Monday 21 October 2002
The GuardianFHM in Australia has today been branded "sickening" and "tasteless beyond belief" after it published an article poking fun at the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.
The article has provoked outrage from the football club and its supporters after it likened crushed fans to shoppers battling to get into end of year sales, and called victims of the crush lying on the pitch as "lazy".
The feature in the November 2002 edition of FHM Australia carries a number of photographs accompanied by highly inappropriate captions.
One picture shows the steel mesh at the front of the terrace with many fans, mainly youngsters, being crushed besides the caption: "Shoppers waited for the doors to open for the end-of-year sale."
Another shows fans in the upper tier trying to lift fans from below to safety with the caption: "Get us a beer while you're there."
Yet another shows victims laid out on advertising hoardings surrounded by distraught helpers and is captioned: "Pitch invaders: lazy."
Furious Liverpool fans, including Jeff Anderson, controller of current affairs and features at Granada Television and the author of The Official Liverpool FC Illustrated History, have wasted no time in contacting the magazine to register their disgust.
"The attempt at humour in the photo captions is tasteless beyond belief, and - for the relatives of those who died - hurtful in the extreme," wrote Mr Anderson in an angry email to the magazine.
"At a time when Australia itself is coming to terms with a horrific tragedy, I find it even harder to understand why you think it's acceptable to poke fun at the innocent victims of one of the worst ever peacetime disasters in Britain," he added.
Mr Anderson called for the magazine to be withdrawn from shop shelves in Australia and asked for a pledge that the article would not be reprinted in the UK edition of FHM.
"It makes my stomach turn to hear that the victims of Hillsborough have been treated in such a sickening way. I will be writing a letter of complaint to the owners and editors of the magazine," said Phil Hammond, secretary of the Hillsborough support group, who has demanded an apology.
"Families of the victims of Hillsborough are at the butt of a very cheap joke and they deserve an apology. There are families who have lost sons the same age as the young men that read this magazine and this is totally unacceptable."
A spokesperson for Liverpool FC said: "The club is absolutely sickened to think anyone could try to find humour in such an appalling tragedy. The captions reported to us are nothing short of a disgrace and it's beyond belief that anyone considered them worthy of publication."
After a string of complaints from the UK, FHM Australia was forced into issuing a grovelling apology.
"It is with sincere apologies and deep condolences that I contact you today. On behalf of FHM Australia, I would like to formally and publicly apologise for the article printed in our November 2002 issue," said John Bastick, editor of the Australian FHM in a statement today.
"The article was in no way meant to make fun or downplay the tragic events of April 15, 1989. In essence, our mandate at FHM is not to cast opinion or promote discussion but to simply entertain our readers. It is this last point that has been stretched by our treatment of the Hillsborough tragedy as we have acted without sensitivity and in a totally inappropriate manner.
"As a nation, we are currently experiencing our worst disaster post the Second World War with the terrorist bombings in Bali. It's difficult to find a person in Australia who has not been affected by this in some way, so in many respects we understand the ongoing pain that you are feeling and the justice and retribution that is sought when such meaningless loss of life occurs."
The sick stunt could have longer term repurcussions for FHM with a possible backlash against the English edition in Liverpool and beyond.
When Kelvin MacKenzie's Sun blamed Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 the club's supporters boycotted the tabloid in their droves.
When this happened I had a subscription to FHM that had been bought as a gift. I emailed their boss kicking off over that on the day I read that very story. I can't believe it was so long ago. But I for one have never bought the shitrag since.
Maybe this ought to have it's own thread. They shouldn't be getting our money.
