t helps that you were there. It helps that there were phones, cameras, authority figures. It helps that former footballers, friends of footballers, politicians and executives were there. It helps that Sky Sports were incredible in capturing it and the supporters themselves better.
It helps that attendees of football events are now more middle class, better connected, own the means of production and know how to depict what happens to them in real time.
It hinders that BT Sports, which broadcast the game, were dreadful, hinders because the first report is the most important – presenter Jake Humphrey repeating uncritically the lies of Uefa – but it helps that you could check your phone and see Humphrey was wrong.
It moves us along actual years that journalists who arrived early predicted there would be problems, observed those problems emerging and documented everything live. It means we can use the words for more important things. It helps, because we can start on the front foot.
The front foot: Uefa were liars and their apology on Friday didn’t cover the lies they told moments before the planned kick-off time. Their apology didn’t cover their desire to blame supporters, their paying customers, first. Their apology didn’t clear the decks and was a reminder these aren’t people we can view as acting in good faith.
Why should we believe their review is independent or the man who heads it is independent? Why do we need a Uefa-led review when Uefa themselves are among those who need to be investigated? They are anything but neutral when, as they made clear on 28 May at 8.55pm, their first move is to blame their customers.
The front foot: the French interior and sports ministers doubled down on their lies in front of the French senate on Wednesday, slippery with figures, light on evidence. They said Real Madrid supporters weren’t affected. On Friday, Real Madrid made a statement to the contrary.
The French ministers said they and their police were not to blame. Instead, there were, they said, 40,000 people who may have had fake tickets who must have disappeared into Scotch mist, who never made it into a Liverpool end still not full by 9.30pm. Fake people or fake tickets?
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Yet the ministers’ tone and approach gave the game away. The people who attended a sporting event were to be policed as a grave problem first and foremost. This is the essence of how many people who attend football matches are treated. The enemy, from the outset.
The front foot: the truth is that if it hadn’t been for the reaction of Liverpool supporters before the game, the end result would have been disastrously worse. Football supporters learn to self-police, to care. That Saturday night was a repeated act of care. The care will need to continue – Liverpool Football Club announced last week that they will support mental health charities and resources for those caught up in events.