled pretty roughly into the back of a police van. The took the headphones off my head to see what I was listening to. They said they wanted to check I wasn't listening to police frequency radio. Their keen copper intuition had obviously seen through my disguise of a face full of spots, Adidas rep trainers, and C&A brand jeans and thought I was a capo of the Darlo 'firm'. They must have been pretty disappointed to find I was listening to Billy Bragg or The Bluebells. Gave me my headphones back, shoved me out of the van, without so much as an apology. It got better. Herded back to the train station with the rest of the Darlo fans I was crammed onto a train for Darlington. The only problem was I lived in Doncaster at the time. I tried mentioning this to several coppers before I got on to the train but they didn't want to know. Thankfully it wasn't non-stop so when it stopped at Wakefield I was able to get off. The experience, as a 15 year old, was pretty unpleasant, and put me off going to away games for a while.

The high-minded, arrogant, bullying attitudes from SYP on that day is exactly the kind of thing that fed into and caused Hillsborough. (And it's not as if the SYP didn't have form for lies and untruths and doctoring evidence - remember Orgreave?) I am elated those families have finally got justice, but reading the stories and backgrounds of each of the victims (http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i ... -cut-short) is absolutely heartbreaking, especially reading about the parents who died during the long wait for justice for their kids.

Neil Johnson
Posts: 1260
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:40 pm
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Neil Johnson » Wed Apr 27, 2016 8:31 am

No justice until the guilty are punished for the deaths, slanders and adverse effects on football of compulsory seating that followed.

Darlogramps
Posts: 6025
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 10:47 am
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Darlogramps » Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:20 pm

Neil Johnson wrote:No justice until the guilty are punished for the deaths, slanders and adverse effects on football of compulsory seating that followed.
Pillock.

Compulsory seating was not an adverse effect on football.

Nor is it comparable to the 27 year cover up, the smears against the dead and bereaved or the fact 96 innocent people died that day.
If ever you're bored or miserable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZohZoadGY

love it!
Posts: 946
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:06 am
Team Supported: Darlington 1883

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by love it! » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:10 pm

Justice for the 96 has been a long time coming and lets hope some of the officers to receive serious prosecutions. What astonishes me is that there has been no outcry regarding the Bradford stadium fire of 1985. It never gets any coverage and could arguably be seen as a worse situation (clearly not taking away the loss at Hillsborough).

User avatar
Darlo_H
Posts: 1929
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:39 am
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Darlo_H » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:46 pm

And The S*n still doesn't have the balls to put it on the front page.

Glad to see justice done, hopefully the families of the 96 will be able to take some solace from a process which has been undoubtedly horrific for them and has taken far, far too long.

Now to bring justice to those who were actually responsible for 96 people leaving home to watch a match and never returning.
Jazz Maverick wrote:If I win the 50/50 draw I'm going to use the money to pay a tramp to throw dog s*** at you.

Darlo Dodger
Posts: 284
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 9:50 pm
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Darlo Dodger » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:11 pm

Andy Burnham gave an excellent speech in Parliament today on the Hillsborough verdict which is well worth a listen. In addition to calling for justice in terms of criminal prosecutions he also hit one particular nail very firmly on the head when he referred to the lack of any serious investigation into the police conduct at Orgreave during the miners' strike.

lo36789
Posts: 10927
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:58 pm
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by lo36789 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:37 pm

Darlo_H wrote:And The S*n still doesn't have the balls to put it on the front page.
Just sums up the newspaper to be honest doesn't it. You feel it deserves to lose it's readership but just doesn't seem to.

Andrew Wilkinson
Posts: 313
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:19 pm

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Andrew Wilkinson » Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:24 pm

When Gregg Blundell played for Darlo he wouldn't do any interviews for The Sun. I believe a lot of Merseyside players took the same stance (incidentally Pete, we were not in Division 1 when Hillsborough happened. We were in Div 4. It was the year we were relegated to the Conference. But you are right about winning 1-0 at Burnley.)

User avatar
don'tbuythesun
Posts: 2397
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2010 12:24 pm
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by don'tbuythesun » Wed Apr 27, 2016 7:17 pm

If the Scum had apologised the next day it would have been different. Knowing some of those families so pleased they can move on at last.

Cockerton48
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:46 pm
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Justice for the 96

Post by Cockerton48 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 8:42 pm

I was also at the Burnley game that day but had travelled up from the Wirral, near Chester. We were held in the ground after the game and it was then I heard the news. I worked in Liverpool at the time and had two mates from work who went to the game including my assistant manager. I listened to the radio going back home and by the time I got there I was so depressed that I went straight to the local pub for a while before going home. Both mates luckily survived but never spoke of the horrors that day. I did know someone who didn't make it. Hopefully the result will lead those to move on. RIP

Post Reply