Hillsborough Ref Reflects 20 Years On
23/04/09 11:52
It was the second FA Cup semi final Ray Lewis had
refereed... and it ground to a halt at six minutes
past three amid scenes of devastating tragedy.
JENNIFER SCOTT speaks to the man whose whistle was,
for many, the first indication something terrible had
happened at Hillsborough
SIX minutes past three. If a referee's whistle sounds so early on in a football game, it's normally to signify a foul, a free kick, an injury.
Not to end a match that's just kicked off, not to lead the players back to the dressing rooms, not to make way for ambulances.
For those reasons, every detail lives large in the memory of Ray Lewis, 65 – the referee who called time on the match as police informed him there was some kind of problem among the spectators.
Liverpool fans in the Leppings Lane end of the ground were being crushed to death, trapped in a surging crowd that police had failed to control.
But neither Ray nor the players were aware of the fatalities as they walked back to the changing rooms.
For Ray, the 20 years since Hillsborough have flown by although, as he sensitively observes, the same probably isn't true for the families of those who died.
"To me, though, it seems like only yesterday," he says.
Ray was already a well-known referee among fans and players when he took charge of the Nottingham Forest-Liverpool match at Hillsborough that day.
A referee for 27 years, 15 at league level, he had already refereed one FA Cup semi-final prior to Hillsborough – the Watford-Tottenham tie of 1987.
It is a terrible irony that the pitchside fence blamed for crushing the 96 Liverpool fans at Hillsborough were introduced in the name of safety.
The fences, says Ray, certainly made him feel safer. He remembers pitch invasions from the '70s, prior to the fencing going up. "There was a problem with people running on to the field of play and confronting the referee or the players," he says. "The fences made you feel safer – but Hillsborough highlighted what a danger they were."
Ray had refereed twice before at Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday FC. "It was an excellent stadium," he says. "It was a regular venue for FA Cup ties due to the number it could hold." Like everyone else that day, Ray was excited about prospects for the game and honoured to be asked to take charge of his second FA Cup semi final. "It shows you must be doing all right as a referee," he says.
He had officiated for both Forest and Liverpool before. "They were the top sides in the country without doubt," he says.
"There was nothing unusual leading up to the game," he recalls. "Everything seemed to be running smoothly. We'd done a warm-up. We got back in the dressing room, then I led the teams out at five to three."
The game got going. "You could see down the Leppings Lane end there was a problem with people moving from one section to another but that happened on a lot of occasions," recalls Ray. "There were fans on the dust track around the outside of the grass but there was nothing that indicated a major catastrophe was unfolding." By necessity, Ray had to concentrate his attentions on the match.
He says it was only when a policeman tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to stop the match that he realised something was seriously wrong – although quite how serious he could not begin to appreciate.
"At first, the police suggested it would be a five to ten minute job to reorganise the crowd," he says. The match, they implied, would restart soon after.
"I don't think even they realised the seriousness of it," says Ray. The ten-minute time-out was extended and Ray went into the players' dressing rooms to tell them. He remembers being full of questions for the police which nobody could answer. "What's going to happen? How long is this going to be?'"
The players were equally in the dark.
Then, at around 3.40pm, Ray was shocked to learn there had been a fatality. "After that, there was no likelihood they would continue the game," he says. Behind the scenes at Hillsborough, shocked players, officials and groundstaff were rallying to support the emergency services in any way they could. Ray and his colleagues moved out of the referee's rooms to allow them to be used as an emergency first aid centre for the injured.
"We were just wandering around trying to get information about what was happening," he recalls. Ray still did not know the scale of the disaster when he left the ground at quarter to seven.
"I had no idea of the numbers of people who had died," he says. "I was driving back home with the radio on and I heard there had been around 25 casualties," he recalls. It wasn't until a few days later that he learned the number had risen to more than 90. "It was a bad day for everyone; for the families and for football in general," he says.
However, he points out there are good things that have emerged from the disaster – namely the advent of all-seater stadia. "Today the game doesn't have anything like the problems it had in the past," he says. There were many voices raised in protest at the FA's decision to stage a replay of the tie at Old Trafford, rather than abandon that season's competition in respect of the dead.
However, once a replay date had been confirmed, Ray and his three colleagues (two linesmen and a reserve referee) were appointed to oversee it.
"It would have been unfair to expect anyone else to step in," says Ray. The game was not a memorable one. Liverpool won 3-1 and, appropriately, went on to win the FA Cup. For Ray, Hillsborough will always define the darkest moment of his life as a referee.
"I don't think many referees have had as low a day as Hillsborough in their careers," says the man who went on to referee the first FA Cup semi at Wembley when Spurs defeated Arsenal to earn their place in the final ... against Nottingham Forest. Ray retired from the game in 1993. He lives in Surrey and runs a sports and leisurewear company. He also acts as chairman of the Football Association's Referees' Committee.
He continues to mark Hillsborough's anniversaries. This year, he was invited back to the Sheffield stadium to commemorate the tragedy but will instead honour a prior invitation to a memorial service at Anfield – the home of Liverpool Football Club. Six minutes past three on April 15 will see him stand in silence, shoulder to shoulder with those who lost their loved ones on that day 20 years ago. He says: "I felt it was important to support the families as well as remembering the event."
