Post by mottman on Jul 10, 2004 16:42:12 GMT
(Please feel free to post this anywhere you see fit, either in part or in full,
At about 6 O’Clock yesterday evening I got a call from Robbie (Mottman) telling me that The S*n were about to publish an apology, the news left me a bit dumbstruck, I told Robbie I’d get back to him once I had a think about it. Once I had done this I spoke to a couple of other members of the HJC and discussed what we thought was going on, and what had caused such a dramatic change of heart, it really did not stack up. Was it the success of the boycott? Was it that they had become fed up of their feeble attempts to increase circulation in the area? Was it the Rooney influence? Was it a reaction to continued opposition in the area? I suppose that I thought the Rooney influence had been the straw that had finally broken the camel’s back, seeing Evertonians turn on their modern day hero as a result of his association with this vile rag.
The people of Liverpool have long lived with the reality of negative press coverage but the attacks made on Liverpool fans on 19th April 1989 went far beyond any of their predecessors. Media attacks on the City were frequent and those made on The Militant Local authority of the mid-80s were too numerous to mention. At this time football in general and football fans in particular were particularly “out of Vogue” and these were also seen as ‘fair game’ for the nation’s press attacks. It is interesting that Liverpool as a City, and football fans as a group, had also been continuously attacked by successive Tory governments during the 1980s.
Hillsborough was the worst day of my life. Sat in the North stand I saw youngsters trying to administer the kiss of life to dying men, women and children, whilst Police officers stood idly by. The South Yorkshire Police stood in front of the North Stand, in case there were a pitch invasion, whilst youngsters died on advertising hoardings behind them. An ambulance that entered onto the pitch at the Kop end of the ground was denied access, to the Liverpool fans, by those self same officers.
The aftermath of the disaster is well documented- incompetent police, an inadequate antiquated football ground, a ‘national’ attitude which saw fit to treat successive generations as football fans as animals and a Football Association which saw itself fit to align itself to a cover up, rather than represent the interests of fans. At the heart of this attempted cover up was the nation’s press.
The police immediately realised that their organisation was inadequate, and drew together the nation’s press to perpetuate their lies and conspiracy. On the afternoon of the disaster the BBC reported that a door had been broken down by Liverpool fans, Graham Kelly of the FA inferred that the Police had not ordered the gates to be opened on Radio 2. The secretary of Sheffield Wednesday football club reported that “at 2.50 there was a surge of Liverpool fans at The Leppings Lane end of the ground”, the seeds for the cover-up were sewn, as Liverpool fans lay on the turf dying and dead.
As we turned up to pay are respects to the dead at Anfield over the following days, the Nation’s free press assembled to gather evidence against us. The fact that people had died because they were seen as potential criminals rather than citizens by the nation’s police forces was never seriously examined. The myth of ticket-less fans storming a gate continued to be perpetuated by the bloodhounds in league with the South Yorkshire constabulary.
The S*N was not alone in its condemnation of Liverpool but its headlines do need to be considered:
'THE TRUTH'
" SOME FANS PICKED THE POCKETS OF VICTIMS, SOME FANS URINATED ON THE BRAVE COPS"
"SOME FANS BEAT UP P.C. GIVING KISS OF LIFE".
These was the actions of an organisation trying to rewrite history, hand in hand with the British authorities. That one headline still perpetuates, in parts of this country, the myth that The Hillsborough Disaster occurred as a result of Drunken football hooligans and not as a result of inadequate policing, a senile FA and “penny pinching” football club. It was this perpetuation of the lies and propaganda of the authorities which made the lives of the families and survivors all the more unbearable. It has been said that The S*N was not alone in its condemnation of Liverpool fans, but it must be said that they were by far the most vocally vehement in their condemnation. Furthermore, they stood alone in their defiance of the published findings of the Justice Taylor report and their continued condemnation of Liverpool fans, and their refusal to publish a retraction of their original article. To point to half hearted admissions of impropriety (imposed by the Press Commission) as heartfelt apologies, I find both offensive to the intelligence Liverpool fans, and completely disrespectful to the trauma faced by the bereaved families.
The article in question was not a decision taken in isolation by McKenzie, but no doubt he was duly rewarded for taking the blame for it being so, it was part of the establishment cover up of the facts of Hillsborough. The S*N did, however, go far, far further in their condemnation of Liverpool fans and their perpetuation of the establishment lies. Editorial decisions are not taken in isolation by any organisation, and the likely affects of such an article would have been weighed up with pro’s and con’s, the fact is though that The S*N vastly underestimated the response of the people of Merseyside, they further underestimated the longevity of the opposition to their vile rag.
The boycott of the rag was not organised by the HJC, the HFSG, LFC or any organisation, it was a knee-jerk reaction from the people of Liverpool. The grieving people of Liverpool awoke that morning to the most disgusting headlines imaginable. The boycott belongs to these people reds and blues alike and the boycott soon spread to reds and other football fans the length and breadth of the country.
The thing which hit the S*N hardest, and still continues to hit home, is the fact that up to 200 000 Merseyside people boycotted this once popular rag, overnight. This is why they have made continuous attempts to try to recover part of its once vast circulation on Merseyside. The Sounness episode, the 20p advertisements and their attempted dealings with LFC, as well as the recent episode with Peter Kilfoyle, a local Mp, highlight how desperate they are to win back some of their circulation in the Merseyside area. They have clearly failed over the past fifteen years in their attempts to influence Liverpool fans, so it becomes increasingly clear that the Rooney episode are clear “divide and conquer” tactics.
