Liverpool will face Manchester City at Anfield today, when another silence for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster will be held. Football grounds in England fell silent at 15.06 p.m. BST on Saturday in reference to the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. The worst tragedy in sports history on April 15, 1989 saw 96 Liverpool fans die as a result of a crush at the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium.
For their Championship match against Blackburn, Wednesday replaced 96 blue seats with white seats bearing red roses at the end of the stadium where the Liverpool fans died. All football matches in England began seven minutes later than usual in order to observe the memories of the victims.
The Hillsborough disaster led to reforms that mandated full seater stadia and other innovations that led to the formation of the Premier League.
“Hillsborough,” the first documentary in the 30 for 30: Soccer Stories series, explores the worst sporting disaster in history.Directed by Daniel Gordon, the film will premiere on ESPN at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 15th – the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
I watched the advance screener copy of the documentary for the press and WOW!
HOLY SHIT!
FUCK.
It’s mind-blowing.
Now the version of “Hillsborough” that I saw is not yet rated, uncensored, contains footage and scenes that may have never be seen by the public and deals with highly sensitive material. And due to the on-going legal process, it remains to be seen how the version airing on ESPN will compare the to version that I just completed.
But I have to swear and curse here. That’s the only way to describe the Hillsborough disaster documentary.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)