Mungkin ramai yang tidak tahu langsung tentang tragedi bersejarah British ini, dan tidak keterlaluan jika aku klasifikasikan ramai peminat-peminat bolasepak tak ambil peduli pun tentang apa yang tersirat dengan peristiwaHillsborough ini. Secara menyeluruh, tragedi Hillsborough ini menjadi titik tolak kepada perubahan budaya bolasepak di British daripada nilai-nilai ganas dan hooligan. Jadi memandangkan kita baru sahaja menyaksikan kedua-dua perlawanan Semi-Final F.A Cup 2009 minggu lepas, ingin aku kongsi sedikit sebanyak yang aku tahu.

Hillsborough Stadium ialah nama stadium Sheffield Wednesday F.C di Sheffield, England. Peristiwa buruk tu berlaku pada 15 April 1989 ketika perlawanan separuh akhir (Semi-Final) F.A Cup antara Nottingham Forest F.C v Liverpool F.C. 96 kematian yang kesemuanya penyokong Liverpool F.C.

Pihak polis pada masa tu dah pun allocate penyokong Nottingham Forest pada Spion Kop End di salah satu terrace di belakang gol yang boleh tampung sebanyak 21,000 orang. Manakala penyokong Liverpool pula ditempatkan di hujung gol yang lagi satu iaitu Leppings Lane End yang hanya boleh muat 14,000 orang sahaja, padahal Liverpool mempunyai penyokong lagi ramai dari Nottingham Forest.

So insiden bermula bila ribuan penyokong Liverpool terkandas semasa dalam perjalanan ke Sheffield disebabkan highway jem akibat operasi baik pulih jalan. Game kick-off pukul 3:00pm, pihak polis, TV dan radio sudah pun berpesan pada penyokong yang tak bertiket tak boleh masuk dan datang awal sikit serta ambil tempat duduk 15 minit sebelum game, so disebabkan terkandas jem, lalu mereka tiba di stadium dlm pukul 2:40petang, waktu tu beribu-ribu manusia berpusu-pusu rushing masuk ikut main gate, pada masa yang sama, ratusan penyokong yang tak bertiket masih lagi ada kat main gate, tapi tak dapat nak keluar dari gerombolan manusia yang tiba2 ramai meredah gate tersebut. Polis mula panik lalu mereka dengan tenang pegi bukak satu exit gate kononnya nak beri peluang penyokong-penyokong yang nak keluar beredar, tetapi malangnya dengan gate-gate exit tu skali diredahi oleh penyokong-penyokong yang baru tiba.

Di dalam stadium, dah penuh sesak, anak beranak yang datang sekali dah berpecah tak tahu kemana. Pada masa itu game dah mula, setelah 6 minit, perlawanan dihentikan atas permintaan polis apa bila mereka menyedari ribuan manusia masih lagi berpusu-pusu masuk ke dalam Leppings Lane. Ramai yang terpaksa memanjat pagar untuk mengelakkan diri dari dihimpit antara besi pagar dan ribuan manusia. Ada yang ditarik dari section penonton Upper West Stand iaitu di atas Lepping Lanes. Pada masa itu keadaan dah tak terkawal, ratusan yang berjaya meloloskan diri masuk ke dalam padang. Ramai yang cedera parah. Yang menjadi kontroversi ialah, 44 buah ambulans tiba di stadium tetapi hanya satu sahaja yang dibenarkan masuk ke dalam stadium untuk mengangkut mangsa-mangsa yang cedera, itu pun kemudiannya berpatah balik sebab terlalu ramai yang perlukan bantuan. Papan-papan iklan terpaksa digunakan sebagai pengusung bagi yang cedera. Dan yang sedihnya, Pihak polis masih lagi beria mengawal hooliganism pada masa itu instead of fokus pada menyelamatkan yang cedera.

