Hillsborough – Remembered 97: A special project for Athletic

Thirty-four years ago tomorrow, about 24,000 Liverpool supporters traveled to Sheffield for a FA Cup semifinal against nottingham forest.

It should have been a celebration of the best English football had to offer: two fine teams, led by giants of the game, fighting for the right to play at Wembley against the backdrop of beautiful spring sunshine. Instead, the day turned into a tragedy: 94 fans died the day after catastrophic overcrowding at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium led to a crush. Three more died later from injuries sustained that afternoon.

Hillsborough changed everything, for the families of those who died, the survivors who were traumatized by what they saw and for English football in general, although shamefully the battle for justice was only just beginning. Ultimately, it took 27 years to fully exonerate the fans who died, with a second inquest ruling that they had been unlawfully killed with the blame lying with South Yorkshire Police, the ambulance service and shortcomings of the stadium itself.

The events of the day itself and its agonizing aftermath have been well documented, notably by the athletic. But as another anniversary approaches, we felt it was time to remember how those 97 men and women lived rather than how they died, and to tell the human stories behind the grim statistics.

“People talk about ‘the 97,’ but each one of those people was an individual with a different story, loved by family and friends,” said Kerry Aspinall, whose brother, James, died in Hillsborough and whose mother, Margaret , is the president of the Hillsborough Family Support Group.

“Each one of them left a huge void in so many lives. Telling the stories of who they were and why they are so missed is an important way to keep their memories and legacies alive.”

We wrote to the families of all the fans who died, asking if they would like to share their stories. Understandably, many did not want to relive the pain of that day and refused to participate. Others asked us to use the pen images that they or their relatives read when the second investigation began in 2014.

But many wanted the world to know about the people they had loved: what and who mattered to them, their achievements and ambitions, and what might have happened if they had not been caught up in the tragedy.

These are those stories: they are all free to read.

(Above photo design by Eamonn Dalton)