FORGET the second-half heart break against Sevilla and the eighth-placed Premier League finish, 2016 has been a truly momentous year, writes James Flannigan.
The verdict of a jury of nine in Warrington last April was one of our greatest ever victories. The families of the 96, the survivors and countless others always knew the truth about Hillsborough. Now a coroner’s court has established to the whole world that 96 football fans were unlawfully killed due to the actions (or lack of) of the South Yorkshire Police. The court also established that Liverpool fans in no way contributed to the disaster — please take note the minorities of Manchester United and Everton fans. We now have the truth. All we need now is the justice.
There have since been calls in the press to make the teaching of the Hillsborough Disaster compulsory in secondary schools. There is even an online petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/130848
After all the recent press and (finally) positive media coverage, I never really thought such a move was needed. However, the recent arrest of that idiot wearing “that” t-shirt in Worcester, has changed my mind.
I have been teaching History since last century. I have taught in Liverpool schools since 2001. I’ve been teaching about the Hillsborough Disaster for almost 10 years. The main motivation was the ignorance of the kids. Events like the brilliant six-minute truth protest against Arsenal in 2007 brought the justice campaign to a whole new audience.
Kids wanted to know about Hillsborough. Some knew a lot, others only bits and pieces. That’s why I pushed for the teaching of the disaster. The lesson I produced focused on a number of points: the timetable of events and decisions that led to the disaster, the effect of 96 deaths on the families and the lasting impact of Hillsborough on football in the UK.
I also looked at the lies printed by The S*n — I wanted kids to know why the newspaper is still boycotted throughout Merseyside. I have had to return to the lesson on a number of occasions, starting in 2012 with the release of documents and the formation of the Independent Panel. I’ve just completed my latest re-write, with references to the 2016 coroner’s verdicts.
Why me? Aged 16 in 1989, I went to the semi-final against Nottingham Forest. Apart from Goodison Park, it was my first away match. I survived the disaster from a position pinned over a crush-barrier in pen four.
After the two services at the cathedrals in 1989, I tried to forget all about Hillsborough. I did carry on going the match (apart from a break in the mid-90s which largely coincided with the Graeme Souness years). However, I avoided attending the April memorials and didn’t get involved in the Justice Campaign — something I bitterly regret now.
In 2000, I met my now-wife, Julie. Her brother, Gary, died at Hillsborough aged only 18.
As someone who’d always tried to avoid the issue of Hillsborough, I was now part of a family still grieving for their youngest son and brother. I saw at first hand a family’s ongoing fight for truth and justice. I saw also the emotional and physical impact of this campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd7Cv8B5WCM
I have since attended the memorials regularly, more to support my wife and her family, but also to pay my own (belated) respects. I’ve also seen Julie talk about her brother in interviews for Liverpool FC TV and, more importantly, at the Warrington inquests. I have given evidence to Operation Resolve. Finally, I was privileged to watch the jury verdicts on a live-feed with other family members and survivors in 401 Thomson House just a few months ago.
Do you have to be an expert or an eye-witness to teach Hillsborough? No. If anything, the disaster can be used as a way to show the proper values of democracy. It can show how a group of people can overcome the deliberate attempts of cover up by the Establishment. I personally teach the Hillsborough Disaster as part of a bigger unit on the History of Liverpool. Teaching Scouse kids, they need to have a sense of place and identity. To truly “get” their city they need to know about Hillsborough. Don’t forget, the children entering secondary school this September were born around the time of our last European Cup triumph in 2005.
Should other parts of the country teach Hillsborough? I was unsure. Why would they be interested? What’s the point? If anything, I would hope this would be a way to challenge the t-shirt wearing idiots of the world.
Hopefully it could also shut up the “always the victim” singing minority of our opposing fans. However, if the current Tory government want to teach about British values, I can’t think of a better example than the determined actions of the HFSG and the Justice Campaign. It would be nice, in the future, if a lesson on Hillsborough could be combined with a similar victory for the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.
That would show children the true value of British democracy.
Absolutely right. After the euphoria and basking in the reflected glow some people are looking to put it on the back burner.
The lessons of Hillsborough and the 27-year-long agonising struggle by the families for truth and now for justice should definitely be taught outside Merseyside. What happened on 15 April 1989 could (and probably would) have happened to any club that had gotten to that semi-final and had its fans consigned to the deadly pens in the Leppings Lane end. What the Hillsborough families did for an entire generation stands to substantively benefit any persons and groups that are wrongfully maligned and who suffer by having justice long delayed or denied. Clause 40 of the Magna Carta — one of only 4 clauses in that noble document that still remain today in British Law — declares “…to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.”
I encourage you to formalise your Hillsborough Lesson(s) into structured age-appropriate Lesson Plans and submit them to the Sectetary of State for Education, Nicola Morgan, with a request that they be considered for inclusion in the National Curriculum. As the longest-running Inquest in British history, Hillsborough is now an extremely important part of British legal history. Every student should be given the opportunity to learn the truth about what happened and how bravely and courageously the families of the deceased fought to restore the reputations and the dignity of their loved ones.
Ellie,
that’s the thing I struggle with: how to teach this in a wider context. For the kids I teach, Hillsborough is still part of their lives. My lesson on Hillsborough is part of a bigger unit on the history of Liverpool. I know the 27 year struggle for justice is a brilliant “case study” for kids, but how do you make it relevant to a 12 year old in Shrewsbury?
James, perhaps by focusing on the human interest aspects that are relevant to all people everywhere, and on helping the children think about and express (verbally and through writing exercises) how aspects of what occurred at Hillsborough would make them feel. What do they think the police SHOULD have done? Have they ever been in a situation with a lot of people where they didn’t feel safe? If they go to football games (or other sports), do they feel safe? Do they understand that Hillsborough led to changes that ensured greater safety for fans?
I can think of so many aspects that could be discussed — e.g., why is it important for newspapers to print the truth; why is it not good when they don’t? When someone says something that’s not true about you or your family or friends, how do you feel and what do you want to do about it? Some topics are quite delicate and would have to be approached very carefully and in an age-appropriate way. The important thing is to get children to think about these things and talk about them.
I suggest that you try to discuss this with Adrian Tempany, a Hillsborough survivor who has just published a very important book called ‘And the Sun Shines Now’. He’s @AdrianTempany on Twitter. Excerpts have been published in the Guardian.
Hi James, great article. I’m from Huddersfield, and have lived in France for most of my adult life. I regularly talk to people about Hillsborough, for lots of different reasons: the courage of the families, the establishment cover up, the fact that the police had lost sight of their mission to protect the public and perverted it to protect themselves, the impact of bad journalism, the importance of facing the truth, the impact on the lives of victims and their loved ones of truth and justice not being served… I could go on. I saw events unfolding on the TV that day. I still weep when I see footage, hear interviews with family members, and sometimes even when I talk to people about Hillsborough, people who have never been to Liverpool or even the UK. The HFSG have done a public service, they deserve our thanks.
I can see why your lesson would have particular relevance in Liverpool, I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be relevant elsewhere, especially in the UK but also beyond.