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Good morning.

The paintings of L S Lowry can capture a moment in time and take you there. ‘Going to the Match’, painted in 1928, shows a drab, grey, football stadium, as hundreds of fans stream towards the turnstiles. Of course the matchstick figures  are walking through a bleak landscape with mills, belching chimneys and a row of terraced houses.

Opinions differ as to whether Lowry took Burnden Park, the former home of Bolton Wanderers, as his model. It is known that as a young man he went to matches there.

Going to the match is something that brings people together. It offers camaraderie, drama, and a cause to shout for – all things that brighten up our lives. The thought that those we’ve said goodbye to, before the match, might not come home afterwards is impossible to imagine. This is the reality with which the families of the ninety six Liverpool fans who died as a result of the Hillsborough disaster have lived for twenty seven years.

Packed football grounds can be dangerous. Burnden Park itself was the scene of disaster in 1946 when thirty three fans were crushed to death and hundreds injured at an FA cup tie. Apparently some officials soon started to lay the blame with the fans who, they claimed, had forced their way into an already overcrowded ground.

Blaming others has always been an easy way to avoid guilt and sidestep responsibility. It seems to take a long time, and lot of tragedy, for us to learn how to care for one another well and do things better.

God of Life, help us to look out for one another today,
and to remember that everyone in the crowd
is your son, your daughter.
Amen