Liverpool V Middlesborough

[motty]

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign Shop is now located at 178 Walton Breck Road, opposite the Albert pub. The shop usually opens a couple of hours before each home game until 5 minutes before kick-off. The shop also open’s for around ½ an hour after each game. For the Middlesborough game the shop will be open from 12.00.

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign shop opens its doors to everyone - whoever you are, wherever you’re from, all are welcome. Upstairs, there is a large meeting room at the front. On match day, everyone is welcome to sit and have a chat with members of the team. The meeting room includes a kitchen area, with facilities for making hot drinks. Lavatory facilities are also available.

Regular updates concerning HJC merchandise, fundraising events, poems and supporters thoughts on the Hillsborough tragedy are available free of charge from the shop.

There are many items on-site for you to purchase - books, badges, and a variety of T-shirts, posters and many other items. All monies raised will go towards the Campaign for Justice and for the upkeep of the shop. Here are some of the items that are available:-

Badge - Yellow original £2.00
Badge - Red eternal flame £2.00
Badge - Don’t buy the Sxn £2.00
Key ring eternal flame £4.00
Scarf £4.00
Lighter £1.00
Words of Tribute (original) £1.50
Mugs £5.00
Scum T-shirts £8.00
T-shirt - 96 £6.00
T-shirt - Liverbird / Houllier £12.00
Anne Williams book £10.00 *NOW BACK IN STOCK*
Polo shirts £14.00
T-shirt - black £7.00
Partizan Media T-shirts (various) £15.00
Book - Pete Evo - One Boy & His Kop £10.00
Book - Pete Evo - My Youth, My Kop £10.00
Book - Jim Dempsey - 3 Cups For The Kop £3.00
Book - George Sephton - This Is Anfield Calling £3.00
Book – Pete Evo & Dave Kirby - Kop Stories £5.00 *NEW*
Fanzine - RAOTL £ 2.00
Fanzine – The Liverpool Way £ 2.00
Kenny Dalglish t-shirt £12.00
Alan Kennedy t-shirt £12.00
Pay Kennedy t-shirt £12.00
Billy Liddell t-shirt £12.00
HJC Jacket £30.00 *NEW*

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KOP STORIES by Dave Kirby and Nicky Allt.
By Peter Evo

Those of you who were around in the formative years of these Internet Forums will know Dave Kirby as "Braces 'n' Boots". "Braces" posted many superb poems and stories, especially on the old, much loved and fondly remembered RAOTL Forum. Dave is a totally mad, larger than life character. This character somewhat belies the other side of Dave though; the caring, compassionate, heart of gold side.

I have to say I thought Dave Kirby was a one-off until he introduced me (only about twelve months ago) to his mate, fellow writer and fellow madman Nicky Allt. Nicky told me of a book he had written which he was struggling to get published. That book, as most of you will by now know, is BOYS FROM THE MERSEY. Perhaps less well known is Nicky's own superb collection of footy related poetry. These and those of mine and Dave's have been given an airing at various HJC fund-raising bashes.

I am pleased now to announce that my fellow "House of Scouse" writers Dave and Nicky have published these poems and stories in a book called KOP STORIES. Retailing at just £4.99 the book is a must buy for any Red. The book is available at WH Smith's in Church Street, the HJC Shop opposite the Albert and from Dave and Nicky themselves. The book has had an initial print run of just 1,000 copies but these are selling as fast as very hot cakes so if you want a copy, hurry up!

Those of you who have dealt with me in buying my books might find it easier to order KOP STORIES from me. If you wish to do that contact me in the normal way by e-mail peterevo75@hotmail.com or by belling me on 07900030435. Postage cost will be £1 UK £2 anywhere else in the world. Alternatively you can pick up a copy from me at any home match and most aways. Please make cheques payable to Peter Etherington and I'll pass the money on to Dave and Nicky.

How much will Dave and Nicky make from this venture? Not a single blind penny! All proceeds will go to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and Zoe's Place Baby Hospice. So come on, help these two worthwhile causes and have yourself a laugh and great read by ordering now.

