It should go without saying that any mocking of disasters affecting not only those directly harmed by a disaster, but also millions of fans who continue to honour those lost and affected, should be off limits when it comes to ‘fan banter’.
Liverpool Football Club, nonetheless, was forced into releasing a statement condemning the actions of a number of visiting supporters during Manchester City’s clash with the Reds at Anfield.
“We are deeply disappointed to hear vile chants relating to football stadium tragedies from the away section during today’s game at Anfield. The concourse in the away section was also vandalised with graffiti of a similar nature,” as was released by the club’s official website.
“We know the impact such behaviour has on the families, survivors and all those associated with such disasters.
“We are working with the relevant authorities and we will also work with Manchester City in order to do our utmost to ensure these chants are eradicated from football altogether.”
We’d like to hope that the Sky Blues and Pep Guardiola will take this matter extremely seriously and look to ban every single individual involved.
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We’re deeply saddened to hear of such behaviour in a game of football.
Despite having repeatedly raised concerns over the continued use of slurs against Hillsborough, it seems that the message isn’t getting through for a handful of supporters.
Whilst we can appreciate that it can be difficult to round up all involved, those that the evidence concretely points to shouldn’t just be getting match bans from their side’s stadiums.
Whether more severe punishment should involve the police or contact with the families affected by the tragedy, and others, is up for debate but the club simply can’t afford to offer only a slap on the wrist for such despicable behaviour.