The game between Liverpool and Manchester United on Sunday was a truly stirring occasion, which showed football at its unifying best.
It began as soon as the players walked onto the pitch. Anyone who watched as Sir Bobby Charlton, the only possible challenger to Sir Alex Ferguson as United’s greatest living icon, passed a bouquet to Liverpool great Ian Rush, could not help but be moved by the scene.
Likewise for those who saw Sir Alex stand beside Brendan Rodgers for his pre-match interview, with a genuine sense of warmth and goodwill between them as they expressed their mutual hope for a respectful observation of the occasion.
They both said that there would be no problem between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, and they were right. The last time these two met it was punctuated by a declined pre-match handshake from the former and a tastelessly obnoxious post-match celebration by the latter.
But on this day, the true injustice of the 96 made irrelevant any injustice that had been perceived by either Evra or Suarez. There were simply more important things to worry about, as the solemn number on their tracksuits surely reminded them.
The image of the two men shaking hands while wearing 96 on their backs says a lot about the significance of this occasion for English football.
Ryan Giggs, whose own personal failings have been offered up as a condemnation of football and its trappings, was next to take part in the proceedings. Standing in as captain for the inexplicably absent Nemanja Vidic, Giggs had the job of releasing 96 red balloons into the sky.
Then came what I can only assume was one of the most boisterous renditions of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ ever delivered, one which brought many to tears. For a moment, as the camera panned across the stands, I thought I was going to be among them.
After all of this, it was left to John Champion to sum up the feeling around the ground as English broadcasters seem to do better than any other. He simply said: “And now the match”.
The noise around the ground in the minutes after kickoff was simply unbelievable. It was near-deafening for me sitting in an Australian lounge room, so I shudder to think what it must have been like for those occupying the Kop.
Liverpool hoed into United in the first half, controlling the game and looking likely to break them at any moment. Rarely has a side showed so much promise for so little reward in the opening weeks of a season, but I suspect that their luck will turn.
Liverpool’s play deserved Steven Gerrard’s goal. The occasion demanded it. As he approached the ball and struck it, the stars seemed to align. As someone who is dedicated to loving United and detesting Liverpool in almost equal measure, even I could not begrudge him the moment.
As Gerrard, so often Liverpool’s knight, charged towards the corner with arms aloft, everyone, be they in the ground or 25,000 miles away in a recliner chair in Australia, knew what he was thinking. It was a special moment.
This was a special day. It could have been nasty. From what I could tell, the chants never got past the generic Scouse-mocking, which goes on every year.
But the tone of this day was set from the beginning. This was about dignity.
Often it is said that England’s football supporters have an almost religious zealotry. On Sunday, the cause of justice for the 96 left all of the partisan nonsense in the dark, allowing both sides to worship together.
Twitter: @M_Campbell23
Cappuccino
Roar Guru
Such a relief that Suarez and Evra didn't have another incident. Last year their antics were apalling.
Dillan
Guest
An excellent book on the Hillsborough disaster is Phil Scraton's "Hillsborough The Truth." Investigates the disaster and highlights the institutional failings and cover-ups. Phil Scraton was also a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel...
Futbanous
Guest
This tragedy continues to unravel different stories,glad to see most behaved in a dignified manner last Sunday,but there were a few halfwits still. Then again human nature dictates there always will be. The tragedy has personal significance for me in a couple of ways, although not in the tragic way it ended up for the 96 Liverpool fans. As a teenager I stood mainly on the Kop.,but occassionally I had mates who went to the Leppings Lane end,pretty much where the main crush was. From time to time I stood with them. Not hard to understand a crush, having felt the uncontrollable sway of a big crowd at both ends. In those days before football hooliganism there was only a small wall,the remnants of which remained I notice ,in the horrendous pictures of the incident. The fence on top of it served as a a reminder to me of how much the English game had changed from when I was a lad. The fans would have spilled onto the pitch then,there may have been some loss of life due to the police cock up ,but not on that scale. Speaking of police I also grew up round the corner from the Chief Superintendent who was in charge of operations. Not a lad I played with(a bit older) but saw him on a daily basis going to school at the same bus stop for a couple of years. Suprised that he reached such status in the police force as it wasn't normal for working class lads in Sheffield to acheive much more than work in the steelworks or tradesman/labourers. Coppers were bad news to most of the working class. The acheivers usually came from the "Posh" suburbs on the outskirts of the city. From conversations since though with relatives who were his peers he was ambitious. What puzzles me are two things. First I get the impression that he didn't understand what he was dealing with in the millions of reports the incident generated. I question that. He grew up with working class football fans. He knew the culture of drinking before matches, he understood the passion. It was impossible to escape it in the area we grew up in. The second question is the Liverpool fans were exonerated of blame,so that clearly indicates the police were to blame,yet all I've seen so far are apologies from the Prime Minister,Chief constable of South Yorkshire police etc. From Wiki hopefully its accurate but ties in with other reports I've read. Findings On 12 September 2012, the Hillsborough Independent Panel[66] concluded that no Liverpool fans were responsible in any way for the disaster, and that its main cause was a "lack of police control" and crowd safety was "compromised at every level" and overcrowding issues had been recorded two years earlier. The report concluded that the then Conservative MP for Sheffield Hallam, Irvine Patnick, passed inaccurate and untrue information from the police to the press.[67][68] The panel concluded that "up to 41" of the 96 who perished might have survived had the emergency services' reactions and co-ordination been improved.[69] The number is based on post mortem examinations which found some victims may have had heart, lung or blood circulation function for some time after being removed from the crush. The report stated that placing fans who were "merely unconscious" on their backs would have resulted in their deaths.[70] The panel found that South Yorkshire Police and other emergency services had made a "strenuous attempt" to deflect blame for the disaster from themselves onto Liverpool supporters. The findings concluded that 164 witness statements had been amended and 116 statements unfavourable to South Yorkshire Police had been removed. South Yorkshire Police had performed blood alcohol tests on the victims, some of them children, and ran computer checks on the national police database in an attempt to "impugn their reputation".[71] Effects Subsequent apologies were released by Prime Minister David Cameron on behalf of the government,[72] Ed Miliband on behalf of the opposition,[73] Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, South Yorkshire Police, and former editor of The Sun, Kelvin McKenzie, who apologised for writing the headline "The Truth".[74] McKenzie said he should have written a headline that read "The Lies", although this apology was widely discredited by the Hillsborough Family Support Group and Liverpool fans, as it was seen to be "shifting the blame once again."[74] Labour MP for Leigh, Andy Burnham, a former Secretary of State for Health, who led the campaign for a full inquiry and promised to get results in 2011,[75] thanked the Prime Minister "for every single word" of his statement to the Commons.[76]
Mark Young
Roar Guru
Great article mate, pleasure to read. Thanks for writing