Hillsborough stadium disaster

The **Hillsborough stadium disaster** was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens in the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. Shortly before kick-off, in an attempt to ease overcrowding outside the entrance turnstiles, the police match commander, David Duckenfield, ordered exit gate C to be opened, leading to an influx of supporters entering the pens. This resulted in overcrowding of those pens and the crush. With 97 deaths and 766 injuries, it has the highest death toll in British sporting history. Ninety-four people died on the day; another person died in hospital days later, and another victim died in 1993. In July 2021, a coroner ruled that Andrew Devine, who died 32 years later, after suffering severe and irreversible brain damage on the day, was the 97th victim. The match was abandoned and restaged at Old Trafford in Manchester on 7 May 1989; Liverpool won and went on to win that season's FA Cup.

## Incident

On April 15, during the FA Cup game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forrest, a total of 5,000 football fans entered the Hillsborough Stadium. When the gates were opened, thousands of fans entered a narrow tunnel leading from the rear of the terrace into two overcrowded central pens (pens 3 and 4), creating pressure at the front. Hundreds of people were pressed against one another and the fencing by the weight of the crowd behind them. People entering were unaware of the problems at the fence; police or stewards usually stood at the entrance to the tunnel and, when the central pens reached capacity, directed fans to the side pens, but on this occasion, for reasons not fully explained, they did not.

The match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest began as scheduled at 3:00 pm. Fans were still streaming into pens 3 and 4 from the rear entrance tunnel as the match began. For some time, problems at the front of the Liverpool central goal pens went largely unnoticed except by those inside them and a few police at that end of the pitch. Liverpool's goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar, reported fans from behind him pleading to him for help as the situation worsened. The police at first attempted to stop fans from spilling out of the pens, some believing this to be a pitch invasion. At approximately 3:04 pm, a shot from Liverpool's Peter Beardsley hit the bar. Possibly connected to the excitement, a surge in pen 3 caused one of its metal crush barriers to give way.

South Yorkshire Police Superintendent Greenwood (the ground commander) realised the situation, and ran on the field to gain referee Ray Lewis's attention. Lewis stopped the match at 3:05:30 as fans climbed the fence in an effort to escape the crush and went onto the track. By this time, a small gate in the fence had been forced open and some fans escaped via this route, as others continued to climb over the fencing. Other fans were pulled to safety by fans in the West Stand above the Leppings Lane terrace. The intensity of the crush broke more crush barriers on the terraces. Holes in the perimeter fencing were made by fans desperately attempting to rescue others.

The crowd in the Leppings Lane Stand spilt onto the pitch, where the many injured and traumatised fans who had climbed to safety congregated. Football players from both teams were ushered to their respective dressing rooms, and told that there would be a 30-minute postponement. Those still trapped in the pens were packed so tightly that many victims died of compressive asphyxia while standing. Meanwhile, on the pitch, police, stewards and members of the St John Ambulance service were overwhelmed. Many uninjured fans assisted the injured; several attempted CPR and others tore down advertising hoardings to use as stretchers. Chief Superintendent John Nesbit of South Yorkshire Police later briefed Michael Shersby MP that leaving the rescue to the fans was a deliberate strategy, and is quoted as saying "We let the fans help so that they would not take out their frustration on the police" at a Police Federation conference.

## Victims

* Jon-Paul Gilhooley, 10
* Lee Nicol, 14 (died on April 17, 1989)
* Philip Hammond, 14
* Adam Edward Spearritt, 14
* Paul Brian Murray, 14
* Thomas Anthony Howard, 14
* Philip John Steele, 15
* Kevin Daniel Williams, 15
* Kevin Tyrrell, 15
* Peter Andrew Harrison, 15
* Victoria Jane Hicks, 15
* Martin Kevin Traynor, 16
* Kester Roger Marcus Ball, 16
* Nicholas Michael Hewitt, 16
* Graham John Wright, 17
* Simon Bell, 17
* Henry Charles Rogers, 17
* Stuart Paul William Thompson, 17
* Stephen Francis O'Neill, 17
* Carl Darren Hewitt, 17
* Keith McGrath, 17
* Steven Joseph Robinson, 17
* Carl Brown, 18
* Paul Clark, 18
* Carl David Lewis, 18
* John McBrien, 18
* Jonathon Owens, 18
* Sarah Louise Hicks, 18
* James Gary Aspinall, 18
* Christopher Barry Devonside, 18
* Gary Philip Jones, 18
* Colin Ashcroft, 19
* Paul William Carlile, 19
* Colin Wafer, 19
* Gary Christopher Church, 19
* James Philip Delaney, 19
* David William Mather, 19
* Ian David Whelan, 19
* Stephen Paul Copoc, 20
* Gordon Rodney Horn, 20
* Ian Thomas Glover, 20
* Peter Francis Tootle, 21
* Marian Hazel McCabe, 21
* Joseph Daniel McCarthy, 21
* Carl William Rimmer, 21
* Thomas Steven Fox, 21
* Paul David Brady, 21
* Peter McDonnell, 21
* David John Benson, 22
* Gary Collins, 22
* David William Birtle, 22
* Anthony David Bland, 22 (died March 3, 1993)
* Colin Andrew Hugh William Sefton, 23
* William Roy Pemberton, 23
* David Leonard Thomas, 23
* Tracey Elizabeth Cox, 23
* Peter Andrew Burkett, 24
* Derrick George Godwin, 24
* Graham John Roberts, 24
* David Steven Brown, 25
* Richard Jones, 25
* Barry Sidney Bennett, 26
* Christopher James Traynor, 26
* Andrew Mark Brookes, 26
* Paula Ann Smith, 26
* Paul Anthony Hewitson, 26
* Barry Glover, 27
* Gary Harrison, 27
* Christine Anne Jones, 27
* Nicholas Peter Joynes, 27
* Francis Joseph McAllister, 27
* Alan McGlone, 28
* Joseph Clark, 29
* Christopher Edwards, 29
* Alan Johnston, 29
* Martin Kenneth Wild, 29
* Anthony Peter Kelly, 29
* James Robert Hennessy, 29
* Peter Reuben Thompson, 30
* Stephen Francis Harrison, 31
* Eric Hankin, 33
* Roy Harry Hamilton, 33
* Vincent Michael Fitzsimmons, 34
* Patrick John Thompson, 35
* Brian Christopher Matthews, 38
* Inger Shah, 38
* David George Rimmer, 38
* David Hawley, 39
* Thomas Howard, 39
* Arthur Horrocks, 41
* Eric George Hughes, 42
* Henry Thomas Burke, 47
* Michael David Kelly, 48
* Raymond Thomas Chapman, 50
* Andrew Devine, 55 (died on July 13, 2021 as a result of brain damage)
* John Alfred Anderson, 62
* Gerard Bernard Patrick Baron, 67