There was no aggression. Sheer weight of numbers caused the suffocation. But we all knew why those ugly, immovable barriers had been erected. It was the ill-considered response of authority to keep hooligans from encroaching on the field — and as inexcusable as it seems, such fences still remain in parts of the world, including France, Germany and Italy.

The government ordered that all of the country’s stadiums, most of them crumbling relics back in the 1980s, become safer, modern structures in the ensuing years. Standing was made illegal at soccer games in the top divisions of England and Scotland, and though the prices have rocketed, the legacy of the Hillsborough tragedy is that every fan has a designated seat inside the arena.

German soccer fans might argue that with proper crowd control and well- behaved spectators, people need not be deprived of the right to stand if they choose to. Many thousands do every time the giant teams like Borussia Dortmund play, and the atmosphere they create is second to none.

However, all is not laid to rest, and may never be, regarding Liverpool. If anything could be worse than the accident, it was the blame game that is still going on after more than a quarter of a century.

Right now, in a makeshift courtroom at Warrington on the outskirts of Liverpool, there is a harrowing re-examination of the evidence, while simultaneously the Independent Police Complaints Commission is attempting the biggest criminal and disciplinary investigation in its history.

At stake is the accusation by senior police officials and by the editor of the Sun newspaper that the fans were responsible for causing their own deaths.

Those accounts were worse than erroneous. The fans were either victims or, often, heroes who ran to the fallen, trying to give the kiss of life or breaking up advertising boards to cart the injured to ambulances outside the stadium.