Justice at last

[Spanky Panky]

I still remember clearly watching it all unfold live on RTE as an 8 year old and it was horrendous then but more so as the years went by and I learned what really happened.
I think the reason it has some sort of affect on football fans, not only Liverpool fans, is because it could have happened to any group of supporters. If the Nottingham Forest fans had been given the Leppings Lane end that day, they would have suffered the tragedy. If the other Semi Final had been played at Hillsborough instead of Villa Park, it could have been Everton or Norwich fans. This tragedy was looming for years as many older football fans who attended games in the 70s and 80s have stated. Had it been a few years later in the 90s, when it was more accessible for Irish fans to go to games in England, particularly match trips organized by local youth teams, it could have been someone you know. As unlikely as that scenario may have been, it wasn't outside the realms of possibility and that's why all football fans are somewhat, however little, affected by the fact that 96 people went to watch their team and never came home. JFT96.

I don't think it has much to do with supporting English teams, personally for me, it's the fact that it was a huge loss of innocent lives, members of the general public going along to watch a game of footie & 96 not returning home to their significant others. I, cannot fail, to have empathy for those families, I cannot imagine what it must've be like, waiting for loved ones to return, families torn apart, some members surviving, some not. A tragic loss. I, sincerely hope that this judgement can now finally mean closure for those families who have never given up, who have carried on fighting even when at some stages, I presume they would've thought that the odds against them winning, weren't favourable.

Sandy x

Thank you both, they are very thoughtful explanations and I suppose are at the heart of why it affects people so deeply. That what should have been a nice family day out became such a tragedy is awful. I too feel sympathy for the families that lost loved ones that day.
Some of my empathy becomes eroded when I hear Liverpiol fans singing to United fans about planes crashing on runways and United fans singing back about Hillsborough and Heysel. And those are mostly lifelong hardcore fans. I am a cynic by nature though but I hope today brings closure to those who mourn.