The Lesson of Hillsborough: Refuse to Tolerate Injustice

“People's views remain tainted by allegations made by the police, politicians and an often hostile media in the immediate aftermath. It shaped people's understanding and played to their prejudices, until the powerful 2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel Report finally blew away the myths and exposed how manipulative those in authority had been.” – Daniel Gordon

By

Ray Blehar

Recently, ESPN ran the story of the Hillsborough soccer tragedy as one of its 30 for 30 Soccer Stories and it is quite accurate to say it parallels the Sandusky scandal.  Previously, I compared the Sandusky scandal to the Duke Lacrosse case, calling the Sandusky scandal, “Duke on Steroids.”  I also compared the treatment of Joe Paterno to the treatment of Richard Jewell, which was also featured on 30 for 30.

However, the Hillsborough tragedy blows both of those incidents away in terms of comparisons.

The Hillsborough tragedy occurred on April 15, 1989 and resulted in 96 Liverpool fans losing their lives and hundreds injured during an overcrowding crush behind a soccer goal during an FA Cup match.   The police blamed the tragedy on drunk and ticketless Liverpool fans breaking through a gate and overcrowding the end, causing deaths and injuries.  The story was not at all true, but the media reported it that way.  Liverpool fans had to fight the injustice for 24 years, until an independent panel reviewed the incident and revealed that police failures to manage the crowd caused the tragedy.

I watched the seven part series on YouTube (before it was removed by ESPN), then followed that up by watching the BBC Panorama Hillsborough – How They Buried the Truth documentary and found many parallels between Hillsborough and Penn State.  To wit:

·         Big Lies:  A top government official made false statements about the cause of the tragedy;

·         Failure to Protect:  Authorities did not employ appropriate plans to protect life;

·         Blame:  Innocent people were blamed for the tragedy;

·         Prior Act:  A related past incident was used to bolster a case against the innocent;

·         Lapdog Media:  The media ran with the illogical false reports by government officials;

·         Official Reports Were Wrong:  Evidence was altered and omitted;

·         Credible Reports Dismissed: The media dismissed reports revealing errors in official reports;

·         Persistence: Those wronged by media and government did not move forward;

·         Unsealing of Documents:  Finally seeing the evidence;

·         The TRUTH:  Results of independent reviews.