94 orang mati di tempat kejadian, empat hari lepas tu seorang lagi mangsa mati, jadi 95. Kemudian selepas 4 tahun, kematian terakhir dilaporkan apabila mangsa yang koma 4 tahun, mati akibat kecederaan otak.Dari 96 mangsa tersebut, salah seorangnya adalah Jon-Paul Gilhooley, 10 tahun, sepupu kepada Kapten Liverpool, Steven Gerard, 9 tahun pada masa itu.Ketua Hakim England dan Wales, Lord Justice Taylor ditugaskan untuk menyediakan laporan menyeluruh tentang tragedi tersebut atau lebih popular dengan Taylor Report, di mana beliau telah mencadangkan pagar penghadang penonton di kesemua stadium di England dihapuskan, penjualan alkohol di pintu masuk diharamkan, tarrace penonton digantikan dengan tempat duduk all-seater stadium.

Bermula dari tragedi inilah, seluruh penduduk British akhirnya menyedari bahawa kerakusan dan minat terlampau mereka terhadap bolasepak telah membawa kepada kematian ramai peminat bolasepak, ditambah pula dengan pengaruh alkohol yang mendorong kepada keganasan.Betapa besar impak tragedi ini hinggakan secara serta merta mentaliti dan budaya penyokong bolasepak di England berubah. Ibu bapa dapat membawa anak-anak mereka menonton bolasepak, dan secara tidak langsung menonton bolasepak di stadium telah menjadi aktiviti keluarga di England.

Kita di Malaysia mempunya penduduk yang rata-ratanya masih beretika dan menolak keganasan secara mutlak. Tetapi malangnya gejala vandalisme serta pergaduhan antara penyokong masih lagi menjadi budaya kita. FAM resah bilangan penonton yang ke stadium semakin susut, maintainance stadium, gaji pemain/staff tergantung berbulan-bulan. Menonton bolasepak di Malaysia tidak menjadi aktiviti keluarga, sebaliknya lebih kepada perhimpunan kumpulan kumpulan penyokong yang hidup nak mengutuk penyokong lawan, bukan nak tgk bola. And yet, kita masih bersungut tentang ranking dan kualiti pasukan kebangsaan yang handal sikit dari Pasukan Bolasepak Nepal.

Guest author,
Lann Taro

Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at Old Trafford in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and is one of the most popular football clubs in the world, with over 330 million supporters worldwide – almost 5% of the world’s population. The club was a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, and has played in the top division of English football since 1938, with the exception of the 1974–75 season.

Excerpt from Wikipedia.

As you can see from the excerpt above, Manchester United Football Club (Man Utd) is one of the biggest football clubs. And, I’m pretty sure most of us if not all have heard of it. Having saying that, it is a fact that most of Malaysians are self-profclaimed Man Utd die hard fan. I can easily name at least 10 of my friends that so into this football club on the top of my head. Nah, make that 50. Yep, it’s that easy to find an Man Utd fan here in Malaysia. They prefer Man Utd over their own hometown team anytime. They will fork out a few hundred ringgit for an Man Utd “original” jersey anytime. But, they won’t come up with a few measly ringgit to buy a match ticket for their own state team. Hah, make it for their own country’s team match, too. Pfft.

I have to admit that they are one hella of a team. They are the reigning English, European and World champion. Personally, I think they are a good team, with world class players and of course a world class manager (Sir Alex Ferguson). So, what’s the problem with Man Utd having a wide based fans everywhere? It’s not a problem. Not a problem at all, I tell you. The topic of my writing is the fanatics of Man Utd in Malaysia.

Young Beckham

One of the reason I chose to write about this is, Man Utd can be said the favourite team of most female. Eventhought these females actually don’t enjoy watching football, but yet, they still are Man Utd fans. It all started when David Beckham started to become a household name in  Manchester. The young Beckham was intriguing (urgh) and yummy (more urgh) to the eyes of the female fans. They(female fans) were devastated when slightly older Beckham left for Real Madrid in 2003 but soon after, another household name appeared. A young portugese with stylish hairdo and dazzling footwork arised. Cristiano Ronaldo is the name of this lad. He is the World and European Player of the Year for his magnificent 2007/2008 season when he scored 42 goals in all competition. And coming from a wide player, that is really magnificent. Again, I won’t argue that Ronaldo is a world class player. But then, why these female fans choose to become fans of a football club when they know literally nothing about the game itself? Don’t you realise that you are destroying the beautiful game by rooting for a team because of the looks of their players? Heck, even if that’s the case, why you (female fans) are not rooting for the Italian teams? Being a straight guy myself, I can non-chalantly say the Italians are more good looking than the rest.  That’s my first point. Becoming a fan of Man Utd because of their so-called “hot” players.

