MP Calls On Premier League To Take Action Against Hillsborough Chants

Over the past two seasons, we have seen a noticeable uptick in the number of vile chants from opposition supporters, both at Anfield and when Liverpool travel to other football grounds, directed at LFC and their supporters. This includes a spike in the number of chants making light of the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989.

While it’s one thing to hear such chants from Manchester United or Manchester City supporters, hearing it from Nottingham Forest supporters in recent days was a new low. Forest were Liverpool’s opponent on that tragic day, and it could have very easily been 97 Forest supporters who were unlawfully killed instead.

Given the marked increase in these abhorrent chants, a Member of Parliament has written a letter to the Premier League asking for them to take a stronger stance against the chanting. Ian Byrne, the Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, is also asking PL representatives to meet with him to discuss supporting his Real Truth Legacy Project, which would establish education regarding the Hillsborough Disaster as part of the national curriculum for school children.

The full text of the letter can be found here:

I am writing to you with a heavy heart today as once again a Premier League football match has been marred with the continuous chants of songs about the Hillsborough disaster, these chants and the people behind them shame the game.

Since the events of the UEFA final in Paris we have seen many survivors triggered and struggling. Tragically three survivors have taken their own lives this year alone and two since Paris.

The Premier League has a duty of care to these supporters and the incessant chanting that is now a weekly occurrence must be tackled at the root causes.

In my capacity as Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby constituency and as a Hillsborough survivor, I am leading an initiative called the Real Truth Legacy Project.

Working with Hillsborough survivors and some of the families of the 97 fans who lost their lives due to the disaster, we aim to educate current and future generations about what really happened at the disaster, and about the subsequent cover-up and the long fight for justice.

Education of future supporters is the long-term aim of the Real Truth Legacy Project, to eradicate any ignorance and ensure that future generations are given an understanding in school of one of the biggest miscarriages of justice our country has ever seen.

Since the most recent Premier League match against Manchester City, which was again punctuated by chants around Hillsborough, I have written to the Secretary of State for Education to once again request that this be included in the National Curriculum.

It is apparent that we need to work with supporters across the country now and I am therefore requesting that you meet me to discuss the Real Truth Legacy Project and the other strands of it that I have been working on creating a tool kit to be used by groups and organisations.

I cannot stress the detrimental impact these chants are having on the families of the 97, the survivors and their families.

Enough really is enough and we need actions now from the Premier League and all football clubs involved to ensure that this stops.

The Premier League have failed to address the growing problem and the accompanying calls for action from Liverpool FC and their supporters thus far, but hopefully adding an MP to the chorus will increase the pressure and force them to act.