Hey there fellow readers, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and revisit an event that changed English football forever. Fourteen years ago tomorrow, 24,000 Liverpool supporters travelled to Sheffield for an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest. It should have been a day of celebration with the best of English football coming together. But instead, we were thrown into tragedy as 94 fans died due to overcrowding in the Leppings Lane end of the stadium. Three more fans later died of injuries from that afternoon.

Hillsborough changed everything, folks. For the families and survivors, it was a traumatic event that haunted them for years. And English football, well, it was never the same again. Let’s hang our heads in shame because the battle for justice took 27 years to fully exonerate the fans who died. A second inquest concluded they had died unlawfully, and the blame rested with the South Yorkshire police, ambulance service, and the inadequacies of the stadium.

Now, don’t get us wrong, we at The Athletic have done our fair share of chronicling the events of that day and its aftermath. However, as we approach another anniversary, we thought it was time to remember how those 97 men and women lived rather than how they died. It’s time to tell the human stories behind the sombre statistics.

Kerry Aspinall, whose brother James died at Hillsborough, rightly said, “People talk about ‘the 97,’ but each one of those people was an individual with a different story, much loved by their family and friends”. We couldn’t agree more. So, we reached out to family members of all the fans who died, asking if they wished to share their stories. Some understandably declined to take part, while others shared pen pictures that were read during the second inquest.

But, folks, let us tell you, there are some incredible stories out there that we just had to share because they remind us that these fans were more than just numbers. They were people who loved, cared, had ambitions, and achievements. Their families wanted the world to know who they loved and lost. So, grab a box of tissues and join us as we remember the fans who never made it back from that fateful day.

Serious News: nytimes