Since Man Utd has a wide fan base here in Malaysia, it’s easy to find a Man Utd fan everywhere. Especially when there is a weekly league game. All these fans can be seen wearing the Man Utd red jersey from different eras flocking together at mapleys or any other places to watch the game. Hey, it’s not wrong to watch a football game with a couple of friends, right? Yep, not wrong at all. BUT, these fans. These same fans that was chanting and rooting and yelling for their team during the game at mapleys, will dissapear like a magic trick if Man Utd lost the game the night before. The next day will be different. There are practically no Man Utd fans can be seen. Suddenly, there are no Man Utd fans flocking around in their beloved club’s jersey anymore. There are no fans that will be bragging about Cristiano Ronaldo or Dmitar Berbatov or anybody else. That is my second point, the weird, dissapearing magic trick that a football match can do to the fans.

Man Utd Fans

Another case is, these Man Utd fans usually will be really arrogant and cocky (maybe copying their beloved manager’s trait) with their winnings. Trust me, it’s rare to find a humble Man Utd fan. They will brag about their trophies. They will brag about their players. They will be cocky about their goals. And they talk as if they know more than the pundits themselves. But again, these “knowledgable”, cocky, arrogant, loyal, die-hard fans will dissapear if Man Utd were to lose the night before. Suddenly, they become humble. Or giving some lame excuses such as “giving others chances“. Or worse, they are not reachable at all. Sometimes, some of these fans will claim they are not that into Man Utd in the first place.

I’ve had my share of these moments. I still remember the night that Man Utd beat AS Roma in UEFA Champion’s League 7-1. Being an AS Roma fan, it’s a bitter pill to swallow but hey, life goes on.The next day, I saw and counted; there were 23 people that I noticed passed me with a different version of  Man Utd jersey. 23!! That’s not including the ones that are in the same jersey that I’ve lost my count. “Whoa! Man Utd really is popular nowadays!” That was what I thought that time. Some of my friends that knew that I’m an AS Roma fan even haunted me to make fun of me. Hey, no biggy.  I can accept defeat anytime, anywhere. But, the best thing happened a few weeks later. The early morning that Kaka from AC Milan put two into Man Utd’s goal that ensured Man Utd failed to go through was the best morning that I’ve ever stayed up to watch a football match. I really don’t fancy AC Milan much but Kaka is one of my favourite player and more importantly, they beat “the team” and knocked them out of the competition. The weird thing is, the next day. There are literally no Man Utd fans can be seen at all. None!! All the Man Utd fans suddenly are busy with their exams or any other stuffs as long as it’s not related to the match. Nobody was wearing a Man Utd jersey. Nobody was wearing a Man Utd t-shirt. Heck, nobody even talked about Man Utd at all. In a few hours, Man Utd fans are not that into them anymore. Funny eh?

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Look, I’m not denying the fact that Man Utd is really a world class team, with a world class manager and world class players. I even honestly enjoyed their matches sometimes. I don’t have anything against the team or the club. I just hate the fans. With passion!

p/s : I really hope Liverpool will win the league and Barcelona will win the UEFA Champion’s League so I can see the reaction of Man Utd fans. :p
p/s2: Btw, Everton already knocked Man Utd out from the FA Cup last night. Click here to read how the manager blames the pitch. :p

Disclaimer : The writer is an avid fan of Real Madrid (Primera Liga), Liverpool (Barclay’s Premiere League), AS Roma (Seria A).