At about 6 O’Clock yesterday evening I got a call from Robbie (Mottman) telling me that The S*n were about to publish an apology, the news left me a bit dumbstruck, I told Robbie I’d get back to him once I had a think about it. Once I had done this I spoke to a couple of other members of the HJC and discussed what we thought was going on, and what had caused such a dramatic change of heart, it really did not stack up. Was it the success of the boycott? Was it that they had become fed up of their feeble attempts to increase circulation in the area? Was it the Rooney influence? Was it a reaction to continued opposition in the area? I suppose that I thought the Rooney influence had been the straw that had finally broken the camel’s back, seeing Evertonians turn on their modern day hero as a result of his association with this vile rag.
The people of Liverpool have long lived with the reality of negative press coverage but the attacks made on Liverpool fans on 19th April 1989 went far beyond any of their predecessors. Media attacks on the City were frequent and those made on The Militant Local authority of the mid-80s were too numerous to mention. At this time football in general and football fans in particular were particularly “out of Vogue” and these were also seen as ‘fair game’ for the nation’s press attacks. It is interesting that Liverpool as a City, and football fans as a group, had also been continuously attacked by successive Tory governments during the 1980s.
Hillsborough was the worst day of my life. Sat in the North stand I saw youngsters trying to administer the kiss of life to dying men, women and children, whilst Police officers stood idly by. The South Yorkshire Police stood in front of the North Stand, in case there were a pitch invasion, whilst youngsters died on advertising hoardings behind them. An ambulance that entered onto the pitch at the Kop end of the ground was denied access, to the Liverpool fans, by those self same officers.
The aftermath of the disaster is well documented- incompetent police, an inadequate antiquated football ground, a ‘national’ attitude which saw fit to treat successive generations as football fans as animals and a Football Association which saw itself fit to align itself to a cover up, rather than represent the interests of fans. At the heart of this attempted cover up was the nation’s press.
The police immediately realised that their organisation was inadequate, and drew together the nation’s press to perpetuate their lies and conspiracy. On the afternoon of the disaster the BBC reported that a door had been broken down by Liverpool fans, Graham Kelly of the FA inferred that the Police had not ordered the gates to be opened on Radio 2. The secretary of Sheffield Wednesday football club reported that “at 2.50 there was a surge of Liverpool fans at The Leppings Lane end of the ground”, the seeds for the cover-up were sewn, as Liverpool fans lay on the turf dying and dead.
As we turned up to pay are respects to the dead at Anfield over the following days, the Nation’s free press assembled to gather evidence against us. The fact that people had died because they were seen as potential criminals rather than citizens by the nation’s police forces was never seriously examined. The myth of ticket-less fans storming a gate continued to be perpetuated by the bloodhounds in league with the South Yorkshire constabulary.
The S*N was not alone in its condemnation of Liverpool but its headlines do need to be considered:
'THE TRUTH'
" SOME FANS PICKED THE POCKETS OF VICTIMS, SOME FANS URINATED ON THE BRAVE COPS"
"SOME FANS BEAT UP P.C. GIVING KISS OF LIFE".
These was the actions of an organisation trying to rewrite history, hand in hand with the British authorities. That one headline still perpetuates, in parts of this country, the myth that The Hillsborough Disaster occurred as a result of Drunken football hooligans and not as a result of inadequate policing, a senile FA and “penny pinching” football club. It was this perpetuation of the lies and propaganda of the authorities which made the lives of the families and survivors all the more unbearable. It has been said that The S*N was not alone in its condemnation of Liverpool fans, but it must be said that they were by far the most vocally vehement in their condemnation. Furthermore, they stood alone in their defiance of the published findings of the Justice Taylor report and their continued condemnation of Liverpool fans, and their refusal to publish a retraction of their original article. To point to half hearted admissions of impropriety (imposed by the Press Commission) as heartfelt apologies, I find both offensive to the intelligence Liverpool fans, and completely disrespectful to the trauma faced by the bereaved families.
The article in question was not a decision taken in isolation by McKenzie, but no doubt he was duly rewarded for taking the blame for it being so, it was part of the establishment cover up of the facts of Hillsborough. The S*N did, however, go far, far further in their condemnation of Liverpool fans and their perpetuation of the establishment lies. Editorial decisions are not taken in isolation by any organisation, and the likely affects of such an article would have been weighed up with pro’s and con’s, the fact is though that The S*N vastly underestimated the response of the people of Merseyside, they further underestimated the longevity of the opposition to their vile rag.
The boycott of the rag was not organised by the HJC, the HFSG, LFC or any organisation, it was a knee-jerk reaction from the people of Liverpool. The grieving people of Liverpool awoke that morning to the most disgusting headlines imaginable. The boycott belongs to these people reds and blues alike and the boycott soon spread to reds and other football fans the length and breadth of the country.
The thing which hit the S*N hardest, and still continues to hit home, is the fact that up to 200 000 Merseyside people boycotted this once popular rag, overnight. This is why they have made continuous attempts to try to recover part of its once vast circulation on Merseyside. The Sounness episode, the 20p advertisements and their attempted dealings with LFC, as well as the recent episode with Peter Kilfoyle, a local Mp, highlight how desperate they are to win back some of their circulation in the Merseyside area. They have clearly failed over the past fifteen years in their attempts to influence Liverpool fans, so it becomes increasingly clear that the Rooney episode are clear “divide and conquer” tactics.