HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER: Laws: 'We must never forget' - VIDEO
Twenty years ago today, the worst sporting disaster in British history happened, as 96 fans were crushed to death and more than 700 people injured.
Star reporter Sarah Dunn spoke to Owls manager Brian Laws - who was playing for Nottingham Forest in that fateful game.
Click on the green play button to see the interview with Brian Laws
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HE can remember it as vividly as if it happened yesterday.
You only have to look at Brian Laws' face or hear the crack of emotion in his voice as he recalls the horror of that afternoon to realise how it has stayed with him for 20 years.
He now comes to work every day at the stadium where the disaster unfolded in front of his eyes but even that sense of normality and routine cannot detract from events of that day.
Brian said: "It just seems like yesterday - I can recall everything, it seems to be fresh in your mind because of the disaster. Looking back is easy because we must never, ever forget that day."
Even before the match kicked off, the former Nottingham Forest right-back said the hype surrounding the game was massive as Brian Clough's side prepared to take on Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final.
He said: "We obviously knew it was going to be a big game but we were on good form and fancied our chances.
"Even before kick off that stadium was almost full and it was so noisy, the occasion was electric. Coming out of the tunnel there was a sea of supporters on both ends. But looking back it was quite eerie - that noise, at no point did it ever go quiet. And unknown to ourselves there was a lot of stuff happening at that time."
The Owls boss said the game kicked off at a "fast tempo" and Peter Beardsley hit the crossbar before Laws was needed for a throw-in.
"I had the ball in my hand," he said, "and I was just going to throw it when a supporter ran across me and screamed. My immediate thought was that this wasn't anything more than someone trying to spoil the game.
But then they were followed by three, four, five, six, seven, others running onto the ground.
"We were wondering what was going on. Even looking at the Leppings Lane end you couldn't see anything because it was so deep with people. I still thought it was idiots messing around - it was completely unknown what was unfolding."
The players were ordered off the pitch by the referee and Brian remembers feeling annoyed because he was so keen for the game to go ahead.
In the dressing room manager Brian Clough ordered them to relax and be ready to go back out there and win the game.
But then came the news that there had been a fatality - and the whole mood changed.
"As soon as they said the word 'fatality' that was it - Cloughie said 'we are not playing'. He said it was a game of football, not life or death - he loved the game but he also believed in the simplicity of it. Then in the next few minutes people were coming in saying there were five, six, seven bodies laying on the pitch. We still had no idea what was going on."
As it became clear that something was very seriously wrong, Brian said his thoughts turned immediately to his wife and two children who were also in the crowd.
Emerging from the tunnel once again, this time he said he was greeted with a "deafening silence".
He said: "Everything I watched was in slow motion. There were people on the ground, it was just a scene of horror. It looked more like a battlefield, not a football pitch."
But Brian admits the true extent of the tragedy didn't hit him until later.
He said: "The impact was when I got home. I was speaking to my wife about it and she told me she had been staring at one young boy, carried on a placard with these bright, white trainers. They lay him down trying to resuscitate him but all the life had gone out of him.
"Then there is the TV reconstruction. I was in tears watching it - it brought it all back. The shock, the horror, the panic, and most of all why? Nobody should lose their life watching football."
It was questions like these being answered and the Taylor Report which led to the safety changes at football grounds - and the introduction of all-seater stadiums.
Brian added: "This should never have happened in football - if you go to the theatre to watch a play you don't expect to lose your life.
"Football had to take a turn for the better. All-seater stadiums was the best move they have ever done, but unfortunately it had to be a reaction to the tragedy that had taken place. Now we can take our families to a ground and enjoy the game and have no fear about something like that happening.
"We move on but we remember and never forget. It's important we commemorate it - it deserves that, and so do the people who lost their lives."
READ MORE:
How policing of football grounds has changed
Dalglish: I went to four funerals in one day
Grieving mother's quest for answers
Families renew calls for inquiry into disaster
Defining moment for former Owls chairman
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
