Running for Justice

The call for justice for the 96 fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough has been going on for 23 years, but a few fans are now raising awareness in a different way.
Dom Williams and his five teammates are hoping to do just that by running 76 miles from Hillsborough to Anfield in only three days.

Although a new runner by some standards, Williams is fully dedicating himself for the cause. This includes some serious training all in the name of justice.

"I started running last July and have not really stopped since," he said. "I do a lot of very hilly miles, this varies between 25 and 55 miles a week depending on how the body is feeling."

Recently, Liverpool Football Club gave their backing to the team's journey and announced that the run could be ended on the pitch at Anfield. Since then, Sheffield Wednesday have now also showed the same gesture, saying the six runners could start their trek right inside Hillsborough as well.

Not only have the two clubs shown their backing, but the support has also been pouring in from the community as well. Words of encouragemnt and donations to the fundraiser have been coming in from football fans worldwide. Williams expressed just how important it has been in the build-up.

He said: "Without the support, we could not go ahead. It just means we, as a team, have a huge responsibility to do ourselves proud and make this run as successful as it can possibly be.

"It really needs to be successful on two counts, firstly we want to raise a huge amount of money so when we present the cheques on the pitch at Anfield on either the 14th April or the 22nd April it is not embarrassing. Secondly that we raise public awareness not just in Liverpool but right around the country."

You can donate and find out more about Dom and his team's progress by going to http://www.hillsborough-anfieldrun.co.uk/.

Will justice be served 22 years on?

JUSTICE –noun. The quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.

In other words, something 96 people have been robbed of for 22 years.

The tragedy that occurred in April of 1989 has sadly never ended for families of the victims or Merseyside as a whole.

A number of factors have contributed to this 22 year long suffering: A certain rag that does not deserve to get called a newspaper and the government (when it was their poor policing that caused a surge, and not the fans' fault).

You would hope that the government would want to help those in need after the disaster, but since it was technically their employees involved (the police), the documents containing facts of what happened that day and in the aftermath have been sealed.

Until now.

Finally, Information Commissioner Christopher Graham has insisted that files containing the minutes of meetings with Margaret Thatcher regarding Hillsborough must be released.

Even though the files were originally sealed for 30 years, the government is now given 35 days to publish them (or 28 days to appeal the decision).

The argument coming from the government is that it imposes a threat to ministers being able to speak freely regarding issues. However, if that were the case, then why would these meetings be minuted in the first place?

The Cabinet Office also expressed how it would not be right to publish the information before the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report, in which Christopher Graham said it makes no difference and these files are to be made public in 35 days.

Should the documents hold the relevant information, will the world finally wake up and see the truth behind the disaster and bring peace to Merseyside and all those involved, including the victims and those made out to be criminals in the aftermath from lies?

Will others finally understand why Liverpool boycott such things as Murdoch's (hopefully doomed) S*n, and why we still fight for justice?

It is hoped that in 34 days time, we can breathe a long-awaited sigh of relief, families can finally rest easy, 96 people can be at peace, and JUSTICE will get served...22 years too late.