Today I'm going back 40 years to 1981 and Sheffield Wednesday's Second Division home game at Hillsborough against Derby County. Aged just 18 at the time I distinctly remember going to this game on my Honda CB125 twin motorbike. I didn't make a habit of going to football by motorbike but, as it was new (to me) and I wanted to venture a little further afield, I made the one hour journey from Wetherby to Sheffield and indulged myself!
Hillsborough is, and was, a fine old stadium. It had been one of the jewels of the 1966 World Cup and pride of place went to its pitch length cantilever stand (essentially the roof did not require view spoiling supporting pillars) which was only the second one in this country. The very first Cantilever stand in the UK no longer exists and was located at Scunthorpe United's Old Show Ground, long since demolished. At the time of my visit, Sheffield Wednesday's Kop end did not have a roof and that wasn't added until 1986 to the relief of soaked Sheffield punters no doubt. Opposite the Kop was the Leppings Lane end and it was that end that gave Hillsborough it's subsequent notoriety.
Down the years, Hillsborough had been used regularly as a neutral venue for major matches including numerous FA Cup Semi-Finals, a League Cup Final Replay and several Internationals. In 1989 Hillsborough was selected as the venue for one of that season's FA Cup Semi-Finals: the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. On 15th April 1989 Hillsborough and the Leppings Lane end saw the worst tragedy ever witnessed in a British sporting arena. In total 96 people died as a result of the events that day. This was due to horrendous crushing in the central pen on the terrace at that end. Due to the perimeter fences, designed to stop fans from gaining access to the pitch, there was nowhere for those being crushed to go to escape. In the aftermath, Sheffield Wednesday were criticised for failing to act upon incidents occurring at the 1981 FA Cup Semi-Final which showed the potential for crushing at that end and, scandalously, the Leppings Land end didn't even have a valid up-to-date safety certificate at the time. It certainly didn't help that the Commanding Police Officer in charge that day was desperately inexperienced in events of that scale and his failure to avert the growing crisis was critical in the large number of deaths. Even more scandalous was the fact that, in the immediate aftermath, the South Yorkshire Police attempted to cover up their role in the tragedy and sought to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the fans. It would be three decades before the truth was finally exposed in Court and the battle continues to this day to bring some of the guilty parties to justice. Finally, a plea from me. Don't buy the Sun! That so called newspaper was guilty of printing terrible fictions and outright lies about the events that day and, even today, the people of Liverpool won't touch such a rag.
Back to my first visit to Hillsborough however. Before a healthy attendance of 23,764 the game finished honours even with one goal apiece. Colin Addison's Derby struggled that season and finished up in 16th place (out of 22), just four points clear of the relegation zone. Jack Charlton's Wednesday had a much happier time of it but ended up disappointed finishing fourth at a time when there were no Play-Offs and only the top three were promoted. They missed out by just one point from third placed Norwich City with Champions Luton Town and Watford also being promoted.
CRB Match No. 125
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