[Football] Reports of dangerous over crowding and crushing at Hillsborough

[TomandJerry]

The government's advisor on safety at sports grounds is "concerned" by reports of overcrowding at Hillsborough during the FA Cup tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle.

Newcastle fans claimed on social media there was a lack of stewarding in the Leppings Lane End before Saturday's kick-off and that they were crammed in.

The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) said it will begin a review.

The Football Association is also looking into the reports."

Have they learnt nothing?!

 

[Springal]

Looks like lack of stewarding and support. But also fans not sitting in their correct seats, hence the big gaps each side. Also fans choosing to go in the lower tier than upper tier

 

[wellquickwoody]

I believe the upper and lower tiers are now entirely seperate, meaning fans may have deliberately gone to the wrong area. The tunnel has been completely rebuilt, and it is obviously an all seated area now. I think some people are getting their knickers in a twist a bit too rapidly, although Hillsborough is a relic which should have been redeveloped by now.

 

[abc]

I know we aren't supposed to say things like this when it comes this type of subject, but sometimes we have to accept that not everything is the fault of stewarding, the Police or even the age of the ground. Sometimes the 'misconduct' of football fans is the problem.

 

[drew]

I wonder if there would have been an issue if Newcastle had won!

 

[Eeyore]

I believe the upper and lower tiers are now entirely seperate, meaning fans may have deliberately gone to the wrong area. The tunnel has been completely rebuilt, and it is obviously an all seated area now. I think some people are getting their knickers in a twist a bit too rapidly, although Hillsborough is a relic which should have been redeveloped by now.

Yes, my immediate thought was to wait to see what the inquiry showed rather than respond to a newspaper articles that couldn't wait to draw comparisons with 1989.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

How was that stand not pulled down?

 

[Bozza]

The reports on the radio at the weekend weren't anything to do with inside the stadium, as people seem to be saying above, but access to the away end through a tight tunnel.

 

[Bozza]

 

[Tfitz12]

From this photo it does look rather concerning. According to Newcastle fans, they were filtered into the middle entrance to the stand rather than being spread out across the other entrances to the stand. Seen reports of people being stuck in the tunnel for over 15 minutes without steward assistance on where people should be going.

You can see a large concentration of people in the middle of the stand.

 

[Swansman]

Horrible. Not that 1989 will ever be repeated in terms of severity - no fences today, game would be paused considerably earlier etc. - but just one person getting injured or getting a panic due to the crowding is absolutely one person too many when it is avoidable.

Sheff Wednesday supporters seems to be split on the issue - some of them appear to want to knock that stand down, others (perhaps a majority) seem to think that there was no issues or that similar issues sometimes happens at a lot of grounds but doesn't get mention/the same attention (for reasons you can figure out).

FA Investigating overcrowding at SWFC vs Newcastle game.

www.owlstalk.co.uk

Will be interesting to see the conclusions of the investigation.

Probably a lack of respect for everyone involved (then and now) to throw around comparisons to 1989 and references to the 97 dead etc.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Horrible. Not that 1989 will ever be repeated in terms of severity - no fences today, game would be paused considerably earlier etc. - but just one person getting injured or getting a panic due to the crowding is absolutely one person too many when it is avoidable.

Sheff Wednesday supporters seems to be split on the issue - some of them appear to want to knock that stand down, others (perhaps a majority) seem to think that there was no issues or that similar issues sometimes happens at a lot of grounds but doesn't get mention/the same attention (for reasons you can figure out).

FA Investigating overcrowding at SWFC vs Newcastle game.

www.owlstalk.co.uk

Will be interesting to see the conclusions of the investigation.

Probably a lack of respect for everyone involved (then and now) to throw around comparisons to 1989 and references to the 97 dead etc.

You’re spot on here

As a side note you should look at some of the other stuff on Owlstalk. You’d f***ing love them

 

[faoileán]

This really should not be happening anymore; there has been enough studies of crowd dynamics and stadium design to know that stands like that should be closed down. When I think back to crushes I experienced in the 70s and 80s it makes my blood run cold,

 

[Thunder Bolt]

How was that stand not pulled down?

The football stadium that had a major disaster because of a narrow tunnel at the entrance, should be redesigned, especially 30 odd years later. They have learned nothing in those interim years.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Forget the Palace connection, Simon Jordan made a very good point when this broke on Talk Sport the other, clearly historically this will always be an emotive issue, but this was an all ticket match, Wednesday haven’t sold more tickets than seats?

This is more about Newcastle fans choosing to go in the lower tier when they’ve seats in the Upper Tier.

And then that in turn is down to stewards, not top of pay grade, just being overrun with people sitting in the incorrect seats.

Sorry the Toon Army milking this a bit, and obviously once the word Hillsborough is thrown into a safety debate, the collective ears of football prick up.

 

[Brovion]

The government's advisor on safety at sports grounds is "concerned" by reports of overcrowding at Hillsborough during the FA Cup tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle.

Newcastle fans claimed on social media there was a lack of stewarding in the Leppings Lane End before Saturday's kick-off and that they were crammed in.

The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) said it will begin a review.

The Football Association is also looking into the reports."

Have they learnt nothing?!

Well yes, they've learnt loads. For a start it's all-seater, so each fan had their own allocated place. I appreciate that a lot of fans, not just Newcastle ones, are too stupid/selfish to realise that the letter and number combination on their ticket tells them where their allocated place is, but that's another argument. Certainly it's not the fault of the Authorities.

Also fans are no longer caged in. So if there were any safety concerns, perhaps caused by a lack of stewards to help the Newcastle fans find their allocated places, then, unlike the Liverpool fans, they could easily have escaped onto the pitch.

 

[Justice]

I know we aren't supposed to say things like this when it comes this type of subject, but sometimes we have to accept that not everything is the fault of stewarding, the Police or even the age of the ground. Sometimes the 'misconduct' of football fans is the problem.

Work for the Sun by any chance? Last season the Amex stewards made a right mess after the Palace game and people were getting crushed in the N/S. I remember some guy screaming at the stewards to open the gate as people were getting crushed and they were absolutely clueless about what to do. Why we can’t handle a Derby game is pathetic tbh anyhow that’s a different matter.

 

[abc]

Work for the Sun by any chance? Last season the Amex stewards made a right mess after the Palace game and people were getting crushed in the N/S. I remember some guy screaming at the stewards to open the gate as people were getting crushed and they were absolutely clueless about what to do. Why we can’t handle a Derby game is pathetic tbh anyhow that’s a different matter.

‘work for the sun’? Really? Just of the opinion that football fans are not always perfectly behaved. Clearly, amazingly, your experience is different

 

[Swansman]

‘work for the sun’? Really? Just of the opinion that football fans are not always perfectly behaved. Clearly, amazingly, your experience is different

While you are most likely correct about the causes in this case, stadium safety can not really depend on perfect behaviour, because that would be... unsafe.

 

[luge]

I go a different way home now, but i have felt really scared accessing Brighton trains from the amex as the queue turns into the platform.

Separately, there suddenly seems to be an edict for everyone to work in the office in london again as ive not seen the trains and the tube this packed since 2019 - there's always an incident waiting to happen at rush hour on the tube platforms.