Sheffield Wednesday overcrowding revives painful Hillsborough memories and questions

With reports of overcrowding at the match between Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle there are questions to ask about why Hillsborough is the way it is.

So was this a case of history repeating itself, or is there nothing to see here? From this distance, the reports of overcrowding during the FA Cup match between Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United certainly sound troubling, not least because of the location at which it took place: the Leppings Lane Stand at Hillsborough.

Just the name ‘Hillsborough’ sends a cold echo through anybody old enough to be able to remember the day in April 1989 when almost 100 supporters were crushed to death and the official response was to leap to an immediate cover-up which systematically sought to blame those who died for their own deaths. National newspapers were involved. MPs were involved. The police were involved. And it took more than two decades for the truth to finally come out and be properly acknowledged.

There had been warnings prior to the disaster of 1989. Spurs fans spilled onto the pitch during their FA Cup semi-final against Wolves in 1981 because of overcrowding. The same thing happened when Leeds United played Coventry City there in 1987, and even when Liverpool supporters were on the same terrace in 1988. The Hillsborough Independent Panel described the years between 1981 and 1989 as a period of ‘unheeded warnings, the seeds of disaster’.

And on Sunday evening, at the same stadium, in the same stand, there was another overcrowding issue. Newcastle supporters reported that they considered the situation on the concourse behind the stand to be unsafe, with the area too narrow for the 4,500 travelling supporters occupying it and being directed towards the wrong part of the stand. Many described it as ‘too small’. The phrase ‘unfit for purpose’ has also been used. At least The Sports Grounds Safety Authority have already announced a review.

But all of this does raise the question: why is the Leppings Lane Stand even in place, looking almost exactly as it did more than three decades ago? After the Bradford City fire of 1985, Valley Parade was half-rebuilt. The Heysel Stadium in Brussels was eventually completely rebuilt and renamed. In one sense, it feels surprising that this lasting reminder of something as tragic as the Hillsborough disaster should still just be sitting there.

Of course, it doesn’t take much digging to understand why this should be, from a practical perspective….