You'll Never Walk Alone

I vaguely remember seeing news footage of the Hillsborough Disaster back in 1989. Wasn't much of a football fan then (unlike now), but i will forever remember this tragic event because of this remake of a favourite liverpool anthem.

This human tragedy occured on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium in Sheffield, England. It was a FA cup semi-final match between Liverpool FC and Nottingham Forest FC, two well-loved football clubs. Prior to the match, fans started filling in the stadium but the influx of more fans than what the stadium could handle soon created overcrowding, primarily where the liverpool fans were located. Back then, football stadiums have a tall fence barrier in front of the stands to prevent any pitch invasions from the fans. It got to a point where the overspilling crowd caused a large section of the fans to be pressed against the fencing and eventually a fatal human crush. This went unnoticed till sections of the crowd were seen climbing out of the fence that it was apparent something was amiss. The match was abandoned 20 minutes into the game, which soon witnessed scores of fans filling in the pitch gasping for breath, suffering crush injuries and sadly the bodies of the dead as some fans were literally crushed to death. A total of 96 people died in this tragedy - all liverpool fans with hundreds more suffering injuries. An inquiry into the disaster pointed to the failure of crowd and police control. From then on, the fence barrier was permanently removed in all football stadia in UK and converted to all-seaters, which has existed till today.

The next month, a group of liverpool musicians, lead by Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney came together to produce a remake of "Ferry 'Cross The Mersey", an original by Gerry & The Pacemakers in the 60s. The line-up included The Christians, Holly Johnson, Gerry Marsden and songwriter-producer team Stock Aitken Waterman, with all proceeds from the sale of this single going to the Hillsborough Disaster Fund, to help families of victims suffered during the tragedy. It shot to #1 in the UK singles chart for 3 weeks. This is just one of the most poignant but beautiful tune that have stayed with me throughout the years.

Music can be a strong healing force and in this case, i believe it helps an entire nation to tide over a period of mourning for its people in a most unfortunate event. More than anything, it bonds us emotionally and to triumph over adversity.

Another song by Gerry & The Pacemakers called "You'll Never Walk Alone" is always sung rapturously by the liverpool faithful before the start of any home game at Anfield. I may not be a liverpool fan but this song resonates deeply in my heart always...

"Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
and you'll never walk alone..."