Included in the book are such classics as Dave's JUSTICE BELL and THE OLD BOY'S PEN and Nicky's ELEVEN RED TOILET ATTENDANTS and THE TRANS-ALPINO RUB-OUT BOY. Strangely not included is perhaps Dave's best known work THE STAND OFF about the Fowler-Thompson mismatch of a few years ago. That poem was doing the rounds all over Merseyside at the time. Maybe Dave's saving that for KOP STORIES 2. I hope so. Another not included but maybe in KOP STORIES 2 is Dave's mind-blowingly poignant ONE FOR SORROW.

The book is superbly illustrated throughout by another local lad Mike Burrows. Mike is himself looking for a break in getting into the field of illustration, animation and graphic design. By buying the book you will be giving three local lads a helping hand in the notoriously middle-class dominated world of writing and publishing. HOUSE OF SCOUSE aim to change all that by giving us and other Scouse writers, the real story-tellers, a chance. Watch out for us - we're gonna be big! Pete Evo.

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Copies of Mark Platt’s superb book detailing Liverpool’s European Cup exploits in 1977 are also available, these are priced at £ 12.00. As well as being available direct from the shop, the books can be purchased through Paypal via John_mac@blueyonder.co.uk please add £1.00 for postage and packing.


There is a new HJC T-shirt available for £12.00, please add £1.00 for post and packing. It is a cream t-shirt with a wonderful image of Ray Kennedy, the image contains a small image of the Justice flag encircled in the words Hillsborough Justice Campaign. All proceeds from the sales of this shirt will go direct to Ray Kennedy.

The new HJC mug is now available, It is a bone china mug, with two gold hoops and the HJC eternal flame motif. The mug is priced at £5.00 we estimate postage and packing to be around £1.00 per mug (this may be subject to some fluctuation depending if you are UK based or based abroad, please add £1.75 if based overseas).

Justice?

15th April 1989 is a date that indelibly emblazoned across the hearts of every man, woman and child on Merseyside. A day that started with all the joy and expectancy of an FA Cup semi-final but which ultimately ended with ninety-six football fans losing their lives, for the support of their club.

Whilst Liverpool fans lay dead and dying on the Hillsborough turf, as trained police officers looked on, the cover-up into the causes of the disaster began. Graham Taylor falsely claimed that Liverpool fans had forced open a gate. The Hillsborough disaster was a catalogue of calamitous events- the incompetence of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, the ineptitude of South Yorkshire police, the ineffectiveness of Sheffield City Council (the club never even had a valid safety certificate) and the arrogance of the Football Association. The Association that chose to give Nottingham Forest considerably more tickets than Liverpool, despite having considerably fewer fans, citing traffic logistics as a reason.

The events served to bond the people of Liverpool closer than ever before as fans of all clubs paid their respects to the dead at Anfield. It was difficult not to be moved by the sight of a Manchester United fan sat crying and bewildered in the Albert pub next to Kop.

In the days that followed the disaster and despite all evidence being to the contrary The S*n newspaper decided to publish an article entitles “The Truth”, in which it claimed that Liverpool fans had robbed and urinated on the dead and had attacked the police, apparently our saviours. The investigations and evidence were to prove this to be lies. The police had chosen to open an exit gate at the Leppings Lane end of the ground, at the other side of the gate was the entrance to a tunnel leading to the central pens. There was no stewarding or policing at the tunnel, nor was there any signs to indicate alternative entrances to the terracing. At the end of the tunnel lay closed pens from which there was no way out for the ninety-six fans who lost their lives.

Since that day the S*n newspaper has been reviled on Merseyside and remains the subject of a mass boycott. We would urge all football fans of all clubs to consider how The S*n portrayed fellow football fans, in the days while we were all grieving, and would ask them to join our boycott of this vile rag. A recent media week study into the boycott on Merseyside estimated that the boycott had cost the S*n around £25 Million since the article.

