The use of Hillsborough as ‘banter’ is a depressing and shameful trend

On the 33rd anniversary of Hillsborough, incidents of offensive chants, disinformation and social media abuse weaponising the disaster are on the rise, writes Tony Evans

Campaigners are determined that the legacy of the disaster will not be pointless (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

How should we remember Hillsborough? Today, on another anniversary, the 33rd, this is a question than many of those involved in the quest for justice are asking. Forgetting is not an option.

That is not just because the sorrow, the loss and the horror are burnt into the brains of bereaved family members and survivors of the crush on the Leppings Lane that led to the death of 97 people at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989. There is no chance of anyone being left to grieve quietly. There are too many supporters willing to invoke the disaster as if it was merely part of the to and fro of football rivalry. The “banterfication” of Hillsborough has been a growing but depressing trend in recent months.

There have always been groups of fans ready to use the tragedy to provoke a response from Liverpool supporters. No one was surprised when individuals were filmed at the Etihad Stadium last week making offensive gestures at the away supporters after the 2-2 draw between Manchester City and Liverpool. There are likely to be incidents outside Wembley tomorrow around this year’s semi-final as the two sides meet again, just like there were unpleasant episodes after the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea at the end of February.

“There’s always going to be an element who weaponise Hillsborough,” said Ian Byrne, the MP for Liverpool, west Derby, a survivor and the driving force behind the Real Truth Legacy Project, a campaign to educate future generations about the disaster and subsequent cover-up. The difference is that the abuse has now gone beyond the usual suspects.

Two Shrewsbury Town fans were banned by their club for eight years for chanting “f*** the 96,” before the FA Cup tie at Anfield in January. Brentford supporters sang “The Sun was right, you’re murderers,” on the train back to London after their visit to Merseyside.

The slurs spewed out by the Brentford fans were just one component in a cocktail of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic invective that fellow passengers had to endure. These views often come as a package. Mas Patel, a Labour councillor for Newham, called out the culprits and he and his 12-year-old son were then targeted for personal racial abuse, despite another Brentford fan coming to their aid. The club, like Shrewsbury, were appalled and launched an investigation. Nothing appears to be off limits to some but the Hillsborough taunts have begun to come from unexpected directions.

This makes life even more depressing for Charlotte Hennessy. Charlotte was six years old when her father Jimmy died in Sheffield. She now takes her 13-year-old son to the match and is dismayed by what they have to hear. “He’s listening to the chants and abuse,” she said. “You have to open children up to the lies and the slurs unnecessarily because away fans want to be cruel. We have educated our kids but they should not have to hear that.”

Liverpool remembered the 97 before their match against Benfica on Wednesday (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Attacks on Hennessy on social media have increased over the past three years. “It’s got a lot worse since [David] Duckenfield’s trial,” she said. Former south Yorkshire police chief superintendent Duckenfield was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter three years ago despite admitting that his “professional failings” led to the carnage on the Leppings Lane. No one has been held responsible for the fatalities despite the longest inquest in British history returning a verdict that those who died were unlawfully killed.

The online assaults are frequently brutal. “It’s very personal, about my appearance and personality,” she said. “I’m not embarrassed to talk about the impact it has on my mental health.

“I have not been afraid to have people banned from matches and I have reported them to the police. If you ignore them, the lies carry on. My dad died in the most horrific way and I will not allow people to turn it into a bit of football banter. I did not fight all my adult life [for the truth] for some stranger on the internet to spread lies.”

The effort is exhausting but there is little other option. “If I don’t do something positive, it will have a worse effect on my mental health,” she said.

Some of the interactions have been frightening, others mindboggling. “I was sent a letter by someone in prison,” she said. “Someone very violent. It made me fear for the safety of my family.”

Even people she knows have been crass. “I’ve had people come up to me and my husband in the local pub and ask: ‘How much did you get?’ The answer is always the same: nothing.”

All Hillsborough has brought Hennessy is pain but her indefatigable spirit inspires fellow campaigners and, like her, they are determined that the legacy of the disaster will not be pointless. Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham, the mayors of the Liverpool city region and Greater Manchester respectively, wrote to all 650 MPs yesterday asking them to support a new “Hillsborough Law”.

The push for a Hillsborough Law is the latest chapter in the long fight for justice (AFP via Getty Images)

The proposed legislation would impose a duty of candour on all public officials and assign full funding for the relatives of victims of a disaster to be represented at all legal hearings. The letter to MPs is not just a response to Hillsborough: the mayors pointed to the injustices suffered by those affected by Britain’s nuclear tests in the 1950s, the schoolboys damaged by the infected blood scandals at Treloar College in the 1970s and 1980s, Grenfell Tower residents and the victims of the Manchester bombings.

Byrne is completely supportive of Rotheram and Burnham’s efforts but is concerned that there is not the political impetus under this government. “A Hillsborough Law is so far down their list of priorities,” he said. “I don’t see any desire or will. But we have to continue fighting for it.”

He is also concerned about the growing abuse. “That’s why education is so important,” he said. The Real Truth Legacy Project is aiming to get a Hillsborough day put on the national curriculum and it has already been adopted in Liverpool. “Most of the people singing the songs weren’t born when it happened,” he said. “If they understand what occurred, they will see it in a different light.”

How should we remember Hillsborough? Not as an abstract event. Real people died, their children and families live on. It should go down in the nation’s history as one of the most appalling perversions of justice. It should never be a vehicle for “banter”.