Charlotte Hennessy was just six when the unimaginable happened. Her dad went to watch a football match and never came home. Now aged 44, she refuses to take her four sons to football matches for fear of hearing rival fans mocking the deaths of her father and the 96 other Liverpool fans who were unlawfully killed in the Hillsborough disaster.
James Hennessy, or Jimmy as he was fondly known, was just 29 when he was killed as catastrophic policing errors led to a deadly crush in the Sheffield stadium's Leppings Lane at the start of Liverpool's FA Cup Semi-final with Nottingham Forest on April 15 1989.
A life dominated by the fight for truth
Charlotte's life has been dominated by what happened to her beloved father and by the exhausting fight for truth, justice and a change in the law to honour Jimmy and all those who died at Hillsborough. But depressingly, her tireless campaigning has also had to focus on those who shockingly choose to mock and deride what happened, and all those still affected by vicious chanting at football matches.
As the new season gets underway, Charlotte and others are making a renewed push to put an end to so-called tragedy chanting and eradicate it from the beautiful game once and for all.
Speaking to the ECHO, she explained the devastating impact such actions from rival fans can have on the survivors and bereaved families of those who died at Hillsborough or in other tragedies and disasters. At the same time, the Football Association and the Premier League is reminding supporters that for three years now, new guidance has been in place, meaning that tragedy chanting can lead to prosecutions.
'It is not football banter'
Charlotte said: "For football fans the start of the new Premier League season is like new year, it is really exciting and just lovely to have football on the TV all weekend once again. But as we have for the last three seasons, we want to remind fans that there are laws against tragedy chanting and death mocking at matches."
"We actively worked with all teams in the Premier League to cover this issue and make it clear that it will not be tolerated and it is unacceptable. Some people have the view that it is just about hurt feelings, but it is much deeper than that for those impacted by Hillsborough, by the Munich air disaster, by Heysel or instances like the killings of Leeds fans Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight in Istanbul."
She added: "It is not funny, it is not football banter and there are now provisions in place that will see any offenders removed from games, facing three-year bans and potentially criminal charges."
Worry for survivors and her own children
Asked how she feels when she hears fans chanting about the death of her own father and all those who died and suffered at Hillsborough, Charlotte says "it cuts deep." But she says she is more worried about the impact on those who were there on that awful day but survived, including Jimmy's friends.
She added: "My dad's mates went to that match on a coach and came home without my dad and Jimmy Delaney, who also died. They looked for as long as possible to find my dad and had to go back and tell my nan they couldn't find him."
"It is the survivors I worry about the most. They were blamed for so long and fought so hard when people didn't believe them. They stood on their truth and never faltered, but their mental health can only tolerate so much. There are survivors who have taken their own lives as a direct result of the slander and the mocking and the hate they have faced."
The mum-of-four revealed she still won't let her own children go to live matches for fears that they could be subject to vile tragedy chants about their grandad and others. She said: "I've got to think of my own children, who hear these things and say 'why are they saying that mum? What they are chanting isn't true.'"
"I should just be educating them about what happened to their grandad, why it was wrong, and what we did as a family to ensure that his voice was heard. But, instead, there's this dark side of Hillsborough that, unfortunately, you know, you just can't get away from."
"They should be able to go and watch their heroes play, but I simply won't let them because I won't take the gamble that they could be subjected to that."
Education over criminal sanctions
Charlotte, who has been a leading campaigner for a landmark Hillsborough Law, said that while criminal regulations are required for the worst offenders, she hopes that education can be key for the younger generation of football fans. She added: "Some of this is learned behaviour and the young people are copying what they have heard from others. So we feel that for these people, education can actually be more beneficial than criminal sanctions. I am very passionate about that."
Joe Blott is a member of Liverpool's fan union Spirit of Shankly and sits on the national council for the Football Supporters' Association that have been leading on the campaign. He told the ECHO: "From a supporter perspective we don't want to see fans penalised, that's why education and rehabilitation are such important factors. That's what we really are pushing on now. We want supporters to understand that tragedy chanting does have consequences."
"Clearly a lot of these tragedies are in the past and that is why education needs to be there. There are generations who won't know as much as we do."
"I want to make sure that the rivalries that exist between clubs continue, they are important to have. But there is a line that gets crossed and we want to make sure that doesn't happen. We are calling for passion not poison."
