Episode 346: Hillsborough Disaster: Cops and Cover Ups

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we almost break one of our rules about not talking sports, and we cover the Hillsborough Disaster and Cover Up. In 1989, a horrible crush of thousands of people at a soccer (okay, football…) match killed 96 people and injured over 700. The after-effects lead to suicide and mental trauma on top of physical injuries, and the cause is still open for investigation in the UK. The biggest part of this story is that the police (like, a lot of them) lied to the media and even the inquest about the events. So what lead to the death and the cover up?

Mostly, it seems to have been one man, David Duckenfield. He was the head cop on the scene and was brand new to the football arena beat. His predecessor would spend hours walking the stadium to make a plan that would combat the hooliganism of 80’s soccer fans. Duckenfield, however, did practically nothing to set things up.

This means that when tens of thousands of people showed up to the small gates that he left open, there was a sudden crush of people who flooded the stadium. After several officers advised him to delay the start of the match and to open and close different gates, he ignored most of them and let things proceed as if the crowd would just manage itself. Surprise! It didn’t. In fact, the mass of people were led through bad gates, and the actions Duckenfield took just added to the Hillsborough Disaster.

What made it all worse was that as the crush was happening, he refused to call it in as an emergency and kept spouting the narrative of drunken fans and hooligans, though that wasn’t the reason for the distress. This meant that no firefighters or ambulance drivers could get to the wounded to free or treat them in time. And when the death toll mounted, and the bodies were stacked, the cops lied to the media about the cause of it all and even falsified statements in the official court inquiry. The events of the Hillsborough Disaster led to changes in how soccer stadiums work, and in spite of several ongoing investigations, Duckenfield still hasn’t been held accountable yet. Listen in for our take on who was to blame and the horrors of this stadium massacre.

Video of the crush as it happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6kAtdwNJ5s