IRISH LIVERPOOL fans who have campaigned on behalf of Hillsborough victims welcomed the publication of the report into previously unseen documents about the 1989 tragedy.
Ed Fitzimons, chairman of the Dublin-based You’ll Never Walk Alone Irish Reds Liverpool Supporters Club, said it was a “massive, massive day” for the relatives and friends of those who lost their lives in Hillsborough 23 years ago.
“We are absolutely delighted that it has come to the stage now that the families can get some sort of closure. They’ve been waiting and fighting for this for a long, long time. In a modern country like Britain, it’s hard to believe that it’s taken 23 years for this to happen. It is unbelievable.”
“It’s a massive thing to be carrying this big burden around with you, to finally get it out there and to finally get other people to believe what went on,” he said.
Mr Fitzimons said he hoped prosecutions would follow.
“For them to get justice today and for the English government to come out and say sorry, in a way, it’s ended something but it’s going to start something else now,” he said. “They have felt the hurt for 23 years, now its time the government started feeling the pinch.”
Simon Mooney, who was 13 at the time, said he remembered rushing home from a football game to see the Liverpool match when he realised something was wrong.
“The changing rooms were just a few minutes away from my mother’s house and I was trying to get changed as quickly as I could to get home,” he said.
“My friend’s father stopped me and told me that the match had been stopped and that there was a big crush at the stadium.”
Mr Mooney welcomed the contents of yesterday’s report. “It will be some sort of relief but at the end of the day, why did it take 23 years and five prime ministers for the truth to come out,” he asked.
