North East Buses

Events seem to be coming together to mark the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, which following events last year and the trial going on, on Merseyside - has been quite poignant.

Without getting into the whole politics and blame game, I wondered if anyone has any memories of the day or the game?

The whole day was a blur/hazy as at the time, there was nothing out of the ordinary or different to any other weekend afternoon.

My memories revolve around the immediate aftermath of the kick off and being aware something wasn't quite right.
Not long after kick off and there was a knock on the door and it was a lad who lived in the same street, but who I wasn't particularly close to - standing there with his Dad.
My Dad came to the door (no idea where my Mam or younger brother was) and with a knowing nod and a wink between the grown ups - myself, the lad and his Dad went off to the field to play football.

What got me (apart from the fact I was off to have a kick about with a lad I wasn't close to, who wasn't bothered about football and his Dad), was that the streets were eerily quiet.
There was nobody about at all either walking their dogs, going about their business, mowing lawns etc or any other kids about as there normally would have been at that time.

Events after getting home were fuzzy too, but obviously I was aware of the immediate fall out over the following days, weeks and months.

To be honest I have no memory of the day (or the game) apart from watching it on the television afterwards. Maybe, at the age of 10, the significance of what had happened just didn't register with me at the time. But then again, my parents weren't massively into football either.

I was 6 years old in 1989, I vaguely remember seeing what happener that day and somebody telling me at first it is probably a pitch invasion which when you see it unfold initially it looks like a hooligans big day out, I think it was just as the game was abandoned Motson, I think it was, spoke of the crush in the stand and I think he said people were dying and that was it, I was horrified, shocked, numb, I was new to football and still did not understand the way of the world, at school on the monday, there was talk about it and I repeatedly asked 'why, it's football, you goto the game, you come home' nobody could answer me and I am still looking for an answer today.

But, I believe one thing, it was always going to happen, football was in decline, the stadium problem was a tragedy waiting to happen, Hillsborough itself had no safety certificate and had not for years, there was problems in '81 and '88 and then the tragedy in 1989...

Out of Interest andreos, how old were u in 1989, were u going to football back then, I had seen Sunderland play a few times and was going to Murton quite a bit in the Northern League

(15 Apr 2014, 3:00 pm)marxistafozzski wrote [ -> ]Out of Interest andreos, how old were u in 1989, were u going to football back then, I had seen Sunderland play a few times and was going to Murton quite a bit in the Northern League

No, I hadn't been to a game by April 89 and didn't go until the following season.
A bit like AdamYs folks, mine weren't into football and even though my Dad had been promising to take me to a game, he was put off my crowd trouble in the 80s and the fact Newcastle were sh!te.

It was the following October my next door neighbour and his Dad convinced mine to let them take me to a Newcastle game (at home to Bradford).

It was the 86 World Cup that spurred my interest in football and have been to games at all sorts of levels since.

(15 Apr 2014, 3:09 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote [ -> ]No, I hadn't been to a game by April 89 and didn't go until the following season.
A bit like AdamYs folks, mine weren't into football and even though my Dad had been promising to take me to a game, he was put off my crowd trouble in the 80s and the fact Newcastle were sh!te.

It was the following October my next door neighbour and his Dad convinced mine to let them take me to a Newcastle game (at home to Bradford).

It was the 86 World Cup that spurred my interest in football and have been to games at all sorts of levels since.

Pretty much same with me, I had to convince my granddad to take me around '89, he was also a bit wary of going because of crowd trouble, so he took me to a few Northern League Games at Murton against the likes of Gretna and Ferryhill Athletic, I remember going to Roker the first time and saying to the old man 'big difference from Murton aint it' avg att at Murton was about 3 old men and a border collie,. avg att at Roker was about 20k...I really fell in love with football at Italia '90, I actually cried when Gazza got booked and that was the moment I realised football was something I loved...Now, I support Darlington and watch them whenever I can