SIX minutes past three. If a referee's whistle sounds so early on in a football game, it's normally to signify a foul, a free kick, an injury.
Not to end a match that's just kicked off, not to lead the players back to the dressing rooms, not to make way for ambulances.
For those reasons, every detail lives large in the memory of Ray Lewis, 65 – the referee who called time on the match as police informed him there was some kind of problem among the spectators.
Liverpool fans in the Leppings Lane end of the ground were being crushed to death, trapped in a surging crowd that police had failed to control.
But neither Ray nor the players were aware of the fatalities as they walked back to the changing rooms.
For Ray, the 20 years since Hillsborough have flown by although, as he sensitively observes, the same probably isn't true for the families of those who died.
"To me, though, it seems like only yesterday," he says.
Ray was already a well-known referee among fans and players when he took charge of the Nottingham Forest-Liverpool match at Hillsborough that day.
A referee for 27 years, 15 at league level, he had already refereed one FA Cup semi-final prior to Hillsborough – the Watford-Tottenham tie of 1987.
It is a terrible irony that the pitchside fence blamed for crushing the 96 Liverpool fans at Hillsborough were introduced in the name of safety.
The fences, says Ray, certainly made him feel safer. He remembers pitch invasions from the '70s, prior to the fencing going up. "There was a problem with people running on to the field of play and confronting the referee or the players," he says. "The fences made you feel safer – but Hillsborough highlighted what a danger they were."
Ray had refereed twice before at Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday FC. "It was an excellent stadium," he says. "It was a regular venue for FA Cup ties due to the number it could hold." Like everyone else that day, Ray was excited about prospects for the game and honoured to be asked to take charge of his second FA Cup semi final. "It shows you must be doing all right as a referee," he says.
He had officiated for both Forest and Liverpool before. "They were the top sides in the country without doubt," he says.
"There was nothing unusual leading up to the game," he recalls. "Everything seemed to be running smoothly. We'd done a warm-up. We got back in the dressing room, then I led the teams out at five to three."
The game got going. "You could see down the Leppings Lane end there was a problem with people moving from one section to another but that happened on a lot of occasions," recalls Ray. "There were fans on the dust track around the outside of the grass but there was nothing that indicated a major catastrophe was unfolding." By necessity, Ray had to concentrate his attentions on the match.
He says it was only when a policeman tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to stop the match that he realised something was seriously wrong – although quite how serious he could not begin to appreciate.
"At first, the police suggested it would be a five to ten minute job to reorganise the crowd," he says. The match, they implied, would restart soon after.
"I don't think even they realised the seriousness of it," says Ray. The ten-minute time-out was extended and Ray went into the players' dressing rooms to tell them. He remembers being full of questions for the police which nobody could answer. "What's going to happen? How long is this going to be?'"
The players were equally in the dark.
Then, at around 3.40pm, Ray was shocked to learn there had been a fatality. "After that, there was no likelihood they would continue the game," he says. Behind the scenes at Hillsborough, shocked players, officials and groundstaff were rallying to support the emergency services in any way they could. Ray and his colleagues moved out of the referee's rooms to allow them to be used as an emergency first aid centre for the injured.
"We were just wandering around trying to get information about what was happening," he recalls. Ray still did not know the scale of the disaster when he left the ground at quarter to seven.
"I had no idea of the numbers of people who had died," he says. "I was driving back home with the radio on and I heard there had been around 25 casualties," he recalls. It wasn't until a few days later that he learned the number had risen to more than 90. "It was a bad day for everyone; for the families and for football in general," he says.
However, he points out there are good things that have emerged from the disaster – namely the advent of all-seater stadia. "Today the game doesn't have anything like the problems it had in the past," he says. There were many voices raised in protest at the FA's decision to stage a replay of the tie at Old Trafford, rather than abandon that season's competition in respect of the dead.
However, once a replay date had been confirmed, Ray and his three colleagues (two linesmen and a reserve referee) were appointed to oversee it.
"It would have been unfair to expect anyone else to step in," says Ray. The game was not a memorable one. Liverpool won 3-1 and, appropriately, went on to win the FA Cup. For Ray, Hillsborough will always define the darkest moment of his life as a referee.
"I don't think many referees have had as low a day as Hillsborough in their careers," says the man who went on to referee the first FA Cup semi at Wembley when Spurs defeated Arsenal to earn their place in the final ... against Nottingham Forest. Ray retired from the game in 1993. He lives in Surrey and runs a sports and leisurewear company. He also acts as chairman of the Football Association's Referees' Committee.
He continues to mark Hillsborough's anniversaries. This year, he was invited back to the Sheffield stadium to commemorate the tragedy but will instead honour a prior invitation to a memorial service at Anfield – the home of Liverpool Football Club. Six minutes past three on April 15 will see him stand in silence, shoulder to shoulder with those who lost their loved ones on that day 20 years ago. He says: "I felt it was important to support the families as well as remembering the event."