Stoke and Newcastle United players line up for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster before their English Premier League soccer match at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke, England, Saturday April 12, 2014. Matches in the top five divisions of English football this weekend are scheduled to kick off seven minutes later than originally planned in tribute to the 96 supporters who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster 25 years ago on 15 April 1989. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
April 12, 2014 - 8:44 AM
LONDON - By the Wembley pitch, 96 seats remained empty on Saturday. Just a Liverpool scarf draped over each of them: A powerful tribute to the 96 Liverpool fans who went to an FA Cup semifinal 25 years earlier but never returned home.
The Liverpool-Nottingham Forest match lasted just six minutes before being halted at Hillsborough in 1989 as the magnitude of the deadly crush became apparent. A quarter of a century on matches on Saturday — from the Arsenal-Wigan semifinal at Wembley Stadium to grounds across England — started at seven minutes past the hour.
The Hillsborough disaster changed the face of English football, and the treatment of the grieving families by authorities remains a scar on the nation that is yet to be fully healed.
Amid commemorations for Tuesday's 25th anniversary, families are in court in a bid to get the deaths officially described as unlawful killings.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014