This Is Guernsey

By Nigel Baudains

John Marquis, third from right, with former player Jan Molby, left, and fellow supporters’ club committee members, left to right, Brian Evans, Dave Baker, Alan Jenner and Andy Priaulx. (0397406)

LIVERPOOL supporter John Marquis will today pay tribute to the 96 football fans killed in the Hillsborough disaster.

He will address up to 15,000 people at a service organised by the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.

The joint chairman of the Guernsey branch of the Liverpool Supporters’ Club will speak at the eternal flame Hillsborough Memorial near the Shankly Gates at Anfield at 1.15pm ahead of a service inside the stadium. That commemoration will include a two-minute silence at 3.06pm – the time on April 15, 1989 that the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool was stopped because the crowd was spilling onto the pitch.

Mr Marquis said he was ‘honoured, surprised and privileged’ to be asked to make the address: ‘I’ll do it with humility and pride,’ he said.

Mr Marquis, who first saw Liverpool play 30 years ago and has been a season ticket holder since the mid-1990s, said the disaster was part of the club’s heritage. .He believes he was asked to make the address because he has been a supporter of the HJC since its inception.

Many fellow supporters he knows remain traumatised by the events of that fateful afternoon. ‘While they were not directly involved in the disaster I have an empathy with them,’ he said. ‘They were fortunate as survivors and although 96 lost their lives, there are hundreds and thousands of other people who have had the recurring nightmare ever since.’

One friend told Mr Marquis how he sat next to two teenage boys on a coach taking Liverpool supporters to Hillsborough for the match. Their seats were empty on the return journey.

Many people still feel aggrieved by the failure of anyone to take responsibility for the disaster, he added.

‘Nobody has ever put their hands up and admitted their guilt, not South Yorkshire Police, the Football Association or Sheffield Wednesday,’ he said.

‘There has been a lot of lies and myths perpetrated by the authorities through the media, particularly The Sun newspaper under its then editor Kelvin MacKenzie,’ he said.

Mr Marquis’s address will be based around the letters which spell Hillsborough. When he reaches the S he will be asking people never to buy The Sun.

He has attended the HJC service several times but has never been asked to make an address before.

At 2.45pm, Mr Marquis will take part in the official memorial service, which will be held in front of the Kop at Anfield.

Article posted on 15th April, 2009 - 11.30am