Stop Looking At Me Swan: Football, Life and Death

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

One thing I find very disappointing is when people misinterpret Bill Shankly's famous 'life and death' quote. They suggest that there is some sort of twisted, morbid irony that it was a former Liverpool manager who said this, when Liverpool would go on to be involved in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. As if, somehow, Bill Shankly was proved wrong.

On September 12th 2012, a report compiled by an independent panel revealed that there had been a police cover up regarding the disaster, and the supporters involved were completely exonerated of any blame.

On the day this was announced I thought about the great man Bill Shankly, by far the most important figure in Liverpool Football Club's history - not just for what he achieved on the pitch, but for what he did off it for the mentality of the people of Liverpool, restoring their pride in their city, in themselves...

I couldn't believe that 31 years after his death, something he said could still be so profound. More profound than ever, in fact. For it was not lawyers, or journalists, or government officials who had forced this state cover up, this government scandal, this huge miscarriage of justice to become public. It was football fans - Liverpool and Everton and from further afield - united in the fight for one goal - The truth.

This is why, in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher tried to put an end to football. She knew how powerful thousands of like minded people united could be. Ironically, it was a Tory government, her heirs, who were in power to bare the brunt of this shame. As a campaign led by football fans forced an official apology in Parliament, 23 years after the event.

Last weekend, football fans from around the globe remembered the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster, and showed their support to the continuing fight for justice.

Today, thousands of people will gather not at a church, or a cathedral, but at another type of holy ground - Anfield, a football stadium - to pay their respects to those who lost their lives at Hillsborough. As they have done every year on April 15th since that horrible day in 1989.

So, is football a matter of life and death? I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.

In memory of the 96. You'll never walk alone.