The Lord Justice Taylor inquiry into the events found the main cause of the disaster to be “The breakdown of Police control”. No court of law in this land has ever considered events after 3.15 on that day. Events such as the police refusing entry to the Stadium for Ambulance-men on the grounds that “People were fighting on the pitch”, events such as the Police sending for dog-handlers rather than emergency services with fence-cutting equipment. Anne Williams, who lost her fifteen year old son, Kevin, at Hillsborough describes the actions of the Liverpool fans that day as “heroic”, young untrained men trying to save the lives of the dead and injured, whilst trained Police Officers formed a cordon to keep fans off the pitch, and turned away ambulance-men armed with life-saving equipment.

Nobody has ever been held accountable in a British Courtroom for the events of that day, and the cover-up around Hillsborough continues. Anne received £3500 compensation for the loss of her young son whilst former police sergeant Martin Long received about one hundred times that amount for the PostTraumatic Stress he received whilst carrying out his duties.

In the fifteenth season since the disaster, the dead, bereaved and survivors of Hillsborough still fight for Justice. There has to be some accountability for the death of ninety-six people, even if the authorities see them as merely football fans, in 1989 the lowest of the low. It appears increasingly likely that the fight for Justice will never be resolved in a British Courtroom and will reach its ultimate destination in the European Courts, but the people of Merseyside and the fans of Liverpool Football Club will not let the fight for “The Truth” go away.

Justice is a complex notion, it can mean so much on so many different levels. It is not something, which is black and white, justice is the truth of Hillsborough and Justice is a struggle. It will not be achieved overnight, but it will be achieved, and it is only through truth and accountability that it can be achieved.

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign represents bereaved families, survivors and supporters campaigning for justice for the 96 people who died at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough football ground on 15th April 1989. The truth about Hillsborough is still denied by the authorities.

The campaign is situated at 178 Walton Breck Road, facing the Albert Pub and behind the Kop. All football fans are more than welcome to call in when you are at Anfield and have a look around our shop and premises, your support would be greatly appreciated, the group meets at 8pm every Monday evening at the premises.


by Kevin Mahon – Liverpool V Leicester 2004 - I just had to put on record my feelings following my visit to Anfield on Saturday.

I went with my two sons and the wife but we could only get two tickets for the game. I insisted the boys used them with the self-sacrifice only a father would understand. They are, after all, the future heartbeat of the club. We saw the boys to the turnstiles and bade them a goodbye and wished them a good game and then my wife and I spent some time walking slowly around the ground. (I was soaking up the atmosphere while she wondered just when her shopping trip would start)

We visited the Hillsborough Memorial and, as usual it was bedecked with scarves and mementos of fans paying their respects. There were several bunches of flowers and accompanying cards. We read them as we paused in front of the red marbled edifice for a time. One was particularly moving. It commemorated the birthday of one of the boys who had died that awful day in Sheffield. It was a birthday card from his mother. It simply read:"You would have been 32 this week. How I love and miss you still.Happy Birthday, my beautiful Son." Beside the card were two laminated photographs clipped together defiantly keeping out the autumnal drizzle. One was of a baby and the other of a fresh faced young man of approximately eighteen summers. They were of the same man and boy who had lost his life following his passion in the support of Liverpool Football Club.

We had just said goodbye to our beautiful sons (one aged 18 and the other 14) and saw them off into a football match. They were excited and full of anticipation. We were left behind, happy for them, pleased that they had had an opportunity to attend the game and looked forward to seeing them again soon after the match when we would be regaled with their accounts of the experience. In that moment of reading the card written by a grieving mother, of listening to the roar of an excited crowd inside the ground and of waving goodbye to the flowers of our youth, we both felt the same leaden heartbeat of the mother who had lost her son.
We were deeply moved and clung to each other in a reassuring embrace. While we took some deep breaths and stepped back from the shrine, I looked with fresh eyes at the activity around the monument. Many Leicester fans paused respectfully and read the array of names. They were joined by Liverpool supporters and a hushed conversation sprang up between them, made comrades by the terrible event etched into the marble. Other fans wearing red who had obviously paid homage on numerous occasions rushed past but not without a revered nod of appreciation. Several made a point of touching the cold marble slab in passing rather like the players used to do so religiously of the "This is Anfield" sign in the tunnel.

