The day that changed forever how football was played in England.
On 15 April 1989, 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives and 788 were injured. Amongst them was Steven Gerrard’s 10 year old cousin, whose untimely death proved to be the inspiration for his success.
Gerrard recalls that day and says he will never forget:
“I was completely and utterly shocked whilst wondering if there was anyone we knew really close at the game. And then going to bed that night, lying there praying and keeping your fingers crossed that it didn’t get any worse to what we had already heard. Unfortunately for myself and my family we got the dreaded knock the next morning to say a member of our family had been tragically killed.”
Living in India at that time, I heard about the tragedy from newspapers and on radio. The news that 96 fans had lost their lives crushed against fences seemed so reminiscent of the bus falls into the ravine type of tragedy that we had grown accustomed to at home, it was inconceivable that it had taken place in the UK.
Even the Indian public that was agog in those days over Ayotallah Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie for writing Satanic Verses stopped in disbelief as the body count went up and up.