On the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people died as the result of the authorities disdain for football supporters, an excellent interview with Ian Byrne MP, himself one of the survivors:
What we’re fighting for is a legacy. We’re doing that with everything we’re involved in, from ‘The Real Truth’ Legacy Project to the Hillsborough Law Now campaign. It’s about achieving a legacy, because we got the truth about Hillsborough but we never got the justice. From educating people to campaigning for legal changes, we want to ensure that survivors of disasters and victims’ families never again have to face the state with a blindfold on and their hands tied behind their back.
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We are campaigning for Hillsborough to be on the national curriculum and to educate people about it because it resonates. The same playbook for state cover-ups has been used time and time again. Look at Grenfell; the victims of that disaster would have expected the state to be on their side, as we did at Hillsborough, and that it would seek truth and justice and ensure nothing like that could happen again. But it didn’t. There are so many instances like that.
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The Fans Supporting Foodbanks network was born from Liverpool and Everton fans working together. That solidarity has its roots in working together over Hillsborough. The idea of two clubs coming together in times of strife and grief is something we as a city did with Rhys Jones and Hillsborough. Fans Supporting Foodbanks is a natural offshoot of that.
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With Fans Supporting Foodbanks, we’ve had Millwall and West Ham fans, Manchester United and Manchester City fans, and Rangers and Celtic fans working together to collect food for those in need. We’re trying to build on that ethos. What unites us as working-class football fans is far greater than what divides us.
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