We had drunk deeply at the well of human emotion. A well whose waters encompassed so many conflicting emotions of fear, love, tenderness, grief, compassion, respect and the surge of feeling part of something important in the lives of so many. It is a bitter-sweet concoction. How sweet it is to have had so many loved ones in our midst; we must always value what we have, and how bitter to have lost them so wantonly at the capricious decision to open those doors at the Leppings Lane end.

As far as we can accompany those left behind and grieving, I hope that they do feel that they will never walk alone. It's the only assurance we can give to that mother left with the warmth of her memories of her beautiful son. God bless you.

The HJC website is constantly being updated, please visit it regularly to find out the latest news concerning the fight for JUSTICE and other related matters.

www.contrast.org/hillsborough

Contact info@hillsboroughjustice.org.uk

Where to send donations / orders too:
You can order and make payment by Paypal to: john_mac@blueyonder.co.uk

Please leave a message in the section provided to say what items you require (and sizes – colours etc, if applicable).

You can either pay by cheque or postal order made payable to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and send to:

Hillsborough Justice Campaign
P O Box 1089
178 Walton Breck Road
Liverpool
L69 4WR


John McCormick, 16 Acton Road, Kirkby, Liverpool, L32 0TT

Robbie Ashcroft, 48 Marina Crescent, Netherton, Bootle, Merseyside, L30 1RR


If paying by cheque or postal order, please allow 10-14 days for delivery, please ensure that they are made payable to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

HILLSBOROUGH – 15 YEARS AND STILL NO JUSTICE.

15TH April 2004 marked the fifteenth anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster. For bereaved families and survivors it has been fifteen long years of fighting for justice. Fifteen years of struggling to have the truth of Hillsborough officially recognised.

‘Fifteen’ has taken on a great significance in this the year 2004…

15 April 1989 Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, F.A. Cup semi-final, Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield

15 years of age, Kevin Williams excitedly went to his first away game. He never came home.

15 years ago 96 people (including Kevin Williams) were killed at the Hillsborough Stadium. Thousands of others suffered both physical and mental injuries, which have remained to the present day. Some have been unable to cope with life ‘post Hillsborough’ and have committed suicide.

15:15 -the time, according to the Sheffield Coroner, that everybody was dead by or had reached the point that made death inevitable.

15 years is a long time, some would say ’too long’ to keep going, plenty of time to ‘move on’, to ’put the past behind you’ to ’get on with life’. What they don’t say is ‘how’? How do you ‘get on with your life’ when you know that your son was still alive 45 minutes after ‘British justice’ says he was dead? How can you ‘put the past behind you’ when that past includes a massive cover up as to the facts of how your son died? How can it ever be ’too long to keep going’ when every fibre of your being is telling you to fight for justice for your son because that is what he would have done, not just for you, but for anyone because that is the kind of person he was? How long is a piece of string – too long, too short? How do you know? Well you know when it’s the size that you want. It’s the same with Justice – you can’t put a time limit on it and say the fight has gone on too long. The right time to ‘move on’, to ‘get on with your life’ is when justice has been attained. It doesn’t matter whether that is six months, a year or fifty years. It might not even be in your lifetime.

No –one knows better than the bereaved and survivors how long the last fifteen years have been. If they still have the stamina to fight on for justice then we all owe it to them to stand alongside to show a collective unity and strength.

Of course we all hope that it won’t take another fifteen years, however, we have to be prepared for it and if it does, then so be it. The HILLSBOROUGH JUSTICE CAMPAIGN will continue to fight for JUSTICE FOR THE 96 for as long as it takes. Stay with us in that fight.

ALL IT TAKES FOR EVIL TO PREVAIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING